JPS6242227B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a snow-making device that artificially produces snow for use in research and experiments.

Conventional technology As described in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 58-65548, a conventional snow-making device sprays water from a spray nozzle to form fine water droplets, and directly blows cold air or a cooling medium (liquid nitrogen) into the snow-producing space. etc.) to freeze fine water droplets into ice particles, which are used as a substitute for artificial snow. It has a structure in which a cooler and a blower are installed in the circulation path to circulate ventilation (a ``direct cooling method'' in which the snow forming space is directly cooled by the cooler), and a fog generator is used to send fine water particles into the room. An ice crystal generator was used to send ice crystals, and the fog and ice crystals were attached to an ice and snow trap to form a thin layer of ice, which was then scraped off into snowflakes using a scraper to serve as a substitute for artificial snow.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention Artificial snow made using these conventional techniques is made of ice grains or a combination of ice grains and frost, and has no properties (density, shape, etc.) of natural snow, which has hexagonal crystals. They are different, and although they can be used for play or decoration, they cannot be used for experiments or research.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned conventional technology "direct cooling method"
If a cooling device is placed in the snow-generating space, as in the example above, frost will form on the cooler, making it impossible to operate the cooler continuously. Also, since the humidity in the cooling space is removed, no real snow is produced. Therefore, it is difficult to continuously generate snow.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a snow-making device that can artificially and continuously produce real snow having a hexagonal crystal structure equivalent to that of natural snow.

Means for Solving the Problems The snow-making device according to the present invention includes an upright cooling tower,
A snow chamber is connected to the bottom of the cooling tower, and an opening in the ceiling is covered with the cooling tower. The inner cylinder has a bottom end opening connected to the opening, and the air inside the cooling tower is cooled, and the inner cylinder wall is cooled by the cooling air in the cooling tower, and the inner cylinder is cooled by radiation, conduction, and convection. A first cooling device that indirectly cools the air of It is characterized by including a humidifying device that supplies water vapor into the interior of the inner cylinder near the lower end thereof, and a snow seed supply device that supplies ice crystals to the interior of the inner cylinder near the humidifying device.

Function: First, the first cooling device is operated to cool the air in the cooling tower. The cooling air inside the cooling tower cools the inner cylinder wall, and the air inside the inner cylinder is indirectly cooled by radiation, conduction, and convection. After the temperature inside the inner cylinder stabilizes, the blower maintains the inside of the inner cylinder in an extremely gentle breeze. At this point, the humidifier is activated to send water vapor into the inner cylinder. The water vapor sent into the inner cylinder becomes a cloud, moves to the upper space within the inner cylinder by the operation of the blower, and stagnates as a supercooled cloud. Next, ice crystals are supplied by a snow seed supply device. This crystal stagnates in the upper space within the inner cylinder. The ice crystal grains interact with the supercooled clouds present in the upper part of the inner cylinder, forming snow within the clouds, and the snow grows further while it stagnates in the upper space supported by the updraft of the breeze. As the snow grows and becomes more piled up, it naturally falls against the breeze from the blower and falls continuously, passing through the opening and falling into the snow chamber. From the formation of snow to its fall, it is an artificial creation of phenomena that are completely equivalent to natural phenomena.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an embodiment of a snow-making device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the embodiment shown in FIG.

In the figure, a snow-making chamber 1 of the snow-making device is provided with an opening 3, which will be described in detail later, and a cooling tower 4 is installed above the snow-making chamber 1. In the figure, the cooling tower 4 has a prismatic cylindrical shape, but it can take any other shape such as a cylindrical shape. Note that, for functional reasons, it is necessary to be elongated in the vertical direction.

A partition wall 5 is provided along the inner surface of one side wall of the cooling tower 4 and separated therefrom, and constitutes a passage 6 extending over almost the entire length of the cooling tower 4. This passage 6 is blocked in the middle by a horizontal partition wall 5A, and is divided into upper and lower parts 7 and 8. Cooling tower 4 passage 6
A first cooling device 9 is mounted on the outside of one side, and the suction port 10 of this first cooling device 9 communicates with the lower passage section 8 and the discharge port 11 communicates with the upper passage section 7. Therefore, when the first cooling device 9 is activated,
As shown by the arrow, the cold air first passes through the upper passage section 7.
enters the cooling tower 4, ascends along the passage 6, passes over the top edge of the bulkhead 5 into the interior of the cooling tower 4, descends towards its bottom and then passes through the bottom edge of the bulkhead 5 into the lower passage section 8.
The air flows through the cooling tower 4, entering the suction port 10 of the first cooling device 9, thereby cooling the inside of the tower. To aid this cooling effect, the cooling tower 4 is preferably fully covered with thermal insulation material.

An inner cylinder 12 is installed inside the cooling tower 4 and extends in the length direction thereof. The bottom opening of this inner cylinder 12 is connected to the opening 3 of the ceiling 2 of the snow-making chamber 1.
A circulation passage, for example, a circulation pipe 13, is disposed apart from the outer surface of the inner cylinder 12 and extending parallel to it. It's communicating.
A variable speed blower 14 is disposed in the circulation pipe 13, and this blower 14 sends a very gentle breeze to stagnate ice crystals and clouds in the upper space of the inner cylinder 12, thereby generating and growing snow. . The speed of this breeze flow is completely controlled by changing the rotational speed of the blower 14 to produce snow.

A humidifier 15 is connected to the lower end of the inner cylinder 12 through a discharge pipe 16, and this humidifier 15 supplies water vapor into the inner cylinder 12 to create an artificial cloud as described later. The air suction pipe 17 of the humidifier 15 is connected to the side surface of the cooling tower 4 and is adapted to suck the cold air inside the cooling tower 4. The air suction pipe 17 has a bypass
A pipe 18 is connected, and air from outside the cooling tower 4 is supplied to the humidifier 15 through this bypass pipe 18.
is supplied to A flow rate control valve 20 is installed in the bypass pipe 18, so that the amount of inflow of outside air and cooled air in the cooling tower can be adjusted. Although the figure shows an example in which only one humidifier 15 is provided, the humidifier 15 is not limited to this, and a plurality of humidifiers may be provided.

A nozzle 21 is provided at an arbitrary position of the inner cylinder, and this nozzle 21 is connected to an air compressor 23 through a pipe 22.
A second cooling device 24 is provided in the middle of the air compressor 23 to adjust and cool the compressed air from the air compressor 23.

Prior to making snow, first, the first cooling device 9 is operated to cool the air in the cooling tower 4. The cooling air in the cooling tower 4 cools the inner cylinder wall, and the air in the inner cylinder 12 is cooled by radiation, heat transfer, and convection. In other words, the air inside the inner cylinder 12 flows into the cooling tower 4.
It is indirectly cooled by the first cooling device 9 via the air inside.

Once the temperature inside the inner cylinder 12 has stabilized, the blower 1
4, the inside of the inner cylinder 12 is maintained in a very gentle breeze of, for example, 5 cm/s. here,
The humidifier 15 is operated to send water vapor into the inner cylinder 12. At this time, since the suction air is cooling air in the cooling tower 4, this water vapor is at a low temperature. The temperature of the intake air can be adjusted by adjusting the amount of external air taken in by adjusting the control valve 20 of the bypass pipe 18 and mixing it with the cooling air from the cooling tower 4. The water vapor sent into the inner cylinder 12 becomes a cloud. This cloud moves to the upper space 25 within the inner cylinder 12 by the operation of the blower 14 and stagnates as a supercooled cloud.

Next, the air compressor 23 is operated to send compressed air of, for example, about 8 kg/cm ² into the inner cylinder 12 through the nozzle 21 . This compressed air is modulated and cooled by a second cooling device 24 along the way. The cooled compressed air flowing out from the nozzle 21 loses heat due to adiabatic expansion and is cooled to approximately -40°C, and the water contained therein becomes ice crystal grains, and these ice crystal grains form inside the inner cylinder 12. Stagnant in the upper space. The crystal grains interact with the supercooled cloud that exists in the upper part of the inner cylinder 12, and like a natural phenomenon, hexagonal crystal snow is formed in the cloud and is supported by the updraft of the breeze and stagnates in the space above the inner cylinder. The snow continues to grow. The snow that has grown and gained weight naturally falls against the breeze and falls continuously, passing through the opening 3 and falling into the snowfall chamber 1. In this way, by controlling the temperature inside the inner cylinder 12 and the breeze speed inside the inner cylinder 12, the size of the snow, the condition of the snow (dry snow, wet snow, etc.), the shape of the snow crystals, etc. can be changed.

Note that if you try to create real snow by installing a cooler in the snow-generating space as in the artificial snow-making device described in the conventional technology, the humidity in the air will be adsorbed by the cooler and the humidity necessary for snow generation will be absorbed by the cooler. If the wind speed is increased to reduce the dehumidification effect of the cooler, the stagnation conditions necessary for snow formation (conditions that cause supercooled clouds and ice crystals to stagnate above the snow formation space) will be reduced. You won't be able to get it. In the present invention, the air in the inner cylinder 12, which is the snow-generating space, is transferred to the cooling tower 4.
Since the air is cooled through the air inside the snow, it is possible to ensure the humidity necessary to produce true snow, and (independent of the circulating wind speed of cold air by the cooling device 9) supercooled clouds and ice can be maintained. Appropriate wind can be operated from below to above to cause the crystals to stagnate in the space above the inner cylinder 12.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the snowmaking device of the present invention,
It is an indirect cooling method in which the humidified air in the inner cylinder 12 is indirectly cooled by the first cooling device 9 via the air in the cooling tower 4, and since frost does not form on the cooling device 9, it is difficult to defrost. This eliminates the need for intermittent operation, and the cooling device 9 can be operated continuously. Since there is no cooling device in the inner cylinder 12, which is the snow-forming space, the ice crystals and water vapor supplied for snow-forming do not adhere to the cooling device, creating an ideal space for snow-forming under the same conditions as natural phenomena. , Hexagonal crystal snow can now fall continuously.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an embodiment of a snow-making device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the embodiment shown in FIG. In the drawings, 1...Snowfall chamber, 3...Opening, 4
...Cooling tower, 5...Partition wall, 9...First cooling device,
12... Inner cylinder, 13... Circulation pipe, 14... Variable speed blower, 15... Humidifier, 18... Bypass pipe, 20... Flow rate control valve, 21... Nozzle, 23... Air compressor , 24...Second cooling device, 25...Space above the inner cylinder.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An upright cooling tower, a snow chamber connected to the bottom of the cooling tower and having an opening in the ceiling covered by the cooling tower, and a snow chamber with its length inside the cooling tower. an inner cylinder that is installed to extend in the horizontal direction and has a bottom end opening that connects to the opening of the snow-making chamber; a first cooling device that indirectly cools the air in the inner cylinder; a circulation passage connecting the top end of the inner cylinder and the lower end of the inner cylinder; and a variable cooling device installed in the middle of the circulation passage. The present invention includes a speed blower, a humidifying device that supplies water vapor to the inside of the inner cylinder near the lower end of the inner cylinder, and a snow seed supply device that supplies ice crystals to the inside of the inner cylinder near the humidifier. Features a snowmaking device. 2. The snow-making device according to claim 1, wherein the humidifying device is connected to an air suction pipe opening into the cooling tower, and is connected to the air suction pipe so as to suck air from outside the cooling tower. 1. A snow-making device comprising: a bypass pipe, and a flow control valve provided on the bypass pipe. 3. The snow-making device according to claim 1, wherein the snow seed supply device includes an air compressor;
a compressed air pipe opening on the inner wall surface of the inner cylinder and connecting the discharge port of the air compressor to the inside of the inner cylinder; a nozzle attached to the opening on the inner wall surface of the inner cylinder of the compressed air pipe; and a nozzle inside the compressed air pipe. a second cooling device for cooling compressed air flowing through the snow-making device.