JPH05311626A - Microwave snow melting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the snow melting work efficiency by throwing snow into a tank body, closing a cover, then radiating the microwave energy with a microwave radiating means provided at the lower region of the tank body to melt the snow. CONSTITUTION:Snow is thrown into a cylindrical metal tank body 1 having an insulator cover 2, and the tank body 1 is enclosed with a cover 5 via a microwave absorbing gasket ring 6. If a thermostat T is opened, a microwave radiating device 10 is automatically started, and the microwave energy is radiated into the large-diameter lower space 1b from an enclosed window 11. This radiation repeats reflection on the peripheral wall, and the snow in the space 1b is radiated from the whole periphery and melted. The microwaves irregularly reflected upward are reflected downward on the upper wall 1c, and the leakage to the outside is prevented by the ring 6 at an opening 3. The snow-melted water overflows and flows out from a conduit 8. When the rise of the temperature of the snow-melted water is detected by the thermostat T, the radiation of microwaves is stopped. The device can be moved to a desired position, and snow can be melted quickly and safely.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microwave snow melting apparatus for melting snow put in a tank by heat generation of snow itself due to dielectric loss of microwaves.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in the case of heavy snowfall in heavy snowfall areas, snow-removed snow is put into running water of rivers, groundwater is used to melt snow, it is put into hot water, and flames are directly applied to melt snow. All of them are performed by a method of applying heat to the snow from the outside to melt the snow, such as a method of using some of these methods.

However, snow is a substance that is white and has a large number of voids, and it is difficult to absorb heat. In other words, snow is a poor conductor with respect to heat given from the outside, and thus it is a substance that is essentially difficult to melt.

That is, when attempting to melt snow by the conventional method, the snow mass absorbs external heat from its surface and becomes a liquid (water) only when that part reaches the melting point temperature or higher, and further heat The same process is repeated after reaching the deep layer, but since there is a relatively large amount of voids in the heat conduction path from the outside, the heat conduction is extremely poor, so it is not possible to increase the snow melting speed (efficiency). I can't do it, and the snowmelt doesn't proceed slowly.

[0005] For example, in the method of throwing snow-removed snow into running water of a river, the running water is frozen in order to throw a large amount of snow into the river in one winter, and a large amount of snow accumulated on the surface melts all at once in early spring. And then floods occur downstream, and this is repeated every year, and measures are being taken to deal with it.

Further, the method of utilizing groundwater or pouring it into hot water to melt snow is not practical unless the location conditions are sufficient to secure sufficient hot water due to excess heat from groundwater, hot springs, factories, etc. In fact, it has only been adopted locally.

Further, the method of directly applying flame to melt snow cannot be adopted anywhere because it involves a risk of work, and the snow-removed snow is transferred to a specific work place away from urban areas and residential areas to perform snow melting work. It has the drawback of having to.

[0008]

As described above, in the conventional method, even if the individual methods or some of them are combined, it takes time to melt the snow due to the low thermal efficiency, and the energy cost is enormous. As a result, sufficient snowmelt cannot be achieved during the snow cover period, and in the early spring snowmelt season, a large amount of snowmelt water from the accumulated snow is added to the natural meltwater, resulting in river flooding. Was there.

Therefore, the main problem of the present invention is that it can be installed anywhere regardless of the location of use, it can quickly melt snow with high energy efficiency, and it is possible to prevent the occurrence of flooding during the snow melting period without the need to pile up the removed snow. An object of the present invention is to provide a snow melting device that enables snow melting at any time during a period.

In addition to this, it is another object of the present invention to provide a snow melting apparatus which can be used safely.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a snow melting device utilizing microwave energy in order to solve the above-mentioned problems. The snow melting device is a tank body having an opening at the top that can be opened and closed by a lid, microwave radiating means for radiating microwave energy to a lower region of the tank body, and a portion above the microwave radiation region in the tank body. And a drainage means that opens.

The microwave snow melting apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention further comprises a microwave absorbing gasket for preventing leakage of microwaves from the gap between the lid and the opening.

Further, in the microwave snow melting apparatus according to the invention described in claim 3, the lower region of the tank body forms a cylindrical space having a larger cross-sectional area than the upper region, and the side wall of the cylindrical space. Is provided with a closed window for transmitting microwave energy radiated from the microwave radiating means toward the inside of the tank.

Further, in the microwave snow melting apparatus according to the invention described in claim 4, a waveguide means for suppressing the spread of the microwave radiation in the tank in the opening direction is provided in the microwave radiation means. ..

Furthermore, the microwave snow melting apparatus according to the present invention further comprises an interlock control means for making the microwave radiation means operable only when the lid is in the closed state.

[0016]

In the microwave snow melting apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the tank body is installed in the vicinity of a sewage flow path such as a gutter on the side of a road or a drainage ditch on the premises, or the sewage is collected. It is used by burying the lower part as it is, and the snow removed by opening the lid of the upper opening is thrown into the tank body. When the lid is closed, microwave energy is radiated to the lower region inside the tank, and the snow that is thrown inside melts. The water generated by the dissolution overflows into the sewer flow path and is discharged from the drainage means opening in the tank body above the microwave radiation region.

[0017] Snow formed by water crystallizing from dust floating in the air as a core, or snow discharge containing various substances mixed on the road or the like has a relatively large dielectric loss in electrical properties. It is a substance. Therefore, when microwave energy of an appropriate high-frequency electric field is applied to this, self-heating is caused by vibration of water molecules, and the particles melt in a short time. The water generated by the snow melting becomes hot water by the residual heat of microwave irradiation, and when it exceeds the opening level of the drainage means in the tank, it is discharged to, for example, sewage by overflow drainage, and the sewage is also prevented from freezing.

A certain level of hot water remaining in the tank can be turned into a considerably high temperature water by microwave irradiation, which also helps the melting of the snow which is thrown in one after another.
In this way, snow melting by microwave energy in the tank is performed using almost all of the radiant energy,
Therefore, the substantial energy saving effect is extremely large. Of course, it is preferable to control the operation of the microwave radiating means by the thermostat so that the temperature of the hot water in the tank does not become too high.

For example, a microwave melting device for a relatively large tank is installed near the water collecting box of a common drainage channel such as a gutter or its tank is used as the water collecting box itself, and the tank is removed by a snow removing / snow removing work vehicle during snowfall. If snow is thrown into the body, the snow can be quickly melted and the melted water can be discharged to the drainage channel. In addition, if a microwave snow melting device for relatively small and medium tanks is installed in each house, for example, when snow is removed from the roof, the snow will immediately melt and sewage melted water without building snowy mountains on the shoulders of the road. It can be discharged to the road and does not cause traffic obstruction.

In the microwave snow melting apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the microwave absorbing gasket prevents the microwave from leaking from the gap between the lid and the opening while the lid is closed, and is in operation. Prevents obstacles caused by microwave leakage and guarantees safe snow melting work. This gasket can be realized by, for example, a microwave absorbing ferrite material, and preferably, a double ring gasket in which two kinds of ferrite rings having different absorption wavelength characteristics for low frequency and high frequency are combined is attached to the lid side or the opening edge side.

In the microwave snow melting apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention, the lower region of the tank body forms a cylindrical space having a larger cross-sectional area than the upper region, and the microwave radiating means is provided. The microwave energy radiated toward the inside of the tank body passes through the closed window provided on the side wall of this cylindrical space. That is, a part of the cylindrical space forms an upper partition wall that opens into the upper space in the tank in a blow-through manner, and when microwave energy is radiated into the cylindrical space from a closed window on the side wall of the cylindrical space, The reflection is repeated by the upper partition wall, the peripheral wall and the bottom surface in the cylindrical space, and the snow introduced into the cylindrical space is incident and absorbed from almost the entire circumferential direction, and contributes to snow melting efficiently.

In this case, the opening level in the tank of the drainage means is above the cylindrical space, and the irradiation and reflection area of the microwave is below the free water surface in the tank of water generated by snow melting. is there. This is to avoid microwave leakage outside the tank as much as possible by utilizing the fact that microwave radiation in water does not easily cause microwave leakage to the free space above the water surface. This is because the microwave energy is absorbed more in the water.

Further, in the microwave snow melting apparatus according to the invention described in claim 4, the waveguide means provided in the microwave radiation means suppresses the spread of the microwave radiation in the tank in the opening direction, and Minimize the upward scattering of microwaves from the gap between the openings, which tends to leak outside. The directivity of the microwave radiation to the inside of the tank is obtained by arranging a wave guiding means such as a radio wave lens or a parallel waveguide plate in front of the antenna element that radiates the magnetron oscillation output of the microwave radiating means toward the inside of the tank. Can be flattened, and preferably radiated as a substantially horizontal polarized wave.

In the present invention, as the antenna element for microwave radiation, various three-dimensional antennas such as a fan-shaped horn antenna, a pyramidal horn antenna, a conical horn antenna or the like can be used, or a microwave radiation terminating element is suitable. It may be combined with a reflective element.

Further, in the microwave snow melting apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the interlock control means provided in the drive system of the microwave radiating means is interlocked with the opening and closing of the lid,
Only when the lid is in the closed state, the microwave radiating means is operable. This enables microwave operation to automatically stop when the lid is opened to throw in snow, and to restart microwave radiation automatically when the lid is closed after throwing snow. If the drive system of the equipment is activated at any time, it is possible to start and stop microwave radiation by opening and closing the lid when snow is removed, and even in that case, when the lid is opened, it is possible to go outside. It is possible to completely prevent the microwave from leaking, and it is possible to guarantee safe work.

[0026]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. Opening 3
Is closed by a metal lid 5 supported on the tank body 1 by a hinge 4 so as to be openable and closable. Also, the tank body 1
Has upper and lower inner spaces 1a and 1b having different diameters. The lower inner space 1b has a larger diameter than the upper inner space 1a, and the upper surface wall 1c of the lower space 1b is located at a substantially central portion upward. It is configured to connect to the upper space 1a in a blow-through manner.

The surface of the metal lid 5 is also covered with an insulator coating, and a microwave absorbing ferrite gasket ring 6 is fitted on the back side thereof as shown in an exploded view in FIG. The gasket ring 6 is for absorbing microwaves that try to leak to the outside from the gap between the two when the lid 5 closes the opening 3, and prevents the leakage, and the microwave absorbing ferrite ring 6a for low frequencies is used. And a microwave absorbing ferrite ring 6b for high frequency.

An overflow drain 7a is provided in the middle of the upper space 1a of the tank body 1 and leads to sewage through a pipe 8. A drainage port 7b is also provided at the bottom of the tank body 1, and this drainage port 7b is connected to a sewage pipe 8 through a valve 9 that is closed during snow melting work.

The tank body 1 is electrically grounded, and the microwave radiating device 10 is attached to the peripheral wall surrounding the lower space 1b. This microwave radiating device 10 is commercially available via a control device C together with a detector S such as a micro switch for detecting the lid open / closed state and a temperature detector such as a thermostat T which opens when the water temperature in the tank reaches, for example, 80 ° C. or more. It is driven by a power supply.

The microwave radiating device 10 is, as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 3, a microwave permeable hermetic seal made of a plate of heat resistant dielectric such as vinylene chloride provided on the peripheral wall of the tank 1 surrounding the lower space 1b. It is attached to the window 11. That is,
In FIG. 3, an antenna horn 12 is provided outside the closed window 11.
Is welded to the metal tank body 1 with its central axis substantially orthogonal to the axis of the tank body 1, and a plurality of waveguide plates 13 are arranged substantially horizontally in parallel on the horn opening surface.

On the base pedestal 14 of the antenna horn 12,
A waveguide base 16 having a gold-plated waveguide 15 inside is fixed by a bolt 18 via a packing 17, and a magnetron 19 is provided on the back surface of the waveguide base 16.
The housing 20 is fixed. Magnetron 19
The microwave antenna radiation terminating element 21 excited by the oscillation output of is located inside the waveguide 15. Further, a forced cooling device 22 with radiation fins is arranged on the back of the magnetron housing 20.

The operation control device C includes a microwave oscillation circuit for the magnetron 19, a start control circuit, and a power supply circuit, and the detection signals from the lid opening / closing detector S and the thermostat T, for example, in the sequence shown in FIG. The operation control of 19 is performed. In addition, the cooling device 22
Also, the cooling is controlled by the cooling fan in response to the operation of the magnetron 19.

That is, the power source is turned on to start the state,
Open the lid 5 and add snow. Unless the lid 5 is completely closed, the interlock returns to the initial state in the operation control device C, and the microwave radiation is blocked. When the lid is completely closed, the start switch is turned on if the thermostat T is opened, the magnetron 19 is started, and the closed window 11 on the side wall is provided inside the large-diameter lower space 1b in the tank body 1.
Microwave energy is emitted from the microwave radiating device 10 via the.

This radiation is performed in a substantially horizontal and flat pattern by the action of the horn antenna 12 and the wave guide plate 13, and the snow thrown into the lower space 1b in the tank is repeatedly reflected by the peripheral wall in the lower space 1b. Irradiate from almost the entire circumference. Further, even if microwaves directed upward due to diffused reflection are generated, most of them are reflected downward by the upper surface wall 1c, and the opening 3
There are very few waves going to. Further, a microwave absorption gasket ring 6 is mounted in the gap between the lid 5 and the opening 3, so that the microwave does not leak outside the tank.

The water generated by melting the snow by microwave energy in the tank becomes warm water, and when it reaches the level of the overflow drain port 7a, it flows out from the pipe line 8 to sewer. Therefore, molten water is stored in the tank up to the level of the overflow drain 7a, and when microwaves are radiated into this water, the molten water itself generates heat. When the temperature of the molten water reaches the set temperature of the thermostat T due to this heat generation, the sequence returns to the initial state in the operation control device C to block microwave radiation, and when the temperature drops, microwave radiation is restarted.

When the lid 5 is opened for the subsequent snow input while microwaves are being radiated, an interlock works to stop the microwave radiation, and when snow is input and the lid 5 is closed, the microwave radiation is released. It will be restarted. In this case, the snow is thrown into the warm water in the tank and is also subjected to an auxiliary snow melting action due to the retained heat. The warm water in the tank whose water level has risen due to the subsequent addition of snow is discharged from the overflow drain 7a to the sewage via the pipe 8. Snow thrown into warm water is melted by microwave irradiation. In this case, microwave irradiated in water rarely penetrates above the water surface, so leakage to the outside of the tank is less likely to occur. .. In addition, the drain port 7b at the bottom of the tank uses the valve 9 to remove the water remaining in the tank after the work is completed.
It is for discharging to the sewage by opening and closing.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A safe snow melting device with almost no external microwave leakage can be obtained during use, and microwave radiation in the tank is efficiently used for both melting water and snow, so energy efficiency is high and snow melting can be performed in a short time. It becomes possible to drain it as warm water. Since the snow melting apparatus of the present invention can be installed anywhere regardless of the installation location, it is not necessary to collect snow removed or transport it to a distant place, and the number of trucks and the number of workers are not required during the snow accumulation period. As a result, the width of the road will not be narrowed by the accumulated snow, and the amount of snowmelt per hour can be drained by sewage treatment and river flooding will occur. There are many benefits, such as nothing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a cross section of the entire configuration of a microwave snow melting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a configuration example of a lid.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view showing a microwave radiating device portion.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation control sequence.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Tank body 3: Opening 5: Lid 6: Microwave absorption gasket ring 7a: Overflow drainage port 10: Microwave radiating device 11: Closed window 12: Antenna horn 13: Waveguide plate 15: Waveguide 19: McNetron

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A tank body having an opening at the top that can be opened and closed by a lid, microwave radiating means for radiating microwave energy to a lower region of the tank body, and the tank body at a portion above the microwave radiation region. A microwave snow melting device, comprising: 2. The microwave snow melting device according to claim 1, further comprising a microwave absorption gasket that prevents leakage of microwaves from a gap between the lid and the opening. 3. The lower region of the tank body forms a cylindrical space having a larger cross-sectional area than the upper region, and the microwave radiating means radiates toward the inside of the tank body on the side wall of the cylindrical space. The microwave snow melting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a closed window for transmitting microwave energy. 4. The microwave snow melting device according to claim 1, wherein the microwave radiating means includes a waveguide means for suppressing the spread of the microwave radiation in the tank in the opening direction. 5. The microwave snow melting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an interlock control unit that makes the microwave radiation unit operable only when the lid is closed.