JPH0427474B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

<Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an artificial snow making device, and provides an apparatus that can easily produce snow having various properties in large quantities regardless of the season. <Prior art and its problems> Examples of conventional technologies for artificial snow making equipment include:
As shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-41560, an artificial snow generating chamber is cooled with an air cooler, and a mist of water is sprayed onto a screen installed in the artificial snow generating chamber or near the cold air inlet to form ice on its surface. There is a compact device that creates artificial snow by forming ice and scraping it off with a brush. However, this device uses an air cooler with a limited cooling function, and because it forms ice on the screen on the secondary surface, it is difficult to produce large quantities of snow that can be supplied to artificial ski resorts. is not suitable. Moreover, since the air cooler compresses and expands the refrigerant, it takes time to lower the room temperature to -50 degrees Celsius or lower, for example, and it is difficult to make subtle adjustments to the room temperature. Manufacturing operations become complicated. In addition, for example, when the entire rod-shaped water supply header is plunged into the artificial snow generation chamber (see Figure 3 of this publication), the water supply header freezes due to the cold air in the snow generation chamber and water cannot be sprayed. There is a big risk that it will disappear. On the other hand, recently, a device that can mechanically produce snow using an ultrasonic mist generation method has been developed. This device uses an ultrasonic humidifier to create a cloud of water mist inside an artificial snow generating tower, which is then cooled by an air cooler, and then replenishes the artificial snow generating tower with fine ice crystals, which form the nucleus of snow crystals. This is to produce artificial snow. However, in this device, since the inside of the device is cooled by an air cooler, there is a limit to the amount of artificial snow that can be produced, and the cooling and adjustment of the inside of the artificial snow generating chamber tower is not smooth. In addition, the ice crystals supplemented in the artificial snow generation tower are
It is not easy to create something as minute as 10 microns. Furthermore, Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 58-65548 discloses a device that sprays fine water particles into a cooling tower and injects liquid nitrogen to lower the atmospheric temperature inside the cooling tower to generate artificial snow. ing. However, although this device allows artificial snow to be produced easily and in large quantities, the period during which water particles are cooled and grow into snow is limited to a short period of time during falling, so it is not possible to achieve sufficient growth. Moreover, since liquid nitrogen is simply sprayed downward, it is difficult to obtain uniform snow quality. The technical problem of the present invention is to easily produce snow of various properties in large quantities. <Means for Solving the Problems> The present invention provides a liquid spraying means 2 and a liquefied gas injection nozzle 3 in an artificial snow generating chamber 1, and connects the liquid spraying means 2 to a liquid supply source 5 via a liquid supply line 4. The liquefied gas injection nozzle 3 is connected to the liquefied gas supply source 8 via the liquefied gas supply line 6, and the liquefied gas injection nozzle 3 is connected to the artificial snow generating chamber so that the liquefied gas immediately after injection is removed from the liquid spraying means 2. 1, the liquid mist that is sprayed into the artificial snow generating chamber 1 by the liquid spraying means 2 and falls naturally is brought into contact with the liquefied gas injected from the liquefied gas injection nozzle 3 to generate snow. The artificial snow making device is constructed as follows. That is, the liquefied gas injection nozzle is composed of two ring-shaped injection nozzles, one of which is arranged above the artificial snow generation chamber, and the other nozzle is arranged in the middle of the artificial snow generation chamber. The injection port of the upper ring-shaped injection nozzle is oriented obliquely downward toward the central axis of the ring, and the liquid withdrawal nozzle of the liquid spraying means is positioned above the ring-shaped injection nozzle and along the central axis. It is characterized in that the injection port of the lower ring-shaped injection nozzle is oriented obliquely upward toward the central axis of the ring. The liquid contained in the liquid supply source 5 refers to water, fruit juice, etc., and the produced artificial snow is not only pure "snow" made of water molecules, but also snow-like substances when fruit juice etc. is the composition. include. The above fruit juices are 100% natural fruit juices such as grape, orange, pine, strawberry, peach, apple, grapefruit, etc., or diluted with water, lemon extract, mint, cloves, natural flavorings such as vanilla extract, liqueur, and wine. Alcohols that add fragrance such as maple syrup, gum syrup, honey that increases sweetness, supplemented with powdered gelatin, etc., or green tea, black tea, eyelash tea, oolong tea, or synthetic flavoring in place of natural fruit juice. In a broad sense, it refers to things such as the resultant juice made by dissolving these in water. Artificial snow is a mixture of ice and air with high air permeability, such as hexagonal "snow crystals" with branches extending toward the apex of a triangle, and water vapor is sublimated and condensed. Meaning "snow"
A representative example of this is a hexagonal ice crystal with no rounded corners, which is formed when water freezes, and air becomes isolated bubbles and is trapped inside the ice. It refers to things in a broad sense, including ``ice,'' which means something that has lost its breathability. Therefore, snow of all types, such as fresh snow, compact snow, rough snow, frosty snow, etc., as well as snow that is currently falling, snow that is in the process of changing over time after accumulating, or , ice-like material, hail-like material, and sleet-like material are all referred to as artificial snow in the present invention. Liquefied gas refers to liquefied nitrogen, liquefied argon, liquefied carbon dioxide, liquefied air, or liquefied perhalogenated hydrocarbons (e.g., liquefied particulate hydrocarbons such as liquefied tetrafluorocarbons), etc., and is practically inexpensive. Liquefied nitrogen is preferred. The liquid spraying means 2 includes a liquid withdrawal nozzle 10 connected to one end of the liquid supply line 4 and a pressure pump 12 interposed in the middle of the line 4, or an ultrasonic mist generator ( in particular,
ultrasonic humidifier) etc. Note that in the former case, when the liquid supply line 4 holds a predetermined liquid pressure in advance (for example, when the liquid supply source 6 is a water tap), the pressure pump 12 can be omitted. When the liquefied gas immediately after being injected from the liquefied gas injection nozzle 3 is sprayed onto the liquid spraying means 2 such as a liquid withdrawal nozzle or an ultrasonic mist generator, the spraying means 2 freezes and becomes unable to spray the liquid. , the liquefied gas injection nozzle 3 is oriented away from this atomizing means 2 . <Function> The following description uses water as an example of the spray liquid. The liquefied gas injected into the artificial snow generating chamber 1 from the liquefied gas injection nozzle 3 immediately vaporizes and cools the inside of the artificial snow generating chamber 1 to, for example, -20 to -80°C. The water mist sprayed into the artificial snow generating chamber 1 from the water spraying means 2 is rapidly cooled and frozen by the liquefied gas sprayed from the upper ring-shaped spray nozzle. The liquefied gas is then blown up by the liquefied gas injected from the lower ring-shaped injection nozzle, sufficiently stirred within the generation chamber, and remains in the extremely low temperature atmosphere for a long time.
Then, as it falls naturally while being stirred by the airflow of liquefied gas, it gradually grows into snow with the fine dust in the generation chamber as a matrix, and becomes artificial snow on the floor of the artificial snow generation chamber. and deposit. In this case, by adjusting the amount of liquefied gas to be injected, the fall time of the mist, the particle size of the sprayed mist, etc., it is possible to create snow with various properties, from smooth powdery snow to soft button snow. <Effects of the invention> (1) Unlike conventional technology, there is no temperature drop or slow temperature adjustment caused by an air cooler, and there is no need for the complexity of creating fine ice crystals that become crystal nuclei. , the amount of liquefied gas injected from the upper and lower nozzles,
By adjusting the particle size of the spray liquid mist, the falling time of the liquid mist, etc., snow with various properties can be easily and quickly created regardless of the season. (2) In the conventional technology, the amount of snow produced was limited due to the limitations of the cooling function of the air cooler and the formation of ice on the screen of the secondary surface, whereas the present invention Since the amount of snow produced can be easily adjusted by adjusting the amount of snow and the amount of liquefied gas injected, a large amount of snow can be produced. (3) Since the structure is simple, just install a liquid spraying means and a liquefied gas injection nozzle in the artificial snow generating chamber and connect them to each supply source, the manufacturing cost of the entire device can be reduced, and Snow can be produced cheaply. <Examples> Examples of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings,
An experimental example in which artificial snow was manufactured using this manufacturing device will also be described. Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of an artificial snow making device showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same device, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a liquefied gas injection nozzle and a water withdrawal nozzle of the same device. The artificial snow making device is constructed by connecting an artificial snow generating chamber 1 with a water supply line 4 and a liquefied nitrogen supply line 6. The artificial snow generation chamber 1 has a small diameter cylindrical upper cooling tank 15.
It is a vertically elongated tower body in which a large-diameter cylindrical lower cooling tank 16 is combined with a large-diameter cylindrical lower cooling tank 16, and a hard urethane foam insulation material is embedded in the wall, and a bucket 17 is installed at the bottom of the tower so that it can be taken out and put in freely. Artificial snow can be taken out. Reference numeral 18 is an operation panel of the artificial snow generation room 1;
Equipped with water flow rate indicator, temperature controller, manual/automatic changeover switch, power supply, etc. For example, a water withdrawal nozzle 10 consisting of a one-fluid fine spray nozzle with an orifice diameter of 1.1 mm and a core number of 225 (nozzle No. 6) is attached to the upper wall 1a of the artificial snow generating chamber 1, and its spray port is connected to the upper cooling tank 15. One end of the water supply line 4 is connected to the water withdrawal nozzle 10, and the other end is connected to the water supply source 5 via a flow rate regulating valve 14 and a pressure pump 12. Note that when a water tap is used as the water supply source 5, the pressure pump 12 can be omitted. Two ring-shaped injection nozzles 3a and 3b are provided in the upper and middle parts of the artificial snow generating chamber 1 to form a liquefied nitrogen injection nozzle 3. That is, one ring-shaped injection nozzle 3a is arranged so as to be close to the upper wall 1a of the artificial snow generating chamber 1, and the injection nozzles 20, which are formed in a plurality of holes in the circumferential direction of the ring, are directed diagonally downward toward the central axis A of the ring. The water withdrawal nozzle 10 is positioned slightly above the ring and along the central axis A. In addition, the other ring-shaped injection nozzle 3b is arranged in the middle part of the artificial snow generation chamber 1, specifically, in the lower part of the upper cooling tank 15, and each injection port 21 of the ring is directed diagonally upward toward the central axis B of the ring. (In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the central axes A and B coincide). One end of the liquefied nitrogen supply line 6 is branched into two, one of which is connected to the upper ring-shaped nozzle 3a,
The other end is connected to the lower ring-shaped nozzle 3b via on-off valves 22, 23 and flow rate regulating valves 24, 25, respectively, and the other end of the supply line 6 is connected to a liquefied nitrogen cylinder 8 via a pressure regulating valve 7 and an on-off valve 25. Connect to. A safety valve 27 is attached to the liquefied nitrogen supply line 6 on the downstream side of the pressure regulating valve 7, and if the line pressure is about to exceed a predetermined safety limit pressure, the safety valve 27
7 to allow liquefied nitrogen to escape. An exhaust port 26 is provided in the upper wall 1a of the artificial snow generation chamber 1 to allow some of the liquefied nitrogen ejected into the snow generation chamber to escape.In particular, by positioning this exhaust port 26 above the snow generation chamber 1, the spray Gaseous liquefied nitrogen, which has become lighter after heat exchange with the water, is more likely to be released. In addition, the pre-cooling line 28 is connected to the exhaust port 26 to the water supply source 5.
If the gaseous liquefied nitrogen released is brought into contact with the water supply source 5 and the water is cooled to around 0°C in advance, the cooling energy of the liquefied nitrogen to be disposed of can be effectively used ( (See imaginary line in Figure 1). Further, a temperature sensor 30 is attached to the side wall 15a of the upper cooling tank 15 of the generation chamber, and this temperature sensor 3
0 is interlocked and connected to flow rate regulating valves 24 and 25 interposed at the bifurcated portion of the liquefied nitrogen supply line 6. Therefore, by setting the changeover switch on the operation panel 18 to the automatic side, the room temperature in the generation chamber 1 can be automatically controlled. That is, if the actual room temperature of the generation chamber 1 falls below a predetermined set temperature (for example, -50°C), the flow rate regulating valve 24,
25 to reduce the injection amount of liquefied nitrogen, and conversely, when the temperature rises above a predetermined temperature, the flow rate regulating valves 24 and 25 are opened to increase the injection amount of liquefied nitrogen. Of the ring nozzles 3a and 3b of this embodiment, the upper nozzle 3a is used to (1) rapidly cool or freeze the fine mist of water sprayed from above the artificial snow generating chamber 1 to change the properties of the snow; (2) The purpose is to make the room temperature uniform. In addition, by injecting liquefied nitrogen upward, the lower nozzle 3b (1) strengthens the agitation of the water mist that is about to naturally fall, increases the residence time in the generation chamber 1, and causes the mist to The purpose is to promote the growth of snow, (2) to even out the quality of the snow, and (3) to make the room temperature more even. Incidentally, the particle size of the mist generated changes depending on the diameter of the water withdrawal nozzle 10 and its spray pressure, and for example,
When the nozzle diameter is constant, its spray pressure (specifically, the pressure pump 12 installed in the water supply line 4)
pressure: for example, 0.1 to 70 Kg/cm ² ) is large, the size of the mist particles sprayed from the nozzle becomes small and fine-grained snow can be produced. Furthermore, when the spray pressure is constant, the smaller the nozzle diameter, the smaller the mist particle size. On the other hand, if an ultrasonic humidifier as the water spraying means 2 is installed in the artificial snow generating chamber 1, a finer water mist can be generated. When the room temperature in the artificial snow generating chamber 1 is as low as -50 to -80°C, the snow becomes powdery snow, and when the room temperature is as high as -30 to -20°C, the snow becomes sticky and wet. The water mist sprayed from the water withdrawal nozzle 10 is stirred by the jet flow of liquefied nitrogen, and the height of the generation chamber 1 is adjusted so as to increase the residence time and allow the mist to grow into snow. It is essential to do so. FIG. 4 shows a comparative example, in which 2
Of the ring nozzles 3a and 3b, the upper nozzle 3a is omitted, and the injection port of the ring nozzle 3 is directed diagonally upward toward the central axis B of the ring, and the water withdrawal nozzle 10 is placed in the artificial snow generation chamber. 1 and along the central axis B. Next, an experiment was actually conducted to manufacture artificial snow using the manufacturing apparatuses of the comparative example and example.

[Experiment Example 1] Using the manufacturing equipment of the comparative example, liquefied nitrogen was injected into the artificial snow generation chamber 1 at a pressure of 7 kg/cm ² to heat the upper part of the snow generation chamber to -77 to -80℃ and the center to -67℃. ~ -68℃, the lower part of which is maintained at -62 to -63℃, and 330Kg/330Kg of water with a water temperature of 18℃ is pumped from the water withdrawal nozzle 10 of nozzle No. 6 mentioned above.
When sprayed for 10 minutes at a spray amount of min, the following results were obtained. In this case, the amount of liquefied nitrogen used is 12 in 10 minutes.
The flow valve was adjusted so that the amount was in kg. (1) Amount of snow generated 3.12Kg (2) Temperature of snow -37℃ (3) Properties of snow Smooth, powdery snow Amount of snow generated is less than 3.3Kg, which is the amount of water used in 10 minutes This is because a portion of the water mist sprayed from the water withdrawal nozzle 10 has frozen on the side walls of the generation chamber 1 and the like. Incidentally, FIG. 7 shows the state of the snow accumulated in the artificial snow generation chamber in this experimental example.

[Experimental example 2] The amount of liquefied nitrogen used was 9 kg, and the upper part of generation chamber 1 was maintained at -50°C, the center at -33 to -34°C, and the lower part at -35 to -36°C, and the other The experiment was conducted under the same conditions as in Experimental Example 1 above, and the following results were obtained. (1) Amount of snow generated: 2.81Kg (2) Snow temperature: -17℃ (3) Properties: Smooth but slightly damp, wet snow The room temperature in the generation chamber is higher than in Experimental Example 1. The quality of the snow has begun to change from powdery snow to wet snow.

[Experiment Example 3] Using the manufacturing equipment of the example (i.e., using two ring nozzles), the amount of liquefied nitrogen used was 9.5 kg,
The upper part of generation chamber 1 is -47℃ to -60℃, the lower part is -
The experiment was carried out under the same conditions as in Experimental Example 1, with the temperature maintained at 30 to -47°C, and the following results were obtained. (1) Amount of snow generated 2.97Kg (2) Temperature of snow -27℃ (3) Properties of snow Aspirin snow with finer and smoother texture than Example 1 Two pieces in the upper and center parts of artificial snow generation chamber 1 Compared to Experiment 1 where only one liquefied nitrogen injection ring nozzle was installed, even though the amount of liquefied nitrogen used was smaller (12Kg → 9.5Kg), finer textured snow was produced. can be generated, improving the quality of the snow.

[Experimental example 4] The amount of liquefied nitrogen used was 7.5 kg, the upper part of generation chamber 1 was maintained at -30°C, the lower part was maintained at -20 to -21°C,
The experiment was conducted with all other settings set to the same conditions as in Experimental Example 3, and the following results were obtained. (1) Amount of snow produced 2.34Kg (2) Snow temperature -11.5℃ (3) Snow properties Slightly sticky, wet snow Although the snow properties are somewhat similar to those of slightly sticky wet snow, , the amount of liquefied nitrogen used was from Experimental Example 1 above.
It can be seen that snow can be generated even though it is the least amount compared to 3.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 3 show embodiments of the present invention;
The figure is a schematic front view of the artificial snow making equipment, Figure 2 is a plan view of the equipment, Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the liquefied gas injection nozzle and water withdrawal nozzle of the equipment, and Figure 4 is a comparative example of artificial snow. FIG. 5 is a schematic front view showing the manufacturing apparatus, and is a diagram showing snow accumulated in the artificial snow generating chamber by the apparatus of the comparative example. 1...Artificial snow generation room, 1a...1 upper wall, 1b...1
one side wall, 1c...the opposing wall of 1b, 1d...the bottom wall of 1, 2...liquid spraying means, 3...liquefied gas injection nozzle,
3a, 3b...ring-shaped injection nozzle, 4...liquid supply line, 5...liquid supply source, 6...liquefied gas supply line,
8...Liquefied gas supply source, 10...Water withdrawal nozzle, 12...
Pressure pump, 14...flow rate adjustment valve, A...center axis of 3a, B...center axis of 3b.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A liquid spraying means 2 and a liquefied gas injection nozzle 3 are provided in the artificial snow generating chamber 1, and the liquid spraying means 2 is connected to a liquid supply source 5 via a liquid supply line 4, and the liquefied gas supply line 6, connect the liquefied gas injection nozzle 3 to the liquefied gas supply source 8, direct the liquefied gas injection nozzle 3 into the artificial snow generation chamber 1 so that the liquefied gas immediately after injection is removed from the liquid spraying means 2, In the artificial snow making device in which snow is generated by bringing a liquid mist that is sprayed into the artificial snow generating chamber 1 by the spraying means 2 and naturally falls into contact with the liquefied gas injected from the liquefied gas injection nozzle 3, the above-mentioned The liquefied gas injection nozzle 3 is composed of two ring-shaped injection nozzles 3a and 3b, one nozzle 3a is placed above the artificial snow generating chamber 1, and the other nozzle 3b is placed in the middle of the artificial snow generating chamber 1. The injection port of the upper ring-shaped injection nozzle 3a is oriented diagonally downward toward the center axis A of the ring, and the upper ring-shaped injection nozzle 3a is located at a position along the center axis A at the upper side approaching the ring-shaped injection nozzle 3a. liquid spraying means 2
An artificial snow making device characterized in that a liquid withdrawal nozzle 10 is arranged, and the injection port of the lower ring-shaped injection nozzle 3b is directed diagonally upward toward the central axis B of the ring. 2. The liquid spraying means 2 includes a liquid withdrawal nozzle 10 connected to one end of the liquid supply line 4, and a pressure pump 12 and a flow rate adjustment valve 14 interposed in the middle of the line 4.
An artificial snow making device according to claim 1, characterized in that it is comprised of: 3. The artificial snow making device according to claim 1, wherein the liquid spraying means 2 is an ultrasonic mist generator. 4. The artificial snow making device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the liquefied gas is liquefied nitrogen, liquefied argon, liquefied carbon dioxide, or liquid air. 5. The artificial snow making device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the liquid stored in the liquid supply source 5 is water, fruit juice, or the like.