JP3110718B2 - Snow machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a snowfall machine for dropping snow (not natural snow but artificial snow) at a ski resort or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional snowfall machines are roughly classified into a fan type and a snow gun type. Conventional fan type is "Fig. 14"
As shown in the figure, a blower fan 61 for blowing outside air from one opening side (right side in the figure) of the main body 60 through the other opening is provided in the center of the cylindrical main body 60. On the inner peripheral surface of the main body 60 on the side of the blowing direction from the blowing fan 61, a number of nozzles 62, 62,
62... Are provided.

[0003] In the fan-type snowfall machine, water particles sprayed from the nozzles 62, 62, 62... Together with the air pressure of a compressor or the like are partially formed into ice particles by the adiabatic expansion effect, and the blowing fan 61 is used. Scatter into the air,
Using the fine particles of the ice as nuclei, surrounding minute water droplets are attached and frozen to the nuclei in cold outside air to cause snowfall.

However, since the fan-type snowfall machine mainly uses natural cooling by cold outside air, the outside air temperature needs to be low below freezing point (usually, it is considered that -5 ° C or less is suitable). Snowfall is often affected by the weather. Especially in Japan, the operating conditions of this fan-type snowfall machine are often limited only during the cold night, and not only must snowfall work be performed at night,
In addition, there is a problem that it cannot be installed in a highly humid area, for example, in the Japan Sea side area.

Also, this type of fan type snowfall machine requires a large number of small-diameter nozzles 62, 62, 62..., Which not only increases the manufacturing cost of the entire apparatus but also increases the cost of each nozzle 62, 62, 62. .. Are complicated, and this nozzle 6
2, 62, 62,... Have a problem that the fluid friction is very large when water flows and the pressure loss is large, so that a high-head water pump is required and the running cost is increased. doing.

Therefore, recently, a relatively high outside air temperature (2 ° C.)
There is a long-awaited demand for a snowgun-type snowfall machine that can efficiently snowfall. As shown in FIG. 15, a conventional snowgun type snowfall machine branches one end of a nozzle body 10 into a bifurcated portion of a hydraulic pressure passage 11 and a pneumatic pressure passage 12. A pressure water supply hose (not shown) is connected to the air pressure supply path section 12 and a pressure air supply hose (not shown) connected to a discharge port of the air compressor.

It should be noted that the water pressure transmission path section 11 and the air pressure transmission path section 12
The converging portion is configured so as to narrow the discharge port of the air pressure transmission path section 12 to form an ejector 30c, to measure the uniform inflow of water, and to mix water and air.

When the mixture of water and air is injected from the injection port 20, the pressure of the compressed air (compressed fluid) is released, and the pressure in the nozzle is reduced to -40 at about 7 kg / cm ^2.
Adiabatic cooling to about ° C. Therefore, the sprayed water droplets are cooled and frozen, and become round ice crystals to obtain artificial snow.

However, the snowgun type snowfall machine described above
A large amount of high-pressure compressed air (large compressor) is required, and this method also requires a large number of compressors to install a large amount of compressed air, increasing initial costs and generating a large amount of power to operate the compressor. , The running cost increases.

[0010] Incidentally, in this type of conventional snow gun type snowfall machine, the efficiency used for adiabatic cooling of the energy of the compressed air is said to be about 2%, and most of the compressed air is used for spraying water droplets (ice particles). ) Is used to fly the distant, it is economically expensive, and it seems that the energy of the compressed air produced using electric power is inefficiently used, and there is a demand for further efficiency improvement. It is a strong one.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been researched and developed in view of the above-mentioned problems and needs, and makes it possible to easily obtain artificial snow with good snow quality even at a relatively high outside temperature. It is an object to provide a snowfall machine.

[0012]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a converging portion of a water pressure feeding path portion 11 and a pneumatic pressure feeding path portion 12 of a nozzle body 10 for jetting water and air to be fed and jetted together. The static mixer 30 is housed in the downstream portion, and the injection-side tip portion 10a of the nozzle body 10 is made to have substantially the same diameter as the nozzle body 10 or the diameter thereof is increased. The end plate 21 is closed, and the end plate 21 is provided with a technical means in which the injection port 20 is provided at a position eccentric from the center axis of the flow path of the nozzle body 10.

Conventionally, a snowgun type snowfall machine has been designed to freeze water droplets by adiabatic cooling of compressed air. However, the inventor of the present invention has eagerly observed the mechanism of freezing of water droplets of the artificial snowfall machine, and found that only a part of the water droplets are frozen by adiabatic cooling. That is, even if a low temperature range of about −40 ° C. is secured near the nozzle injection, the water droplet to be jetted passes through this low temperature range instantaneously. Therefore, it is almost impossible to freeze a large amount of water droplets by adiabatic cooling, and there has been a tendency in the past to use more compressed air than necessary to increase the freezing rate.

However, what is actually frozen by the adiabatic cooling is a part of the minute droplets of the sprayed water droplets, and after spraying, these fine ice particles become nuclei and are simultaneously sprayed near the nozzle. Water droplets are deposited around them and grow into ice particles of a predetermined size. This phenomenon is the same as the natural rainfall / snowfall mechanism.

Therefore, in the present invention, the conventional tendency to increase the adiabatic cooling power is questioned, the sprayed water droplets are made finer and uniform, and the ice cores which become the core of the snow are effectively obtained, The operation of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 10 in which an atmosphere in which artificial snow easily grows in the outside air is described. A flow (vector) along the inner surface of the end plate 21 indicated by an arrow P <b> 6 along the jet port 20 occurs. Therefore, the vector of the arrow P6 acts on the water droplet sprayed in the radial direction from the injection port 20, and a turbulent flow P7 is generated at the injection destination of the injection port 20, and the turbulent flow P7 is agitated, and the turbulent flow P7 generates An effect of improving the probability of contact and an effect of re-separating water droplets are exhibited.

In particular, the above-mentioned effect of improving the probability of contact is to bring the ice nucleus frozen by adiabatic cooling into contact with surrounding water droplets frequently, thereby exhibiting the effect of promoting the growth of ice particles (artificial snow).

If the water droplets are small, it is easy to cool, and the nucleus of the snow can be reliably obtained, and the minute water droplets that have not been frozen are also cooled to a low temperature, and adhere to the nuclei of the ice to grow the snow in the outside air. It has the effect of creating an atmosphere.

The present invention relates to a static mixer 30.
And an end plate 21 provided with an injection port 20 at an eccentric position.
Therefore, by jetting the gas-liquid mixed fluid sufficiently mixed in the cloudy state from the eccentric injection port 20, it is possible to exhibit a function of spraying sufficiently fine water droplets with a small amount of air pressure.

Next, a second aspect of the present invention is a nozzle body 10 for spraying water and air to be pumped from an injection port 20.
A large-diameter mixing chamber 31 is provided on the downstream side of the junction of the water pressure transmission path section 11 and the air pressure transmission path section 12, and an impingement plate 32 substantially matching the inner diameter of the nozzle body 10 is provided in the large-diameter mixing chamber 31. And the injection-side tip portion 10a of the nozzle body 10 is made substantially the same diameter as the nozzle body 10 or is enlarged, and the tip end of the ejection-side tip portion 10a is closed by an end plate 21,
The end plate 21 is provided with a non-circular injection port 20 whose opening dimension is larger in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction or in the vertical direction in the position eccentric from the center axis of the flow path of the nozzle body 10, The technical means provided in the inner periphery of the part 10a is provided.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the injection port 20 having a non-circular shape is provided at the eccentric position of the end plate 21.
0a.
Although it is a matter of course that it has an effect of promoting ice growth, the flow along the inner peripheral surface of the injection-side tip 10a and the flow along the above-described end plate 21 collide in a complicated manner, and the injection-side tip 10a It has the effect of increasing the turbulent flow P7 immediately after stirring and injection in the inside.

Next, a third aspect of the present invention relates to a nozzle body 10 for spraying water and air to be pumped from an injection port 20.
A large-diameter mixing chamber 31 is provided on the downstream side of the junction of the water pressure transmission path section 11 and the air pressure transmission path section 12, and an impingement plate 32 substantially matching the inner diameter of the nozzle body 10 is provided in the large-diameter mixing chamber 31. And the injection-side tip portion 10a of the nozzle body 10 is made substantially the same diameter as the nozzle body 10 or is enlarged, and the tip end of the ejection-side tip portion 10a is closed by an end plate 21,
The end plate 21 is provided with a non-circular injection port 20 whose opening dimension is larger in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction or in the vertical direction in the position eccentric from the center axis of the flow path of the nozzle body 10, A technical means is provided which is provided in contact with the inner periphery of the portion 10a, and is provided with a container-shaped outside air intake blocking cover 50 having an opening in the injection direction around the injection port 20.

Therefore, the present invention provides a large-diameter mixing chamber 31, a non-circular injection port 20 provided in the eccentric position of the end plate 21 at the inner periphery of the injection-side front end portion 10a, Since it has the cover 50, in addition to the function of “Claim 2”, as shown in FIG. 11, when the gas-liquid mixed fluid is injected from the injection port 20, the pressure is released and the adiabatic cooling is performed. A cryogenic region is generated in the vicinity of the cryogenic region. At this time, a large amount of outside air is introduced into the cryogenic region. In Japan, the outside air temperature is unlikely to be lower than -40 ° C in the low temperature area even in a cold area where there is a ski slope. Usually, the low temperature area is heated by taking in the outside air. Arrow P shown
It has an effect of blocking a part of the outside air introduction from the directions 8, 8 to prevent the heating accompanying the introduction of the outside air.

[0023]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a nozzle body which is a main part of the snowfall machine of the present invention. The nozzle body 10 has one end (the right end in the figure) branched into a bifurcated portion of a water pressure transmission path portion 11 and a pneumatic pressure transmission path portion 12. The passage 12 is connected to a pressure air supply hose (not shown) connected to the discharge port of the air compressor, as in the related art.

In the present invention, it is not necessary to particularly distinguish the hydraulic pressure transmission path 11 and the pneumatic pressure transmission path 12 from each other. Compressed air may be supplied to the transmission path 11 and water may be supplied to the air pressure transmission path 12 by pressure.

The present invention is directed to a water pressure feed path portion 11 of a nozzle body 10 for jetting water and air to be fed together.
The static mixer 30 is housed in a portion downstream of the junction of the air pressure and the air pressure passage section 12.

The static mixer 30 includes:
"FIG. 2" uses a twisting blade 30a, and a plate in which both ends in the direction of flow of the gas-liquid mixed fluid are twisted at 90 degrees or 180 degrees as one element, and one to several elements inside the nozzle body 10 or the like. It is housed in the fluid channel. In the present application, a method using this element is referred to as a “twisted wing method”.

The above-mentioned torsion blade type static mixer 30
The (twisted blade 30a) changes the gas-liquid mixed fluid flowing in the nozzle body 10 into a swirling flow and stirs it. It has been proved that the use of several elements has an almost satisfactory stirring effect. is there. However, the vane type static mixer 30 (twisted vane 30a) has a drawback of a large pressure loss and a tendency that air having a low specific gravity is gathered at the central portion in the downstream fluid flow direction due to the swirling flow.

When the gas-liquid mixed fluid in which large bubbles are collected at the center of the flow path as described above is ejected from the concentric ejection port 20, the droplet cannot be sufficiently divided, and the diameter of the spray droplet increases. . (Accurately, the diameters of the ejected droplets are mixed large and small.) In order to solve this, each twisted blade 3
Elements such as 0a, 30a, 30a,... Are installed separately, and a swirl flow blocking plate is installed, for example. However, such a device has increased the pressure loss.

On the other hand, the static mixer 30 shown in FIG. 3 is improved to prevent large bubbles from collecting at the center, and has a predetermined height along the inner peripheral surface of the nozzle body 10. The spiral plate 30b is attached, and the gas-liquid mixed fluid forms a spiral flow at the spiral plate 30b. Has little change in the flow velocity because there is no turning and there is no resistance.As a result, a vortex is generated at the part where the flow velocity is different, mixing occurs on the outer peripheral side and the center side, and large bubbles are generated at the center. It can mix gas and liquid that do not collect. In the present application, this method is referred to as a “ribbon screw method”.

Therefore, in the ribbon screw system, since there is no resistance at the central portion, the pressure loss can be greatly improved as compared with the twisted blade system. Although not shown, the ribbon screw system and an end plate 21 provided at a tip end of the nozzle body 10 on the injection side, which will be described later, and the injection port 20 is disposed at a position eccentric from the center axis of the flow path of the end plate 21. When used together with the "eccentric nozzle", more effective stirring can be performed.

The static mixer 30 in the example of FIG. 1 and the like further improves the pressure loss between the twisted blade method and the ribbon screw method.
A large-diameter mixing chamber 31 is provided on the downstream side of the junction of the water pressure channel 11 and the air pressure channel 12, and a collision plate 32 that substantially matches the inner diameter of the nozzle body 10 is accommodated in the large-diameter mixing chamber 31. It is made. In the present application, this method is referred to as a “collision plate method”.

Originally, the mixing device of the impingement plate type ensures mixing, but consumes a large amount of energy when the fluid collides with the impingement plate 32, and the pressure loss is higher than that of the twisting blade type or ribbon screw type. Have been. However, in the present invention, the pressure loss is skillfully reduced by housing the collision plate 32 in the large-diameter mixing chamber 31.

That is, when the gas-liquid mixed fluid collides with the collision plate 32 in the orthogonal direction, the collision energy at that time becomes considerably large depending on the collision speed. However, according to the present invention, the gas-liquid mixed fluid collides with the collision plate 32 and water and air are not mixed by reflection and scattering caused by the collision. In the illustrated example, a flow direction reversing function) and a stirring function by turbulent flow accompanying the flow direction conversion are obtained.

Therefore, by disposing the collision plate 32 in the enlarged mixing chamber 31 whose diameter is larger than that of the nozzle body 10, the diameter of the flow path can be increased without constricting the flow path diameter at that portion. In the mixing chamber 31, the flow path outside the peripheral wall 33 of the collision plate 32 is depressurized to smoothly change the flow direction with less pressure loss.

The collision plate 32 in the illustrated example is formed in a disk shape, and has a peripheral wall 33 protruding from an outer peripheral portion at a predetermined height in an upstream direction of the flow (to the right in the figure). Also, a large number of recesses 3 are formed on the upstream surface of the flow of the collision plate 32.
4, 34, 34,... Are provided. The collision plate 32 is connected by connecting plates 35, 35, 35... Radially connecting the outer peripheral surface of the peripheral wall 33 and the inner peripheral surface of the enlarged diameter mixing chamber 31. The collision plate 32 is fixed at a concentric position so as to be orthogonal to the flow of the gas-liquid mixed fluid.

The peripheral wall 33 reverses the flow direction of the gas-liquid mixed fluid and generates turbulent flow.
After the gas-liquid mixed fluid shown by the arrow P1 in FIG. 10 collides with the collision plate 32, it flows in a radial direction along the collision plate 32 shown by the arrow P2, and then reaches near the peripheral wall 33. In order to get over the peripheral wall 33, the flow in the countercurrent direction indicated by the arrow P3 is generated along the inner peripheral surface thereof, and the flow direction is temporarily reversed. It is accompanied by occurrence.

The impact plate 32 and the peripheral wall 33 are integrated with each other by forming the impact plate 32 into a curved surface having a center swelling in the flow direction (left side in the figure) instead of the flat disk shown in the drawing. It is also possible to consider it as having done.

The recesses 34, 34, 34,...
Is for further generating turbulent flow (vortex flow), and by forming a concave shape or the like, the flow colliding with the inner surface locally generates many small vortices, thereby further improving the gas-liquid mixing efficiency. Things.

The gas-liquid mixed fluid that has passed over the peripheral wall 33 is
As shown by the arrow P4 in FIG. 10, it passes between the outer peripheral surface of the peripheral wall 33 and the inner peripheral surface of the large-diameter mixing chamber 31 and merges on the back side (downstream side) of the collision plate 32 as shown by the arrow P5. I do. Therefore, the flow direction changes complicatedly in the large-diameter mixing chamber 31 to generate a vortex and a turbulent flow, so that gas-liquid is surely mixed.

The inlet and outlet of the enlarged-diameter mixing chamber 31 do not necessarily have to coincide with the inner diameter of the nozzle body 10. Is set to be larger than the cross-sectional area of the flow path of the nozzle body 10, so that the gas flow can be smoothly performed and the pressure loss due to the change of the flow direction and the generation of the vortex / turbulence can be smoothly performed. Has almost no pressure loss,
The gas-liquid can be surely mixed to such an extent that the cloudy state can be maintained for a long time.

In the present invention, any of the above-mentioned twisted blade type, ribbon screw type, and impingement plate type may be used for the static mixer 30. However, a mixer having a small pressure loss and good gas-liquid mixing efficiency is selected. Of course, it is desirable.

Then, the injection-side tip 10a of the nozzle body 10 is made substantially the same diameter as the nozzle body 10 or is enlarged, and the tip of the injection-side tip 10a is closed by an end plate 21. The plate 21 is provided with an injection port 20 at a position eccentric from the center axis of the flow path of the nozzle body 10.

In a conventional nozzle, the injection port is usually formed in a circular shape concentric with the center axis of the nozzle body (the center axis of the flow path), and a part of the nozzle injection port is formed into an oblong shape (also referred to as a cat-eye nozzle). In some cases, the spray fan area is increased. However, the present invention uses the above-mentioned injection port 20 not as a mere injection port, but uses the vicinity of the injection port 20 as a mixing device similar to the collision plate method, and the injection is not performed in the emission direction from the injection port 20 but in the direction of the radiation. A turbulent flow (referred to as “turbulent flow P7” in the present application) is generated in a region near the ejection of the injection port 20.

Therefore, in the present invention, the static mixer 30 may be omitted as shown in FIG. 7, but the static mixer 30 may be used in combination as shown in FIG. Absent. Then, the injection-side tip 1 of the nozzle body 10 that merges and injects the water and the air to be fed under pressure
The nozzle side 0a is made substantially the same diameter as the nozzle main body 10 or is enlarged (see FIG. 8; however, unlike the illustration, the injection side tip 10a itself may be eccentric), and this injection side is used. An end plate 21 is provided at the tip of the tip 10a.
Therefore, the water and the air to be fed are merged and collide with the end plate 21.

However, when the end plate 21 closes the injection-side tip portion 10a of the nozzle body 10, the water and air to be pumped cannot of course be jetted out. The injection port 20 is provided at a position eccentric from the axis.

The shape and number of the injection ports 20 are not particularly limited as long as they are eccentric positions of the end plate 21.
If an excessively large number of injection ports such as shower nozzles are provided on the end plate 21, the function as a collision plate and the generation of a large turbulent flow are eliminated, so that the number of injection ports 20 should be limited to one or several. Is desirable.

In the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, an arc-shaped notch is provided around the end plate 21.
Although the injection port 20 whose front shape is the cross-sectional shape of the convex lens is provided between the nozzle 20 and the periphery of the injection-side tip portion 10a of the nozzle body 10,
In addition, various types of the injection port 20 can be assumed as shown in FIG. FIG. 6 (A) shows a V-shaped notch provided at the periphery of the end plate 21 as the injection port 20, and FIG. 6 (B) shows an inverse at the periphery of the end plate 21 as the injection port 20. With trapezoidal notch, "Fig. 6"
(C) is a cutout of the peripheral portion of the end plate 21 in the chord direction as the injection port 20, and FIG. 6 (D) is provided with a pair of arc-shaped cutouts as the injection port 20 on the peripheral portion of the end plate 21. FIG. 6 (E) shows an example in which a vertically long oval hole is provided in the peripheral portion of the end plate 21 as the injection port 20. In these embodiments, as a result of experiments, efficient snowfall ( The amount of used compressed air can be reduced by half).

FIG. 6 (F) shows the end plate 2
The injection hole 20 of the circular window hole is provided at the eccentric portion of FIG.
(G) shows the injection hole 20 of the elliptical window hole at the peripheral eccentric position of the end plate 21, and FIG.
Are provided along the concentric circle portion with the center of the plurality of circular window holes.
Although the snowfall efficiency is slightly lower than that of "FIG. 6" (A) to (E), the compressed air can be reduced by about 20 to 50% as compared with the conventional snowfall machine.

When the end plate 21 is provided, the gas-liquid mixed fluid that has collided with the end plate 21 travels along the inner surface of the end plate 21 toward the injection port 20 as shown by an arrow P6 in FIG. Therefore, when the flow direction is changed, a turbulent flow is generated on the inner surface side of the end plate 21, and gas-liquid mixing is performed.

The flow toward the injection port 20 along the inner surface of the end plate 21 is different from the conventional concentric injection port in that the direction of the flow (the direction along the inner surface of the end plate 21) is still the same after injection. , And collided with other jets, as described above in FIG.
A turbulent flow P7 indicated by an arrow at "0" is generated, and intense collision and agitation of the minute droplets are performed. In particular, if the minute water droplets collide with the cooled minute water droplets in the adiabatic cooling area immediately after the jetting, the probability that ice particles grow together and adhere to each other is improved.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment in which the injection-side tip portion 10a of the nozzle body 10 is enlarged. By doing so, the diameter of the end plate 21 becomes large, and the injection port 20 can be largely eccentric. A turbulent flow P7 is obtained.

The end plate 21 is provided in a direction orthogonal to the central axis of the flow path of the nozzle body. However, as shown in FIGS. In this case, the end plate 21 may be inclined so that the upper portion protrudes in the ejection direction. When the end plate 21 is inclined as described above, the flow toward the injection port 20 indicated by the arrow P6 becomes easier to jet from the injection port 20 in a direction different from the normal injection direction, and the turbulent flow P
It strengthens 7.

In particular, in the example of FIG. 13 described above, the end plate 21 is not formed in the same plane, but has a cross-section "ku" at the upper part of the end plate 21 so that a part thereof swells in the injection direction. And a sub-injection port 2 in a direction along the inner surface of the inclined surface immediately above the bent portion.
0a is provided, and the main injection port 20 is provided above the sub injection port 20a.

Therefore, in the example of FIG. 13 described above, two jets having different jetting directions surely collide with each other, and immediately after jetting, minute water droplets collide violently.

Next, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the opening size of the injection port 20 is set at a position eccentric from the center axis of the flow path of the nozzle body 10 in the vertical direction in the horizontal direction or in the horizontal direction in the vertical direction. The enlarged non-circular injection port 20 is provided in contact with the inner periphery of the injection-side tip portion 10a.

That is, the larger the amount of eccentricity of the injection port 20, the greater the agitation ability on the inner surface side of the end plate 21, and the more easily the turbulent flow P7 immediately after injection. Therefore, in the present invention, in order to maximize the amount of eccentricity, the injection port 20 is provided so as to be inscribed in the inner periphery of the injection-side tip portion 10a.

The reason why the opening size of the injection port 20 is made larger in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction or in the vertical direction is larger than in the horizontal direction is to increase the size of the injection fan surface. Same as eye nozzle. By providing the non-circular injection port 20 at the eccentric position as described above, the direction of the water droplet ejected from the injection port 20 becomes a complicated direction, and the injected water droplet is stirred and collided immediately after the injection. It becomes. The non-circular injection port 20 has different jetting conditions in each part thereof, and jets are performed under locally complicated conditions to improve the mixing efficiency.

The non-circular shape of the injection port 20 may be the one shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 (A), (B), (C), (D) and (E). In the example of FIG. 9, the end plate 21 and the non-circular injection port 20 at the eccentric position are realized by a ball valve, and the rotatable ball 39 has the same diameter as the inner diameter of the nozzle body 10. Are drilled. Therefore, this ball 39
By rotating, the cross section of the opening can be made substantially the same shape as in FIG. Although not shown, a similar function can be obtained with a gate valve.

Reference numeral 37 in FIG. 9 denotes a drive source such as a motor. The drive source 37 rotates the ball 39 so that the opening cross-sectional area of the injection port 20 is adjusted depending on the weather or the like. It can be done.

Conventionally, the portion where the above-mentioned hydraulic transmission line section 11 and the pneumatic transmission line section 12 join together is
Although the ejector 30c is constructed by narrowing the discharge port of the ejector 30c (see FIG. 15), in the present invention, this portion is not a simple branching path, but instead is a water pressure transmission path section 11 and an air pressure transmission section 12 The above-mentioned static mixer 30 is housed in a portion downstream of the junction with the above.

That is, since the gas-liquid is more reliably mixed and the gas is a compressed gas, the injected gas-liquid mixed liquid is partially divided by the injection and further released into the atmosphere to reduce the pressure. Once released, the compressed air further separates the water and the water droplets into small water droplets. When the pressure of the compressed air is released, the surroundings are cooled by the adiabatic cooling action. 7Kg / c
Since a low temperature range of about −40 to −100 ° C. can be obtained by using compressed air of m ² , water droplets freeze in this low temperature range and artificial snow can be obtained.

The above-mentioned freezing of water droplets is carried out more smoothly and more reliably as the ambient temperature is lower and the water droplet particles are smaller. However, if the water droplets are too small, the frozen ice particles are easy to melt, and a certain size is required to descend to the surface as artificial snow.Conventionally, the water droplets are not made fine and the amount of compressed air is reduced. By increasing the temperature, the temperature in the low-temperature region is greatly reduced to an extremely low temperature, and an attempt is made to freeze water droplets of a predetermined size.

In contrast to the above-mentioned concept, the present invention makes the water droplets to be sprayed as fine as possible so that freezing can be performed even if the amount of compressed air used is small, and the non-circular injection port 20 at the eccentric position is jetted more. , Frozen fine particles,
Or, it is expected that ice (artificial snow) crystals will grow after spraying, with the ice particles and the low-temperature moisture cooled just before freezing coming into contact with and binding to the ice particles. If liquid mixing is performed reliably, the particles of the spray liquid will be finer, and even if the amount of compressed air used is reduced by half, if the outside air temperature is 2 ° C or less, the frozen fine ice particles will grow after spraying and a good quality artificial snow Is confirmed to be formed.

Next, a third aspect of the present invention provides a nozzle body 10 for spraying water and air to be pumped from an injection port 20.
A large-diameter mixing chamber 31 is provided on the downstream side of the junction of the water pressure transmission path section 11 and the air pressure transmission path section 12, and an impingement plate 32 substantially matching the inner diameter of the nozzle body 10 is provided in the large-diameter mixing chamber 31. Is the same as in Claim 2.

Then, the injection-side tip 10a of the nozzle body 10 is made substantially the same diameter as the nozzle body 10 or is enlarged, and the tip of the injection-side tip 10a is closed with an end plate 21. The plate 21 is provided with a non-circular injection port 20 whose opening dimension is larger in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction or in the vertical direction in the position eccentric from the center axis of the flow path of the nozzle body 10, and the injection side tip 10 a
Is inscribed on the inner periphery of the same as in claim 2.

Further, according to the present invention, a container-shaped outside air suction blocking cover 5 having an opening in the injection direction is provided around the injection port 20.
0 is provided. As shown in FIG. 11, the outside air intake cutoff cover 50 has a base end portion fixed to an appropriate fixing member such as an outer peripheral portion of the injection port 20 so as to open the injection direction.

Therefore, the outside air suction cutoff cover 50
Improves the efficiency of adiabatic cooling by partially preventing outside air from being taken in immediately after injection. Immediately after the injection where the flow velocity of the injection port 20 is the highest, the pressure decreases in inverse proportion to the flow velocity (Bernoulli's theorem). As a result, in a snow gun used for this type of snowfall machine, outside air having a volume ratio of water to be injected that is about twice as large as that of the water to be injected is taken in immediately after the injection from the injection port 20. Therefore, even if adiabatic cooling of -40 degrees is possible, in practice, much of it is offset by high-temperature outside air, and the cooling efficiency is reduced.

In view of this, the outside air suction cutoff cover 50 is used to define the injection range immediately after the injection within a possible range (a range in which the injection and the release of the pressurized air do not greatly affect the pressure). Therefore, the outside air intake blocking cover 50
Thus, the intake of outside air, which hinders adiabatic cooling, is suppressed, and the energy of compressed air can be efficiently used for cooling water droplets by adiabatic cooling.

[0069]

Since the present invention is as described above, the amount of compressed air to be used can be reduced by about 10 to 30% as compared with a conventional general snowgun, and in particular, the static mixer 30 or the collision plate 32 is used. In the present invention, the amount of compressed air to be used can be reduced by about 40 to 60%, and in particular, the static mixer 30 or the collision plate 32, the end plate 21, and the outside air suction cutoff cover 50 can be used in any combination. Then, the amount of compressed air to be used can be reduced by about 50 to 80% (all compared at an outside temperature of −2 ° C.), and a snowfall machine which is dramatically more efficient than a conventional snowfall machine can be provided. .

Further, according to the present invention, as a result of the experiment, the outside air temperature 2
Good snow quality snowfall is recognized even at ℃, and the amount of compressed air used is about 50 to 70% less than that of the conventional example, in other words, it is possible to make three times as much snow with the same amount of air used. It is therefore possible to provide a snowfall machine capable of snowfall at high temperature and high humidity, which is felt most necessary for many ski resorts.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing one embodiment of a collision plate used in a snowfall machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing one embodiment of a static mixer used in the snowfall machine of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing still another embodiment of the static mixer.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part, showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view of an injection port.

FIG. 6 is a front view of another available various jets.

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view of a main part, showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view of a main part, showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part, showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a vertical sectional view of a main part, showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a vertical sectional view of a main part, showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main part, showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a vertical sectional view of a main part, showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a conventional example.

FIG. 15 is a vertical sectional view of a main part of another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Nozzle main body 10a Injection-side tip part 11 Water pressure transmission path part 12 Air pressure transmission path part 20 Injection port 21 End plate 30 Static mixer 31 Large diameter mixing chamber 32 Collision plate 50 Outside air suction cover

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-7-198238 (JP, A) JP-A-6-64078 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) E01H 4 / 02 F25C 3/04

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A nozzle body (10) for joining and jetting water and air to be fed under pressure into a portion downstream of a junction of a water pressure sending path (11) and an air pressure sending path (12). A static mixer (30) is housed, and the injection-side tip (10a) of the nozzle body (10) is made to have substantially the same diameter as that of the nozzle body (10) or the diameter thereof is increased. ) To the end plate (2
A snowfall machine closed by 1), wherein the end plate (21) is provided with an injection port (20) at a position eccentric from the center axis of the flow path of the nozzle body (10). 2. An injection port (20) for pumping water and air to be pumped.
The nozzle body (10) that sprays more, the water pressure transmission path (1)
An enlarged mixing chamber (31) is provided downstream of the junction of 1) and the air pressure feed path section (12), and the diameter of the enlarged mixing chamber (31) substantially matches the inner diameter of the nozzle body (10). Impact plate (3
2) is housed, and the injection-side tip (10a) of the nozzle body (10) is made substantially the same diameter as the nozzle body (10) or is enlarged, and the tip of the injection-side tip (10a) is removed. End plate (2
The end plate (21) is closed at a position eccentric from the center axis of the flow path of the nozzle body (10), and the end plate (21) has a non-circular shape whose opening dimension is larger in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction or in the vertical direction from the horizontal direction. A snowfall machine in which an injection port (20) having a shape is provided so as to be inscribed in an inner periphery of an injection-side tip portion (10a). 3. An injection port (20) for pumping water and air.
The nozzle body (10) that sprays more, the water pressure transmission path (1)
An enlarged mixing chamber (31) is provided downstream of the junction of 1) and the air pressure feed path section (12), and the diameter of the enlarged mixing chamber (31) substantially matches the inner diameter of the nozzle body (10). Impact plate (3
2) is housed, and the injection-side tip (10a) of the nozzle body (10) is made substantially the same diameter as the nozzle body (10) or is enlarged, and the tip of the injection-side tip (10a) is removed. End plate (2
The end plate (21) is closed at a position eccentric from the center axis of the flow path of the nozzle body (10), and the end plate (21) has a non-circular shape whose opening dimension is larger in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction or in the vertical direction from the horizontal direction. An injection port (20) having a shape is provided in contact with the inner periphery of the injection-side tip portion (10a), and a container-shaped outside air suction cover (50) having an injection direction opened around the injection port (20). Snowfall machine.