Background
Odin Ice Baths, a fast-growing Australian company, is the global leader in premium cold-plunge ice bath equipment such as ice bath tubs and chiller units. Odin introduced the world’s first all-in-one ice bath, integrating a chiller condensing unit with an ice bath tub. With their innovation and superb product quality, Odin’s ice baths have become popular choices for personal and professional wellness among a growing number of athletes and celebrities.
Odin originally utilized a 0.75 HP condensing unit with a reciprocating compressor for their chiller system. However, its cooling capacity failed to meet the evolving market requirements. Simply replacing the compressor with a larger reciprocating compressor was not an option, as the height of a larger reciprocating compressor would exceed the height limit of the chiller. To stay as a global leader, Odin decided to further innovate the chiller system by developing a highly compact, powerful 1.5 HP condensing chiller unit with a 1.25 kW cooling capacity, less than 200 mm in height, and a noise level below 50 dB.
Challenges
Given the special usage of ice baths, it is essential for Odin’s products to ensure a comfortable and quiet environment for their users. Odin, the global leader in premium ice baths, is particularly sensitive to the noise and vibration generated by the chiller unit during operation.
With the new and unique design of the condensing unit placed under the bathtub, the height of the space allocated for the condensing unit was limited. There were almost no condensing units on the market that met the height requirement. Additionally, other components such as water pumps and filters needed to be installed, so Odin had to redesign the layout of the unit. Odin requested Boyard to provide all components except for the base plate and copper pipes and ship them unassembled.
Solution
After collaborating to fully understand Odin’s requirements for noise, vibration, condenser height, and cooling capacity, Boyard designed model BYGF-010-QHL-STD, a low-profile condensing unit equipped with a low-profile horizontal rotary compressor QHD-16K. This unit met Odin’s cooling capacity needs while keeping the overall height of the unit under 200 mm. The condensing unit’s horsepower increased from 0.75 HP to 1.5 HP, achieving a cooling capacity of 1.25 kW.
Boyard supplied all the components to Odin, who reassembled the refrigeration system according to their own piping design.However, Odin encountered excessive vibration during testing. The Boyard team promptly investigated and found that the customer’s piping design lacked a vibration damping function, which posed a risk of pipe rupture. After thorough communication with the customer, Boyard optimized the piping design without changing the overall layout and successfully reduced vibration. Odin approved the optimized solution and agreed to have Boyard supply the piping, base plate, and all other components that needed to be installed on the unit. As a result, Boyard supplies the full cooling system.
Results
