JPH0440676B2 - - Google Patents

Description

A control panel 29 equipped with a setting device 28.A device for measuring the number, size, and area of falling snowflakes.

[Detailed description of the invention]

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention measures the shape, size, number, frequency distribution, etc. of single crystal snow grains and snowflakes of natural snowfall or artificial snowfall.

[Conventional technology]

In observing natural snowfall, an observer exposes a flat plate of a certain area to the outside environment for a certain period of time, receives snowflakes, moves them to a cold room, and visually observes them through a microscope to partially measure the size and number of snowflakes. Then, convert it to a certain area, or take a photo, enlarge it, and calculate the size (longer axis, shorter axis), number, and size of the snowflakes.
I was measuring the area. In any case, it required a person to work and observe from start to finish, and measurements took a long time and were inefficient. Furthermore, if one wanted to examine regional differences in snowfall at the same time (for example, between flatlands and mountainous areas), a large number of people would be required at the same time, making such observations not easy.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Being able to simultaneously measure changes in snowfall conditions over a given period of time in each region in a short period of time is necessary for predicting the amount of snowfall and taking advance measures to prevent snow damage.

For this purpose, conventional manual methods take too much time to produce results, and it is extremely difficult to centrally manage results from multiple observation points at the same time. Therefore, without manual intervention, we automatically collect fallen snowflakes at fixed times, automatically observe the number, size, and area of snowflakes that have fallen in a fixed area for a fixed period of time, analyze them in real time, and record the data. , there has been a demand for the development of a device that makes transmission possible.

[Means and actions to solve the problem]

The present invention attempts to solve the above-mentioned problems by the following means.

That is, in order to automatically observe snowfall, a snow collection chamber is constructed to collect fallen snowflakes for a certain period of time, and a shutter is installed on the ceiling of this snow collection chamber that opens and closes automatically in response to an electric signal. The shutter will normally be closed and will only be opened when collecting snow. To prevent the shutter from becoming unable to open due to snow accumulation when the shutter is closed,
A snow-accumulation prevention blower is provided to blow away snow by blowing air against the upper surface of the shutter to prevent snow from accumulating on the shutter. During snow collection, the blower is stopped so as not to interfere with the free fall of falling snowflakes, and the snow taken into the snow collection chamber by opening the shutter is passed through an opening of a certain area to the snow collection belt that is stopped for a certain period of time. Let it fall on top. The surface of the snow collecting belt is made of a material that makes it easy to identify snowflakes and does not damage them, such as black velvet.

The snow removal belt is wound around two sets of rotating reels in a loop shape, and the snow removal belt is structured to move horizontally by rotating the rotation reels. The collected snow on the snow belt is moved to the observation room by a rotating reel and stopped. The observation room is equipped with lighting and photography equipment, and the snowflakes are immediately illuminated and the photography equipment begins observing them. For example, a video camera is used as the photographing device, and its image signal is analyzed by an analysis device. That is, the signal is sent via a cable to an image processing device at the observatory. The snowflake image is displayed on a monitor TV, and connected to a personal computer to measure the number, size (maximum, minimum, average diameter, etc. of snowflakes) and area of the snowflakes, and print out the frequency distribution etc. on a printer.

After observation, the snowflakes on the snow belt are removed from the belt by a snow removal device while the belt is moved, and the snow-wet belt is passed through a drying device to dry and prepare for the next snow collection.

Additionally, a cooling device is installed to cool the surface of the snow removal belt to prevent snowflakes from melting during snow removal and photography.

Automatic control of opening and closing shutters, including a snow collection time setting device that controls the time the shutter is open for snow collection, a snow collection cycle time setting device that determines the snow collection interval, and a snow collection frequency setting device that determines the number of snow collections. An automatic control device will be installed to control the operation of the snow prevention blower, move/stop the moving belt, etc., and issue mutual operation commands to each device.

In this way, the objective is to automatically measure the frequency distribution of the number, area, and size of falling snowflakes.

〔Example〕

An example of implementation is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and details thereof will be described below.

A snow collecting port 2 is provided on the ceiling of a snow collecting room 12, and a roof-shaped shutter 1 is provided at the snow collecting port. The shutters are double-sided, and one side is folded into an L shape so that there is no gap when stacked. This shutter is connected to the snow collecting opening with a hinge 1a and can be opened and closed. Further, the shutter 1 is provided with a receiving metal fitting 1b for the arm 5, and is freely coupled to the arm 5. The two arms 5 are freely connected to the moving shaft 4 of the electric cylinder 3, and the shutter opens and closes as the moving shaft 4 moves up and down.

Further, the shutter 1 is provided with a snow removal blower 6 for preventing snow accumulation, and blows off the snow on the shutter by blowing wind. However, the control panel 29 described later
The operation of the snow removal blower is controlled by commands from the snow blower, and is stopped before the shutter is opened to collect snowfall (for example, one minute before), so as not to interfere with the natural falling of snow. There is. When the electric shutter 3 starts operating in response to a command from the control panel 29 and the moving shaft 4 moves in the upward extending direction, the arms 5 (two) connected thereto also move upward, and the receiving bracket 1b of the shutter 1 moves upward. Push up to open shutter 1. The moving shaft 4 stops moving upward by the upper limit switch of the electric cylinder, and the shutter 1 becomes fully open.

Fallen snowflakes are taken into the snow collecting chamber 12 through the snow collecting port 2. There is an opening 7 below the snow collection chamber, and the opening area is adjusted by sliding long grooves 8a cut into two opening adjustment plates 8, and fixed with screws 8b. Snowflakes passing through this opening 7 fall onto a snow collection belt 9 provided directly below.

The snow collecting belt 9 is a loop-shaped rubber belt whose surface is covered with a material (such as black velvet) that makes it easy to identify snowflakes and does not damage the snowflakes.

The snow collecting belt 9 has two rotating reels 10, 10'.
The reel 10 is wound around the reel 10 and moves horizontally when the rotating reel 10 is rotated by the operation of the drive device 11, but it is stopped while collecting snowflakes. However, the snow collecting time setting device 2 on the control panel 29
6, the moving shaft 4 of the electric cylinder 3 moves in the direction of contracting downward, and the shutter 1 closes via the arm 5. During this time, snowflakes collected through the opening fall onto the snow collecting belt 9. There is a time lag (approximately 5 minutes) when the shutter closes.
seconds), the drive device 11 is activated and the rotating reel 1
0 and move the snow collecting belt 9 to the observation room 17. At the same time, the snow blower will resume operation.

When the center of the collected snow 13 comes directly under the photographing device (video camera) 15, the drive device 11 stops. The illumination lamp 14 is turned on, the photographing device 15 photographs the snowflake, and the electric signal is sent to the image processing device 21 of the analyzing device 25. Snow on monitor TV 23 1
3 is projected, and according to the program processing input into the image processing device 21 and the personal computer 22, the number, area, and size (longer axis, shorter axis) of snowflakes are measured and analyzed, and from these data, the frequency is determined. The distribution is calculated and printed out on the printer 24. When the photographing is finished, the drive device 11 starts operating and moves the snow removal belt. Snow 13 on the belt is swept off by a snow removal device 18 in the form of a bristle brush. That is, the snow removing device 18, which has a rotating shaft connected to a gear 30a directly connected to the rotating shaft of the rotating reel 10 and a gear 31a that meshes with the gear 30a, sweeps in and sweeps snow while rotating the bristle brush. The snow collecting belt moves further, and the snow collecting belt wet with snowflake traces is dried while passing through a drying device 19.
After passing, the drive unit stops operating and the snow removal belt stops. A cooling device 20 is installed directly below the snow collecting belt that receives snowfall and the snow collecting belt during photographing, and controls the temperature of the snow collecting belt to prevent melting of snowflakes.
Maintain a temperature that retains its shape.

When the time set in the snow collection cycle time setting device 27 on the control panel 29 is reached, the electric cylinder 3 is turned on again.
is operated to open shutter 1 and resume the series of operations described so far from snow collection, photography, and analysis of the number, area, and size of snowflakes. This is repeated until the number of times set in 28 is reached.

Stopping snow removal blower 6, opening shutter 1,
A series of operations such as closing operation, moving and stopping the snow removal belt 9, turning on and off the illumination lamp 14, and photographing device 15
Operation commands for the devices and mutual operation commands for the devices, such as printing out measurement results from the printer 24, are issued by commands from the control panel 29.

In this way, it has become possible to obtain frequency distribution data such as the number, area, size, etc. of snowflakes that fall within a certain period of time over a certain area, without requiring any human intervention, while staying within the observatory.

〔Effect of the invention〕

With the present invention, the work that conventionally required one person to complete and required at least half a day to produce a single observation result can now be done.
Ivy can be obtained in just 10 minutes and without any human intervention. Moreover, by simply securing a place to install this device, it can be installed freely in mountains or plains, and as long as a signal cable is connected to the observatory, the results of snowfall conditions at multiple locations can be sent to the observatory at regular intervals. Now it is possible to collect them without leaving the country. Additionally, warnings can be issued as needed, making it possible to quickly implement snow damage countermeasures.

Observation results are recorded on a printer or floppy disk each time a measurement is made, so it is possible to obtain the results later even if no one is present at the observation station.
This has greatly contributed to freeing up time for researchers to analyze snowfall, making it easier to predict snowfall amounts and obtain information on measures to prevent snow damage.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 explains the configuration of an apparatus for measuring the number, area, and size distribution of falling snowflakes. Figure 2 shows an example of an observation room installed outdoors. 1...Shutter, 2...Snow collection port, 3...Electric cylinder, 4...Movement axis, 5...Arm, 6...
... Snow removal blower, 7 ... Opening, 8 ... Opening adjustment plate, 9 ... Snow collecting belt, 10, 10' ... Rotating reel, 11 ... Drive device, 12 ... Snow collecting room, 13
... Snow, 14 ... Illumination lamp, 15 ... Photographing device, 16 ... Belt tension roller, 17 ... Observation room, 18 ... Snow removal device, 19 ... Drying device, 20
... Cooling device, 21 ... Image processing device, 22 ...
Personal computer, 23...Monitor TV, 24...Printer, 25...Analysis device,
26...Snow collecting time setting device, 27...Snow collecting cycle time setting device, 28...Snow collecting frequency setting device, 29...Control panel, 30...Gear, 31...Gear.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A device for measuring the number, size, and area distribution of falling snowflakes, which has a shutter 1 that can be opened and closed to cover a snow sampling opening 2 provided in the ceiling, and directly below the snow sampling opening 2. It is composed of a snow collecting room 12 having an opening 7 whose opening area can be adjusted, and an observation room 17 that shares the same side wall with the snow collecting room 12 and is equipped with an illumination lamp 14 and a photographing device 15. Both chambers 12 and 17 are provided with a drive device 11 that passes through the lower part of the shared side wall and rotates the rotary reel 10 or 10', and moves across the two chambers 17 and 12 via the rotary reel 10 and 10'. A snow collecting belt 9 arranged horizontally and in an annular shape, and a cooling device for the snow collecting belt 9 arranged close to the inside of the upper part of the snow collecting belt 9 in order to prevent snowflakes on the snow collecting belt 9 from melting. 20, a snow removal device 18 that is disposed near the rotating reel 10 at the lower part of the observation room 17 and operates in synchronization with the reel 10 to remove snow on the snow removal belt 9; and the snow removal device 18 removes snow. Snow collecting belt 9 after
A drying device 19 located at the bottom of the observation chamber 17 and near the rotating reel 10 is used to dry the lower part of the observation chamber 17.
An image processing device 21, a personal computer 22, and a monitor television 2 for analyzing the number, size, and distribution of snowflake area of snowflakes that have fallen in a certain period of time.
3. Analysis device 25 by printer 24, shutter 1, drive device 11, illumination lamp 14
and a snow removal time setting device 2 for setting the opening/closing time of the shutter 1 in order to control the operation of the photographing device 15.
6. Snow collection cycle time setting device 27 for setting the operation interval of the snow collection time setting device 26, snow collection frequency for setting the number of snow collection times