JPH01179880A - Artificial snow and ice falling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain snow and ice, having physical properties near to natural snow, by a constitution wherein cold airflow is introduced into a space at the surrounding of an air and water nozzle, injecting fine granular liquid drips, to change them in a snow and ice growing chamber into snow and ice, thereafter, the snow and ice are discharged into atmosphere from a dispersing port. CONSTITUTION:A medium having sufficiently low vaporizing temperature such as liquefied nitrogen 5 is employed as cold heat source and air from an air tank 6 is converted into dry air by a dehumidifier 8 while control valves 7, 7' are controlled so as to obtain necessary airflow temperature 11 and cold air flow rate 12 by a mixing machine 9. The flow of cold air is streamlined by flow regulating plates 10 and is flowed into a snow and ice growing chamber 13. Then, liquid drops, sprayed from an air and water nozzle 1, ride on the flow of cold air, and deprive latent heat and sensible heat from the flow of cold air in the chamber 13, whereby the drops are changed into snow and ice in the same chamber 13. The liquid drops, which are changed into snow and ice, are combined into large grains, and thereafter, dispersed into low-temperature atmosphere through a dispersing port 16. According to such a constitution, snow and ice, having substantially spherical configuration and even grain sizes, may be obtained and the physical properties thereof may be proximated to natural snow.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing and supplying artificial snow used on artificial slopes for various sports (skiing, sledding, etc.), and is useful for researching snow damage or investigating natural phenomena. It can also be applied as an artificial snowfall device when conducting simulation experiments.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional artificial snow and ice equipment for artificial ski slopes Figures 4 to 6
The diagram will be explained.

01 is an artificial slope with a slope of about 15 degrees, 02 is an icicle of about 100KLi brought in by truck, etc., 03
is the crusher, 04 is the scraper conveyor, 05 is the belt conveyor, o6 is the snow distribution device, 07 is,! Gradient scraper conveyor, o8 is the belt conveyor, 09 is the scraper, 010 is the snow and ice spreader 1.011 is the motor of the snow and ice spreader 010, 012 is the vinyl hose for snow spreading of the snow and ice spreader 010, 013 is the hunt of the snow and ice spreader 010 014 is the impeller of the snow and ice spreader 010, 015 is the television camera, 016 is the television monitoring device, 017 is the operation panel,
018 is a lift platform.

Icicle 02 is crushed by crusher 03, scraper conveyor 04, belt conveyor 06, IHd)l'? Device 07
As a result, some of the crushed ice is conveyed to the upper part of the ski slope via the steep slope scraper machine A07, and the remaining crushed ice is supplied to the snow and ice spreader 010 through the scraper 09 from the belt conveyor o8.

The snow and ice spreader 010 uses the motor 011 to spread the supplied crushed ice.
The impeller 014, which is driven by , is used to spray the water over the upper part of the slope.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

(1) Conventionally, since the icicles are crushed, the ice particles are not uniform and ice edges remain, which can be painful if it hits the human skin, and the icicles are thick (and dangerous if they are as large as a dog).

(2) Even though it is called artificial snow and ice, it feels close to ice.
It's a far cry from the feel of snow.

[Means for solving problems]

an air/water nozzle that ejects cold water as fine droplets using high-pressure air; a cold air generation mechanism that introduces a cold air flow around the air/water nozzle; and a cold air generation mechanism that guides the fine droplets and the cold air flow toward a spray port. A snow and ice growth chamber is provided, and the fine droplets are changed into snow and ice similar to natural snow in the chamber, and then released into the atmosphere from a spray port.

[Effect]

(al) By spraying water from a nozzle while crushing it into small pieces with high-pressure air, the size of the droplets can be selected to be similar to that of natural snowdrops.

By freezing fbl droplets (spherical) in a cold air flow, spherical snow ice and snow ice in which the spherical shapes are bonded together and grown are produced.

(C) By controlling the particle size of the droplets and the growth of snow and ice in a cold air flow, it is possible to compact new snow and create artificial snow and ice that closely resembles natural snow.

〔Example〕

In Figures 1 to 3, 1 is an air/water nozzle, 2 is cold water, 3a is high pressure air, 3b is control air, 4 is a droplet, 5 is liquefied nitrogen, 6 is an air tank, 7 and 7' are control valve, 8 is a dehumidifier,
9 is a mixer, 1o is a rectifier plate, 11.11' is an air flow temperature,
12 is a cold air flow rate, 13 is a snow and ice growth chamber, 15 is a universal joint, 16 is a spraying port, 17 is a spraying direction control, and 18 is a controller.

The air/water nozzle 1 uses cold water pressurized by a water pump (not shown) to crush the particles with high-pressure air 3a to form droplets 4 of uniform particle size.

An example of particle size distribution is shown in FIG.

The control air 3b performs ON/OFF control of the water 1 and controls heat of snowfall and ice.

In the system diagram of the artificial snow water system shown in Figure 1, a medium with a vaporization temperature well below -40°C, such as liquefied nitrogen 5, is used as a cold source, and the air from the air tank 6 is converted into dry air by a dehumidifier 8. From this, the control valve 7.7''2 is controlled so that the mixer 9 has the required air flow temperature 11 and cold air flow rate 12.

The cold air stream 7 is made into a streamline flow by the rectifying plate 10 and is then flowed into the snow and ice growth chamber 13.

The sprayed droplets 4 from the air/water nozzle 1 ride on the cold air current, where they remove sensible heat and latent heat from the air current, and turn into snow and ice within the growth chamber 13.

It is necessary to control the amount of heat poured into the cold air flow according to the temperature and flow rate of the droplets 4, and the air flow temperature 1 in the growth chamber 13
Control valves 7 and 7' are controlled so that 1' and 1' are also uniform.

Within the growth chamber 13, the droplets that have turned into snow and ice combine with each other to form larger particles, which are carried by air currents and sprayed into the low-temperature atmosphere through the spray port 16.

The spray port 16 is coupled to an actuator (not shown),
Spraying direction control 17 is possible. A universal joint 15 for this purpose is provided between the growth chamber 13 and the growth chamber 13 .

The above control is performed by the controller 15 in manual mode,
Can be controlled in semi-automatic mode or fully automatic mode.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the artificial snow-making device of the present invention, it is possible to produce snow and ice that is close to spherical in shape and the particle size can be made uniform, so it is possible to produce snow and ice that has physical properties close to natural snow, and it can be used as snow leisure-related equipment for those who prefer the real thing. can.

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Fig. 1 is a system diagram of an embodiment of the artificial snow water device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the air/water nozzle shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the air/water nozzle shown in Fig. 2. FIG. 4 is an overall view of an artificial slope using a conventional device, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a conventional snow and ice spreader, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an impeller. 1...Air/water nozzle 2:Cold water 3a...High pressure air 5:Liquid nitrogen 12...Cold air flow rate 13...Snow and ice growth chamber 16...Spraying port

Claims (1)

[Claims] an air/water nozzle that ejects cold water as fine droplets using high-pressure air; a cold air generation mechanism that introduces a cold air flow around the air/water nozzle; and a cold air generation mechanism that guides the fine droplets and the cold air flow toward a spray port. An artificial snow and ice making device characterized by comprising a snow and ice growth chamber.