An ice-making factory in Shanghai mass-produces six basketball courts every day. How did such a large amount of ice come about?

The continuous high temperature in the summer of 2022 also made the ice market in short supply. An ice-making factory in Shanghai can produce ice cubes that can cover six basketball courts every day. Such a large-scale production of ice cubes has also made many netizens curious about how a large number of ice cubes are made. In fact, the principle of making ice cubes is very simple. Usually, the freezing point of salt water is lower than that of fresh water, and then fresh water is poured into the mold, and then it is placed in a salt pool with a temperature of tens of degrees below zero for 22 hours. After cooling, put the mold into cold water at room temperature to melt the ice and the edge of the mold. In this way, the ice cubes in the mold can slide down by themselves and realize mass production.

Although the method of making ice cubes is relatively simple, the manpower and energy required for its actual operation are very huge. In the process of making ice cubes, the most used raw material is water. A large number of workers need to pour the water from the water pipe into the ice-making molds, then put the molds into the ice-making pool at the same time with a crane, and then cover the cover plate. When making ice, the evaporation plate is used, and the water in the mold evaporates to absorb heat, and the ice can be made after the temperature drops. After the production is completed, the process of pouring the ice cubes out of the mold is also very complicated. Usually, a crane is needed to drag them into the deicing pool, and then the workers keep shaking the mold to separate the ice cubes from each other quickly, so as to complete the final production. Is there any slight difference between this method and the process explained by Bian Xiao above?

In fact, different ice-making plants use different ice-making methods. This ice-making factory in Shanghai adopts indirect cooling method, that is, the refrigerant is put in the evaporator, and then the temperature of the brine is continuously reduced by absorbing the heat of the brine, so that the temperature of the ice cubes is kept between-10~- 14 degrees. This method can completely freeze the ice. After freezing, the ice can come out smoothly. Then workers can put these ice cubes in the cold storage and arrange them in turn for sale.

Finally, it should be noted that when the ice cubes are taken out, it is easy to break and damage the ice cubes due to constant shaking, so in the production process, the staff need to be extra careful to ensure the integrity of the ice cubes. Moreover, when making ice cubes, Bian Xiao also hopes that the staff can strengthen the inspection of the quality of ice cubes and wear protective equipment when consigning ice cubes to avoid frostbite.