A heat recovery system has been installed at Bluefors. By using heat pumps, excess heat from water-circulation cooling system is now redirected to provide facility heating needs, warming both workspaces and water.
This system allows to decrease its reliance on district heating, lower its energy consumption, and importantly, reduce its energy use emissions by up to 35%.
The main sources of heat in the Cryohall are the dilution refrigerators under testing, and more specifically: their cryocoolers.
To achieve this cooling effect, the cryocoolers extract heat energy, leaving behind only extremely cold temperatures, and consequently generating heat as a by-product. This heat accumulates in the cryocooler’s compressor, and is transferred, along with the compressor’s cooling water, to building’s cooling network. Excess heat is then typically discarded via condensers – releasing hundreds of kilowatts of heat outside of the building.
Recognizing the potential of this waste heat, the Facilities team initiated a heat recovery project with the goal of re-using the generated heat energy for the facility’s heating purposes. The heat recovery project began in June 2022, and after a year of planning, the system was successfully installed in 2024.