An eco-friendly air handling solution for Tøyenbadet

At Dantherm Group, our commitment to reducing our customers’ environmental footprints through reliable, energy-efficient climate control solutions is in our DNA.

This is especially true in our work with swimming pools across Europe. The significant energy demands of these settings can cause a tremendous drain on running costs and substantial environmental damage without the right solution in place; our DanX units are built to keep humidity and temperature under control at maximum efficiency.

This focus on the environment is what makes the subject of this article so compelling. Dantherm was tasked with delivering an eco-friendly, cost-effective climate control system for the new Tøyenbadet swimming arena. Constructed by Oslobygg KF on behalf of Oslo municipality, Tøyenbadet will become Oslo’s largest bathing facility and provide a varied bathing offer for sports, schools, health, exercise, playing and well-being.

The incredible scale of this arena, coupled with the strict environmental requirements, required a unique solution, guided by experienced experts. Below, we explore the parameters of this project, and how we adapted our products to meet these.

The Tøyenbadet project

The Tøyenbadet is widely known across Norway. As Oslo’s largest swimming arena, the original building hosted many competitions for over 50 years, as well as operating as a public swimming centre.

When the decision was made to demolish and reconstruct Tøyenbadet, the environment was a fundamental factor:

With this firm stance on benefiting the environment, this expectation extended to their desired climate control solution. For example, while in the EU it is prohibited to use fluorinated greenhouse gases (F gases) with a global warming potential (GWP) of 2500+, in Oslo municipality this is far stricter; it cannot exceed 10 GWP.

This meant the climate control solution used in the new Tøyenbadet had to meet this expectation. However, in addition, it also needed to be powerful and capable enough to cover the immense scale of this new facility, which will include:

In total, the swimming arena will cover approximately 16,000m².

Adapting to the circumstances

The tremendous size and range of facilities included in the new Tøyenbadet, combined with the environmental requirements and the need to optimise costs as much as possible, demanded a unique, specified climate control solution.

As the biggest supplier of dehumidification systems in Norway, our team at Dantherm has a long history of supporting projects of this nature. Six DanX air handling units (5x 12/24 and 1x 7/14) were outlined to be delivered, which would have the capacity to remove between 350L and 1200L of moisture from the air every hour, depending on how busy the facilities are.

As a consulting engineer working on behalf of Oslo municipality, Asplan Viak AS repared a description based on heat pump and natural refrigerants (CO2 or equivalent) and invited suppliers to come up with product solutions in accordance with the requirements of Oslo municipality. After productive discussions, Asplan Viak AS and the HVAC contractor on the project, Bravida Norge AS, determined that only we were able to propose a solution that met all the challenging requirements.

The DanX units were adapted so they could utilise ice water created with CO₂ to condense the warm, humid air captured throughout the swimming arena. This approach leads to a much lower GWP output than conventional heat pump technology, which would enable these units to meet the 10 GWP threshold specified by the Oslo municipality.

Furthermore, the heat that this solution creates could then be reused in order to heat the swimming pools throughout the building, as well as warm the dry air that is pumped back into the facilities, maintaining an optimal temperature of between 30ºC and 34ºC at all times.

We had applied this solution for several other customers in Norway in the years prior to being approached by the Tøyenbadet team. This reassured both the contractor and specifier that we could provide a comparable solution for this project and meet its environmental demands.

Although ice water technology has been used for different applications at a smaller level, Dantherm is the first to harness it for something on as grand a scale as a swimming arena. For this particular project, it provided the ideal blend of:

Minimising energy consumption

With this technology now a tried-and-tested possibility for our DanX units, we are now in a position to supply the commercial swimming pool market with three distinct air handling solutions:

• Standard heat pump technology

• Contraflow system

• Using ice water produced with CO₂

This flexibility, alongside our decades of experience in this industry, ensures that we can provide the most suitable solution for customers across Europe based on their specific requirements.

We are also highly conscious of the entire lifecycles of our products, and the energy they consume on a day-to-day basis. With the substantial amount of humidity generated around a swimming pool, using a less sophisticated air handling unit would require a lot of energy to keep this under control, increasing running costs and reducing eco-friendliness.

Instead, our DanX units have been specially designed and crafted to reuse as much of the energy generated in swimming centres as possible. Energy consumption is cut down. Operating costs are optimised. Environmental friendliness is secured.

Discover the Dantherm difference

The Tøyenbadet project is just one example of how we adapt to circumstances to ensure our products are capable of fulfilling expectations.

No matter the situation, our professionals work closely with customers to discuss their requirements and explore the ways that we can meet these through our market-leading climate control products. At our core, our focus is on delivering fully capable, energy-efficient and environmentally responsible solutions to swimming pools worldwide.

If you would like to learn more about our DanX air handling units, or how we adjust our approach to satisfy our customers’ needs, get in touch with us today using the form below.