JP7767379B2 - Air conditioning equipment, cooling towers and underground substations - Google Patents

Description

Embodiments of the present invention relate to air conditioning equipment, cooling towers, and underground substations.

Substations installed in urban areas are generally located underground, and are known as underground substations. These underground substations are important facilities for power transmission and distribution in urban areas, with the largest being 500kV-class facilities. Because these underground substations supply power to major urban institutions, their shutdown could cause major disruptions.

Here, a volcanic eruption that could have an impact on urban areas, such as ash fall, could cause major disruption if substation equipment were to shut down during an eruption of Mount Fuji. For this reason, measures to deal with a Mount Fuji eruption are being considered a major issue, with measures to deal with damage caused by ash fall resulting from the eruption being the main issue being considered.

An updated simulation of ashfall following a Mount Fuji eruption by the Cabinet Office's Central Disaster Prevention Council predicts that ash will reach the Tokyo metropolitan area two hours after the eruption, accumulating to a maximum depth of around 10 cm. The following three items are being considered as the main impact on power facilities:
(1) Thermal power generation equipment was shut down due to damage to the turbines. (2) Ash adhered to insulators and transformers in power transmission equipment, causing insulation to deteriorate and resulting in damage. (3) Damage to main power transmission and substation equipment due to lava flows, etc.

In the above issues to be considered, underground substations, which are the key to supplying electricity to the Tokyo metropolitan area, were excluded from consideration because the substation equipment is located underground and would not be affected by ashfall.

However, the cooling equipment at underground substations in urban areas uses rooftop cooling towers to cool the heat generated by transformers. Therefore, ashfall could render the cooling towers inoperable, potentially leading directly to substation shutdowns. Therefore, the same reliability as the three issues mentioned above is required for underground substations in urban areas as well.

JP 2015-142089 A

Cooling towers are designed to cool by drawing in outside air using a cooling fan, blowing it through a heat exchanger (cooler), and spraying water. When ash falls, volcanic ash enters the cooling tower through two points: the intake and exhaust ports. The ash adheres to the fins of the heat exchanger, preventing air from passing through the heat exchanger and significantly reducing cooling capacity. Furthermore, when the water is sprayed, ash can get inside the fins, not only rendering the cooling tower inoperable, but also hardening and solidifying the ash inside the fins, potentially causing corrosion and making it difficult to restore the cooling tower.

As a countermeasure against the intrusion of volcanic ash, installing filters at air intakes, etc., is one option. However, ashfall can occur at any time, so installing a filter at the cooling tower air intake on a permanent basis would result in a significant reduction in cooling capacity, as the amount of air sent to the cooling tower would decrease due to air pressure loss caused by the filter. Furthermore, permanently installing a filter at the air intake would also cause problems, such as hindering routine equipment maintenance and significantly increasing the amount of cleaning work required to unclog the filter.

Even though it is a disaster prevention measure, in a situation where it is impossible to predict when an ashfall will occur, permanently installing filters to protect against ashfall poses the above-mentioned problems, making installation a major issue. On the other hand, it is possible to install filters after a Mount Fuji eruption before volcanic ash reaches substations, but this could lead to further confusion due to ashfall halting transportation networks, making it difficult to secure personnel to work at substations, and it is anticipated that filters will not be installed in time for volcanic ashfall.

Furthermore, air conditioning equipment other than the cooling towers in the underground substations mentioned above also requires measures to protect against damage from volcanic ash fall in the event of a volcanic eruption. For example, air conditioning equipment in hospitals and data centers housing a large number of electronic devices also require measures to protect against damage from volcanic ash fall in the event of a volcanic eruption.

The present invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide air conditioning equipment, cooling towers, and underground substations that can maintain stable operation even when ash falls due to the eruption of a volcano such as Mount Fuji, without causing a significant decrease in cooling capacity under normal conditions.

The air conditioning equipment of one embodiment is an air conditioning equipment equipped with an air intake for introducing outside air into a building, and is equipped with a filter that can block volcanic ash and that detachably covers the air intake, a filter storage unit for storing the filter, and a moving mechanism for moving the filter in the filter storage unit to a position that covers the air intake, the filter being made up of multiple divided filters, the filter storage unit having a door pocket-like structure that houses the multiple filters inside and is arranged adjacent to the air intake, the moving mechanism having rails along which the filter moves when pulled out of the filter storage unit, and a sealing material is provided to prevent gaps from occurring between the multiple filters when they are moved to a position that covers the air intake .

An embodiment of the air conditioning equipment is an air conditioning equipment located outdoors, comprising a housing, a heat exchanger disposed within the housing, an intake port for introducing outside air into the housing, and an exhaust port for discharging the outside air after passing through the heat exchanger outside the housing, the air conditioning equipment further comprising: a filter capable of blocking volcanic ash that detachably covers the intake port; a filter storage section for storing the filter; and a moving mechanism for moving the filter in the filter storage section to a position covering the intake port, the filter being composed of multiple divided filters, the filter storage section having a structure that houses the divided filters inside and is disposed adjacent to the intake port, the moving mechanism having rails along which the filter moves when pulled out of the filter storage section, and a sealing material provided to prevent gaps from occurring between the multiple filters when they are moved to a position covering the intake port .

The cooling tower of one embodiment is a cooling tower located outdoors, comprising a housing, a heat exchanger disposed within the housing, an intake port for introducing outside air into the housing, and an exhaust port for discharging the outside air after passing through the heat exchanger outside the housing, and further comprising a filter that can block volcanic ash and detachably covers the intake port, a filter storage unit for storing the filter, and a moving mechanism for moving the filter in the filter storage unit to a position covering the intake port, the filter being composed of multiple divided filters, the filter storage unit having a structure that houses the divided filters inside and is disposed adjacent to the intake port, the moving mechanism having rails along which the filter moves when pulled out of the filter storage unit, and a sealing material is provided to prevent gaps from occurring between the multiple filters when they are moved to a position covering the intake port .

an air intake port for introducing outside air into the housing; an exhaust port for discharging the outside air after passing through the heat exchanger to the outside of the housing; a filter that can block volcanic ash and detachably covers the air intake port; a filter storage unit for storing the filter; and a moving mechanism for moving the filter in the filter storage unit to a position that covers the air intake port. The filter is composed of multiple divided filters, the filter storage unit has a structure that houses the divided filters inside and is arranged adjacent to the air intake port, and the moving mechanism has rails along which the filters move when pulled out of the filter storage unit . A sealing material is provided to prevent gaps from occurring between the multiple filters when the multiple filters are moved to a position that covers the air intake port .

Embodiments of the present invention provide air conditioning equipment, cooling towers, and underground substations that can maintain stable operation even when ash falls due to the eruption of a volcano such as Mount Fuji, without significantly reducing cooling capacity under normal conditions.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a cooling tower according to an embodiment, as viewed from the side. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating the general configuration of the cooling tower of FIG. 1 as viewed from another side. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a main part of an embodiment. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating the overall configuration of an underground substation according to an embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main configuration of another embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main configuration of another embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main configuration of another embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main configuration of another embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main configuration of another embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically illustrating a main configuration of another embodiment.

The air conditioning equipment, cooling tower, and underground substation according to the embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In the following embodiments, we will mainly describe examples of underground substations installed in urban areas such as Tokyo and cooling towers used at underground substations, but the same can be applied to other air conditioning equipment.

As shown in Figure 4, an underground substation consists of substation equipment 10, including transformers and cooling water pumps, located in the underground section 12 of a building 11, and a cooling tower 13, which is a heat exchanger for cooling the substation equipment 10, located on the rooftop section 14 of the building 11.

Figures 1 and 2 are diagrams showing the overall general configuration of the cooling tower 13 described above. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the cooling tower 13 has a housing 101 whose interior can be sealed airtight. This housing 101 is equipped with a dry heat exchanger, a wet heat exchanger, a mechanism for supplying cooling water to the wet heat exchanger, and the like.

The housing 101 also has an air intake 102 for taking in air from the outside, an exhaust 103 for discharging the taken-in air, and a fan 104 as a ventilation mechanism for creating an air flow between these.

In this embodiment, the intake port 102 is disposed so as to be located on the side of the housing 101, and the exhaust port 103 is disposed so as to be located on the top surface of the housing 101. A volcanic ash guard 110 is provided above the intake port 102 to reduce the amount of ash that enters the intake port 102 from above in the event of ashfall. In this embodiment, the volcanic ash guard 110 has a shape that protrudes laterally in the shape of a canopy from the side of the housing 101 above the intake port 102. The shape of this volcanic ash guard 110 is not limited to the shape shown in Figures 1 and 2, and may be any shape that can reduce the amount of ash that enters the intake port 102.

As shown in Figure 3, a volcanic ash intrusion prevention mechanism 111 is provided at the air intake 102 to prevent volcanic ash from entering through the air intake 102. This volcanic ash intrusion prevention mechanism 111 includes a filter 112 that detachably covers the air intake 102, a filter storage section 113 for storing the filter 112, and a movement mechanism 114 for moving the filter 112 in the filter storage section 113 to a position that covers the air intake 102. The filter 112 is capable of blocking volcanic ash.

As shown in Figure 3, the filter 112 is formed as multiple (four in this embodiment) rectangular plates, and is configured to prevent the intrusion of volcanic ash using fibers or other materials. In other words, it is configured to filter out volcanic ash with an expected particle size, for example, on the order of several tens of microns.

The filter storage sections 113 are located adjacent to the air intake 102, side by side on both sides of it. They have a door-like structure and can each accommodate two filters 112. These filters 112 are normally stored in the filter storage sections 113, and the air intake 102 is not covered by the filters 112. In the event of a volcanic eruption and anticipated ashfall, the filters 112 stored in the filter storage sections 113 are pulled out, and the air intake 102 is set to be covered by the filters 112. The entire air intake 102 is covered by the four filters 112 without any gaps. In this case, a sealant or similar material may be installed to prevent gaps between the filters 112.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the moving mechanism 114 has a pair of rails 114a provided above and below the air intake 102. The filter 112 housed in the filter storage section 113 can be pulled out, inserted between the rails 114a, and moved within the rails 114a to a predetermined position covering the air intake 102. Note that the configurations of the filter storage section 113 and the moving mechanism 114 are not limited to those described above and may be of any type. For example, the filter 112 may be moved electrically by a motor or the like.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, a volcanic ash guard 120 is provided above the exhaust port 103 to cover the upper part of the exhaust port 103. This volcanic ash guard 120 is composed of a roof 121 that covers the upper part of the exhaust port 103, an airflow control plate 122 that guides the airflow from the fan 104 to the side and discharges it downward, and a duct 123 with an opening facing downward. The shape of this volcanic ash guard 120 is not limited to that described above, and any shape can be used as long as it can prevent volcanic ash that falls due to gravity from the upper part of the exhaust port 103 from entering the exhaust port 103.

Generally, outdoor cooling towers have a top-side intake or a side-side intake structure as in this embodiment, but to prevent volcanic ash from entering the cooling tower due to the gravitational pull of falling ash, the intake can also be from the bottom.

In addition, in this embodiment, it is necessary to provide a filter storage section 113 etc. adjacent to and near the air intake 102, which may limit the opening area of the air intake 102 due to space limitations. However, if the intake opening rate is approximately 70% of the opening before installation, there will be no impact such as a lack of airflow.

In this embodiment with the above configuration, the filter 112 is not attached to the air intake 102 under normal circumstances, allowing for efficient cooling. Furthermore, in the event of a volcanic eruption, for example an eruption of Mt. Fuji, the filter 112 can be installed by a small number of workers (for example, one person) in a short time (work time of approximately one hour or less) within the short time (estimated to be approximately two hours) between the eruption of Mt. Fuji and the arrival of volcanic ash at underground substations in the Tokyo metropolitan area. This significantly avoids the problem of reduced airflow due to permanently installed filters, as well as the risk of spending a lot of time and securing installation personnel to install filters as a post-event response after a volcanic eruption such as Mt. Fuji.

In the example shown in Figure 3, a filter storage section 113 is provided on both sides of the horizontally elongated air intake 102, but the positional relationship between the air intake 102 and the filter storage section 113 is not limited to this. For example, as shown in Figure 5, a structure in which the filter storage section 113 is provided on one upper side of the air intake 102 may be used, or as shown in Figure 6, a structure in which the filter storage section 113 is provided on one lower side of the air intake 102 may be used.

Furthermore, for example, as shown in Figures 7 and 8, a filter storage section 113 may be provided along the upper side of the air intake 102, or as shown in Figures 9 and 10, a filter storage section 113 may be provided along the lower side of the air intake 102. Note that Figures 7 and 9 show the filter 112 stored in the filter storage section 113, while Figures 8 and 10 show the filter 112 partially pulled out from the filter storage section 113 to cover part of the air intake 102.

The examples shown in Figures 7 and 8 show a configuration in which the filter 112 stored in part of the filter storage section 113 can be pulled out downward, and the pulled-out filter 112 can be moved left and right along a pair of rails 114a provided above and below the air intake 102. However, this configuration is not limited to this, and rails can be provided in each section of the filter storage section 113 that allow the filter 112 to be pulled out downward as is, like a shutter provided at an opening in a building, etc., and the filter 112 can be moved up and down along these rails. The same applies to the examples shown in Figures 9 and 10.

Furthermore, as shown in Figures 8 and 10, under normal circumstances, part of the intake port 102 may be covered with a filter 112, and in the event of a volcanic eruption, the filter 112 may be placed in the open area. In this case, the amount of air intake from the intake port 102 under normal circumstances will be slightly reduced, but the amount of air intake in the area where the filter 112 is not located will increase, ensuring the required amount of air intake.

In addition, by installing the above-mentioned volcanic ash intrusion prevention mechanism 111, such as the filter 112, filter storage section 113, and moving mechanism 114, in air conditioning equipment equipped with an intake port for introducing outside air into a building or an intake port for introducing outside air into a housing in which a heat exchanger is installed, the same effect as described above can be achieved.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments may be embodied in a variety of other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their variations are included within the scope and spirit of the invention, and are also included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents as set forth in the claims.

10... Substation equipment, 11... Building, 12... Underground section, 13... Cooling tower, 14... Rooftop section, 101... Housing, 102... Air intake, 103... Exhaust outlet, 104... Fan, 110... Ash shield, 111... Volcanic ash intrusion prevention mechanism, 112... Filter, 113... Filter storage section, 114... Moving mechanism, 114a... Rail, 120... Ash shield, 121... Roof, 122... Airflow control plate, 123... Duct.

Claims (9)

An air conditioning system equipped with an air intake for introducing outside air into a building,
a filter that can block volcanic ash and that detachably covers the air intake;
a filter storage section for storing the filter;
a moving mechanism for moving the filter in the filter storage unit to a position that covers the air intake port;
Equipped with
The filter is composed of a plurality of divided filters,
The filter storage section has a structure for storing the divided filters therein, and is disposed adjacent to the air intake port,
the moving mechanism includes a rail along which the filter moves when pulled out from the filter storage section ,
A sealing material is provided so that no gaps are formed between the filters when the filters are moved to a position covering the air intake port.
An air conditioning system characterized by: The housing and
a heat exchanger disposed within the housing;
an air intake port for introducing outside air into the housing;
an exhaust port for discharging the outside air after passing through the heat exchanger to the outside of the housing;
An air conditioning system that is installed outdoors and includes:
a filter that can block volcanic ash and that detachably covers the air intake;
a filter storage section for storing the filter;
a moving mechanism for moving the filter in the filter storage unit to a position that covers the air intake port;
Equipped with
The filter is composed of a plurality of divided filters,
The filter storage section has a structure for storing the divided filters therein, and is disposed adjacent to the air intake port,
the moving mechanism includes a rail along which the filter moves when pulled out from the filter storage section ,
A sealing material is provided so that no gaps are formed between the filters when the filters are moved to a position covering the air intake port.
An air conditioning system characterized by: The air conditioning equipment according to claim 1 or 2,
The air conditioning equipment is characterized in that the rails in the movement mechanism are a pair, and each of the pair of rails is disposed along the upper and lower parts of the air intake port. The housing and
a heat exchanger disposed within the housing;
an air intake port for introducing outside air into the housing;
an exhaust port for discharging the outside air after passing through the heat exchanger to the outside of the housing;
A cooling tower located outdoors, comprising:
a filter that can block volcanic ash and that detachably covers the air intake;
a filter storage section for storing the filter;
a moving mechanism for moving the filter in the filter storage unit to a position that covers the air intake port;
Equipped with
The filter is composed of a plurality of divided filters,
The filter storage section has a structure for storing the divided filters therein, and is disposed adjacent to the air intake port,
the moving mechanism includes a rail along which the filter moves when pulled out from the filter storage section ,
A sealing material is provided so that no gaps are formed between the filters when the filters are moved to a position covering the air intake port.
A cooling tower characterized by: 5. The cooling tower of claim 4 ,
A cooling tower characterized in that the intake port and the exhaust port are provided with volcanic ash guards that cover the tops of the intake port and the exhaust port and prevent volcanic ash from entering from above. The cooling tower according to claim 4 or 5 ,
a cooling tower, characterized in that in the movement mechanism, the rails are a pair, and each of the pair of rails is arranged along the upper and lower parts of the intake port, respectively. a substation facility at least partly located underground within the building;
A cooling tower provided on the roof of the building for cooling the substation equipment,
The housing and
a heat exchanger disposed within the housing;
an air intake port for introducing outside air into the housing;
an exhaust port for discharging the outside air after passing through the heat exchanger to the outside of the housing;
a filter that can block volcanic ash and that detachably covers the air intake;
a filter storage section for storing the filter;
a moving mechanism for moving the filter in the filter storage unit to a position that covers the air intake port;
a cooling tower comprising:
and
The filter is composed of a plurality of divided filters,
The filter storage section has a structure for storing the divided filters therein, and is disposed adjacent to the air intake port,
the moving mechanism includes a rail along which the filter moves when pulled out from the filter storage section ,
A sealing material is provided so that no gaps are formed between the filters when the filters are moved to a position covering the air intake port.
An underground substation characterized by: 8. An underground substation according to claim 7 ,
An underground substation, characterized in that the intake and exhaust ports are provided with volcanic ash guards that cover the tops of the ports and prevent volcanic ash from entering from above. 9. An underground substation according to claim 7 or 8 ,
In the underground substation, the rails in the moving mechanism are a pair, and each of the pair of rails is arranged along the upper and lower parts of the air intake, respectively.