JP3074303B2 - Method and apparatus for controlling operation of snow removal equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for controlling the operation of snow removal equipment installed in, for example, a snow-covered area and used for driving snow removal equipment such as roads and parking lots.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method for controlling the operation of this type of snow removal equipment, there is a method of controlling the operation of a snow removal equipment, an electric heating method, and other snow removal equipment in which groundwater is pumped up and sprinkled. JP-A-57-93243 and Jiko 6
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-37183, there is known an apparatus in which snowfall intensity is detected by a snowfall intensity sensor and a snow removal facility is operated by an operation control circuit based on the snowfall intensity.

[0003] As the snowfall intensity sensor here, especially public flat 5
As shown in Japanese Patent No. -9756, the trapped snow is melted, the snowmelt water is guided to a water pipe, the water in the water pipe is dropped as a water drop of a substantially constant size, and the water drop is used as an electrode or By counting with an optical sensor, a method of detecting the intensity of snowfall (water) as the amount of snowfall (water) per unit time, or as described in the above-mentioned publication, a pair of electrodes are formed on a snow receiving plate to face each other. There is a method of detecting the intensity of snowfall (water) as the amount of snowfall (water) per unit time based on the change in resistance between the electrodes by conducting electricity between the electrodes using molten water.
Then, in addition to the snowfall (water) intensity, a detection circuit for detecting the snow temperature by a snow temperature sensor is included, and when the snow temperature is lower than the set temperature, the precipitation is estimated as snow and the rain / snow discrimination is performed. In some cases, when the snow is estimated, the operation of the snow removal equipment is controlled by an operation control circuit based on the snowfall intensity.

[0004]

However, in these conventional structures, the distinction between rain and snow is made by using a snow temperature sensor only by determining whether the temperature of the snowflakes is below or above a set temperature. However, considering that the water content is high when the outside air temperature is high and the water content is low when the outside air temperature is low, it is necessary to change the supply amount of energy necessary for snow removal depending on the water content. Since the increase / decrease adjustment of the supply energy according to the water content is not taken into account, there is a disadvantage that energy is wasted and the snow removal efficiency is reduced.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and the invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is based on a snowfall intensity value from a snowfall intensity sensor. When the operation of the snow removal equipment is controlled by the operation control circuit, the snow content
The snowfall intensity value is multiplied by a coefficient taking into account
And control the operation of the snow removal equipment based on the snow melting intensity value
The present invention is directed to a snow removal equipment operation control method.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a snowfall intensity sensor for detecting snowfall intensity, and an operation control circuit for controlling the operation of the snow removal equipment based on the snowfall intensity value from the snowfall intensity sensor. The above snowfall intensity value depends on the outside air temperature.
Multiplied by a coefficient that takes into account the moisture content of the snow
In the snow removal equipment operation control device, characterized by comprising a water content correction circuit that corrects the intensity value to the snow melting intensity value ,
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the operation control circuit according to the second aspect further includes an intermittent operation circuit for intermittently operating the snow removal equipment in a stepwise manner according to the snowfall intensity. is there.

[0007]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a snowfall intensity sensor. In this case,
As shown in FIG. 3, the captured snow is melted, the snow-melting water is guided to a water guide pipe 1a, the water in the water guide pipe 1a is dropped as a water drop R having a substantially constant size, and the water drop R is guided to an electrode 1b. The structure is such that the intensity of snowfall (water) as the amount of snowfall (water) per unit time is detected by counting by a conduction circuit 1c with the water pipe 1a or an optical sensor.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a snow temperature sensor. In this case, a thermistor is used to detect the temperature of snowflakes and use it as a criterion for determining whether or not the temperature is lower than a set temperature estimated to be snow.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a water content correction circuit, as shown in FIG. 2, where the number of raindrops, which is the basis of the snowfall (water) intensity, is _PW, and the snowmelt intensity P as the snowfall (water) intensity taking into account the moisture content.
_The concept of _M is introduced, and the outside temperature is detected by an outside temperature sensor 4 using, for example, a thermistor, and a coefficient depending on the outside temperature is set to K, and the snowfall intensity value is corrected by a correction formula of P _M = K · P _W The operation is controlled based on the snowmelt intensity value.

An operation control circuit 5 controls the operation of the snow removal equipment 6 based on the snowfall intensity corrected by the water content correction circuit 3, that is, the snowmelt intensity.
In this case, an intermittent operation circuit 5a for intermittently operating the snow removal equipment stepwise according to the snowfall intensity is provided.
And measuring the snow melting intensity P _M at intervals of 20 minutes, and the operation start intensity than P _M = 6 pulses,
Snow less than P _M = 24 pulses as Step 1 (fine)
As step 2, snowfall (weak) with less than P _M = 42 pulses,
Snow less than P _M = 60 pulses as Step 3 (medium),
As snow or more P _M = 60 pulses as Step 4 (strong), according to these steps, for example, 5 minutes driver 15 minutes stopped if the step 1, 10 in the case of Step 2
Minute operation stop for 10 minutes, 15 minutes operation 5 in step 3
In the case of minute stop, step 4, the stepwise intermittent operation control of the 20-minute operation is configured, and in addition, a mode in which the condition of each step is different can be selected.

Examples of the snow removal equipment 6 include a snow removal equipment of a type in which groundwater is pumped up by a pump to spray water, an electric heating method, and other snow removal equipment. In the case of the electric heating method, the supply power of a heat source such as a heater is controlled.

Since this embodiment has the above configuration,
When the operation control circuit 5 controls the operation of the snow removal equipment 6 based on the snowfall intensity value from the snowfall intensity sensor 1, the water content
The correction circuit 3 uses the above snowfall intensity value as a function of the outside air temperature.
Multiplying by a coefficient taking into account the water content of snowfall, the snowfall intensity value
Is corrected to a snowmelt intensity value, and the operation of the snowmelting facility 6 is controlled based on the snowmelt intensity value. When the outside air temperature is high, the water content is large. The amount of energy required for snow removal can be changed according to the magnitude of the water content, so that wasteful consumption of energy can be suppressed, thereby improving the snow removal efficiency. In addition, the structure of the device can be simplified, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

In this case, the intermittent operation circuit 5a is configured to intermittently operate the snow removal equipment 6 stepwise according to the snowfall intensity.
By controlling the watering time and the electric heat supply time, energy consumption can be saved and the snow removal efficiency can be further improved, as compared with the control method or the proportional control method in which the amount of watering or electric heat is changed according to the snowfall intensity. .

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the snowfall intensity sensor 1, the step conditions and the number of steps of the operation control circuit 5, the structure and method of the snow removal equipment 6 are appropriately changed. The present invention is not limited to the above-described intermittent operation method, and can be applied to a proportional control method.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the operation of the snow removal equipment is controlled by the operation control circuit on the basis of the snowfall intensity value from the snowfall intensity sensor, the water-containing material is used. The rate correction circuit adjusts the snow intensity value to
Multiply by a coefficient that takes into account the moisture content of snowfall based on temperature,
The snowfall intensity value is corrected to a snowmelt intensity value, and based on the snowmelt intensity value.
Since controls the operation of the snow melting facilities have, because when a high outside air temperature is greater water content for example by shortening the operation time of melting snow pump can be suppressed supply of snow melting energy, melting snow on the magnitude of the water content The amount of energy supply required for the apparatus can be changed, and the wasteful consumption of energy can be suppressed, so that the snow removal efficiency can be improved and the structure of the apparatus can be simplified, Manufacturing costs can be reduced.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the intermittent operation circuit causes the snow removal equipment to operate intermittently in a stepwise manner in accordance with the snowfall intensity, so that the ON / OFF operation is performed only based on the presence or absence of snowfall.
Compared with the OFF control method or the proportional control method that changes the amount of water spray and electric heat according to the snowfall intensity, energy consumption can be saved by controlling the time of watering and electric heat supply, and the snow removal efficiency can be further improved. it can.

As described above, the intended purpose can be sufficiently achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a snowfall intensity sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 snowfall intensity sensor 3 moisture content correction circuit 5 drive control circuit 6 snow melting equipment P _M snow melting intensity K factor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Tsutomu Kato 1-3535-1 41 Sawada, Nagaoka-shi, Niigata Pref. Niigata Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Hidemi Miyakoshi 1-3535-1, 41-35 Sawada, Nagaoka-shi, Niigata Niigata Electric (56) References JP-A-3-233012 (JP, A) JP-A-2-108706 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) E01H 5/10

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] When controlling the operation of a snow removal facility by an operation control circuit based on a snowfall intensity value from a snowfall intensity sensor, the snow content value is determined based on the outside temperature based on the snowfall intensity value.
The snowfall intensity value is converted to the snowmelt intensity value by multiplying by the factor added.
The snow melting equipment is operated and controlled based on the snow melting intensity value.
Snow melting equipment operation control method characterized by that. 2. A snowfall intensity sensor for detecting snowfall intensity,
An operation control circuit for controlling the operation of the snow removal equipment based on the snowfall intensity value from the snowfall intensity sensor, and a coefficient obtained by adding the water content of snowfall to the snowfall intensity value depending on the outside air temperature.
And a water content correction circuit for correcting the snowfall intensity value to a snowmelt intensity value by multiplying the snowfall intensity value . 3. The operation control device according to claim 2, wherein the operation control circuit includes an intermittent operation circuit for intermittently operating the snow removal equipment stepwise according to the snowfall intensity.