JP2018115796A - Snowfall simulation system using artificial snow - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a snowfall simulation system using artificial snow that can make artificial snow with desired snow quality fall over a desired diffusion range whenever needed with a necessary amount.SOLUTION: A snowfall simulation system using artificial snow includes: a snow producing part for producing artificial snow; and a snowfall part for making the produced artificial snow fall. The snowfall simulation system using artificial snow is provided with a partition between the snow producing part and the snowfall part so as to be capable of separating a temperature range in the snow producing part from a temperature range in the snowfall part.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a snowfall simulation system using artificial snow, and more particularly, to a snowfall simulation system using artificial snow capable of snowing over a desired diffusion range for a necessary amount of artificial snow of desired snow quality when necessary.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an environmental test room has been used for placing a complete model vehicle indoors, setting various natural environments and weather conditions, and collecting and analyzing loads on the vehicle as data.
As an example of this, artificial snow is used in an environmental test room to deal with problems such as problems caused by snow in the engine room and icing problems such as freezing of suspension parts.

For this reason, a vehicle, a snow making section, and a snowfall section are provided in the environmental test chamber.
An example is disclosed in Patent Document 1.
In Patent Document 1, the snow making part freezes the fine water droplets sprayed in a mist form in a low-temperature space, captures the frozen ice particles in the form of a carrier film, and adheres and grows the ice particles on the surface of the carrier. The snowfall part is configured so that the snow flakes that have adhered and grown are peeled off from the surface of the carrier by impact and fall, and the vehicle falls within the test chamber.

Another example is disclosed in Patent Document 2.
In Patent Document 2, the snow making part allows humid air to pass through the ventilation film of the carrier to grow frost imitating dendritic crystal snow on the film surface. It is configured to fall from the surface by its own weight and allow the vehicle to snow in the test chamber.

These artificial snowfall devices have the following technical problems in common.
First, it is difficult to change the snow quality of the artificial snow used for the test as desired due to the arrangement of the snow making section and the snowfall section in the test chamber.
More specifically, since the snow making part is required to have a temperature of zero degrees or less, the snow falling part in the same test chamber has a similar temperature, for example, it is difficult to make wet snow during snowfall, Since the frozen ice particles and the grown frost are only trapped on the support and grow only, it is difficult to adjust the size of the snowflakes that grow by adhesion.
In this regard, recently, the test conditions of environmental tests for vehicles are becoming diverse, and a natural snowfall mode is simply simulated for a vehicle without significantly modifying existing environmental test facilities. In addition, it is desired in the industry to allow snowfall of a desired size and snow quality to fall on the vehicle, or to blow a snowstorm of a desired size and desired snow quality onto the vehicle. Has been.

Second, when snowfalling artificial snow made from snow, it is difficult to make snowfall by diffusing over a desired range.
More specifically, it is difficult to adjust the snowfall range because the snow produced by the snowmaking process is subjected to the snowfall process as it is, and it is difficult to adjust the snowfall range. If the snowfall range is adjusted by storing the snow, the quality of the snow is altered in the case of artificial snow, particularly dendritic crystal snow, during snow storage.

Note that Patent Document 3 describes a plurality of roller rotating bodies arranged in a horizontal direction in parallel to each other in a test room that simulates snowfall. And the snowfall part at the lower part of the test room seems to be disclosed up to the point where it is partitioned at first glance.
However, in a plurality of roller rotators, adjacent roller rotators are intentionally provided with a gap for the following reasons, and about the point of partitioning the snow making part at the upper part of the test chamber and the snow falling part at the lower part of the test room There is no disclosure or even suggestion.

That is, the snow making section has a plurality of rotating membrane devices each having an endless belt-like rotatable ventilation membrane spanned between a driving roller and a driven roller, and is arranged in a vertical direction. Air is sent to each gas permeable membrane, and frost grows on the surface of the gas permeable membrane to generate so-called crystal snow.In addition, one roller of each of the plurality of rotating membrane devices is arranged in a horizontal direction, Even if the temperature of the snowfall part at the bottom of the test chamber is higher than the temperature of the snowmaking part at the top of the test room, a roller rotating body is arranged between one of the adjacent rollers. A part of the air circulating in the snow making part is positively discharged downward from a predetermined gap provided in the rotating body, thereby blocking the air that is about to flow into the snow making part from the snow falling part. Frost formation So as to prevent the inhibition of.

That is, in Patent Document 3, in particular, when crystal snow is made, the air used to generate crystal snow is used to discharge from a predetermined gap between adjacent rollers toward the snowfall portion. Therefore, the inflow of air from the snowfall part to the snow making part is only prevented.

Further, in Patent Document 4, a means for generating a micro ice block in the air and a micro ice block that falls are received from below so as to be rotatable at a fixed position below the generating means, and a large number of hairs are provided on the surface. A rotating brush having a brush, a brush contact body that contacts the bristles of the rotating brush and compresses and condenses the fine ice blocks captured on the rotating brush at the gaps between the hairs; An artificial snowfall device is disclosed that includes a brush rotation drive unit that continuously lowers snow having a particle diameter increased by compression condensation of the above from between the rotating brush and the brush contact body.
However, as in Patent Document 3, a small gap for air venting of about 2 mm to 3 mm is provided between adjacent rotating brushes, and a snow making part at the upper part of the test chamber and a snow falling part at the lower part of the test room There is no disclosure or suggestion about the point that divides.

JP-A-3-236575 JP-A-9-329380 Japanese Patent No. 4549364 Japanese Patent No. 2632129

In view of the above technical problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a snowfall simulation system using artificial snow capable of snowfall over a desired diffusion range for a necessary amount of artificial snow of desired snow quality when necessary. It is in.
The object of the present invention is to make snow fall over the desired diffusion range while changing the snow quality as desired by converting the snow particles that have been made into snowflakes for the necessary amount of artificial snow of the desired snow quality when necessary. Is to provide a snowfall simulation system using artificial snow.

In order to achieve the above object, a snowfall simulation system using artificial snow according to the present invention includes:
In a snowfall simulation system using artificial snow, which has a snowmaking section that creates artificial snow and a snowfall section that snows artificial snow that has been made,
A partition is provided between the snow making portion and the snowfall portion so that the temperature region in the snow making portion and the temperature region in the snowfall portion can be distinguished.

  According to the artificial snowfall simulation system having the above configuration, when the artificial snow made by the snowmaking section is snowed by the snowfall section, the temperature region in the snowmaking portion and the temperature region in the snowfall portion can be distinguished. Thus, since a partition is provided between the snow-making part and the snow-falling part, for example, in the case of dendritic crystal snow, the snow-making part is set to a temperature region around −10 ° C., while the snow-falling part is For example, when it becomes wet snow, it can be set to a temperature range of 0 ° C. or higher, and it is desired that the snowfall itself is not hindered by the generation of an upward airflow from the snowfall portion toward the snowmaking portion. Snow can be produced over a desired diffusion range for a necessary amount of snow-quality artificial snow when necessary.

In addition, when the snowfall part becomes wet snowfall during the snowfall, the snow making part and the snowfall part are separated so that the temperature / humidity area in the snow making part and the temperature / humidity area in the snowfall part can be distinguished. The partition may be provided between them.
Further, in the snow making part, an ice grain producing part for producing artificial snow by ice grains is provided, and an artificial snow conveying part for connecting the snow making part and the snow falling part is provided, and above the snow falling part A diffusion unit for diffusing the ice particles conveyed by the conveyance unit may be provided, and the partition may be provided between the diffusion unit and the snowfall unit.
In addition, each of the partitions is composed of a plurality of rotating brush bodies in which a large number of hairs are implanted on the peripheral surface and extend substantially in the horizontal direction and are rotatable around the horizontal direction.
The spacing between adjacent rotating brush bodies and the density on the circumferential surface of a large number of bristles are such that, in the narrowest part between adjacent rotating brush bodies, a large number of bristles of one rotating brush body and a large number of other rotating brush bodies It is set so that the hair intersects and forms a partition,
It is preferable that the snowfall portion is provided with a wet snow making means for setting the temperature region in the snowfall portion higher than the temperature region in the snow making portion to moisten snow falling into the snow below the partition. .

Furthermore, the partition is constituted by carrier means for generating snowflakes by capturing the snow particles from the snow-making part and causing the snow particles to adhere and grow in the test chamber,
Conveying means for conveying artificial snow made by the snow making part toward the carrier means is provided,
It is preferable that the snowfall part has a peeling means for peeling the generated snowflake from the carrier.
In addition, the peeling means may peel off the generated snowflake from the surface of the carrier means by vibrating the carrier means.
Further, the carrier means is composed of a wire mesh of a predetermined mesh so that snow particles can adhere and grow on the surface, and is arranged above the test chamber so as to partition the test chamber,
The peeling means may be configured as a brush that can slide on the surface of the wire mesh on the side where the snow particles are conveyed.

Furthermore, the carrier means is in the form of a blind composed of a plurality of flexible long plates provided so as to be rotatable and swingable about the longitudinal direction, respectively, and the surface of the flexible long plates A snowflake may be generated.
In addition, the carrier means is composed of a wire mesh of a predetermined mesh so that snow particles can adhere and grow on the surface, and is arranged to partition the test chamber above the test chamber,
Furthermore, an air-permeable membrane of a predetermined mesh is arranged above the wire mesh so as to cover the upper surface of the wire mesh,
It is preferable that suction means for sucking air from the upper space of the test chamber partitioned by the gas permeable membrane through the gas permeable membrane is provided, and thereby snow particles are sucked and captured toward the carrier means.

Further, the conveying means is configured by a main pipe that pumps snow particles by airflow in the pipe, and a snow particle diffusion type snow jet device in which an upstream end face is arranged in parallel with a downstream end face of the main pipe,
The snow particle diffusion type snowball device includes a rotating body having an upstream end face arranged in parallel with a downstream end face of the main pipe, and a rotational drive for rotating the rotating body at a predetermined rotational speed about its axial direction. And
The rotator has a pressure-feed passage that passes through the rotator in the axial direction.
The pumping flow path is provided with an intake port disposed in a non-contact manner in the upstream end surface in a non-contact manner and in close proximity to an outflow opening provided on the downstream end surface of the main pipe, and with a discharge port on the downstream end surface. ,
The discharge port may be positioned with respect to the intake port so that snow particles are discharged from the discharge port in a direction diffusing in the axial direction.
Further, each of the upstream end surface and the downstream end surface of the rotating body is circular, the pumping flow path is a linear flow path, and the discharge port is offset with respect to the intake port. Is good.

Furthermore, the snow particles may be diffused upward toward the ceiling and captured by the carrier means by using the snow particle diffusion type snow blowing device.
In addition, the snow particles may be diffused downward toward the floor surface and captured by the carrier means by using the snow particle diffusion type snow jet device.
Furthermore, below the plurality of rotating brush bodies, there is provided a winding wire mesh arranged so as to hit the brush tips of the plurality of rotating brush bodies,
The winding wire mesh is longer than the axial length of the plurality of rotating brush bodies, and is provided to extend from the rotating brush at one end to the rotating brush at the other end of the plurality of rotating brush bodies,
Each of the rotating brushes at both ends has a winding part, and can be reciprocated horizontally.
A fixed brush may be provided below the winding wire mesh so that the tip of the brush faces upward and hits the lower surface of the winding wire mesh.

Hereinafter, a first embodiment of a snowfall simulation system of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings, taking as an example the case of being used in an environmental test method and an environmental test apparatus.
First, the snow environment test system will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the snow environment test system 10 uses artificial snow made of ice particles and causes snow to fall on the vehicle V, which is a test specimen, by artificial snow. For this purpose, the snow environment test system 10 includes a snow making unit that creates artificial snow, a transport unit that transports the snow particles that have been snow-formed, a diffusion unit that diffuses the snow particles that are transported, It has a snowflake generation unit that generates snowflakes from the diffused snow particles, and a snowfall unit that snows the generated snowflakes. Among these, a part of the transport unit, a diffusion unit, a snowflake generation unit, and a snowfall unit The vehicle V is disposed in the test chamber, and the snow making unit and the transport unit are disposed outside the test chamber.

More specifically, the snow environment test system 10 roughly tests the artificial snow by manufacturing the artificial snow by breaking the ice pieces made in the ice making room in the low temperature room and forming the ice particles. In the test chamber, the artificial snow is diffused to generate snowflakes, and the generated snowflakes are snowed with respect to the vehicle V.

The reamer type ice maker 22 used in the snow making unit is a so-called reamer type ice maker 22 that produces flaky ice pieces.

  More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the reamer type ice making machine 22 is a conventionally known type, but a substantially cylindrical ice making cylinder 402 whose inner peripheral surface is an ice making surface, Water is sprinkled and supplied toward the peripheral surface, and the water sprinkling part 404 that forms ice and the ice making cylinder 402 are disposed below the ice making cylinder 402 to receive and store the water that has flown without freezing. A storage unit 406 and a reamer 408 that breaks ice while moving along the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder 402 are provided.

  The reamer 408 is formed by integrally attaching a plurality of blades 412 for split ice having a blade tip arranged in a spiral manner around a substantially cylindrical rotation shaft extending in the vertical direction, and supporting a reamer that protrudes from a central shaft 411. It is supported rotatably on the part. The minimum distance between the blade 412 of the reamer 408 and the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder 402 can be set to about 0.4 to 0.5 mm, which is smaller than the ice thickness. As described above, the reamer 408 is configured to peel off the thin ice layer formed on the ice making surface while revolving around the center line of the ice making cylinder 402 and rotating around the center axis 411.

An ice crusher (not shown) used to crush flaky ice pieces into ice grains in the snow making unit is mainly arranged at a rotary feeder (not shown) arranged at the upper part and at the lower part. A pair of ice breaking drums (not shown), the supplied ice pieces are quantified by a rotary feeder, supplied to the pair of ice breaking drums, and crushed by the pair of ice breaking drums to obtain ice particles having a predetermined particle diameter. The snow supply pipe 40 is supplied.

In the diffusing section, the artificial snow diffusing device 34 will be described. The artificial snow diffusing device 34 is used for diffusing the transported ice particles over a desired diffusion range.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 8, the artificial snow diffusing device 34 is disposed at a distance from the tip opening of the snow supply pipe 40 that pumps the artificial snow by airflow in the pipe.

The artificial snow diffusing device 34 includes a rotator 110 having an upstream end surface 105 arranged in parallel with the downstream end surface 106 of the snow supply pipe 40, and a rotation for rotating the rotator 110 at a predetermined rotational speed around its axial direction. And a drive unit (not shown). The rotation drive unit is, for example, a drive motor.
The rotator 110 has a cylindrical shape, and has a pumping flow path 114 passing through the rotator 110 in the axial direction. The pumping flow path 114 is provided with an intake port 118 disposed in a non-contact manner in the upstream end surface so as to be close to and opposed to the outflow opening 116 provided in the downstream end surface 106 of the snow supply pipe 40, and to the downstream end surface. 122. The intake port 118 and the discharge port 122 may be circular openings.

The pumping flow path 114 is provided as a single unit inside the rotating body 110, the intake port 118 is centered on the axis of the rotating body 110, and the discharge port 122 is the axis of the rotating body 110 relative to the intake port 118. It is offset from the direction. The amount of eccentricity may be determined from the viewpoint of the desired diffusion range from the discharge port 122 in accordance with the pressure flow rate of the artificial snow.
That is, when the rotational speed of the rotating body 110 described later is constant, the greater the amount of eccentricity, the wider the range of artificial snow diffusion.
The inner diameter of the intake port 118 is set smaller than the inner diameter of the snow supply pipe 40, and the pumping flow path 114 in the rotating body 110 is tapered from the intake port 118 on the snow supply pipe 40 side toward the discharge port 122. Yes. However, the inner diameter of the intake 118 may be approximately the same as or larger than the inner diameter of the snow supply pipe 40 depending on the velocity of the airflow flowing through the snow supply pipe 40 and the amount of artificial snow pumped by the airflow in the snow supply pipe 40. In this case, the pressure-feeding flow path 114 in the rotating body is formed between the intake port 118 and the discharge port 122 to have the same diameter or thicker from the intake port 118 toward the discharge port 122.
The rotational speed of the rotating body 110 is set according to a desired diffusion range in relation to the amount of eccentricity. Each of the upstream end surface 104 and the downstream end surface 106 of the rotating body 110 is circular and has the same size as the region that encompasses the downstream end surface 106 of the snow supply pipe 40. Road.
The inner peripheral surface 128 of the pressure feed channel 114 is made of resin so that the artificial snow fed by the pressure feed channel 114 does not adhere to the inner peripheral surface 128 of the pressure feed channel 114. The air velocity at which the pressure is fed is set to a speed at which a peeling force exceeding the adhesion force of the artificial snow to the inner peripheral surface 128 is generated.

According to the diffusing device 34, it is possible to diffuse the artificial snow from the snow supply pipe 40 that pumps the artificial snow by the airflow through the pumping flow path 114 of the rotating body 110 that rotates.
More specifically, first, the ice pieces made by the reamer type ice making machine 22 are crushed by an ice breaker (not shown) to become ice particles having a predetermined particle diameter, and are pumped by an air current through the snow supply pipe 40.

The pressure-fed snow flows out from the outflow opening 116 of the snow supply pipe 40 together with the airflow, and is fed to the pressure-feeding passage 114 inside the rotating body 110 that rotates at a predetermined rotation speed around the axial direction of the rotating body 110 by the rotation drive unit. It flows from the intake port 118 and flows out from the discharge port 122 so as to diffuse.
The direction of the diffusion of the snow particles may be that the snow particles are diffused upward toward the ceiling and captured by the carrier means (described later) to generate snowflakes, or the snow particles are directed toward the floor surface. It may diffuse downward and be captured by the carrier means.

As shown in FIG. 9, a diffusion plate 74 is provided in front of the discharge port 122 of the diffusion device 34, and snow particles strike the diffusion plate 74 and diffuse outward in all directions.

A facing surface 104 is provided on the side of the diffusion plate 74 facing the discharge port 122, and the facing surface 104 is disposed outside the discharge port 122 and at a predetermined position in the forward direction of the airflow. The snowstorm that blows out from the outlet 122 and travels along the airflow traveling direction along the airflow is deflected against the facing surface 104 and diffuses outward in the four directions of the facing surface 104.
The diffusion plate 74 may be rotatable around the axial direction of the rotating body 110, and the inclination angle α may be adjustable.

As shown in FIGS. 10 and 12, a plurality of rollers 306 are arranged above the test chamber 308 so as to partition the test chamber 308, and each roller 306 is a rotating brush 314 planted on the outer peripheral surface 312. The outer peripheral surface 312 is provided with a large number of through holes 316, and the peeling means may eject air from the inside of each roller 306 through the through holes 316.
The rotating brush 314 is made of, for example, a resin-made flexible material, and the tip of the rotating brush 314 may have a length that makes contact with the outer peripheral surface 312 of the opposing roller 306. The diameter of the rotating brush 314 and the rotating brush The density on the outer peripheral surface 312 of the roller 306 of 314 may be appropriately determined from the viewpoint of the area where snow particles can adhere to the outer peripheral surface 312 of the roller 306 excluding the rotating brush 314.
The air may be ejected in a pulsed manner, and even if the temperature in the test chamber 308 is zero degrees or higher by setting the temperature of the air to be cold air of −1 ° C. or lower, this atmosphere is maintained in the rotating brush 314 and It is possible to prevent the generated snowflakes from melting by avoiding direct contact with the roller 306. The density of the air through holes 316 may be determined from such a viewpoint.

In the case of the roller 306 with the rotating brush 314, the attached snow particles are not consolidated, so that the crystal snow is separated from the roller 306 by the rotating brush 314 and is suitable for simulating snowfall. The test chamber 308 can be partitioned by arranging the rollers 306 in the horizontal direction by increasing the density and extending to the outer peripheral surface 312 of the opposing roller 306. The diffusion space and the snowfall space are made into temperature and humidity regions independent of each other. For example, the upper space of the test chamber 308 is used as a diffusion space with the space below zero, while the lower space of the test chamber 308 is used as the snowfall space. When simulating snowfall using the generated snowflakes, for example, the snowfall space is set to zero degrees or more Even if, while preventing the snow itself is disturbed by updraft due to the temperature difference between the diffusion portion and the snow portion, it is possible to wet snow into during snowfall.

As shown in FIG. 12, as a modification, a plurality of rubber rollers 306 and a roller 306 with a rotating brush 314 are combined, and the roller 306 with a rotating brush 314 is disposed above the plurality of rubber rollers 306. Snowflakes may be generated from the snow particles by the roller 306 with the brush 314 and further consolidated by a plurality of rubber rollers 306.
In the narrowest portion 304, the adjacent rollers 306 are meshed with each other via the unevenness 310, and the upper space and the lower space of the test chamber 308 are substantially partitioned by the plurality of rollers 306. Conventionally, in the upper part of the test chamber 308, it is necessary to maintain the temperature in the test chamber 308 below zero degree in order to produce artificial snow. However, since the temperature of the snowfall portion was also at a similar temperature, for example, the present invention overcomes the technical difficulty of making snow flakes in the snowfall portion.
In order to simulate the snowfall by peeling off the generated snowflake from the roller, it is possible to vibrate a separate roller as a peeling means, or to blow out air from the inside of each roller 306 through the through hole 316, The generated snowflakes may be peeled off from the surface of the carrier means.
In addition, the roller 306 as the carrier means may be made of a material that can be charged, and charged snow particles conveyed toward the roller 306 as the carrier may be sucked by electrostatic force. While the grains are transported toward the carrier, they are charged with a positive charge or a negative charge depending on the size of the grains, whereby in the carrier means, they are formed as snowflakes mixed with snow grains having different particle diameters, It becomes possible to change the snow quality.

In the test chamber 308, a conventionally known wet snow part by water spray, for example, is provided in a space below the plurality of rollers 306 constituting the partition part. The wet snow part has a room temperature in the lower space of, for example, several degrees C under a predetermined humidity so that the snow falling from the plurality of rollers 306 can be converted into wet snow during the snowfall in the partitioned lower space. Is set. In this case, even if the indoor temperature of the upper space is set to be below zero by the plurality of rollers 306 constituting the partition part, the indoor temperature and humidity of the lower space should be maintained at such temperature and humidity that can be wet and snowy. Is possible.
The indoor temperature and humidity of the lower space should be set according to the desired moisture content of snowfall and the snowfall time, and relatively, if the snowfall time is short, the relative humidity is increased by increasing the relative humidity. The outer surface of the grains is easily wetted, and the melting of the ice grains itself is preferably promoted by increasing the room temperature. If the snowfall time is long, only the room temperature may be increased.

The operation of the snow environment test system 10 having the above configuration, including a method for generating snowflakes, will be described below.
First, the temperature and / or humidity in the test chamber 308 in which the carrier is disposed are set to a predetermined value, and the plurality of rollers 306 are continuously rotated. The rotational speed is, for example, 10 RPM.
Next, ice pieces are produced by the reamer-type ice making machine 22, and the ice pieces are crushed by the ice breaker 26 to generate ice particles, which are pumped to the diffusion device 34 through the snow supply pipe 40 and cooperate with the diffusion plate 74. Then, the snow particles are diffused downward toward the upper surface 320 of the roller 306 (see A in FIG. 10).
Next, the snow particles diffused by the diffusing device are accumulated on top of the plurality of rollers 306.

Next, every other pair of adjacent rollers 306 is sent downward, and the generated snowflakes are sent downward by the rotation of the rollers 306 and fall down as they are, simulating snowfall, falling It becomes wet snow inside, and snow accumulates on the upper part of the vehicle V which is a test body (see B in FIG. 10).
Note that the snowflake generation step by the plurality of rollers 306 and the snow particle diffusion step by the diffusion device 34 may be performed batchwise. That is, when the snow particles are diffused by the diffusing device, the driving roller 306 is stopped and the plurality of rollers 306 are not rotated, whereby the diffusing snow particles accumulate on the plurality of rollers 306. Next, when the snow has accumulated to a desired height, the driving roller 306 is driven, the plurality of rollers 306 are rotated, and snowflakes are generated and snowfall is simulated until there is no snow layer above the plurality of rollers 306. Good.

According to the artificial snowfall simulation system having the above configuration, when the artificial snow made by the snowmaking section is snowed by the snowfall section, the temperature region in the snowmaking portion and the temperature region in the snowfall portion can be distinguished. Thus, since a partition is provided between the snow-making part and the snow-falling part, for example, in the case of dendritic crystal snow, the snow-making part is set to a temperature region around −10 ° C., while the snow-falling part is For example, when it becomes wet snow, it can be set to a temperature range of 0 ° C. or higher, and it is desired that the snowfall itself is not hindered by the generation of an upward airflow from the snowfall portion toward the snowmaking portion. Snow can be produced over a desired diffusion range for a necessary amount of snow-quality artificial snow when necessary.
In this way, it is possible to separate the snowmaking process from the snowfall process. Therefore, when artificial snow that has been made in the snowmaking process is once stored and tested, the snow in the stored snow is transported to the snowfall. It is also possible to use it.

Below, 2nd Embodiment of this invention is described, referring FIG. 13 thru | or FIG. In the following description, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, the characteristic portions of the present embodiment will be described in detail.
The features of the second to fourth embodiments of the present invention are commonly the aspect of the partition that partitions the test chamber, the aspect of trapping the snow particles in the carrier means, and the diffusion of the snow particles toward the carrier means. In some cases.
The carrier means of the present embodiment is composed of a wire mesh 318 having a predetermined mesh so that snow particles can adhere and grow on the surface, and is arranged so as to partition the test chamber 308 above the test chamber 308. The surface of the wire mesh 318 on the side where the snow particles are conveyed is configured to be slidable.
More specifically, the wire mesh 318 is horizontally disposed in parallel with the ceiling surface 329 in the upper part of the test chamber 308, and two meshes are formed. One mesh is a coarse mesh and the other mesh is fine. Snow particles that are meshes and diffuse downwardly toward the upper surface 320 of the wire mesh 318 are captured by the upper surface 320 of the wire mesh 318, and the snow particles adhere to each other on the upper surface 320 to form snowflakes. From the viewpoint of simulating snowfall, the formed snowflakes are peeled off from the upper surface 320 by peeling means described later, and each mesh size may be determined so as to prevent clogging of the mesh. As a modification, each bar 321 of the metal mesh 318 constituting the mesh may be movable in the horizontal direction so as to cope with a change in the size of the snowflake required depending on the test contents.
As shown in FIG. 15, the peeling means is a plurality of plate-like brushes 324 disposed above the wire mesh 318, and each plate-like brush 324 has the plate surface 326 directed in the vertical direction and the lower end edge 328 having the wire mesh. It arrange | positions so that the upper surface 320 of 318 may be touched. A plurality of plate-like brushes 324 are fixedly supported by support bars 322 extending in parallel with the bars 322 of the wire mesh 318, corresponding to a plurality of meshes continuing in one direction of the wire mesh 318, forming a set of brushes. Each set of plate-like brushes is arranged alternately with respect to a plurality of meshes that continue in one direction of the wire mesh 318, and a pair of plate-like brushes adjacent to each other in a direction orthogonal to one direction is one direction of the wire mesh 318. The meshes are offset by one mesh, and are arranged in a zigzag pattern as a whole. Each set of plate-like brushes 324 can be moved horizontally along the support bar 322, whereby the lower edge 328 of the plate-like brush 324 slides on the upper surface 320 of the wire mesh 318, and thereby the wire mesh 318. Snow flakes generated on the upper surface 320 are peeled off from the upper surface 320 of the wire mesh 318 and dropped downward to simulate snowfall.

Below, 3rd Embodiment of this invention is described, referring FIG. In the following description, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, the characteristic portions of the present embodiment will be described in detail.
The feature of the present embodiment is that a blind structure 332 is used as an alternative to the carrier means of the snowflake generating device, and the carrier means is provided with a plurality of possible components provided to be rotatable and swingable about the longitudinal direction. A blind shape constituted by the flexible long plate 330 is formed. In this case, the direction in which the snow particles are diffused toward the blind structure 332 is upward, and when the snow particles adhere to each other and grow into snowflakes (see E in FIG. 15), they naturally fall due to their own weight and simulate snowfall. Like to do. When not in use, like the ordinary blind, each of the plurality of flexible long plates 330 may be rotated around the longitudinal direction to a position having a planar shape as a whole.
In addition, as an alternative to natural fall due to its own weight, the blind structure 332 may be vibrated by a known vibration device, and may fall before the natural fall due to its own weight, that is, while the snowflake is relatively small, In this case, it is possible to adjust to some extent the size of snowflakes that fall by adjusting the excitation force in relation to the surface properties of the flexible long plate 330 to which snow particles adhere.

Below, 4th Embodiment of this invention is described, referring FIG. In the following description, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, the characteristic portions of the present embodiment will be described in detail.
A feature of the fourth embodiment of the present invention is that suction means for sucking air from the upper space of the test chamber 308 partitioned by the gas permeable membrane 334 through the gas permeable membrane 334 is provided, so that the snow particles are directed toward the carrier means. The point is to capture and suck.

More specifically, in the first embodiment, the carrier means is the roller 306, and the snow particles are diffused downward with respect to the carrier means, whereas in this embodiment, the carrier means is movable. On the other hand, the metal mesh 318 differs from the carrier means in that the snow particles are diffused upward toward the lower surface 336 of the movable wire mesh 318. Further, the movable wire mesh 318 is disposed between the movable wire mesh 318 and the ceiling. Another difference is that a gas permeable membrane 334 is provided in parallel with 318, and suction is performed from the lower surface 336 of the movable wire mesh 318 toward the gas permeable membrane 334 via the gas permeable membrane 334 (see D in FIG. 16).
With respect to the movable wire mesh 318, the mesh size may be determined according to the size of the snowflakes to be generated. In any case, compared to the first embodiment, the mesh size is the space above and the snowfall space by the movable wire mesh 318. It is difficult to partition the lower space so that the temperature and humidity can be adjusted independently from each other.
However, by actively sucking snow particles diffused toward the lower surface 336 of the movable wire mesh 318 through the gas permeable membrane 334, the snow particles are efficiently captured on the lower surface 336, so Snowflakes can be generated through adhesion, and the movable wire mesh 318 and the gas permeable membrane 334 form a two-layer structure. Therefore, depending on the mesh size of the gas permeable membrane 334, the upper space and the lower space are substantially reduced. Can be partitioned.

Below, 5th Embodiment of this invention is described, referring FIG. In the following description, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, the characteristic portions of the present embodiment will be described in detail.
A feature of the fifth embodiment of the present invention is that a winding type wire net 500 is provided below the rotary brush 314 group for generating snowflakes so as to be in contact with the brush tip of the rotary brush 314 group.

The snowflake generation device of the snow environment test system is the same as that in the first embodiment (FIG. 1), and the snowflakes generated by the group of rotating brushes 314 are formed by pressing snow between adjacent rotating brushes 314. Therefore, a large block of snow flakes may be generated, and the take-up type wire net 500 is provided to prevent such heavy snow flakes from falling as it is, and the material and net diameter of the wire net are arbitrary. However, the mesh size is, for example, 5 mm to 8 mm larger than the size of the large block of snowflakes from the viewpoint that the large block of snowflakes does not snow as it is.
The winding wire mesh 500 has a width longer than the axial length of the rotating brush 314 group, and is provided so as to extend from the rotating brush 314 at one end of the rotating brush 314 group to the rotating brush 314 at the other end. Since the length of the brush provided on the rotating brush 314 from the center of the rotating brush 314 is uniform, the winding wire mesh 500 is installed substantially horizontally.

The winding-type wire mesh 500 has a winding portion 502 on each of the rotating brushes 314 at both ends, and a known rotating motor 506 is provided on either of them, and can be reciprocated horizontally by the rotation of the rotating motor 506. .
The winding wire mesh 500 needs to be reciprocated horizontally during the generation of snowflakes during the rotation of the rotating brush 314 group. The horizontal moving speed of the winding wire mesh 500 is determined by the rotation of the rotating brush 314. Although it may be set according to the speed, it is set lower than the peripheral speed of the brush tip of the rotating brush 314. Thus, the time until the snow falls after passing through the mesh of the winding wire mesh 500 in which the snowflake is moving in the horizontal direction is ensured.

A fixed brush 504 is provided below the wind-up wire mesh 500 so that the tip of the brush faces upward and hits the lower surface 510 of the wind-up wire mesh 500. A plurality of fixed brushes 504 are provided, and each fixed brush 504 is preferably provided below a position where the brushes of adjacent rotating brushes 314 of the rotating brush 314 group mesh with each other, that is, below a position where snowflakes are generated. As a result, snowflakes adhering to the lower surface 510 of the wind-up type wire net 500 are scraped off by the fixed brush 504 so that the snow falls reliably.
According to the above configuration, during the rotation of the rotating brush 314 group, the snowflake generated at the position where the brushes of the adjacent rotating brushes 314 mesh with each other moves in the horizontal direction by being guided downward by the rotating brush 314. The upper surface 508 of the winding wire mesh 500 is received, and the winding wire mesh 500 hits the brush tip of the rotating brush 314 group, so that a large snowflake is repelled in the vertical direction. The snow pieces 508 are cut into small pieces, and can pass through the mesh of the wind-up type wire mesh 500 to snow. At that time, snowflakes adhering to the lower surface 510 of the wind-up type wire mesh 500 are scraped off by the fixed brush 504 so that the snow falls reliably.
When the winding wire mesh 500 is wound around one of the rotating brushes 314 at both ends during the horizontal movement, the winding wire mesh 500 is moved horizontally by reversing the rotation direction of the rotating motor 502. What is necessary is just to move to a direction reverse direction, and what is necessary is just to reciprocate the winding-type metal-mesh 500 in a horizontal direction in this way.
As described above, in the case where the winding wire mesh 500 is provided below the rotating brush 314 group that generates snowflakes so as to contact the tip of the brush of the rotating brush 314 group, the winding wire mesh 500 is not provided. Compared to the above, according to the mesh of the wind-up wire mesh 500, it is possible to cooperate with the rotary brush 314 group and the wind-up wire mesh 500 to achieve a more partitioned function.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, but various modifications or changes can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention.
For example, in the present embodiment, the snow that simulates snowfall has been described as artificial snow formed by crushing ice pieces, but is not limited thereto, and may be natural snow or predetermined humidity. Further, it may be artificial crystal snow generated using cold air of a predetermined temperature, and these may not be wet snow.
For example, in this embodiment, artificial snow formed by crushing ice pieces is used as snow that simulates snowfall, and ice particles are diffused in a test chamber and then become wet snowfall during snowfall. In the case, the temperature / humidity area in the diffusion part and the temperature / humidity area in the snowfall part have been described as providing a partition between the snow making part and the snowfall part, but not limited thereto, If the snow does not become wet during the snowfall, it is not necessary to adjust the humidity in the snowfall area.However, the temperature area in the diffusion area and the temperature area in the snowfall area can be distinguished from each other. By providing the partition, the snowfall itself is prevented from being obstructed by the rising airflow caused by the temperature difference between the diffusion portion and the snowfall portion.
For example, in common with the first to fourth embodiments, the ambient temperature at which the carrier is disposed without using the snow particles that have been made by using the partition part that partitions the test chamber for the generation of snowflakes. And / or the ambient humidity is set to a predetermined level, and the snow particles that have been snow-made in advance are transported toward the carrier, the transported snow particles are captured on the surface of the carrier, and the snow particles are collected on the surface of the carrier. Although it has been described that the snow quality is changed as desired through the formation of snow particles by making the snowflakes by attaching and growing, and by separating the generated snowflakes from the surface of the carrier, it is limited to that. Alternatively, for example, the snow making process and the snow falling process may be separated by a partitioning part so that the snow falls in an environment (temperature condition, humidity condition) different from the snow making environment, and only the desired wet snow may be generated during the snowfall.

For example, in this embodiment, as a means for generating snowflakes, as a carrier means for capturing snow particles, in each of the first to fourth embodiments, a plurality of rollers, a movable wire mesh, a blind structure, a rotating belt type ventilation The film has been described as being used as a single carrier means, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, in a test chamber, a region where a plurality of rollers and a movable wire mesh are used is properly classified. Any combination of means may be used.
For example, in the present embodiment, as an aspect of generating snowflakes, in the sixth embodiment, the winding type wire mesh arranged so as to hit the brush tip of the rotating brush group is used, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The snowflakes on the upper surface 508 of the take-up wire mesh 500 may be made into small snowflakes by applying vibrations in a fixed type instead of moving as in the take-up wire mesh.

1 is an overall schematic diagram of a snow environment test system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a reamer type ice making machine used in a snow making part of a snow environment test system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a notch perspective view which expands and shows the state which provided the rotary body of the snow particle diffusion apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention in the snow supply pipe of the environmental test system. It is a perspective view which shows the rotary body of the diffusion apparatus of the snow particle which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the rotating shaft direction of the rotary body of the diffusion apparatus of the snow particle which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 5 is an end view of the rotating body in the direction of the rotation axis viewed from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 4. FIG. 5 is an end view of the rotating body in the direction of the rotation axis as seen from the direction of arrow B in FIG. 4. It is the end elevation which looked at the rotating body shown in FIG. 4 from the upstream. It is a schematic diagram around the diffusion device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is the schematic of the snowflake production | generation apparatus of the snow environment test system of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is detail drawing of the roller with a rotating brush of the snowflake production | generation apparatus of the snow environment test system of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic of the modification of the snowflake production | generation apparatus of the snow environment test system of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic of the snowflake production | generation apparatus of the snow environment test system of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic of the carrier means of the snowflake production | generation apparatus of the snow environment test system of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic of the snowflake production | generation apparatus of the snow environment test system of 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic of the snowflake production | generation apparatus of the snow environment test system of 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic of the snowflake production | generation apparatus of the snow environment test system of 5th Embodiment of this invention.

A Snow particle group diffused by diffusion device B Snow particle group falling snow C Snow particle group D piled on wire mesh Snow particle group E attracted Snow particle group formed on the surface of blind structure V Vehicle X Rotating axis 10 Snow environment test System 22 Reamer type ice making machine 34 Diffusion device 40 Snow supply pipe 105 Upstream end face 106 Downstream end face 107 Downstream end face 110 Rotating body 114 Pumping flow path 116 Outflow opening 118 Inlet 120 Inflow opening 122 Outlet 128 Inner peripheral surface 312 Outer Surface 304 Narrowest portion 306 Driving roller 306 Driven roller 308 Test chamber 310 Concavity and convexity 314 Rotating brush 316 Through hole 318 Wire net 320 Upper surface 322 Support bar 322 Bar 324 Plate brush 326 Plate surface 328 Lower edge 329 Ceiling surface 330 Long plate 332 Blind structure 336 Lower surface 340 Outer surface 500 Winding Winding unit formula wire mesh 502 504 fixed brush 506 rotates the motor 508 top 510 bottom surface

Claims (14)

In a snowfall simulation system using artificial snow, which has a snowmaking section that creates artificial snow and a snowfall section that snows artificial snow that has been made,
A snowfall simulation system using artificial snow, wherein a partition is provided between the snowmaking section and the snowfall section so that the temperature area in the snowmaking section and the temperature area in the snowfall section can be distinguished.   In the snowfall part, when it becomes wet snow during snowfall, the temperature and humidity area in the snow making part and the temperature and humidity area in the snow falling part can be distinguished from each other between the snow making part and the snow falling part. The snowfall simulation system by artificial snow according to claim 1, wherein the partition is provided.   In the snow making part, an ice grain producing part for producing artificial snow by ice grains is provided, and an artificial snow transport part for connecting the snow making part and the snow falling part is provided, and above the snow falling part The snowfall simulation system using artificial snow according to claim 2, wherein a diffusion unit for diffusing ice particles conveyed by the conveyance unit is provided, and the partition is provided between the diffusion unit and the snowfall unit. Each of the partitions is constituted by a plurality of rotating brush bodies in which a large number of hairs are planted on the peripheral surface, extend substantially in the horizontal direction and can rotate around the horizontal direction,
The spacing between adjacent rotating brush bodies and the density on the circumferential surface of a large number of bristles are such that, in the narrowest part between adjacent rotating brush bodies, a large number of bristles of one rotating brush body and a large number of other rotating brush bodies It is set so that the hair intersects and forms a partition,
The snowfall portion is provided with a wet snow making means for setting the temperature region in the snowfall portion higher than the temperature region in the snow making portion to wet the snow falling down into the snow,
The snowfall simulation system by artificial snow according to claim 3. The partition is constituted by carrier means for generating snowflakes by capturing the snow particles from the snow making part in a test chamber and causing the snow particles to adhere and grow.
Conveying means for conveying artificial snow made by the snow making part toward the carrier means is provided,
The said snowfall part is a snowfall simulation system by the artificial snow of Claim 4 which has a peeling means which peels the produced | generated snowflake from the support | carrier. 6. The snowfall simulation system using artificial snow according to claim 5, wherein the peeling means peels the generated snowflake from the surface of the carrier means by oscillating the carrier means. The carrier means is composed of a wire mesh of a predetermined mesh so that snow particles can adhere and grow on the surface, and is arranged above the test chamber so as to partition the test chamber,
6. The snowfall simulation system according to claim 5, wherein the peeling means is configured as a brush that can slide on the surface of the wire mesh on the side on which snow particles are conveyed. The carrier means is in the form of a blind composed of a plurality of flexible long plates provided so as to be rotatable and swingable about the longitudinal direction, and on the surface of the flexible long plates, snowflakes are formed. The snowfall simulation system with artificial snow according to claim 5, wherein: The carrier means is composed of a wire mesh of a predetermined mesh so that snow particles can adhere and grow on the surface, and is arranged above the test chamber so as to partition the test chamber,
Furthermore, an air-permeable membrane of a predetermined mesh is arranged above the wire mesh so as to cover the upper surface of the wire mesh,
The suction means for sucking air from the upper space of the test chamber partitioned by the gas permeable membrane through the gas permeable membrane is provided, and thereby, snow particles are sucked and captured toward the carrier means. Snowfall simulation system using artificial snow. The conveying means is constituted by a main pipe that pumps snow particles by air current in the pipe, and a diffusion type snow jet device for snow particles in which an upstream end face is arranged in parallel with a downstream end face of the main pipe,
The snow particle diffusion type snowball device includes a rotating body having an upstream end face arranged in parallel with a downstream end face of the main pipe, and a rotational drive for rotating the rotating body at a predetermined rotational speed about its axial direction. And
The rotator has a pressure-feed passage that passes through the rotator in the axial direction.
The pumping flow path is provided with an intake port disposed in a non-contact manner in the upstream end surface in a non-contact manner and in close proximity to an outflow opening provided on the downstream end surface of the main pipe, and with a discharge port on the downstream end surface. ,
10. The discharge port according to any one of claims 5 to 9, wherein the discharge port is positioned with respect to the intake port so that snow particles are discharged from the discharge port in a direction of diffusing in an axial direction. Snowfall simulation system using artificial snow.         The upstream end surface and the downstream end surface of the rotating body are each circular, the pumping flow path is a straight flow path, and the discharge port is offset with respect to the intake port. The snowfall simulation system by artificial snow according to 10.       The snowfall simulation system by artificial snow according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the snow particles are diffused upward toward the ceiling by the use of the snow particle diffusion-type snow blowing device and captured by the carrier means. The snowfall simulation system by artificial snow according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the snow particles are diffused downward toward the floor surface and captured by the carrier means by using the snow particle diffusion type snow blowing device. . Below the plurality of rotating brush bodies, a winding type wire mesh is provided so as to be in contact with the brush tips of the plurality of rotating brush bodies,
The winding wire mesh is longer than the axial length of the plurality of rotating brush bodies, and is provided to extend from the rotating brush at one end to the rotating brush at the other end of the plurality of rotating brush bodies,
Each of the rotating brushes at both ends has a winding part, and can be reciprocated horizontally.
The snowfall simulation system by artificial snow according to claim 4, wherein a fixed brush is provided below the winding wire mesh so that the tip of the brush faces upward and hits the lower surface of the winding wire mesh.

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