JP6978063B2 - Snow erasing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a snow-melting device.

The work of removing snow from the roof is a dangerous work because a worker may fall down. Conventionally, in paved roads and parking lots in snowy countries, a groundwater sprinkling method has been used to extinguish snow by sprinkling groundwater (see Patent Document 1). However, when the road and the parking lot are unpaved, there is a problem that the effect of snow removal is weak because the water does not spread on the ground surface even if water is sprinkled and the snow remains as spots.

There are two patterns of sprinkling timing by the conventional groundwater sprinkling method: (a) sprinkling water from the initial stage of snowfall, and (b) sprinkling water after snowfall. Since snow does not accumulate when water is sprinkled from the beginning of snowfall, method (a) is used for public roads and 24-hour parking lots. On the other hand, in the case of method (a), it is necessary to sprinkle a large amount of water at once so as to clear the snow in a short time before using the parking lot, etc., and it has a high ability to pump up a lot of groundwater at once. A pump is required. Since both of them are sprinkled with water, wet road surfaces or puddles remain for a while even after the snow has disappeared, and when the temperature is low, they become ice burns or skating rinks, which has become a new risk factor.

As long as there is no extreme unevenness on the road surface, the water sprinkled on the pavement will soak into the rough surface and spread evenly, so a surface snow-melting effect can be expected. However, when the conventional watering method is applied to a sheet metal roof such as a galvanized iron roof, the surface of the sheet metal roof is smooth and the sprinkled water does not spread on the surface and flows as a line. Therefore, a sufficient snow-melting effect cannot be expected, and it is necessary to use a watering nozzle that spreads over the surface. In order for the watering nozzle to have sufficient surface spread, a certain amount of strong water pressure and a large amount of water are required.

In the case of the sprinkling method, if the amount of water to be sprinkled is insufficient and the snow remains on the roof, the remaining snow becomes snow containing a large amount of water, freezes as the temperature drops at night, and the amount of heat for melting the ice is added. It became a lump of snow and ice that was difficult to erase. Since the snow and ice mass contains a large amount of water, its weight may cause deformation and breakage of the pillars or beams that support the roof, which may cause great damage to the house. Therefore, a sufficient amount of groundwater and the ability of a pump to pump it were required to ensure that all snow on the roof was erased once it was sprinkled. On the other hand, most of the groundwater used for sprinkling contains metals such as iron and salt, and these components may color sheet metal such as galvanized iron or accelerate the progress of corrosion such as rust, and sprinkle directly on the sheet metal roof. That is not desirable.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-9581

On one side, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device for removing snow accumulated on a sheet metal roof at a low cost without directly sprinkling water on the roof.

According to one form, it is a snow-melting device for removing snow accumulated on a sheet metal roof, a snow-melting pipe installed in close contact with the sheet metal of the sheet metal roof, and a pump for flowing hot water through the snow-melting pipe. The snow-melting pipe warmed by the hot water flowing through the snow-melting pipe and the radiant heat of the sheet metal are configured to extinguish the snow accumulated on the sheet metal roof, and the hot water is groundwater pumped from the underground by the pump. Further, a flow rate adjusting valve that adjusts the flow rate of the groundwater flowing through the snow-melting pipe and a collecting valve that is connected to the downstream end of the snow-melting pipe to collect hot water flowing out of the snow-melting pipe. A snow-melting device including a pipe and a water level adjusting valve attached to the collecting pipe and adjusting the amount of the hot water flowing out from the snow-melting pipe to adjust the water level of the hot water in the snow-melting pipe. Is provided.

A snow-melting device capable of removing snow at low cost without directly sprinkling water on the sheet metal roof is provided.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the snow-melting apparatus to be disclosed. It is a figure which shows the state which a part of the accumulated snow is snow-melted by the snow-melting apparatus, (a) is a perspective view, (b) is a cross-sectional view along line BB of (a). It is a figure which shows the structure of the 2nd Embodiment of a snow-melting device. It is a figure which shows the structure of the 3rd Embodiment of a snow-melting device. It is a figure which shows the structure of the 4th Embodiment of a snow-melting device.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, based on specific examples. Further, in the following embodiments, the same or similar elements are designated by a common reference numeral, and the scales of these drawings are appropriately changed in order to facilitate understanding.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a snow-melting device 10 of the present embodiment, and shows a state in which the snow-melting device 10 is installed in a building having a tin roof 1. The snow-melting device 10 is a device for removing snow accumulated on the tin roof 1. The snow-melting device 10 is arranged in close contact with the galvanized iron roof 1 (an example of a sheet metal roof) and the tin 3 (an example of a sheet metal) so that the groundwater flows through the plurality of snow-melting pipes 11 through which the groundwater flows and the snow-melting pipes 11. , A pump 13 for pumping up groundwater is provided. The snow-melting device 10 is connected to the upstream end 11a of the snow-melting pipe 11 and collects the distribution pipe 12 that distributes the pumped groundwater to the snow-melting pipe 11 and the groundwater discharged from the snow-melting pipe 11. Equipped with a collection pipe. The distribution pipe 12 is provided with a flow rate adjusting valve 22 for adjusting the flow rate. The collecting pipe 14 is provided with a water level adjusting valve 15 for adjusting the water level in the snow-melting pipe 11.

A water channel branching device 21 is installed in the distribution pipe 12, and the groundwater pumped from the pump 13 flows to the in-house pipe 23 as needed. The distribution pipe 12 is provided with an anti-freezing relief valve 36 for preventing anti-freezing. Further, the groundwater is pumped from the well dug from the ground surface 31 to the groundwater level 30 by the pump 13 and flows through the distribution pipe 12 in the direction of arrow A in FIG.

The groundwater pumped by the pump 13 is pumped up to the ridge of the tin roof 1 by the distribution pipe 12. A part of the distribution pipe 12 is arranged along the ridge and is connected to the formed hole 12b and the upstream end 11a of the plurality of snow-melting pipes 11 (see FIGS. 2A and 2B). The pumped groundwater is branched. The snow-melting pipe 11 is a flexible stainless steel pipe, and is arranged in close contact with the galvanized iron 3 so as to meander as shown in FIG. The snow pipe 11 is connected to a collection pipe 14 provided along the eaves of the tin roof 1 at the downstream end portion 11b. The groundwater flowing through the snow-melting pipe 11 is collected by the collection pipe 14 and is indicated by an arrow. It flows in the B direction.

The snow-melting pipe 11 is made of a flexible material having a relatively high thermal conductivity. As shown in FIG. 2A, groundwater (usually a temperature of 13 to 15 degrees in both summer and winter) flows into the snow-melting pipe 11 to indirectly warm the snow-melting pipe 11 and galvanized iron 3. The radiant heat (arrow C in FIG. 2B) extinguishes the snow in the portion in contact with the snow-melting pipe 11 and the galvanized iron 3. In this snow-melting method, the more fresh snow is piled up on the upper part, the higher the temperature of the snow-melting pipe 11 and the galvanized iron 3 is to the temperature of the groundwater due to the heat-retaining effect of the snow. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), the old snow that is usually the most compressed and heavier is melted first. Since there are no heavy parts, the risk of the roof being overloaded by the weight of the snow is reduced. Therefore, although it is snowy, the snow does not remain on the tin roof 1 to the extent that it is necessary to remove the snow. In the watering method, it is necessary to remove all the snow accumulated on the tin roof 1, but by removing the snow to the extent that it is not necessary to remove the snow, a large amount of groundwater is not required. Since the amount of water per unit time is small, it is possible to remove snow at low cost. Further, unlike the watering method in which a large amount of groundwater is pumped up to remove snow, the excavation depth of the groundwater may be shallow, and the capacity of the pump for pumping up the groundwater may be relatively low.

In the snow-melting device 10 shown in FIG. 1, the user adjusts the flow rate of groundwater flowing through the snow-melting pipe 11 by the flow rate adjusting valve 22. The distribution pipe 12 and the upstream end 11a of the snow-melting pipe 11 are connected with a gap so that outside air can be taken in from the upstream end 11a (see FIG. 2B). Further, the downstream end portion 11b of the snow-melting pipe 11 and the collecting pipe 14 are hermetically connected to each other. This allows the user to adjust the water level in the snow-melting pipe 11 (for example, the water levels 15a and 15b in FIG. 1) by using the water level adjusting valve 15. By filling the inside of the snow-melting pipe 11 with groundwater, the heat energy of the groundwater can be transferred to the entire snow-melting pipe 11, and the amount of heat transferred to the totan roof 1 and the snow can be optimized and made efficient.

A temperature sensor 34 is further provided in the collecting pipe 14 of the snow-melting device 10, and the user can adjust the flow rate of the groundwater flowing through the snow-melting pipe 11 while checking the temperature of the groundwater discharged from the snow-melting pipe 11. good. Further, when the snow-melting pipe 11 and the galvanized iron 3 are warmed up, the temperature of the groundwater flowing out of the snow-melting pipe is infinitely close to the temperature of the groundwater before being pumped. In such a case, adjust the flow rate of the discharged groundwater and the flow rate of the pumped groundwater to be substantially equal to each other.

The groundwater used for snow removal may be returned to the groundwater via a collection pipe 14 and a permeation box or the like. Since the pumped groundwater is simply returned through the collection pipe 14 without being sprinkled to the outside, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of land subsidence by pumping the groundwater excessively. The groundwater discharged from the collection pipe 14 may be used to sprinkle snow on the snow accumulated in a parking lot or the like to remove the snow.

The snow-melting device 10 according to the present embodiment targets the galvanized iron roof 1 on which the galvanized iron 3 is arranged, but is not limited to the galvanized iron roof 1 and is installed on a roof made of other sheet metal or steel plate as long as it is a metal plate having good heat transfer. May be done.

The flow rate adjustment of the groundwater flowing in the snow-melting pipe 11 of the snow-melting device 10 shown in FIG. 1 may be automated. FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the snow extinguishing device 10a that automatically adjusts the flow rate of groundwater. Similar to the snow-melting device 10 shown in FIG. 1, the snow-melting device 10a includes a snow-melting pipe 11, a distribution pipe 12, and a collecting pipe 14 that are in close contact with the tin 3 of the tin roof 1. The groundwater is pumped up by the pump 13 for pumping, and the groundwater is flowed to the snow-melting pipe 11 via the distribution pipe 12. Further, in order to automate the adjustment of the flow rate of the groundwater, a temperature sensor 34 for measuring the temperature of the groundwater discharged from the snow-melting pipe and a snow cover detection device 17 for measuring the state of the snow cover are provided. The snow-melting device 10a includes a control device 16 that controls the flow rate adjusting valve 22 by processing based on the temperature information and the snow-covered detection information received from the temperature sensor 34 and the snow-covered detection device 17.

The snow cover detection device 17 is a device that detects snow cover using infrared rays. For example, by radiating infrared rays in parallel with the ridge, it is detected whether or not snow is accumulated on the tin roof 1. The snow cover detection device 17 and the control device 16 are connected by a wired or wireless device, and when snow cover is detected by the snow cover detection device 17, the detection result is sent to the snow cover detection unit 18 of the control device 16. When the snow cover detection unit 18 receives the snow cover information, the control device 16 processes the snow cover 19 and sends a control signal to control the flow rate adjusting valve 22. When snow cover is not detected, the flow of groundwater is stopped, and the pumping of groundwater by the pump 13 is stopped. Further, the control device 16 controls the water level adjusting valve 15 and opens the water level adjusting valve 15 to discharge all the groundwater in the snow-melting pipe 11.

The temperature sensor 34 measures the temperature of the groundwater flowing out of the snow-melting pipe 11 and collected. The temperature sensor 34 and the control device 16 are connected by wire or wirelessly by a wireless device, and the measurement result is sent to the control device 16. The control device 16 receives the temperature information by the temperature detecting unit 35, and the processing unit 19 processes the temperature information to send the flow rate control signal to the flow rate adjusting valve 22. For example, if the temperature of the groundwater that is the source and the measured temperature of the groundwater are substantially equal, the flow of the groundwater to the snow-melting pipe 11 is stopped.

FIG. 4 shows a snow-melting device 10b according to a third embodiment of the present invention. The snow-melting devices 10a and 10b shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 pumped up groundwater and sent hot water to the snow-melting pipe 11, but the snow-melting device 10b shown in FIG. 4 installed a solar water heater 33 using solar heat. Then, the warmed water is configured to circulate the snow-melting pipe 40 by the inverter pump 37. The hot water circulating in the snow-melting pipe 40 is preferably antifreeze. The snow-melting pipe 40 is in close contact with the galvanized iron 3 as in FIG. 1, and the snow-melting pipe 40 and the galvanized iron 3 are warmed by the antifreeze liquid heated by the solar water heater 33, from the snow-melting pipe 40 and the galvanized iron 3. The radiant heat of the galvanized iron erases the snow. Since only the antifreeze liquid passing through the snow-melting pipe 40 is circulated, groundwater is not used, and the capacity of the inverter pump 37 can be smaller than that of the pump used in the conventional sprinkling method. Further, since the solar water heater 33 is used as the heat source, snow can be extinguished at low cost.

The control of the inverter pump 37 may be directly performed by the user depending on the snow accumulation situation, but as shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of snow accumulation detection devices 17 are attached to the tin roof 1 and are controlled by the control device 16. The flow velocity or the like may be adjusted automatically. The control device 16 and the snow cover detection device 17 are connected by wire or wirelessly, and the inverter pump 37 is controlled by a flow rate control signal from the control device 16. When snow is detected by the snow detection device 17, the snow detection unit 18 of the control device 16 receives the signal and is processed by the processing unit 19, and the control device 16 sends a control signal to operate the inverter pump to operate the antifreeze liquid. The circulation is started. In this way, the snow extinguishing device 10b can be automatically operated depending on the snow accumulation situation.

FIG. 5 shows a snow-melting device 10c according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. The snow-melting device 10b shown in FIG. 4 warms the hot water passing through the snow-melting pipe 40 by a solar water heater 33 using solar heat, but the snow-melting device 10c shown in FIG. 5 circulates using geothermal heat. I am warming the hot water. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the snow-melting pipe 41 is extended to the heat exchanger 38 installed below the groundwater level 30 below the ground surface 31 to form hot water in the snow-melting pipe 41. Exchange heat with groundwater. It is possible to heat the circulating hot water regardless of the weather conditions. In the case of the snow-melting device 10c, the snow-melting pipe 41 of 42 from the ground surface to the tin roof 1 is covered with a heat insulating material or uses a material that is difficult to dissipate heat in order to prevent heat dissipation. It is desirable to do. The hot water flowing through the snow-melting pipe 41 is circulated by the inverter pump 37. Antifreeze is desirable for hot water, and it is circulated at a low speed to prevent freezing in winter. In this case, an antifreeze filling valve 32 for filling the antifreeze pipe 41 with the antifreeze liquid is provided.

Further, similarly to the snow-melting device 10b shown in FIG. 4, a snow-covered detection device 17 may be provided on the tin roof 1 and the inverter pump 37 may be controlled by the control device 16 depending on the snow-covered state. After the snow cover detection device 17 detects that the tin roof 1 is covered with snow, the snow cover detection unit 18 of the control device 16 receives the detection signal and processes it by the processing unit 19. When there is snow, the control device 16 sends a control signal to the inverter pump 37 to operate the inverter pump 37, and the antifreeze liquid circulates in the snow-melting pipe 41 to start snow-melting.

Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, the present application is not limited to these embodiments.

1 Sheet metal roof 2 Snow 3 Totan 10, 10a, 10b, 10c Snow-melting device 11, 40, 41 Snow-melting pipe 12 Distribution pipe 13 Pumping pump 14 Collection pipe 15 Water level adjustment valve 16 Control device 17 Snow-covering device 18 Snow-covering Detection unit 19 Processing unit 21 Waterway branching device 22 Flow control valve 23 Domestic pipe 30 Ground water level 31 Ground surface 32 Antifreeze liquid filling valve 33 Solar heat heater 34 Temperature sensor 35 Temperature detection unit 36 Antifreeze valve 37 Inverter pump 38 Heat exchanger

Claims (4)

It is a snow-melting device that erases the snow that has accumulated on the sheet metal roof.
It is equipped with a snow-melting pipe installed in close contact with the sheet metal of the sheet metal roof and a pump for flowing hot water through the snow-melting pipe.
It is configured to extinguish the snow accumulated on the sheet metal roof by the radiant heat of the snow extinguishing pipe and the sheet metal heated by the hot water flowing through the snow extinguishing pipe.
The hot water is groundwater pumped from underground by the pump.
Moreover,
A flow rate adjusting valve that adjusts the flow rate of the groundwater flowing through the snow-melting pipe,
A collection pipe connected to the downstream end of the snow-melting pipe to collect hot water flowing out of the snow-melting pipe,
A snow-melting device provided with a water level adjusting valve attached to the collecting pipe and adjusting the amount of the hot water flowing out of the snow-melting pipe to adjust the water level of the hot water in the snow-melting pipe. The snow-melting device according to claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor provided on the collecting pipe and measuring the temperature of the hot water flowing out of the snow-melting pipe. The snow-melting device according to claim 2 , further comprising a control device that receives temperature information from the temperature sensor and controls the flow rate of hot water flowing through the water level adjusting valve according to the temperature information. Furthermore, it is equipped with a snow cover detection device that detects the snow that has accumulated on the sheet metal roof.
The snow extinguishing device according to claim 3 , wherein the control device controls the flow rate through which the flow rate adjusting valve flows in response to a detection signal from the snow cover detection device.

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