JP3907925B2 - Marking device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a marking device for preventing a snow flake from falling on a sign board such as a visual guidance sign or a road sign board.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Various facilities for preventing snow accretion have been used for facilities attached to roads, especially for traffic safety facilities, where visibility may be hindered when snow falls on the surface such as gaze guidance signs and road sign boards. Measures have been taken. That is, conventionally, as a marking device for preventing this kind of snow accretion, a thermal plate is attached to the back surface of the marker plate to warm the marker plate itself, or a transparent thermal glass is fitted to the marker plate surface, There is one that can melt the snowflakes that have landed on the surface each time so that the contents of the markings can always be visually recognized. In addition, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-310316 proposed by the present applicant, the marking surface provided on the front surface of the sign plate body is inclined obliquely downward with respect to the vertical surface, and the upper portion of the marking surface. On the front side, there is one in which at least an inner surface protrudes from a flange portion that is inclined obliquely downward with respect to the marking surface. In other words, when snow blows on the sign board surface, the snowflakes will flow along with the wind along the sign board in a forward leaning posture, so it will not snow on the sign surface, and snow that falls gently when there is no wind or little wind It accumulates on the buttocks and does not adhere to the sign surface, but flows down in the back direction of the sign plate. On the other hand, some surface properties such as a sign board and a line-of-sight guide are subjected to a water repellent treatment so that they do not snow easily and can be easily removed even when snow falls.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the means for melting snow using a hot plate as described above not only increases the power consumption and the maintenance cost due to the large electric capacity, but also the surface of the sign plate is deformed or recursed by heat. There is a possibility of impairing reflectivity. Furthermore, since the water melted by the hot plate freezes again below the sign plate and becomes an icicle, obstacles due to weight and falling of the icicle become a problem again. Thermal glass or the like attached to the surface of a sign board or the like may lose transparency due to repeated melting of snow and deteriorate visibility. In addition, means such as tilting the sign board forward to make it easier for the wind to flow on the marking surface and avoiding snowfall are angled downward so that the wind blowing down from the front does not get stuck in the marking surface. However, if the wind direction changes and a blowing wind that is almost perpendicular to the marking surface may be blown, a stagnation point will be created on the marking surface, and the snowflake will be attached to the marking surface at that time. I will. As described above, there is a fear that snow may arrive due to the wind direction of the snowflakes, and the snowflakes that have once landed on the marking surface may gradually widen the snow coverage area and cover the marking surface. Furthermore, even if the marking surface is subjected to water repellent treatment, the effect of preventing snow accretion is high at the initial stage, but as dust or exhaust gas adheres to the marking surface, the effect tends to gradually decline. Therefore, there is a problem that the water repellent effect cannot be sustained.
[0004]
Accordingly, the present invention is intended to solve the above-described problems, and to provide a marking device that can efficiently prevent snowfall with a low maintenance cost without generating an ice column.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows. That is, the marking device according to the present invention includes a marking plate, a nozzle that blows air on the surface of the marking plate, a blower that supplies air to the nozzle, and an electric device that drives the blower, and is supplied by the blower. The nozzle is attached to the tip of a hood that sends the air blown from the blower outlet to the surface of the marking plate substantially uniformly. It is characterized by this. The nozzle may be attached to at least a part of the outer periphery of the sign plate so as to blow snow about to fall on the sign plate just before adhering to the sign plate surface. In other words, it is effective that the nozzle is set at an angle such that air slides on the surface of the marking plate, and the nozzle is made to blow with force by converging the nozzle outlet.
[0006]
The blower may include at least a sensor for detecting snowfall, and the power of the blower may be turned on / off based on data detected from the sensor. This blower does not need to constantly blow out the same air volume, and if it starts to blow air automatically from the nozzle only during snowfall, such as when a snowfall sensor detects it when it starts to snow, Blower durability is improved and maintenance costs are saved. Further, a sensor for detecting the wind speed and the wind direction may be attached, and an adjustment mechanism for automatically adjusting the air injection amount from the nozzle in accordance with data such as the wind speed may be provided.
[0007]
The sign board may be a retroreflective board such as a road sign board or a gaze guidance mark. This retroreflector is an important facility that receives the light from the car and retroreflects it so that the driver knows the road conditions. Therefore, it keeps visibility especially during snowfall that is likely to cause traffic problems. Is effective.
[0008]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Next, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 is a front view (b) and a top view (b) showing an embodiment of the marking device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view showing another embodiment of the marking device of the present invention. is there. FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between the wind speed of snowflakes sprayed on the retroreflective plate and the nozzle spray wind speed.
[0009]
In FIG. 1, a blower 2 is installed in the vicinity of the retroreflective plate 1, and a hood 3 is formed to send the air blown from the blower outlet of the blower 2 to the front surface of the retroreflective plate substantially uniformly. The nozzle 4 is attached to the tip of the nozzle, and the tip of the nozzle is fixed so as to be positioned on the front side of the side of the retroreflective plate 1. The nozzle 4 is directed at such an angle that the wind blown from the nozzle blows off the surface of the retroreflective plate, and the nozzle tip is converged so that the wind blows out vigorously.
[0010]
The retroreflective plate 1 is a retroreflective plate mainly used in an automatic toll collection system installed at an expressway exit or the like. The retroreflective plate 1 has a plurality of prisms 11 arranged in a row. Reflecting performance is improved, and the retroreflecting plate is erected on one side of the road side, and a light emitting unit that emits a light beam on the road side on the opposite side of the road opposite to the retroreflecting plate, and the light beam Is installed together with a light receiving unit that receives reflected light reflected by the retroreflector, and detects a vehicle passing through a road by shielding the light beam. Therefore, if snowflakes or the like adhere to the surface of the retroreflective plate, the light beam will not normally be retroreflected and will be mistaken, so air that blows off the snowflakes falling on the retroreflective plate of the present invention. Is generated on the retroreflecting plate surface to prevent snow accretion. In addition, when air flows on the surface of the retroreflective plate, no condensation occurs, so that normal reflection performance can always be ensured.
[0011]
FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the marking device of the present invention, in which the nozzle 4 extends along the upper part of the road sign board 5 and the left and right sides so that the wind can be blown uniformly on the surface of the road sign board 5. The nozzle 4 is connected to the pipe 6 and connected to the blower 2. Since the road sign plate 5 has a large area, the air blown from the nozzle 4 does not easily reach the center. Therefore, in order to make the wind flow at the center of the road sign plate 5 smoother, at least the left and right nozzle angles are set to the road sign. In addition to the idea of turning to 30 degrees below the center of the plate, by setting the blower capacity high in consideration of the blown air velocity of the nozzle, the falling snowflakes are blown off on the air blown from the nozzles, so that the snow does not reach. ing.
[0012]
If the blower 2 is heavy and large, the blower 2 does not necessarily have to be installed in the vicinity of a sign board such as a line-of-sight guide sign or a road sign board. If it is installed, the blower is installed on the road or the back of the road sign board and guided by piping, and several measures such as branching near the nozzle and connecting directly to the nozzle are made, and the air volume is evenly distributed. It may be made to send.
[0013]
Next, an experiment for preventing adhesion to the retroreflecting plate will be described. FIG. 3 is a graph showing the results of an experiment on the relationship between the wind speed of snowflakes sprayed on the retroreflective plate and the nozzle jet wind speed at which the snowflakes are blown away from the retroreflective plate against the wind speed. The marking device which is one embodiment was installed outdoors, and the wind speed of air blown from the nozzle was changed while measuring the wind speed blown by the snowflakes, and whether or not the snowflakes adhered to the retroreflective plate was observed. The vertical axis of the graph represents the wind speed during snowfall, the horizontal axis represents the air blowing speed of the retroreflective plate, and the relationship of not snowing was plotted to draw a relationship line. According to this experimental result, it can be seen that there is a certain relationship between the wind speed during snowfall and the jet wind speed of the nozzle. For example, when the wind speed during snowfall is 4.5 m / sec, the retro-reflecting plate surface air jet speed is 13 m / sec or more, no snow is reached, and when the wind speed is 3.5 m / sec, the air jet speed is 5 m / sec. This is necessary, and it is understood that the air ejection speed needs to be increased at an accelerated rate as the wind speed increases.
[0014]
If the wind speed at the time of snowfall is 4.5 m / sec or less, the air jet wind speed may be narrowed down each time along the relationship line of the graph. However, in normal snowfall, it is within the above wind speed range. Therefore, if the air volume of the blower is determined with the air blowing speed of 13 m / sec as the maximum fixed value, it is possible to prevent snow from accumulating. A snowfall sensor may be attached and automatically controlled so that the blower is driven only during snowfall. In this snowfall sensor, for example, an optical snowflake or the like is used to detect snowflakes in the air and the signal is linked with the blower. Furthermore, if an anemometer and an anemometer are installed in the vicinity and measured, and the blower blowout amount adapted to the wind speed is automatically adjusted based on the data in the above graph, snowflakes can be blown out efficiently, maintaining the maintenance cost. It will also save you.
[0015]
【The invention's effect】
By detecting the falling snow and driving the blower and blowing wind on the surface of the sign body, it prevents the snow falling on the sign body from adhering, so the sign body does not deteriorate visibility and uses a heat source Because there is no snow, the snow melts and icicles do not occur. In addition, since there is no heat source with a large electric capacity and the pro-rear is driven only during snowfall, the power consumption is low and the maintenance cost can be reduced. Furthermore, by attaching a sensor for detecting the wind speed and direction, the air volume can be automatically adjusted according to the wind speed so as to prevent the snow from landing by increasing or decreasing the pro-re, so that snow can be prevented more efficiently.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a marking device according to the present invention, in which (A) is a front view and (B) is a top view.
FIG. 2 is a front view showing another embodiment of the marking device according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a graph obtained by experiments showing the relationship between the wind speed of snowflakes sprayed on the retroreflecting plate and the nozzle jet wind speed.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Retroreflecting plate 11 Prism 2 Blower 3 Hood 4 Nozzle 5 Road sign board 6 Piping a Air

Claims (4)

A marking plate, a nozzle that blows air on the surface of the marking plate, a blower that supplies air to the nozzle, and a power supply device that drives the blower. And the nozzle is attached to the tip of a hood that sends the air blown from the blower outlet substantially uniformly to the surface of the marking plate .  The marking device according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle is attached to at least a part of an outer periphery of the marking plate.  The indication device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the blower has at least a sensor for detecting snowfall, and the power to the blower is turned on and off based on data detected from the sensor.  The said marking board is a retroreflection board, The marking apparatus of any one of Claims 1-3 characterized by the above-mentioned.

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