Jökull - 01.12.2007, Qupperneq 76

Thorsteinsson et al.
Figure 2. Testing the hot water drilling system on the Langjökull ice cap, June 18 2005. A: Drill system setup:
Snowmelter, hoses and trailer with drill parts in the background. B: Heat exchanger in snowmelter. Sample
collection. C: Drill ready for operation. D: Outlets for sampling at different locations within system. – Prófun
bræðsluborsins á Langjökli í júní 2005. A: Uppsetning við borun: Snjóbræðslukar, slöngur og borkerfi á kerru.
B: Varmaskiptir í kari. Sýnataka. C: Bræðsluborinn. D: Slöngur til sýnatöku á ýmsum stöðum í borkerfinu.
The drilling system is fitted with sampling out-
lets at locations S1–S4 as indicated in Figure 1 (see
also Figure 2d). A 2.2 kW gasoline generator sup-
plies electricity for all units except the Kärcher high
pressure pump and burner fan, which run on a built-in
6.6 kW diesel motor.
The system was assembled at the SR Machine
Shop in Siglufjörður, Iceland. All units except the
snowmelter are mounted on a wheeled trailer suitable
for glacier travel and housed in an aluminium shelter
that can be opened up from three sides, allowing ac-
cess to the individual parts. The total weight of the
system, including the trailer, is about 1300 kg.
Assembly of the system was completed in March
2005. During initial testing the high pressure pump
(2D) was found to deliver 450 l/hr of meltwater run-
ning at full load, in accordancewith specifications, but
the efficiency of the snowmelter turned out to be only
200–250 l/hr. The latter was improved by inserting
larger spirals in the combustion unit (1A) and cover-
ing the 15 m long hoses between the combustion unit
and the heat exchanger with insulating material.
74 JÖKULL No. 57