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About an eighth of a University of Alberta collection of ice cores has melted due to a freezer malfunction:
A precious collection of ice cores from the Canadian Arctic has suffered a catastrophic meltdown. A freezer failure at a cold storage facility in Edmonton run by the University of Alberta (UA) caused 180 of the meter-long ice cylinders to melt, depriving scientists of some of the oldest records of climate change in Canada's far north.
The 2 April failure left "pools of water all over the floor and steam in the room," UA glaciologist Martin Sharp told ScienceInsider. "It was like a changing room in a swimming pool."
The melted cores represented 12.8% of the collection, which held 1408 samples taken from across the Canadian Arctic. The cores hold air bubbles, dust grains, pollen, and other evidence that can provide crucial information about past climates and environments, and inform predictions about the future.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday April 12 2017, @02:47AM (3 children)
[Scruffy Beard 2]
Temperature 2017-04-02 varied between 0.8 - 9.9 ⁰C [weather.gc.ca]
Elevation is 671 meters. Position 53.524444, -113.524444 [wmflabs.org]
Wind speed 1.7 - 7.0 m/s.
[VLM]
Refrigerant oils optimistically are refined not to burn well or easily but here they are in a multi-KW pump generating heat and wooshing around making mist so yeah it happens but not a common problem.
[zocalo]
Freezer failure results in damage to ice core collection [ualberta.ca]:
Monitoring system failed as a result of a database corruption. Temperature went from -37 to +40 ⁰C.
Modern, custom-designed, $4.6 million (assumed CAD) facility that was only opened earlier this year, after several months of testing and commissioning.
Affecting 12.8% of the collection.
1400 metres of ice in total.
South Academic Building, contains two freezers, a storage unit chilled to -37 ⁰C and an adjacent working unit cooled to -25 ⁰C.
The ice core samples arrived at University of Alberta north campus on 2017-01-15.
Late in the afternoon of Sunday, 2017-04-02, Protective Services and Edmonton Fire Service responded to a high-heat alarm in CICA. Facilities and operations found the temperature in the storage freezer had reached +40 ⁰C, resulting in the damage to the ice core samples.
All affected ice core samples were immediately moved into the working freezer, which was functioning properly and where the majority of the collection was being stored.
Refrigeration chillers shut down due to “high head pressure” conditions. Essentially, the chillers were not able to reject their heat through the condenser water system—heat instead of cold circulated through the freezer.
Compounding matters, the system monitoring the freezer temperatures failed due to a database corruption. The freezer’s computer system was actually sending out alarm signals that the temperature was rising, but those signals never made it to the university’s service provider or the on-campus control centre.
In the short term, refrigeration technicians are monitoring the freezers through twice-daily checks, Sharman said. The computer database corruption was resolved by adding a second monitoring controller, which is now issuing real-time messaging updates every eight hours.
Over the next few weeks, a second, independent path of alarming will be installed. The refrigeration system will also be modified to improve performance during failures, such as shutting down the evaporators in the event of a condenser failure.
University of Alberta’s Canadian Ice Core Archive [ualberta.ca]
Canadian Ice Core Archive at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Science [youtube.com] (video)
[Scruffy Beard 2]
src [soylentnews.org]
The Freezer was brand new: having undergone about 6 months of testing prior to loading the ice cores.
[kaszz]
The article author Colette Derworiz wrote yesterday [sciencemag.org]:
There was a temperature alarm, but it failed too. A computer system on the freezer was sending out alarm signals but they never made to the university's control centre. Investigation is ongoing. Several contingencies now...
Other stuff found on internet related to the matter:
Technical Design Requirements for Alberta Infrastructure Facilities [alberta.ca]
Unique Canadian ice core collection suffers catastrophic meltdown [wattsupwiththat.com]
## Summary ##
A new freezer facility in the South Academic Building at a cost of $4.6 million (assumed CAD) and 6 months of testing. Containing two freezers, a working unit at -25 ⁰C and a adjacent storage unit at -37 ⁰C. The ice core samples arrived at University of Alberta north campus on 2017-01-15.
Late afternoon on 2017-04-02 the outdoor temperature varied between 0.8 - 9.9 ⁰C with a wind speed 1.7 - 7.0 m/s. Thus the condensers should have no problem to dump the heat. But the refrigeration chillers shut down due to “high head pressure” conditions. Essentially, the chillers were not able to reject their heat through the condenser water system—heat instead of cold circulated through the freezer.
The temperature monitoring system for the freezer failed due to a database corruption. The freezer’s computer system was actually sending out alarm signals that the temperature was rising, but those signals never made it to the university’s service provider or the on-campus control center.
Protective Services and Edmonton Fire Service got a high-heat alarm in CICA that they responded to. Facilities and operations found the temperature in the storage freezer had reached +40 ⁰C.
Measures that will be carried out in the short term is that refrigeration technicians will be monitoring the freezers through two checks per day. The computer database corruption was resolved by adding a second monitoring controller, which is now issuing real-time messaging updates every eight hours.
Over the next few weeks, a second, a independent path of alarming will be installed. The refrigeration system will also be modified to improve performance during failures, such as shutting down the evaporators in the event of a condenser failure.
## Lessons ##
* Redundancy.
* Keep things simple.
* Fail gracefully.
* Have automated verification that sensors actually have a connection.
* Independent systems and communication paths.
* Monitor that equipment behave as expected. Watch out for sensor data that move in the wrong direction.
* Don't assume turning on the cooling equipment will result in a lower temperature. Presumed action and result.
* Verify with actual humans regularly.
* Test that systems work. And simulate faults.
Any comments?
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday April 12 2017, @02:53AM (2 children)
The new cooler at work warns that the refrigerant is an explosion hazard. I can only presume it is butane or something.
The refrigerant catching fire would explain the rise in temperature with the fire alarm going off.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday April 12 2017, @03:30AM
I think the heat rise above the outdoor temperature is simpler than that. The heat pump simply converted all electrical energy into heat inside the freezer room which is well insulated. Hence the +40 ⁰C temperature.
Of course without better sources it's hard to know for sure.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 13 2017, @08:33PM
Technically all refrigerants in use are explosion hazard even if the refrigerant itself is non-flammable,
since it is mixed with an oil aerosol of whichever type oil is miscible with that refrigerant.