JP2009001147A - Vehicular snow melting device and vehicular snow melting method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a snow melting device capable of melting snow of a parked vehicle of not operating an engine by using heating by a heater and heat transport by a heat pipe. <P>SOLUTION: This vehicular snow melting device is characterized by having the heater for intermittently heating with a battery of a hybrid car as a power source, and the heat pipe for conducting heating of the heater to a steel plate of the vehicle. This vehicular snow melting method is characterized by melting the snow deposited on the vehicle by raising the temperature of the steel plate by transmitting its heating to the steel plate of the vehicle by the heat pipe by intermittently heating the heater with the battery of the hybrid car as the power source. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a snow melting device for a vehicle that melts snow accumulated in a part such as a bonnet part and a roof part of the vehicle.

  In Japan, in a snowy area represented by Hokkaido and Tohoku region, when a vehicle is parked in a parking lot without a roof and left for a certain period of time, snow accumulates on the vehicle. Must be implemented. Snow shoveling not only takes time to depart, but also places physical burdens especially on elderly people. Moreover, it may fall over at the time of the said work, and there also exists a safety problem.

On the other hand, it goes without saying that it is important to secure the driver's field of view in order to operate the vehicle safely. Many vehicles are equipped with a defroster for the windshield, and the rear glass contains a hot wire that melts snow with hot air and heat, respectively. To ensure a clear view.
Typical locations other than the glass portion where snow melting is necessary are the bonnet portion and the roof portion. For example, there is a case in which snow that has accumulated on the bonnet part blows up while traveling and deteriorates the driver's visibility. In addition, when snow has accumulated on the roof portion, it may move to the windshield or flow out due to acceleration of the vehicle or the like. If this happens while driving, the driver's view is not secured, which may lead to an accident, which is a safety issue.
From the above, snow melting / snow removal other than the glass portion of the vehicle is also important in terms of vehicle traveling safety. If a device for melting snow in such a part of the vehicle can be used, it will be preferable for automobile users who are freed from snow shoveling work.

  As a conventional technique related to a snow melting device for a vehicle, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a snow melting device for an automobile wheel house. Patent Document 2 discloses a snow melting device for a fender portion. Furthermore, Patent Document 3 discloses a windshield snow melting and ice melting device. However, these devices disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 only exhibit a snow melting effect after the engine is operated, and do not melt snow when the engine is stopped, that is, in a so-called parking state.

On the other hand, a heat pipe is an industrial product already on the market, and as disclosed in Patent Document 4, it has been used for a long time as a semiconductor heat radiator (for example, cooling of a CPU of a personal computer). In recent years, technology development for introducing heat pipes for vehicles has been carried out. For example, as a conventional technique for cooling a vehicle steering wheel, a cooling device using a heat pipe as disclosed in Patent Document 5 has been proposed. Further, as disclosed in Patent Document 6 as a device for cooling a dash panel, Patent Document 7 as an exhaust gas purification device, Patent Document 8 as a waste heat recovery device, Patent Document 9 as an exhaust silencer, etc. Many technologies have been proposed to introduce heat pipes for heat dissipation and cooling. However, there is no known literature using heat pipes for melting snow.
Japanese Patent No. 3876427 JP 2005-297882 A Utility Model Registration No. 3117178 JP 60-57956 A JP 2005-1438 A JP 2004-84970 A JP 2004-167293 A JP 2005-264916 A JP 2006-274484 A JP 2000-121265 A

  As described above, in order to reduce snow shoveling work, there is no known document describing snow melting for a long time parked vehicle in which the engine is not operating. In addition, there is no known document describing that the snow melting point is a bonnet part or a roof part important for ensuring the driver's view. Furthermore, there is no known literature using heat pipes for melting snow in vehicles.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a snow melting device that enables snow melting of a parked vehicle in which an engine is not operating by using heat generation by a heater and heat transport by a heat pipe.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a heater that intermittently generates heat using a battery of a hybrid vehicle as a power source, and a heat pipe that conducts heat generated by the heater to a steel plate of the vehicle. Providing equipment.

  Further, the present invention melts snow accumulated on the vehicle by intermittently generating heat from the battery of the hybrid vehicle as a power source, and transmitting the generated heat to the steel plate of the vehicle through a heat pipe to raise the temperature of the steel plate. A vehicle snow melting method is provided.

The apparatus and method of the present invention enables snow melting by setting the temperature of the steel sheet to the outside air temperature or higher with a heat pipe and a heater.
In general, those skilled in the art can easily assume that snow can be melted by continuously supplying sufficient power to melt snow.
The present invention is a method of intermittently heating a heater, and is characterized by keeping the minimum temperature of a steel plate at or above the outside air temperature by utilizing preheating of the steel plate even after power interruption. Therefore, it is possible to reduce power consumption compared to continuous energization.

  The present invention proposes a technique that enables snow melting of a parked vehicle in which the engine is not operating. Further, the snow melting point is a point other than the glass part necessary for securing the driver's visual field, such as a bonnet part or a roof part, and a heat pipe is used.

  Generally, it is known that a single heat pipe is a passive industrial product that does not require a special power source. Therefore, as long as there is no deformation or breakage due to mechanical stress or impact, heat transport can be performed a plurality of times over a long period of time as long as the situation does not exceed the limit such as dryout.

  Patent Document 10 describes that the heat exchange rate in the heat pipe is very fast, and the steam flow reaches the speed of sound. That is, it is known that the heat given to the heat absorption part of the heat pipe is transported to the heat dissipation part in a short time.

  In recent years, vehicles called hybrid vehicles have been put on the market. This is a vehicle that uses a motor driven by a battery (mainly nickel metal hydride battery) in addition to a conventional gasoline engine. Some recent models have a motor output of 150 kW. This hybrid vehicle has the ability to provide electrical energy even when the gasoline engine is stopped (when parked).

The present invention is a snow melting device for a vehicle having a heater that intermittently generates heat using a battery of a hybrid vehicle as a power source, and a heat pipe that conducts heat generated by the heater to a steel plate of the vehicle.
Further, the present invention melts snow accumulated on the vehicle by intermittently generating heat from the battery of the hybrid vehicle as a power source, and transmitting the generated heat to the steel plate of the vehicle through a heat pipe to raise the temperature of the steel plate. This is a method for melting snow in a vehicle.

  The present invention is not applicable only to the bonnet part and the roof part described above. If there is a space where wiring such as a heat pipe or a heater can be provided at a place other than the glass part, it can be applied to an arbitrary place, such as a fender part or a trunk part, and there is no particular limitation.

Various shapes such as a circle, an ellipse, and a flat shape are known as the shape of the heat pipe, but the shape of the heat pipe is not defined in the present invention and is not particularly limited.
In addition, various shapes such as copper, aluminum, and stainless steel are known as the material of the heat pipe, but in the present invention, the material of the heat pipe is not defined and is not particularly limited.
Furthermore, various types of heat pipe hydraulic fluids are known, such as water, alcohol, and organic solvents. However, the present invention does not specify the type of hydraulic fluid for the heat pipe, and is not particularly limited. Not what you want.
In addition, various heat pipe structures such as a wick type, a sintered type, and a composite jet type are known, but in the present invention, the structure of the heat pipe is not specified. It is not limited.
Hereinafter, the embodiment will be described in detail.

A snow melting device having the structure shown in the bottom view of FIG. 1 was produced using the following materials.
-Heat pipe; made wick type with outer diameter φ8mm, made of copper, pure water as working fluid.
-Thermal diffusion sheet; manufactured by Otsuka Electric Co., Ltd., trade name: graphite sheet.
・ Heater: Nippon Heater Co., Ltd., cast aluminum heater, model ALC type.
-Power supply: manufactured by Takasago Seisakusho Co., Ltd., AC power supply (200V), model number AA / F series.

  As shown in the bottom view of FIG. 1, a heat diffusion sheet 5 is attached to the entire back surface of a steel plate 4 having a side of 1 m and a thickness of 0.5 mm, and heat pipes 3 are attached at intervals of about 10 cm. The end portion (heat receiving portion) of the heat pipe 3 was bundled and connected to the heater 2. The heater 2 is connected to the power source 1. FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the produced snow melting apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a plan view.

<Test 1>
As indicated by reference numerals (1) to (9) in FIG. 3, commercially available thermocouples were attached to nine locations on the surface of the steel plate 4, and were further connected to a commercially available recorder to measure the temperature at those locations.

As shown in FIG. 4, the gantry 6 was installed on the work table 7, and the snow melting device produced on the gantry 6 was mounted. The gantry 6 has a structure in which the four corners of the produced snow melting device are supported by four stainless steel pipes.
The state shown in FIG. 4 is performed in a built-in chamber (model number: TBE) manufactured by Espec Co., Ltd. The sample, mount, workbench, heater, power supply, thermocouple, etc. are all in the chamber, such as a recorder. The measuring instrument was installed outside the chamber. Moreover, the height from the floor surface of the steel plate 4 was set to 1.5 m assuming the height of the bonnet portion and the roof portion.

In Test 1, the built-in chamber was set at a temperature of 0 ° C. and left for 2 hours before starting. The power input conditions to the heater 2 were as the following conditions 1 to 7: The input power was 2 kW under all conditions.
Condition 1: Power on for 5 minutes and power off for 1 minute. Repeat thereafter.
Condition 2: Power on for 5 minutes and power off for 5 minutes. Repeat thereafter.
Condition 3: Power on for 5 minutes and power off for 10 minutes. Repeat thereafter.
Condition 4: Power on for 5 minutes and power off for 15 minutes. Repeat thereafter.
Condition 5: Power on for 5 minutes and power off for 30 minutes. Repeat thereafter.
Condition 6: Power on for 5 minutes and power off for 60 minutes. Repeat thereafter.
Condition 7: No power input.

  Nine temperature measurements with thermocouples were performed at 1 minute intervals from the start of the test. The time from the start to the end of the test was set to 12 hours assuming a night parking time. As the temperature data at nine locations, the maximum value, average value, and minimum value at 12 hours were used. The results are shown in Table 1.

<Test 2>
It was the same as Test 1 except that the set temperature of the built-in chamber was −5 ° C. The results are shown in Table 2.

From the results of Test 1 shown in Table 1, Condition 7 is natural, but even under Conditions 5 and 6, since the minimum temperature is 0 ° C., it is considered that the effect of snow melting cannot be expected. Under conditions 5 and 6, the time when the power is turned on and the time when the temperature of the steel plate rises due to the preheating exceeds 0 ° C, but in other time zones, it is the same as the outside air temperature (= set temperature of the built-in chamber) It has become.
Under conditions 1, 2, 3, and 4, the lowest temperature exceeds 0 ° C., so the effect of melting snow can be expected. However, if too much power is input, there is a problem that power consumption increases. Furthermore, if the temperature of the steel plate becomes excessively high, there is a problem that if a person accidentally touches the part, the user will be burned.
Therefore, it is necessary to set the input power, the input time, and the downtime in consideration of them.

From the results of Test 2 shown in Table 2, it is considered that the conditions 4, 5, 6 and 7 cannot expect the effect of snow melting because the minimum temperature is the same as the outside air temperature. Under these conditions, as in Test 1, the outside air temperature (= set temperature of the built-in chamber) is the same in the time zone other than the time when the power is turned on and the time when the temperature of the steel plate is raised due to the residual heat. It was.
Under conditions 1, 2 and 3, the effect of melting snow can be expected because the minimum temperature is over 0 ° C. However, as in Test 1, there is a problem with excessive power input.
Therefore, it is necessary to set the input power, the input time, and the downtime in consideration of them. These may be selected as appropriate by the designer, and are not particularly limited in the present invention.

  In the above-described embodiment, the 200V AC power supply is used, but another voltage may be used, or a DC power supply may be used. Further, a DC / AC converter (orthogonal converter) may be used, or the wattage of input power may be changed. The present invention performs snow melting using a heat pipe, and the current, voltage, wattage, and the like may be appropriately selected by a designer and are not particularly limited.

It is a bottom view of the melt | fusion apparatus used in the Example. It is side surface sectional drawing of the melt | fusion apparatus used in the Example. It is a top view of the melt | fusion apparatus used in the Example. 6 is a side cross-sectional view for explaining measurement conditions of Test 1. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Power supply, 2 ... Heater, 3 ... Heat pipe, 4 ... Steel plate, 5 ... Thermal diffusion sheet, 6 ... Mounting stand, 7 ... Work table.

Claims (2)

  A snow melting device for a vehicle, comprising: a heater that intermittently generates heat using a battery of a hybrid vehicle as a power source; and a heat pipe that conducts heat generated by the heater to a steel plate of the vehicle.   The heater is intermittently heated by using a battery of a hybrid vehicle as a power source, and the generated heat is transmitted to the steel plate of the vehicle through a heat pipe to raise the temperature of the steel plate, thereby melting the snow accumulated on the vehicle. Snow melting method for vehicles.

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