Since #Qatar won the bidding to stage the 2022 Fifa World Cup, we have often been hearing about “the challenge of cooling stadiums and outdoor spaces”.
The biggest challenges for this kind of applications are the difficulty of controlling the temperature and humidity, and the enormous amount of energy needed for the cooling system.
Progresses have been made lately and what might have been a challenge a few years ago is no longer such. Qatar’s Khalifa International Stadium, with its innovative cooling system keeping both athletes on the pitch and spectators cool, is a perfect example of that, and #Daikin has given its important contribution to the project providing 18 WCT premium efficiency centrifugal chillers for a total cooling capacity of 183,5 MW.
Daikin technology also played a role in the recognition of the Stadium as achieving sustainability standards - Khalifa International received the four-star rating in the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) administered by the Gulf Organisation for Research & Development (GORD).
This is the demonstration of how the most advanced technology in the HVAC world can actually meet challenges such as cooling stadiums and outdoor spaces still respecting the environment.
Khalifa Stadium is hosting the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 during these days, and that was a great chance for athletes to test the cooling system in the venue, which impressed them a lot. The US team, for instance, seemed to be very pleased with the comfort provided by the system.
“My first experience is that when we walked at the stadium from the car, we were super sweaty but after reaching the venue it felt very good,” said US steeplechase star Emma Coburn.
'We are very comfortable, and I am very impressed, commented the US star Emma Coburn.
Rio gold medallist Ryan Crouser echoed team-mates' views. 'The conditions are very good, and we are happy, he said.
Star 400m hurdler Rai Benjamin, said: 'They did a very good job with the temperatures and it's very comfortable to be competing.