JP2005224151A - Method for artificially making rainfall and device for artificially making rainfall - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for artificially making rainfall easily and inexpensively, by which artificial rainfall is made when water runs short due to failure of rain: and to provide a device for artificially making rainfall. <P>SOLUTION: The method for artificially making rainfall comprises the following process: spraying gas hydrate having a crystal structure obtained by charging at least one gas molecule of either carbon dioxide or inert gas into a basket formed with water molecule, to the relatively lower part of cloud A so as to generate a lot of ice crystals as an ice crystal group B; granulating the ice crystals in a process of raising the ice crystals via an up-current of air C; and making the granulated ice crystals fall down through portions weak in the up-current of air C. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an artificial precipitation method and apparatus, and more particularly, to an artificial precipitation method and apparatus that artificially causes rain when water is insufficient due to rain shortage or the like.

  In recent years, abnormal weather often occurs due to changes in the natural environment, droughts and heavy floods due to lack of rain, and adversely affect human life. In particular, the lack of rain affects people's eating habits, and it is desired to take countermeasures as soon as possible. For this reason, a desalination apparatus for producing fresh water from seawater has been constructed. However, this fresh water generator has not only a high construction cost but also a problem that its use is limited because it is not completely fresh water.

  Therefore, methods for artificial precipitation have been studied and proposed. For example, jet air flow is directed upward to generate an updraft, which raises the moisture on the ground side to form a high-humidity air layer in the sky, causing artificial rain, and this effect In order to promote this, it has been proposed to use silver iodide as a raindrop promoting substance (Patent Document 1). However, according to this artificial precipitation method, there is a problem that the apparatus for generating the jet flow becomes large and the production cost becomes high, and the transportation to a place where precipitation is required becomes difficult. In addition, the use of silver iodide as a raindrop promoting substance may cause environmental pollution.

Another artificial precipitation method has been proposed that focuses on the fact that natural precipitation is caused by ice crystals generated in clouds or fog (Patent Document 2). According to this artificial precipitation method, it is said that dry ice, liquid carbon, liquid propane or the like is used as a strong cooling agent for generating this ice crystal, but these strong cooling agents are usually not easy to handle, Moreover, the spraying device for clouds and fog becomes complicated and expensive. Therefore, there is a practical problem.
JP 2003-88257 A JP-A-9-313051

  The present invention solves the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to obtain artificial precipitation by a relatively inexpensive and easy means.

  The artificial precipitation method according to claim 1, wherein a gas hydrate having a crystal structure in which at least one of carbon dioxide and an inert gas is contained in a basket made of water molecules is sprayed on a lower part of the cloud. The ice crystal group is generated, and the ice crystal group is raised to the upper part of the cloud while growing by absorbing the water vapor in the atmosphere on the updraft, and the grown ice crystal group is a weak region of the updraft It is made to fall from.

  In the artificial precipitation method according to claim 2, in the cage where water molecules generate at least one of carbon dioxide and inert gas in a region where the temperature is lower than 0 ° C. and below 0 ° C. A gas hydrate with a crystal structure contained in is sprayed, the gas hydrate is separated into gas and water to generate ice crystals, and the ice crystals are placed in an ascending current to absorb water vapor in the atmosphere. In this way, the cloud is raised while being grown, and the grown ice crystal group is dropped from a region where the updraft is weak.

  The artificial precipitation method according to claim 3 is the artificial precipitation method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the temperature of the sprayed gas hydrate is adjusted to be 0 ° C to 5 ° C.

  The artificial precipitation apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a gas hydrate production apparatus for producing a gas hydrate by bringing water into contact with at least one of carbon dioxide and an inert gas, and storing the gas hydrate. A storage tank for transferring the gas hydrate stored in the storage tank, and a spraying device for spraying the gas hydrate from the transfer tank to a predetermined position of the cloud.

In the artificial precipitation method according to claim 1, the gas hydrate sprayed on the low part of the cloud is separated into gas molecules and water molecules at this low part, and more ice crystals can be generated.
After that, the air that contains many ice crystals will rise in the clouds as an upward flow due to the heat generated during solar heat and ice crystal formation. grow up. Then, the ice crystals that have grown and fall as raindrops from a weak ascending current.
Thus, effective precipitation can be obtained easily and inexpensively without using a complicated and large-scale apparatus.

According to the artificial precipitation method of claim 2, since the predetermined gas hydrate is sprayed in the low part of the cloud and in the region where the temperature is 0 ° C. or lower, the atmospheric temperature is low and ice crystals are effectively produced. Can be generated.
That is, effective precipitation can be obtained easily and inexpensively.

  In the artificial precipitation method according to claim 3, since the gas hydrate temperature is adjusted to be 0 ° C. to 5 ° C., even if the cloud temperature is a relatively high temperature of 0 ° C. or higher, the gas hydrate Since the rate is low, it can be separated into gas molecules and water molecules to promote the generation of ice crystals. Even with this method, it is possible to obtain effective precipitation easily and inexpensively.

The artificial precipitation apparatus according to claim 4 is composed of a gas hydrate production apparatus, a storage tank, a transfer tank, and a spraying apparatus.
In such an artificial precipitation device, a gas hydrate production device and a storage tank for storing the produced gas hydrate are installed in a predetermined area on the ground, and a gas hydrate is transferred from this storage tank as necessary. The artificial precipitation device can be miniaturized because it can be filled and transferred to the spray position. Further, the apparatus is not complicated and the cost can be reduced.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the artificial precipitation method and apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of an apparatus for carrying out an artificial precipitation method according to the present invention. The gas hydrate H is manufactured by the gas hydrate manufacturing apparatus 1, and the manufactured gas hydrate H is stored in the storage tank 2 via the line L. If necessary, the transfer tank 4 is supplied by the supply apparatus 3 such as a screw conveyor. To be filled.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the gas hydrate manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a tank body 5 made of a pressure vessel, a compressor 6 that supplies the gas G into the tank body 5 at a predetermined pressure, water W And a cooler 7 for cooling the air. For example, the water W cooled to 5 ° C. or less by the cooler 7 and supplied to the tank body 1 and the gas G pressurized to 1.2 MPa by the compressor 6 come into contact with each other in the tank body 1. Thus, gas hydrate H is produced.

  In this case, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, or the like can be used as the gas G, but nitrogen is preferably used because of environmental problems. In addition, as the inert gas, for example, argon or helium can be used.

  The gas hydrate H produced by the gas hydrate production apparatus 1 has a crystal structure in which gas molecules are contained in a cage made of water molecules, and is a very fine powder, but is discharged from the tank body 1. When it is, it has a sherbet shape. The sherbet-like gas hydrate H is dehydrated and stored as powdered gas hydrate H in the storage tank 2. And in this storage tank 2, in order to keep gas hydrate H in a powder form, for example, the temperature is kept at 0 to 5 ° C. and the pressure is about 1.2 MPa, and a stirrer (not shown) Are appropriately stirred.

The gas hydrate production apparatus 1 and the storage tank 2 are installed in a predetermined area R on the ground. The powdery gas hydrate H stored in the storage tank 2 is filled in a transfer tank 4 that can be transported when precipitation becomes necessary. In this case, the gas hydrate H is filled so that the pressure is 1.2 MPa and the temperature is preferably 0 to 5 ° C.
Although the optimum temperature differs depending on the pressure, if the pressure is too high, the transfer tank 4 becomes heavy and the cost increases, so the pressure is approximately 1.2 MPa.

The transfer tank 4 is mounted on a transfer body M such as a small aircraft, is transferred to an area where precipitation is desired, and the compressor 8 is operated in a low part A1 of the cloud A generated in the area. As shown in FIG. 3, the gas hydrate H is sprayed from the spray nozzle 9.
In this case, in order to easily generate ice crystals, it is preferable to select a region where the temperature around the low part A1 of the cloud A is 0 ° C. or less. This area is selected based on information from meteorological satellites.
Moreover, the gas hydrate H can be sprayed from the slope of a mountain at a high altitude toward the low part A1 of the cloud A.

Next, a mechanism for generating raindrops will be described with reference to FIG.
The gas hydrate H sprayed on the low part A1 of the cloud A is separated into gas molecules and water molecules at the low part A1, and many ice crystals are formed by the water molecules and minute water droplets existing in the cloud. Will occur. The large number of ice crystals form an ice crystal group B, and an upward airflow C is generated in the surrounding air by solar heat and heat generated when the ice crystals are generated.

  Here, if the gas hydrate H is formed in the form of powder and sprayed into the cloud A, the gas molecules and water molecules in the cloud A are separated quickly, so that ice can be more effectively used. Crystals can be generated.

  The ice crystal rises in the cloud by this updraft C, and grows by combining with minute water droplets present in the surroundings in this process. When it grows gradually and the diameter of the ice crystal becomes about 100 μm, for example, it falls to the ground as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 4 from a weak (small) region of the rising airflow C at a drop speed of about 1 m / s. In other words, it reaches the ground as rain or snow.

It is explanatory drawing of the Example of the apparatus for implementing the artificial precipitation method by this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the gas hydrate manufacturing apparatus for enforcing the artificial precipitation method by this invention. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing when gas hydrate is sprayed in the cloud by implementation of the artificial precipitation method by this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the motion of the ice crystal in a cloud by the artificial precipitation method by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Gas hydrate manufacturing apparatus 2 Storage tank 3 Supply apparatus 4 Transfer tank 5 Tank main body 6 Compressor 7 Cooler 8 Compressor 9 Spray nozzle A Cloud B Ice crystal group C Updraft G Gas
H Gas hydrate W Water

Claims (4)

A crystal hydrate containing at least one of carbon dioxide and inert gas in a cage made of water molecules is sprayed on the lower part of the cloud to generate ice crystals, An artificial precipitation method in which a group of crystals is placed on an updraft to absorb water vapor in the atmosphere and grow to rise to the top of the cloud, and the grown ice crystals are dropped from a region where the updraft is weak. A gas hydrate having a crystal structure in which at least one gas molecule of carbon dioxide or inert gas is contained in a cage made of water molecules is sprayed in the lower part of the cloud and at a temperature of 0 ° C. or lower. Then, the gas hydrate is separated into gas and water to generate ice crystals, and the ice crystals are placed in an ascending air current to absorb the water vapor in the atmosphere and grow while raising the clouds. And an artificial precipitation method in which the grown ice crystal group is dropped from the weak region of the updraft. The artificial precipitation method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the temperature of the sprayed gas hydrate is adjusted to be 0 ° C to 5 ° C. A gas hydrate production apparatus for producing gas hydrate by bringing water into contact with at least one of carbon dioxide and an inert gas, a storage tank for storing the gas hydrate, and a storage tank for storing the gas hydrate An artificial precipitation device comprising a transfer tank for transferring the gas hydrate and a spraying device for spraying the gas hydrate from the transfer tank to a predetermined position of the cloud.

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