NL1031640C2 - Barrier capable of passively discharging air from road, e.g. sound barrier, has at least one transparent wall to allow cavity in between walls to be heated by sunlight - Google Patents

Abstract

At least one of the walls (6, 7) is made from transparent material (9) so that the cavity (10) in between the walls can be heated by sunlight, creating a chimney effect which improves the air removal rate. An installation (2) for passively removing air comprising fines and/or nitrogen oxides (NO x) from an area next to at least one road comprises an upright support (3-5) for erecting along the roadside, an inner wall facing the traffic, and an outer wall, the two walls resting against the support and extending parallel to each other in order to define a cavity in between. The bottom part of the cavity includes at least one air inlet opening (14) provided in the inner wall for drawing in air from the road and the top part of the cavity includes at least one air outlet opening (15) for discharging air from the cavity.

Description

DEVICE, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE PASSIVE EXHAUST OF FINE DUST / OR OF NITROGEN DIOXIDES CONTAINING AIR

The present invention relates to a device for passively discharging fine dust and / or NOx-containing air in the vicinity of a traffic road. The invention also relates to an assembly of one or more of such devices and to the method of discharging the air with such a device.

Due to the increasingly stringent environmental legislation in the field of noise nuisance and nuisance caused by harmful substances in the ambient air as a result of motorized road traffic, it has become difficult in some areas to construct new roads or to extend existing ones without having such ones. legislation come into conflict.

Motor vehicles, such as passenger cars, trucks and the like, and in particular vehicles fitted with diesel engines, produce large quantities of particulate matter. Particulate matter is defined here as airborne dust particles with an average particle diameter of 10 μπι or less (in the European Air Quality Framework Directive, more specifically Directive 96/62 / EC on air quality assessment and management, 27 September 1996, defined as PM10). If such particulate matter is inhaled by people living in the vicinity of the road, this may eventually lead to damage to health. The same applies to exhaust gases produced by the vehicles, such as nitrogen oxides generally indicated with NOx (with x = 1, 2.3, ..), of which nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in particular is the most important. Too high concentrations of N0X in the air can also be harmful to health and the environment.

10 3 16 40 2

On the one hand, an attempt can be made to solve this problem by providing the motor vehicles with special facilities, such as catalysts for cleaning the exhaust gases and dust filters for retaining soot particles. These measures can be quite effective in themselves, but partly due to the delayed introduction of legislation to make such provisions compulsory for all motor vehicles, there remains a need to offer a different or additional solution to the above-mentioned problem. Moreover, it is expected that even if the aforementioned provisions are made in all vehicles, the concentrations of particulate matter and / or NOK in the air can still become too high locally.

From Japanese document JP 10 331116 A a noise barrier is known which in a first embodiment is made up of an outer wall, an inner wall and a catalyst (made of titanium dioxide) mounted on the inner sides of both walls, the underside of the inner wall being partially open is to be able to remove air contaminated with N0X from a motor vehicle.

However, the air extraction effect of the known device is limited.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a device, system and method with which the concentration of fine dust and / or the concentration of harmful substances such as NOx in the ambient air can be further reduced in a simple manner.

It is also an object of the present invention to make such a device structurally simple and price-attractive.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device, system and method in which fine dust and / or NOx can be discharged in a passive and efficient manner, without the need for an external or internal power supply.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a device is provided for this purpose for passively discharging fine dust and / or air containing NOx in the vicinity of at least one traffic route, comprising support means to be arranged along the traffic route, on which an upstanding, to the inner wall facing a traffic route and an upstanding outer wall arranged opposite the inner wall, wherein the inner and outer wall are substantially parallel and at least one gap formed by the cavity is defined between the inner sides of the upright walls, the lower part of the space 15 is provided with at least one air supply opening arranged in the inner wall for sucking in air from the traffic route to the space and wherein the upper part of the space has at least one air discharge opening for discharging the sucked-in air from the space, wherein at least one of the walls is at least g is partly made of transparent material for heating the space with sunlight.

The walls of the device act as a channel of a "chimney", so that the air in the vicinity of the traffic road is sucked in and discharged to a place where any pollution in the air can do less harm.

In order to improve the "chimney effect", at least one of the walls is at least partially made of transparent material, so that the space between the walls can be heated as a result of sunlight. By analogy with the chimney, warming up by the sunlight provides a better "draft".

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A sound screen is known per se from Japanese document JP 2001 254322 A which is provided with a catalyst layer to oxidize NOx and which is transparent. The transparent version, however, aims to give 5 drivers of passing vehicles the opportunity to see the landscape along the road. In this document there is no question of sucking in and discharging contaminated air via two spaces between walls, whereby the air in the space can be heated up as a result of the transparency of walls and the air extraction effect of the device is improved.

According to a further preferred embodiment, at least one of the walls is at least partially made of heat-absorbing material, preferably of material that is specifically aimed at increased heat absorption.

According to a further preferred embodiment, the inside of said wall has a dark color for an improved heat absorption.

According to a further preferred embodiment, the inner surface of one of the walls is provided with catalyst material for promoting the conversion of the NOx present in the sucked-in air, such as conversion of NOX to nitrate. Nitrate is relatively harmless and is transported to rainwater drainage with rainwater. A material suitable for this purpose is a coating of titanium dioxide (TiO 2). An additional advantage is that TiO 2 works better at higher temperatures, such as being present in the gap between the device.

Because the inner wall and outer wall are substantially parallel, the space between them is formed by the cavity between the inner and outer wall. This results in a relatively simple construction with a relatively large drainage capacity.

In a further preferred embodiment the one or more discharge openings are connected to one or more air discharge channels arranged on the walls 5, in particular chimneys, for further, preferably further upward, transport of the sucked-in air.

According to another aspect, the invention also relates to a noise barrier for shielding the motor vehicles from noise produced on a traffic road, in which noise barrier the device defined herein is integrated.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, a system is provided for passively discharging fine dust and / or NOx-containing air in the vicinity of a traffic road, wherein the transparent wall is provided on the sunny side of the device, so that optimum use can be made. made from natural sun rays. When little sunlight is available to suck in the air, little 03 is generally also present to convert nitrogen oxide (NO) into nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and the effectiveness of the device may also be less.

According to a further preferred embodiment, a system is provided comprising devices placed on both sides of the traffic road. By directing the transparent wall parts towards or away from each other, the polluted air can be discharged with the first or with the second device, depending on the position of the sun. When the traffic route is oriented north-south, for example, this arrangement ensures that the air is discharged by the first device for one part of the day and by the second device for the other part of the day.

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According to a further aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for passively discharging fine dust and / or NOx-containing air in the vicinity of a traffic road, comprising: - providing a device as defined herein; - arranging the means of support along the traffic route; - arranging the upright inner wall facing the traffic route and the upright outer wall arranged opposite the inner wall on the supporting means such that at least one gap is defined between the inner sides of the upright walls; - as a result of pressure differences between the air supply opening in the lower part of the interspace and the air discharge opening in the upper part of the interspace, sucking in air from the environment of the traffic road and discharging it; wherein the method comprises providing a device with at least one at least partially transparent outer or inner wall for heating the air in the gap with sunlight to promote air suction.

According to a further preferred embodiment, the method comprises providing a catalyst in the gap and reacting the NOx carried along it along with the catalyst.

Further advantages, features and details of the present invention will be elucidated on the basis of the following description of some preferred embodiments thereof. Reference is made in the description to the accompanying figures, in which: 7

Figure 1: a top view of a traffic road provided with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2: a cross-section through the preferred embodiment shown in Figure 1; and

Figure 3: a view of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 1 shows a top view of a traffic road v, consisting of a number of carriageways 1. Along a side of the roadway, a preferred embodiment of a discharge unit 2 according to the invention is shown. Vehicles traveling on the road produce harmful substances, such as particulate matter, N0X and other harmful substances and / or gases. On the right-hand side of the road, homes w (schematically shown) are provided, the residents of which suffer from the particulate matter produced by the vehicles and / or the other harmful substances and / or gases produced thereby. Between the dwellings w and the right-hand lane 1, the discharge unit 2 is provided in such a way that it extends substantially parallel to the lane 1 and shields the dwelling from the roadway. In many cases the discharge unit 2 will be combined with a noise barrier, with which noise propagating in the direction of the houses can be shielded. In other cases, however, the discharge unit is separately provided with the noise barriers, or the noise barrier is omitted in its entirety. Often it is preferable to integrate noise barriers with the discharge units, so that the noise-shielding function and the function of discharging harmful substances can be combined in a single, relatively simple, construction.

Figure 2 shows a cross-section through the preferred embodiment of the discharge unit 2.

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Shown is a support element 3, which is composed of two upright foundation beams 4, on which a foundation plate 5 is arranged. However, other embodiments of a supporting element 5 for the discharge unit 2 are also conceivable, for example embodiments in which the discharge unit is fixed in the substrate by means of screw piles or the like.

A first upright wall, also known as outer wall 6, is provided on the plate 5. A second wall, also known as inner wall 7, is also arranged on the plate 5. In the embodiment shown, the inner wall 7 is of the same height as the outer wall 8, but this is not necessary.

Herein, the term "inside" wall is understood to mean a wall that faces the traffic road, or a wall that is closest to the traffic road, while an "outside" wall is the wall that faces the opposite side and is therefore as far away as possible from the traffic road. If, in the figure shown, the roadway should not be on the left side but on the right side of the discharge unit, the outer and inner walls would of course have to be exchanged.

The distance d between the outer and inner wall can vary, but in practice it is between approximately 5 cm and 50 cm.

In the embodiment shown, the outer wall 6 comprises a part 8 made of concrete and a transparent part 9 placed thereon. This transparent part 9 can be made of clear glass, Plexiglas or any other, light-transmitting material. The sun-entry factor or ZTA-30 value of such a transparent wall gives the ratio between the incoming and the striking solar radiation (both direct and diffuse radiation). The ZTA value is preferably relatively high to enhance both the chimney effect and to promote the effect of the Tio2 coating included in an embodiment.

The inner wall 7 can also be made of transparent material, but in the embodiment shown it is entirely made of a non-transparent material, such as for example concrete. Preferably, the inner wall 7 is moreover made of heat-absorbing material, as will be explained later.

When sunlight z (schematically shown with an arrow in Figure 2) falls on the transparent part 9 of the outer wall 8, solar radiation penetrates into the space 10 between the inside of the inside wall 7 and the inside of the outside wall 8. This has as a result, the air in the gap 10 is heated. Moreover, when the inner wall 7 is made of heat-absorbing material, the inner wall 7 retains the heat that has once entered the intermediate space 10, so that, for example, when the intensity of the sunlight is temporarily reduced, the intermediate space 10 remains heated by the inner wall 7. Become 0.

As a result of the heating of the air in the gap 10, a pressure difference will arise between the top 12 of the discharge unit 2 and the bottom 13, so that air circulation will occur. Air is drawn in from the vicinity of the traffic route via a supply opening or slot 14 provided on the underside of the inner wall 7 (direction Px) and then ends up in the space 10. The air in the space 10 is then heated, so that it will undergo a further upward movement (P2), whereafter the air is discharged from the discharge unit 2 via the upper elongated opening 15 between the outer and inner wall 7,8.

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As a result of the air circulation, air in the vicinity of the carriageway 1 is discharged passively, that is to say without the need for active means, such as fans etc., to a position at a desired height above the substrate. The discharged air takes the particulate matter particles, the ΝΟχ-gases and / or other types of harmful gases and discharges them to an area where these substances can do less harm.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the inside of the inner wall 7 is provided with a catalyst coating 15, for example consisting of a layer of titanium dioxide (TiO 2). This catalyst layer reacts with the nitrogen dioxide in the air in the gap 10 and converts this nitrogen into the relatively harmless nitrate that can be removed with the rainwater. As a result, not only are the harmful substances removed, but (a start of) dismantling of part of the harmful substances also occurs.

Figure 3 shows another embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, an inner wall and outer wall 7,8 are placed at some distance from each other in the manner shown earlier, air being supplied via a supply opening 14. However, instead of discharging the air at the top of the gap 10 via the elongated gap 12, the gap 10 between the two walls is partially closed at the top (not shown). Only at a few positions are passages provided on the intermediate space 10 in the form of discharge channels 21 placed on the walls, which convey the supplied air further upwards (direction P3 and P4). This means that the discharge unit 2 or at least the walls 7,8 thereof can be made relatively low, while the air drawn in can be discharged relatively far from the traffic route, 11 in most cases as high as possible, relative to the traffic route,

The present invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments thereof described herein. The rights sought are defined by the following claims, within the scope of which many modifications are conceivable.

1031640

Claims (14)

Device for passively discharging particulate matter 5 and / or NOx-containing air in the vicinity of at least one traffic route, comprising support means to be arranged along the traffic route, on which an upright inner wall facing the traffic road and an upright opposite the inner wall supported outer wall, wherein the inner and outer wall are substantially parallel and at least one intermediate space formed by the cavity is defined between the inner sides of the upright walls, the lower part of the intermediate space being provided with at least one in the air supply opening arranged inside inner wall for sucking in air from the traffic route to the interspace and wherein the upper part of the interspace has at least one air discharge opening for discharging the sucked-in air from the interspace, characterized in that at least one of the walls is at least partially made of transparent material for metering sunlight warming up the gap. Device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one of the walls is at least partially made of heat-absorbing material. Device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein at least the inside of said wall has a dark color. 4. Device as claimed in any of the claims 1-3, wherein the inner surface of one of the walls is provided with catalyst material for promoting the conversion of NOx, in particular NO2, into the sucked-in air. 1031640 The device of claim 4, wherein the catalyst material comprises a coating of titanium dioxide (TiO 2). Device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein a slot is provided between the support means and the inner wall for the supply of air. 10. Device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the one or more exhaust openings are connected to one or more air exhaust ducts arranged on the walls, in particular chimneys, for further, preferably further upward, transporting of the sucked-in air. 11. Device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein one of the walls is made of plexiglass. Device as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein the support means comprise a concrete foundation. 13. Noise screen for shielding noise produced by motor vehicles on a traffic road, in which noise screen a device according to one or more of the preceding claims is integrated. 14. A system for passively discharging fine dust and / or NOx-containing air in the vicinity of a traffic road, comprising a device arranged along the traffic road, according to claim 1, wherein the transparent wall is provided on the sunny side of the device. 15. System as claimed in claim 14, comprising a first and a second device to be arranged on either side of the traffic road, wherein both transparent walls are directed towards each other or away from each other for depending on the sun position with the first or with the second device discharge the air. A method for passively discharging particulate matter and / or NOx-containing air in the vicinity of a traffic route, comprising: - providing a device according to any one of the preceding claims; - arranging the means of support along the traffic route; - arranging the upright inner wall facing the traffic route and the upright outer wall arranged opposite the inner wall on the supporting means such that at least one gap is defined between the inner sides of the upright walls; - sucking in air from the environment of the traffic road and discharging it as a result of pressure differences between the air supply opening in the lower part of the space 15 and the air discharge opening in the upper part of the space. characterized in that the method comprises providing a device with at least one at least partially transparent outer or inner wall for heating the air in the gap with sunlight to promote air suction. 17. A method according to claim 16, comprising providing a catalyst in the gap and reacting nitrogen oxides (M M) fed along the catalyst with the catalyst.