JP2015151670A - Snow-falling prevention device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a snow-falling prevention device capable of suppressing snow lumps from falling.SOLUTION: A snow-falling prevention device includes a snow melting pipe 10 filled with a heating medium and installed on a snow covered surface, and a controller 20 for controlling temperature of the heating medium. The snow melting pipe 10 includes a snow melting base pipe 11 extending along an edge of the snow covered surface, a plurality of snow melting lying pipes 12 extending radially out from the snow melting base pipe 11 and arranged so as to lie on the snow covered surface, and a plurality of snow melting standing pipes 13 extending radially out from the snow melting base pipe 11 and arranged so as to stand on the snow covered surface. The snow melting lying pipes 12, which lie on the snow covered surface, slip into the lower layer of the snow coverage and start melting the snow to first reduce the volume of snow at the tip end part of the snow coverage. Then, the snow melting base pipe 11 and the snow melting standing pipes 13 act as a fence against the snow coverage whose volume being reduced and height being lowered, thereby the snow coverage is dammed up and is melted into thin strips.

Description

  It discloses about the technique which suppresses snowfall from a roof etc.

  In cold regions and regions with a lot of snowfall, snow also accumulates on the large road information bulletin boards provided on automobile-only roads, etc., so the snowboard does not fall as a big lump so that it falls. The part is inclined to prevent snow accumulation as much as possible. However, since the effect is not sufficient with a simple inclined surface, a snowfall system as disclosed in FIG. 8 of Patent Document 1 has also been proposed.

  The snowfall system 100 of Patent Document 1 is a mechanism in which a metal hollow tube 120 (420) containing a heater wire 110 is disposed in the snow accumulating portion 101, and the snow is broken and dropped at the center of the snow accumulating portion (Patent Document). 1 and FIG. 2). In such a system in which snow is divided and dropped at the center, snow blocks that occupy as much as half the area of the snow can fall at once, so care must be taken when snow falls. In particular, in the case of a road information bulletin board, the snow surface of the top panel exposed to wind and snow often accumulates as icy snow that has hardened in an ice shape because the snow is blown into the snow. If this snowfall is divided by the snowfall system of Patent Document 1 and dropped, an ice and snow lump having the width of the bulletin board will drop in some cases, which is wonders for a car that runs at high speed.

JP 2013-234439 A

  In view of the above background, there is a need for a snowfall prevention device that can sufficiently suppress the fall of a snow mass.

Proposed for this problem is a snowfall prevention device having a snow melting pipe filled with a heat medium and installed on a snow surface, and a controller for controlling the temperature of the heat medium,
The snow melting pipe is
A basic snow melting tube extending along an edge of the snow surface;
A plurality of reed snow melting tubes that extend from the side surface of the basic snow melting tube in the radial direction of the basic snow melting tube and are arranged to lie on the snow surface;
A plurality of vertical snow melting tubes that extend from the side surface of the basic snow melting tube in the radial direction of the basic snow melting tube and are arranged to stand on the snow accumulation surface;
This is a snowfall prevention device.

  The snowfall prevention device according to the above proposal becomes a heat source along the edge of the snow cover surface, that is, along the edge of the eaves if it is a roof, or along the tip edge of the inclined ceiling board if it is a road information bulletin board. Since the snow melting pipe filled with the heat medium is extended, the snow melting occurs at the tip portion of the snow. Therefore, compared with the snow melting system of Patent Document 1 that divides and removes snow at the center, the possibility of a large snow mass falling is reduced.

  More specifically, according to the above-mentioned snow melting pipe, a plurality of lying snow melting tubes that protrude from the basic snow melting tube and lie on the snow surface sink into the lower layer of the snow before the basic snow melting tube, and start melting. First, the volume of snow is reduced at the tip of the snow that is in contact with the basic snow melting tube. In addition, the basic snow melting tube and a plurality of upright snow melting tubes that have been erected from now on function as a fence to squeeze snow and cut it into pieces with melting snow. Therefore, even if there is something that falls between the vertical snow melting tubes, it will be only a small snow block, and the fall of the snow block will be suppressed.

Embodiment of a snowfall prevention apparatus is shown with a top view and an end view. The installation state of the snowfall prevention apparatus which concerns on embodiment of FIG. 1 is shown. The functional block diagram of the snowfall prevention apparatus which concerns on embodiment. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of the controller shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 1 particularly shows an embodiment of a snowmelt pipe in a snowfall prevention device. 1A is a plan view, FIG. 1B is an end view seen from the arrow X direction, and FIG. 1C is an end view seen from the arrow Y direction.
The snow fall prevention apparatus shown in the figure has a snow melting pipe 10 that is filled with a heat medium and installed on a snow surface, and a controller 20 that controls the temperature of the heat medium filled in the snow melting pipe 10. In the present embodiment, the heat medium filled in the snow melting pipe 10 is insulating oil.

  The snow melting pipe 10 includes a basic snow melting tube 11, and a plurality of horizontal snow melting tubes 12 and vertical snow melting tubes 13 that extend from the side surface (outer peripheral surface) of the basic snow melting tube 11 in the radial direction 11 r of the basic snow melting tube 11. Yes. The horizontal snow melting tube 12 and the vertical snow melting tube 13 are arranged on the side surface of the basic snow melting tube 11 in a comb-like shape. The basic snow melting tube 11, the horizontal snow melting tube 12, and the vertical snow melting tube 13 are all in communication, and all of them are filled with insulating oil. The radial direction 11r indicates a direction intersecting the axial direction 11a of the basic snow melting tube 11. In addition, a pipe (pipe) is not limited to a cylindrical shape, and a rectangular tube shape is also applicable, and a person skilled in the art can naturally understand that the terminology used in the present specification applies even when the tube shape is a rectangular tube shape.

  The basic snow melting tube 11 is thicker than the horizontal snow melting tube 12 and the vertical snow melting tube 13, and has a diameter of, for example, 50 mm. The length of the axial direction 11a is appropriately designed according to the width of the snow-covering surface to be installed, for example, by connecting a plurality of basic snow melting tubes 11 together. The basic snow melting tube 11 of which the length is appropriately designed extends along the edge of the snow cover surface as will be described later (FIG. 2). The plurality of horizontal snow melting tubes 12 extending in the radial direction 11r from the side surface of the basic snow melting tube 11 extending in this way are arranged in a line in the axial direction 11a of the basic snow melting tube 11, and are lying on the snow surface. To be arranged. A plurality of vertical snow melting tubes 13 extending from the side surface of the basic snow melting tube 11 in the radial direction 11r are also arranged in a line in the axial direction 11a of the basic snow melting tube 11, provided that the horizontal snow melting tubes 12 are arranged in a row. On the other hand, the rows of vertical snow melting tubes 13 are provided in the circumferential direction 11c of the basic snow melting tube 11 with an interval of 90 °, for example. Therefore, when the recumbent snow melting tube 12 is disposed so as to lie on the snow-covered surface, the reed snow-melting tube 13 is disposed so as to stand on the snow-covered surface.

  The individual snow-melting tubes 12 and the individual snow-melting tubes 13 are provided with their positions shifted in the axial direction 11a. In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the vertical snowmelt tubes 13 are alternately arranged so that one vertical snowmelt tube 13 is positioned between two adjacent horizontal snowmelt tubes 12 in the horizontal snowmelt tubes 12 arranged in a row. It is like that. Although it is possible to implement a mode in which the positions of the snow-melting snow tube 12 and the vertical snow-melting pipe 13 are not shifted, when the snow melting action is considered, the position in the axial direction 11a of each snow-melting snow tube 12 and the axial direction of each snow-melting snow tube 13 The position shifted from the position in 11a is superior in the effect of suppressing snowfall.

  The base snow melting tube 11 is liquid-tightly sealed with a nut (or bolt) -shaped end cap 14 at the end, and a base end cap 15 for wiring connection with the controller 20 is connected to the base end with a nut 16. It is connected. The base end cap 15 is a petri dish having a diameter larger than that of the basic snow melting tube 11, has an opening on the side opposite to the connection side to the basic snow melting tube 11, and a disc-shaped lid 15 a on the side wall (peripheral wall) at the periphery. The opening is liquid-tightly sealed by screwing. On the side wall of the base end cap 15, a liquid-tight wiring portion 15 b through which an electric wire from the controller 20 is passed and liquid-tightly sealed is provided. Further, the side wall has two drain holes 15c for filling the insulating oil and venting air, and is liquid-tightly sealed with screws when used. Maintenance or the like can be performed by removing the lid 15a of the base end cap 15.

  The snow melting pipe 10 provided with the above basic snow melting tube 11, the horizontal snow melting tube 12, and the vertical snow melting tube 13 is installed on the snow-covering surface as illustrated in FIG. The snow cover surface S in FIG. 2 is a top plate portion of a road information bulletin board as an example, and this top plate portion is an inclined surface for snow cover measures (FIG. 2B). 2A is a plan view looking down from above the installation surface S, and FIG. 2B is an end view seen from the direction of arrow Y. FIG.

  The basic snow melting tube 11 is installed in the vicinity of the tip of the snow accumulation surface S so as to extend along the edge Sa (with the axial direction 11a approximately parallel to the edge Sa). Although fixing to the snow-covering surface S of the basic snow melting tube 11 is not specifically shown, what is necessary is just to perform using an appropriate fixing bracket. The horizontal snow melting tube 12 extending in the radial direction 11r from the side surface of the basic snow melting tube 11 extending along the edge Sa lies on the snow surface S, that is, substantially parallel to the snow surface S in the case shown in FIG. It protrudes in the direction of climbing the slope. When the base snow melting tube 11 is installed in a state where the row of the snow laying snow tubes 12 lies on the snow accumulation surface S, the diameter of the base snow melting tube 11 from the side surface of the base snow melting tubes 11 is 90 ° in the circumferential direction 11c. The row of upright snow melting tubes 13 extending in the direction 11r stands up on the snow surface S, that is, in the case shown in FIG. Therefore, when the snow melting pipe 10 is installed on the snow surface S, the base snow melting pipe 11 includes a row of horizontal snow melting tubes 12 that pierce the lower layer of the snow and a row of vertical snow melting tubes 13 that dam the tip of the snow like a fence. Installed on a shaft.

  As described above, since the snow melting pipe 10 filled with the insulating oil serving as a heat source is extended along the edge Sa of the snow accumulation surface S, snow melting occurs at the tip portion of the snow accumulation. Therefore, compared with the snow melting system of Patent Document 1 that divides and removes snow at the center, the possibility of a large snow mass falling is reduced. According to the snow melting pipe 10, the horizontal snow melting pipe 12 protruding from the basic snow melting pipe 11 and lying on the snow surface S sinks into the lower layer of the snow before the basic snow melting pipe 11 and starts melting. First, the volume of the snow is reduced at the tip portion of the snow which is in contact with the basic snow melting tube 11 so as to slide down the snow surface S. Then, the basic snow melting tube 11 and the upright standing snow melting tube 13 function like a fence against the snow accumulation that has decreased in bulk and reduced, and the snow accumulation is dammed and shredded by melting snow. Further, at this time, the dammed snow is melted by the heat of the snow-melting pipe 10, and at the same time, the snow is melted by the pressure applied to its lower layer by its own weight, and the bulk is reduced. Therefore, even if there is something that falls through between the vertical snow melting tubes 13, it becomes a small snow mass, and the ice and snow mass does not fall as a large mass.

  The temperature of the insulating oil in the snow melting pipe 10 is controlled by the controller 20. Due to the mechanism for heating the insulating oil filled as a heat medium, unlike the snow melting tool in which only the heater wire is put in the pipe, the amount of heat is increased and it is difficult to cool down. And it heats enough to the front-end | tip of each vertical snow-melting tube 13. FIG.

  A functional block diagram of the controller 20 is shown in FIG. The controller 20 is divided into a temperature control unit 21 and a heater drive unit 22 due to the difference in power source. The temperature control unit 21 is connected to an outside air temperature sensor 23 that measures the outside air temperature and one or more insulating oil temperature sensors (heat medium temperature sensors) 24 that measure the temperature of the insulating oil, and inputs each measured value. The insulating oil temperature sensor 24 is accommodated in the basic snow melting tube 11 and measures the insulating oil temperature therein. The temperature control unit 21 is operated by, for example, a DC 24V control power supply 25 and includes a set temperature LED 26 that displays the current set temperature. The heater drive unit 22 includes an SSR (solid state relay) that operates in accordance with the temperature control unit 21 and energizes the heater 28 through a fuse using, for example, an AC 200V drive power supply 27 (see FIG. 4). The heater drive unit 22 includes a heater energization LED 29 that informs the energization. As an example, the heater 28 is configured by connecting one or more metal clad resistors in series or in parallel, and is accommodated in the basic snow melting tube 11 to heat the insulating oil.

A detailed circuit diagram of the controller 20 is shown in FIG.
The temperature control unit 21 uses the comparators 30 and 31 to compare the outside air temperature measurement value obtained by the outside air temperature sensor 23 with the low temperature setting reference value TL and the high temperature setting reference value TH that are set and stored in advance. The reference values TL and TH having different values are, for example, a reference voltage corresponding to a low temperature setting reference value TL corresponding to 10 ° C. and a reference voltage corresponding to a high temperature setting reference value TH corresponding to 4 ° C. Moreover, the temperature control unit 21 compares the measured value by the insulating oil temperature sensor 24 with the low temperature setting reference value TL by the comparator 32.

  The comparator 30 outputs a logic “1” when the outside air temperature measurement value by the outside air temperature sensor 23 is equal to or higher than the low temperature setting reference value TL, and outputs a logic “0” when the outside air temperature measurement value falls below the low temperature setting reference value TL. Output. The comparator 32 outputs a logic “1” when the measured value by the insulating oil temperature sensor 24 is equal to or higher than the low temperature set reference value TL, and a logic “0” when the outside air temperature measured value falls below the low temperature set reference value TL. Is output. The outputs of the comparators 30 and 32 are calculated by the AND gate 33, and when both outputs are logic "1", logic "1" is output and the power switch 34 is turned off. When the power switch 34 is turned off, the circuit power supply is cut off, and the temperature control unit 21 is disabled. On the other hand, when either or both of the outside air temperature and the insulating oil temperature fall below the low temperature setting reference value TL, the logic “0” is input to the input of the AND gate 33, and the output of the AND gate 33 becomes the logic “0”. When the power switch 34 is turned on, circuit power is supplied, and the temperature control unit 21 is enabled.

  In the temperature control unit 21 that is enabled when the outside air temperature measurement value falls below the low temperature setting reference value TL, the comparator 31 compares the outside air temperature measurement value with the high temperature setting reference value TH. When the outside air temperature measurement value is equal to or higher than the high temperature setting reference value TH, a logic “1” is output. When the outside air temperature measurement value falls below the high temperature setting reference value TH, a logic “0” is output. As a result, the insulating oil temperature setting switch 35 is switched. When the output of the comparator 31 is logic “1”, the insulating oil temperature setting switch 35 selects and energizes the first LED 26 a (for example, green), and selects the low temperature reference value RL and outputs it to the comparator 36. On the other hand, when the output of the comparator 31 is logic “0”, the insulating oil temperature setting switch 35 selects and energizes the second LED 26b (for example, red) and is a high temperature for setting a temperature higher than the low temperature reference value RL. The reference value RH is selected and output to the comparator 36. The reference values RL and RH set and stored in advance are, for example, a reference voltage corresponding to a low temperature reference value RL of 30 ° C. to 50 ° C., preferably 40 ° C., and a high temperature reference value RH of 50 ° C. A reference voltage corresponding to 70 ° C., preferably 60 ° C.

  The comparator 36 compares the measured value by the insulating oil temperature sensor 24 with the low temperature reference value RL or the high temperature reference value RH output from the insulating oil temperature setting switch 35. That is, in this embodiment, when the outside air temperature falls below 10 ° C., the measured temperature value of the insulating oil is compared with the low temperature reference value RL, and when the outside temperature falls below 4 ° C., the measured temperature value of the insulating oil becomes It is compared with the high temperature reference value RH. Then, according to the comparison result output of the comparator 36, the transistor 37 is turned on / off, and the heater energization LED 29 and the SSR of the heater drive unit 22 are controlled.

  That is, when the outside air temperature measurement value falls below the low temperature setting reference value TL in the comparator 30, the low temperature reference value RL output from the insulating oil temperature setting switch 35 and the measurement value by the insulating oil temperature sensor 23 are compared by the comparator 36. As long as the measured temperature value of the insulating oil does not reach the low temperature reference value RL, the transistor 37 is turned on. Accordingly, the heater driving unit 22 drives the heater 28 to heat the insulating oil, and the heater energization LED 29 emits light and notifies. When the temperature of the insulating oil rises due to heating and the measured temperature value of the insulating oil reaches the low temperature reference value RL, the transistor 37 is turned off. With this control, the temperature control unit 21 of the present embodiment starts heating the insulating oil when the outside air temperature falls below 10 ° C, and the insulating oil is heated to a preheating temperature around 40 ° C while the outside air temperature is 4 ° C or higher. To maintain.

  On the other hand, when the outside air temperature measurement value falls below the high temperature setting reference value TH in the comparator 31, the high temperature reference value RH output from the insulating oil temperature setting switch 35 and the measurement value by the insulating oil temperature sensor 23 are compared by the comparator 36, As long as the measured temperature of the insulating oil does not reach the high temperature reference value RH, the transistor 37 is turned on. Accordingly, the heater driving unit 22 drives the heater 28 to heat the insulating oil, and the heater energization LED 29 emits light and notifies. When the temperature of the insulating oil rises due to heating and the measured temperature value of the insulating oil reaches the high temperature reference value RH, the transistor 37 is turned off. With this control, in this embodiment, when the outside air temperature falls below 4 ° C., the insulating oil is further heated and maintained at a snow melting temperature of about 60 ° C.

  The temperature control unit 21 of the present embodiment starts heating in response to a decrease in the temperature of the insulating oil in addition to the control according to the outside air temperature. That is, the measured value by the insulating oil temperature sensor 24 is compared with the low temperature setting reference value TL in the comparator 32, and when the measured temperature value of the insulating oil falls below the low temperature setting reference value TL, the output of the comparator 30 is logical “1”. Even in other words, that is, even when the outside air temperature measurement value is equal to or higher than the low temperature setting reference value TL, the power switch 34 is turned on and circuit power is supplied. At this time, since the low temperature reference value RL is selectively output from the insulating oil temperature setting switch 35 according to the output of the comparator 31, the low temperature reference value RL and the measured value by the insulating oil temperature sensor 24 are compared in the comparator 36. Then, the heater drive unit 22 performs heating of the insulating oil by the heater 28 according to ON / OFF of the transistor 37 according to the output of the comparator 36. With this control, in the case of this embodiment, when the insulating oil temperature falls below 10 ° C., control for heating the insulating oil to a preheating temperature around 40 ° C. is started.

  When the heating based on the temperature drop of the insulating oil is executed, if the measured temperature value of the insulating oil in the comparator 32 becomes equal to or higher than the low temperature setting reference value TL, the output of the AND gate 33 changes (the measured outside air temperature is the low temperature setting reference value). When TL or more), the power switch 34 is turned OFF and the supply of circuit power is stopped. Therefore, in order to continue heating the insulating oil until the low temperature reference value RL is reached, a transistor 40 using the comparator 38, the flip-flop 39, and the control power source 25 as a power source is provided.

  The comparator 38 compares the value measured by the insulating oil temperature sensor 24 with the low temperature reference value RL, and the output is input to the reset terminal (R) of the flip-flop 39. The output of the comparator 32 is input to the set terminal (S) of the flip-flop 39. Therefore, the flip-flop 39 is set when the measured temperature value of the insulating oil falls below the low temperature setting reference value TL, and the flip-flop 39 is reset when the measured temperature value of the insulating oil reaches the low temperature reference value RL. The transistor 40 is turned ON / OFF by the output (Q) of the flip-flop 39, and the SSR of the heater drive unit 22 and the heater energization LED 29 are controlled. By this control, even when the outside air temperature measurement value is equal to or higher than the low temperature setting reference value TL, the heating of the insulating oil based on the comparison between the low temperature reference value RL and the measurement value by the insulating oil temperature sensor 24 is continued.

  The purpose of temperature control based on this insulating oil temperature is that even if the outside air temperature is 10 ° C. or higher, if the temperature of the insulating oil is lower than 10 ° C., there is a possibility that snow is in contact with the snow melting pipe 10. It is to keep the insulating oil at least at about 40 ° C.

  By providing the controller 20 as described above, power saving is realized in addition to the snow fall prevention effect.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Snow-melting pipe 11 Basic snow-melting pipe 12 Horizontal snow-melting pipe 13 Standing snow-melting pipe 14 End cap 15 Base end cap S Snow-covered surface Sa Edge 20 Controller 21 Temperature control unit 22 Heater drive unit 23 Outside air temperature sensor 24 Insulating oil temperature sensor (heat medium temperature) Sensor)
25 Power supply for control 26 Set temperature LED
27 Power supply for driving 28 Heater 29 Heater energization LED
TL Low temperature setting reference value TH High temperature setting reference value RL Low temperature reference value RH High temperature reference value

Claims (7)

A snowfall prevention device comprising a snow melting pipe filled with a heat medium and installed on a snow surface, and a controller for controlling the temperature of the heat medium,
The snow melting pipe is
A basic snow melting tube extending along an edge of the snow surface;
A plurality of reed snow melting tubes that extend from the side surface of the basic snow melting tube in the radial direction of the basic snow melting tube and are arranged to lie on the snow surface;
A plurality of vertical snow melting tubes that extend from the side surface of the basic snow melting tube in the radial direction of the basic snow melting tube and are arranged to stand on the snow accumulation surface;
A snowfall prevention device. The horizontal snowmelt tube rows and the vertical snowmelt tube rows are provided at intervals of 90 ° in the circumferential direction of the basic snowmelt tube,
The individual snow-melting tubes and the individual snow-melting tubes are provided with their positions shifted in the axial direction of the basic snow-melting tube.
The snow fall prevention device according to claim 1.   The snowfall prevention device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the heat medium is an insulating oil. The controller is
An outside air temperature sensor that measures the outside air temperature, a heat medium temperature sensor that measures the temperature of the heat medium, and a heater that heats the heat medium,
The outside air temperature measurement value by the outside air temperature sensor is compared with a preset low temperature setting reference value and a high temperature setting reference value having different values,
When the outside air temperature measurement value falls below the low temperature setting reference value, the heating by the heater is performed while comparing a preset low temperature reference value with a measurement value by the heat medium temperature sensor,
When the outside air temperature measurement value is lower than the high temperature setting reference value, the heater is compared with a high temperature reference value set in advance to set a temperature higher than the low temperature reference value and a measurement value by the heat medium temperature sensor. Perform the heating by,
The snow fall prevention apparatus of any one of Claims 1-3. The controller is
The measured value by the heat medium temperature sensor is compared with the low temperature set reference value, and when the measured value falls below the low temperature set reference value, the low temperature reference value and the measured value by the heat medium temperature sensor are compared. Performing heating by the heater;
The snow fall prevention device according to claim 4. The controller is
The measured value by the heat medium temperature sensor is compared with the low temperature setting reference value, and when the measured value is lower than the low temperature setting reference value, the low temperature value is not less than the low temperature setting reference value. Performing heating by the heater while comparing a reference value and a measured value by the heat medium temperature sensor;
The snow fall prevention device according to claim 4. The controller is
After the measured value by the heat medium temperature sensor falls below the low temperature setting reference value and the heating is started by comparing the low temperature reference value with the measured value by the heat medium temperature sensor, the heat medium temperature sensor Continue the heating until the measured value reaches the low temperature reference value,
The snow fall prevention device according to claim 5 or 6.

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