JPH03233270A - Snow making method and snow making device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable snow to be made in a high efficient manner throughout all seasons in a small-sized scale by a method wherein water is atomized as a descending water droplets from a top part of a thermally insulated space having a square horizontal section, the liquified coolant is atomized from the four corners of a thermally insulated space and a central part of the descending water droplets and the water droplets are condensed. CONSTITUTION:Water is atomized from a water feeding device 7 at a top part of a thermally insulating space 2 having a square horizontal section of one side H so as to form the descending water droplets flow having a circular horizontal section with a shorter diameter than one side H. The liquid phase coolant got from a coolant feeding device 9 is directed from the four corners of the thermal insulating space 2 toward the central part of the thermal insulating space 2 in a conical form where a horizontal top angle is at a right angle and then the coolant is injected from the central part of the descending water droplets flow upwardly in a conical form. Since a cooling effect caused by inputting of the liquid phase coolant at a temperature less than an icing point and a latent heat absorbing effect when the liquid-phase coolant are generated, so that a temperature in the thermal insulated space 2 descends less than an icing point. With such an arrangement, the water droplets in the descending water droplets injected are condensed to make snow 6 and a required snow making operation is carried out.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a snow-making method and apparatus, and more particularly to a snow-making method and apparatus suitable for making snow for leisure facilities such as indoor ski resorts and event venues, and snow as a cold source for pre-cooling concrete.

[Conventional technology]

The need for artificial snow is increasing with the development of leisure facilities such as ski resorts and the increasing demand for cooling and heat sources in industrial facilities. Conventional methods of making artificial snow include making snow in an outdoor natural environment where the temperature is below 0° C., or making snow in a large building cooled by a large-scale refrigerator. In addition, in pre-cooling of concrete, water is sprinkled on the surface of a cylinder whose temperature is below 0℃ called a freezing drum, and the ice formed on the drum surface is scraped off with a knife to obtain sliced ice, which is used as a cold source. I am using it. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-161377 discloses that an artificial snow generating chamber is provided with a liquid spraying means and a liquefied gas injection nozzle, and the liquefied gas immediately after injection is disposed so as to be removed from the liquid spraying means. An artificial snow making device is disclosed that generates snow by bringing a liquid mist into contact with liquefied gas injected from a liquefied gas injection nozzle.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, conventional methods inevitably suffer from various drawbacks. In other words, when making snow in an outdoor natural environment, it is impossible to make snow when the temperature is above freezing, and when making snow in a large building, it is necessary to make snow in a large space (for example, 10 m in height, 10 m in width, and 30 m in depth).
This requires a large-scale refrigerator, which inevitably increases the size and cost of the facility, and even in the case of sliced ice, there is a tendency for the equipment to become larger and the cost to increase. The artificial snow making apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-161377 has the disadvantage that condensed water adheres to the wall surface of the artificial snow generating chamber, reducing the efficiency of snow generation. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a highly efficient snowmaking method and device that can be implemented on a small scale throughout the year.

[Means to solve the problem]

Referring to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, according to the snow-making method of the present invention, water from the water supply device 7 is transferred to the top of the heat insulating space 2 having a square horizontal cross section of one side H. The liquid phase refrigerant from the refrigerant supply device 9 is sprayed so as to form a downward droplet flow 10 in a circular horizontal cross section with a shorter diameter, and the liquid phase refrigerant from the refrigerant supply device 9 is sprayed into the insulating space 2 in a conical shape with a horizontal apex angle at right angles from the four corners of the insulating space 2. and conically upward from the center of the descending water droplet stream 10 to condense the water droplets 8 of the descending water droplet stream 10 to form snow. The snow-making device of the present invention includes a heat insulating space 2 having a square horizontal cross section with one side H, a plurality of surrounding spray nozzles 4a provided diagonally downward radially at the center of the upper end of the heat insulating space 2, and a plurality of peripheral spray nozzles 4a provided downward from the center of the radial shape. A spray nozzle device 3 having a central spray nozzle 4b, a water supply device 7 connected to the spray nozzle device 3, and a water supply device 7 arranged upward at a position on the center line of the heat insulating space facing the spray nozzle device 3 at a predetermined distance. a central refrigerant nozzle 5a; a plurality of peripheral refrigerant nozzles 5b arranged at the four corners of the insulation space 2 and directed toward the center of the insulation space 2;
, and a liquid phase refrigerant delivery device 9 connected to the central refrigerant nozzle 5a and the peripheral refrigerant nozzle 5b. The spray nozzle device 3 sprays water from the water supply device 7 so as to form a downward droplet flow 10 having a circular horizontal cross section with a diameter shorter than the one side H. The central refrigerant nozzle 5a spouts the refrigerant from the liquid phase refrigerant delivery device 9 into the descending water droplet flow 10 in an upward conical manner against its descent, and the peripheral refrigerant nozzle 5b has a horizontal apex angle at right angles. The refrigerant from the liquid phase refrigerant delivery device 9 is ejected toward the center of the heat insulating space 2 in a conical shape.

[Effect]

The operation will be described with respect to an example in which the refrigerant in the refrigerant supply device 9 is liquid nitrogen or liquid air in FIG. 1. Heat insulation space 2
When a liquid phase refrigerant consisting of liquid nitrogen or liquid air is sprayed through the central refrigerant nozzle 5a and the peripheral refrigerant nozzle 5b that open to the inside and the inside of the outer periphery, the cooling effect due to the entry of the liquid phase refrigerant at a temperature below freezing and the liquid Since a latent heat absorption effect occurs when the phase refrigerant is sprayed and vaporized, the temperature within the heat insulating space 2 drops below freezing. When the water from the water supply device 7 is sprayed into the thus cooled heat insulating space 2 through the spray nozzle device 3 which opens at the middle of the upper end of the space, the sprayed water droplets condense into snow 6 and form the desired snow. Snow making is carried out. The spray nozzle device 3 used in the present invention has a plurality of radially arranged obliquely downward peripheral spray nozzles 4a and a downwardly directed central spray nozzle 4b in the radially arranged center. The shape and arrangement of these spray nozzles 4a and 4b are made appropriate so that at a position separated from the spray nozzle device 3 by a predetermined distance, the water droplets 8 ejected from the spray nozzle device 3 are shorter than one side H of the heat insulating space 2. The descending water droplet flow 10 has a circular horizontal cross section with a diameter of 1. Such a descending water droplet flow 1
0, the water droplets 8 from the spray nozzle device 3 are prevented from adhering to the wall surface of the heat insulating space 2, and the efficiency of snow making is improved. Preferably, the spray nozzle device 3 has a relatively low flow rate 6
Two peripheral spray nozzles 4a and one central spray nozzle 4b with a relatively large flow rate are provided, and the water droplets 8 and the descending water droplet flow 10 are formed under the condition that the water droplet diameter is 200 μm or less. The liquid phase refrigerant spouted upward from the central refrigerant nozzle 5a increases the residence time of the water droplets 8 in the descending water droplet flow 10,
Condensation of the sprayed water droplets 8 is promoted to further improve snow-making efficiency. The refrigerant spouted from the surrounding refrigerant nozzle 5b toward the center of the heat insulating space 2 in a conical shape with a horizontal apex angle of right angles is as follows:
The descending water droplet flow 10 spreads over the entire horizontal section, ensuring cooling of all the water droplets 8 and improving the efficiency of their condensation, ie, snow making. Preferably, the ambient refrigerant nozzles 5b are provided in upper and lower stages to further ensure cooling of the descending water droplet flow lO. The inventor has determined that the heat insulating space 2 is, for example, 1 m long and 1 m wide. It has been experimentally confirmed that snow 6 can be made in the above manner even in a relatively narrow space of about 2 m in height. Preferably, the water sent from the water supply device 7 to the spray nozzle 3 is cooled in advance to a low temperature close to the freezing point, for example, to about 2°C. In this way, the object of the present invention, ``Providing a highly efficient snowmaking method and apparatus that can be implemented on a small scale throughout the four seasons,'' is achieved.

【Example】

The connections of the equipment used in one embodiment of the present invention are shown in FIG.
An outline of the arrangement is shown in the perspective view of FIG. A heat insulating space 2 is formed inside the heat insulating container 1, and a spray nozzle device 3 attached to the top thereof is connected to a water supply device 7 via a water supply pipe 19 to receive water, which is a raw material for making snow. Center and peripheral refrigerant nozzles 5a and 5b arranged at the center and four corners of the heat insulating container 1 are connected to the refrigerant supply device 9 via a refrigerant supply pipe 31, and are supplied with liquid phase refrigerant. The insulated container 1 in the illustrated example has inner dimensions of 11 m long and 11 m wide.
The container 1 is a wooden rectangular parallelepiped with a height of 2.2 m, and a heat insulating space 2 is formed inside the container 1 by a heat insulating material with a thickness of 100 mm provided on its peripheral wall. A water pipe 19 is guided through the ceiling wall of the heat insulating container 1 to the center of the upper end of the heat insulating space 2, and a spray nozzle device 3 for spraying water is attached to the tip on the side of the heat insulating space. The refrigerant supply pipe 31 is guided through the side wall of the heat insulating container 1 to the inner corner of the outer periphery and the center of the heat insulating space 2, and the ends of the refrigerant supply pipe 31 at the center and inner corner of the outer periphery of the heat insulating space 2 are used for refrigerant spraying. Install the refrigerant nozzles 5a and 5b. An exhaust pipe 11 is provided at the corner of the ceiling of the heat insulating container 1 to discharge the refrigerant vaporized after being sprayed. Further, an observation window 13 for observing the snow-making situation is provided at a suitable part of the side wall, and a door 14 for taking out the snow 6 is attached to the lower part. A thermometer 25 is appropriately installed to monitor the temperature within the heat insulating space 2. In this case, the water supply device 7 includes a water tank 15, a pump 17, a water pipe 19, a flow meter 21. It consists of a pressure gauge 23 and a thermometer 25. The water supply pipe 19 is provided with an on-off valve 32 to supply water to the heat-insulating container 1 as shown by arrow A. By appropriately selecting the discharge pressure of the pump 17 and the structure of the spray nozzle 3, the particle size is 100μ.
Water droplets of about m size are sprayed evenly over the entire area inside the heat insulating space 2 so as not to directly hit the side walls. In addition, water is circulated as shown by arrow B by a water pipe equipped with an on-off valve 33 to prevent the water from freezing when pre-cooling the water in the water tank 15. The refrigerant supply device 9 in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a high-pressure refrigerant container 27.
A liquid-phase refrigerant contained in a container is used. In addition to liquid nitrogen or liquid air, for example, liquefied carbon dioxide can be used as the refrigerant, and it is preferable that the refrigerant becomes a gas after being sprayed into the heat insulating space 2. The refrigerant supply device 9 further includes a pressure gauge 23, a solenoid valve 29,
It has a refrigerant supply pipe 31 and a flow meter (not shown). The illustrated solenoid valve 29 is controlled by the output of the thermometer 25 within the heat insulating space 2 . By the refrigerant supply pipe 31 and the solenoid valve 29 or the manual valve 34,
Sending out the liquid phase refrigerant in the direction indicated by arrow C at an appropriate flow rate,
The temperature inside the insulation space 2 of the insulation container 1 is maintained below freezing. The low-temperature liquid phase refrigerant in the high-pressure refrigerant container 27 may be sent to the water tank 15 via a pipe equipped with a cooling valve 35 to pre-cool the water in the water tank. The present inventors prototyped a snowmaking device having the structure shown in the figure, and after cooling the temperature inside the heat insulating space 2 to about -20°C, the water in the water tank 15 was pressurized by the pump 17 and the water spray nozzle device 3 The refrigerant is sprayed at a rate of about 2 liters/minute through the insulating space 2 by adjusting the amount of refrigerant supplied by the solenoid valve 29.
The temperature inside was kept below freezing. The snowflakes of Snow 6 obtained in this way have a particle size of around 100 μm,
With a density of about 0.3 g/cm3, it was possible to create artificial snow that was close to natural snow. Snow making speed is approximately 120kg/
h, and almost all of the supplied water could be converted into snow. It is clear to those skilled in the art that the snow-making speed can be increased by increasing the volume of the heat-insulating containers 1, that is, the volume of the heat-insulating space 2, and/or increasing the number of heat-insulating containers 1.

【Effect of the invention】

As explained in detail above, the snow-making method and apparatus of the present invention is capable of starting from the top of a square cross-section heat insulating space cooled below the freezing point by spraying and vaporizing a liquid phase refrigerant. Since water is sprayed as falling droplets and condensed to form snow, it has the following effects. (b) Water is prevented from adhering to the walls of the insulation space, improving snowmaking efficiency. (b) Since the refrigerant is ejected against the downward flow of water droplets to suppress the descending speed of the water droplets and lengthen the residence time of the water droplets, that is, the cooling time, the snow-making efficiency can be further enhanced. (c) Snow can be made without using a large-scale building or refrigerator. (d) A snow-making device that is easy to move can be provided.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the arrangement of one embodiment, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a spray nozzle device, and Figs. 4 and 5 are illustrations of a descending water droplet flow. The explanatory diagram, FIG. 6, is a sectional view of the heat insulating space. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Heat insulation container, 2... Heat insulation space, 3 Spray nozzle device, 4a... Surrounding spray nozzle, 4b... Center spray nozzle, 5a... Central refrigerant nozzle, 5b.
... Surrounding refrigerant nozzle, 6. Snow, 7. Water supply device, 8. Water droplets, 9. Refrigerant supply device, IO...
Descending water droplet flow, 11... Exhaust pipe, 13... Observation window, 14... Door, 15... Water tank, 17... Pump, 19... Water supply pipe, 21... Flow meter, 23・
... Pressure gauge, 25 ... Thermometer, 27 ... High pressure refrigerant container, 29 ... Solenoid valve, 31 ... Refrigerant supply pipe, 32
．． 33.34...Opening/closing valve, 35...Cooling valve.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Water is sprayed from the top of the heat insulating space with a square horizontal cross section of one side H so as to form a droplet flow down the circular horizontal cross section with a diameter D shorter than the side H, and liquefied refrigerant is sprayed horizontally from the four corners of the heat insulating space. A snow-making method comprising spraying water in a conical shape with a right-angled apex toward the center of the heat insulating space and conically upward from the center of the descending water droplet flow to condense water droplets in the descending water droplet flow. (2) A heat insulating space with a square horizontal cross section of one side H, including a plurality of peripheral spray nozzles provided diagonally downward radially at the center of the upper end of the heat insulating space, and a center spray nozzle provided downward from the center of the radial shape. a spray nozzle device, a water supply device connected to the spray nozzle device, a central refrigerant nozzle arranged upward on the center line of the heat insulating space facing the spray nozzle device at a predetermined distance, and arranged at four corners of the heat insulating space. a plurality of peripheral refrigerant nozzles directed toward the center of the adiabatic space, and a liquid phase refrigerant delivery device connected to the central refrigerant nozzle and the peripheral refrigerant nozzle; Water is sprayed in the form of a falling droplet stream with a short circular horizontal cross section, and a conical liquid phase refrigerant jet is ejected upward from the central refrigerant nozzle, and at the same time, from the peripheral refrigerant nozzles, the horizontal apex angle is at right angles and the water is sprayed into the center of the insulation space. A snow-making device that spouts liquid-phase refrigerant.