JPH0533311A - Cable snow remover - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remove the snow coverage of the cable, etc., of a diagonal cable bridge. CONSTITUTION:A truck 5 is installed so as to surround a cable 2, and wheels arranged while forming the angle of deviation in the circumferential direction of the cable 2, a DC motor driving the wheels and a battery are loaded on the truck 5. The truck 5 travels along the cable 2 while being rotated centering around the cable 2 by driving the wheels by the DC motor. A cutting edge 6 spirally travels on the outer circumferential surface of the cable by previously mounting the cutting edge 6 so that an edge is brought into contact with the cable 2 approximately on the front of the truck 2, thus scraping off snow 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cable snow removing device for removing snow accumulated on a structural cable such as a cable-stayed bridge cable.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since snowfall on a cable may cause problems such as falling snowflakes and broken lines due to the weight of snow, timely snow removal is desired. Although a method of removing the wire by swinging is adopted for the electric wire cable, swinging is not easy and is not preferable for a structural cable such as a cable-stayed bridge, and an appropriate snow removal plan has not been obtained. However, the traffic situation in recent years has become particularly serious on bridges, and an appropriate snow removal plan is urgently required from the viewpoint of avoiding accidents caused by snowfall.

[0003]

Generally, in order to perform work such as painting and repair on a structure at a high place like this case,
It is done manually by using a gondola and a crane,
Therefore, snow removal work on the cable may be performed manually using a gondola or crane. However,
This method cannot be adopted because it is not necessary to remove snow from bridge cables over a period of days or weeks, and the places where gondolas and cranes are installed are also limited.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a cable snow removing device capable of removing snow accumulated on a cable by a device having a relatively simple structure without using a large machine such as a gondola or a crane. The purpose is to provide.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems As a result of intensive studies to solve the above-mentioned problems, the inventors of the present invention have found that if a cart is made to rotate while a cart is rotated along a cable and a cutting blade is attached to the tip of the cart. The present invention has been completed, paying attention to the fact that the cutting edge can spirally move along the cable and scrape off the snow on the cable. That is, the present invention is provided with a plurality of wheels surrounding the cable and having a declination with respect to the circumferential direction of the cable so as to be in contact with the cable, and drive means for driving the wheels. A gist of a cable snow removing device having a trolley and a cutting blade attached to a tip of the trolley so that a blade edge is almost in contact with the cable.

Here, as the driving means, an electric motor,
Although an internal combustion engine or the like can be used, it is preferable to use a DC motor among them and to mount a battery for driving the DC motor on the carriage.

[0007]

In the cable snow removing device having the above-described structure, the wheels are arranged with an angle of deviation with respect to the circumferential direction of the cable. Therefore, when the wheels are driven by the driving means, the wheels spiral around the outer circumference of the cable. The trolley travels around the cable while rotating around the cable, so that the cutting blade attached to the tip of the trolley moves spirally along the cable with the cutting edge almost touching the cable, causing snow accumulation on the cable. Can be scraped off.

[0008] Here, first of all, the so-called skew type in which the traveling type of the trolley travels while rotating is
This is because the frictional reaction force required for running including climbing is reduced by the spiral running of the wheels, and it can become a foothold even on the cable surface where water film or ice film remains, and then the power required for snow removal is low load-high. This is because the required reaction force is not increased by forming a stroke. With this configuration, the carriage can travel stably even with the cable stretched obliquely, and reliable snow removal is possible.

As the drive means for driving the carriage, an internal combustion engine, an electric motor or the like can be used as described above. However, when the internal combustion engine is used, there is a risk of sudden stop, fire, and reduction of load. Distributed placement is also not easy. Further, the AC motor requires a power transmission wire and a slip ring, which is disadvantageous in terms of both convenience and maintainability. On the other hand, it is preferable to use a DC motor as the driving means and to mount the battery on the dolly, because these drawbacks are eliminated and reliable operation and convenience are secured.

If the cable snow removing device of the present invention is provided for each cable of the cable-stayed bridge, it is possible to remove the snow of each cable at the same time by operating the cable snow removing devices at the same time during snow accumulation. It is possible to remove snow in time.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a cable snow removing device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state where snow 3 accumulated on a cable 2 is being removed. The cable snow removing device 1 is provided with a trolley 5 having a cylindrical shape as a whole and having a split structure, and a cutting blade 6 attached to the tip thereof.

As shown in the cross section of FIG. 3, the carriage 5 has a body plate 8 connected to each other by a flange 7, a frame 9 attached to the inner surface of the body plate 8 and a frame 9 held by the frame 9.
A plurality of wheels 10 and the like arranged so as to surround the cable 2 are provided. This wheel 10 has a shaft 1 as shown in FIG.
1 and each shaft 11 is arranged so as to be twisted uniformly with respect to the center line of the carriage 5. Therefore, each wheel 10 can be declined by a uniform angle θ with respect to the circumferential direction of the cable 2. In FIG. 3, the lower two shafts 11 are held in place by bearing blocks 12 mounted on the lower frame 9, and the upper two shafts 11 are supported on the upper frame 9. It is held so as to be pushed toward the cable 2 by the block 13. With this configuration, the plurality of wheels 10 arranged around the cable 2 pinch the cable 2, and the carriage 5 can be held by the cable 2. Here, the structure of the support block 13 that holds the shaft 11 so as to push it toward the cable 2 is not particularly limited, and may be any one that uses a spring such as a coil spring or a leaf spring, or one that uses an elastic body such as a rubber plate. Is. The wheel 10 on the side held by the support block 13 is rotatably provided. In that case, the wheel 10 may be rotatable with respect to the shaft 11, or the shaft 11 may be supported by the support block 13.
It may be rotatable with respect to.

Two shafts 11 located on the lower side in FIG.
The driving means 15 for driving it is connected to.
As shown in FIG. 4, the driving means 15 includes a DC motor 16
An electromagnetic clutch 17, a drive shaft 18, a timing pulley 19 attached to the drive shaft 18, a timing pulley 20 attached to the shaft 11, a timing belt 21 and the like. The type of the DC motor 16 used here is arbitrary, but from the viewpoint of maintenance, a brushless motor using a permanent magnet is preferable. If necessary, an appropriate speed reducer may be interposed between the DC motor 16 and the electromagnetic clutch 17, and a regenerative braking resistor for adjusting the speed when descending may be inserted as necessary. Good. In FIG. 4, the straight line XX is a straight line parallel to the center line of the carriage 5 (the center line of the cable 2), and YY is a straight line parallel to the circumferential direction of the cable 2.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, each wheel 10 has a declination of an angle θ with respect to the circumferential direction of the cable 2. Therefore, when the DC motor 16 rotates the wheels 10, The wheel 10 spirally moves on the outer peripheral surface of the cable 2. Therefore, the carriage 5 moves along the cable 2 while rotating around the cable 2. As described above, the wheel 10 is configured to spirally travel on the outer peripheral surface of the cable 2, so that the trolley 5 can be satisfactorily climbed up to the cable 2 that is inclined. Here, the deflection angle θ given to the wheel 10 is set according to the inclination of the cable, but as a rough guide, the ratio of the spiral pitch to the cable circumference is 1/100.
It is preferably about 1/10. Also, the wheel 10
It is preferable to have a high friction coefficient so as not to slip on the cable 2, and it is preferable to attach a tire for ice and snow. In this embodiment, the two shafts 11 (4
Although it is configured to drive the individual wheels 10), the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be configured to drive only one shaft 11 or three or more shafts 11. Further, the number of wheels 10 used to hold the carriage 5 on the cable 2 is not limited to eight as in the embodiment, and can be appropriately increased or decreased.

In FIG. 3, the carriage 5 has a DC motor 1
A battery (not shown) for driving 6 is mounted, and the body plate 8 is provided with a window for inserting and removing the battery and a cover (not shown) for opening and closing the window. The battery used here may be either a primary battery or a secondary battery, but a secondary battery is preferable in that the performance of the battery can always be kept in the best state by charging, and nickel
A cadmium battery is preferable because it is easy to handle.
On the outer periphery of the body plate 8, a heat insulating material 23 such as foamed phenol and a planar heater 24 for heat insulation are arranged.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, an end plate 26 is provided on the front surface of the carriage 5, and the inner periphery of the end plate 26 is protected from the outer surface of the cable 2 so as not to come into contact with and damage the cable 2. Separated. A skirt 27 is provided on the inner peripheral portion of the end plate 26 so as to come into contact with the cable 2 in order to prevent snow from entering the carriage from between the end plate 26 and the cable 2. This skirt 27
As shown in FIG. 11, a resin sheet 27 a such as a polyethylene sheet having a thickness of about 0.3 mm is arranged in a windmill shape so as to be arranged in order with respect to the rotating direction of the carriage 5, and contacts the cable 2. However, it will not be damaged.

In FIGS. 6 and 7, the cutting blade 6 is fixed to the front surface of the carriage 5 by a support member 29. When the carriage 5 rotates and travels along the cable 2, the cutting edge 6 spirally moves around the outer circumference of the cable 2 to break down snow, and its width is larger than the pitch of the spiral movement. Is also set large. The cutting blade 6 may be basically a plate-like body, and is attached so that the blade edge substantially contacts the outer circumference of the cable 2 and is substantially perpendicular to the outer circumferential surface of the cable 2. The material is not limited, but is preferably hard enough not to damage the surface of the resin-coated cable 2, and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, nylon, etc. are recommended in consideration of abrasion resistance and less snow adhesion. . It is preferable that the cutting edge of the cutting blade 6 (the portion that comes into contact with the cable 2) is tapered so that particularly elastic contact is made, and cuts 6a are formed at appropriate intervals.

Further, instead of simply fixing the cutting blade 6 to the supporting member 29, as shown in FIG. 8, the cutting blade 6A is fitted to the supporting member 29A so as to be movable in the direction shown by the arrow.
In addition, the cushion material 30 may be inserted and the cutting edge 6A may be pressed against the cable by the elasticity of the cushion material 30.

In FIGS. 1 and 6, a bumper 32 is attached to the front surface of the carriage 5 so as to project forward of the cutting blade 6. Further, an ultrasonic sensor 33 for detecting a rigid body about 20 cm ahead is also attached to the front surface of the carriage 5 so that it can detect that the carriage 5 has approached the wall of the tower or the like supporting the cable. There is.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, an end plate 34 is also formed on the rear surface of the carriage 5, and the skirt 2 is formed on the inner peripheral portion thereof.
7 is attached. Further, an annular insulating plate 36 is provided on the end plate 34 via an annular elastic body 35, and a plurality of slip rings 37 are concentrically mounted on the insulating plate 36. This slip ring 37
As shown in FIG. 12, when the carriage 5 returns to the standby position at the base of the cable 2, it comes into contact with the brush 38 provided at that position to receive power supply or a signal as described later. is there. A cover 39 for accommodating the carriage 5 is provided at this standby position.

In FIG. 10, the outer peripheral portion 34a of the end plate 34 is shown.
Protrudes annularly so as to protect the slip ring 37. Further, the outer peripheral portion 34a forms a surface to be attracted by a magnet provided at the tip of a rescue cart, which will be described later. If the end plate 34 is made of magnetic metal, it may be left as it is. In the case of a non-magnetic metal, a magnetic metal is attached.

Since the carriage 5 is self-propelled along the slanted cable 2, it is preferable to reduce the weight as much as possible. Therefore, aluminum alloy, reinforced resin, or the like is recommended as the material used for the carriage 5.

FIG. 13 is a schematic circuit diagram of the trolley 5 and the fixed equipment 40 provided at the base of the cable. In FIG. 13, reference numeral 41 is a commercial power source, and 42 is a charger. The terminals of the charger 42 are connected to the slip ring 37a of the carriage 5 via the brush 38a when the carriage 5 returns to the standby position. The internal battery 43 is charged.
Further, the commercial power source 41 is connected to the slip ring 37b of the truck 5 via the brush 38b to energize the heater 24. Reference numeral 45 denotes a snow cover sensor that detects that the cable has a predetermined amount of snow or more. The output of the snow cover sensor 45 activates the switch 46 via the brush 38c and the slip ring 37c of the carriage 5. ing. As the snow sensor 45, for example, an electric capacitance type sensor can be used. When a cable snow removing device is provided for each of the plurality of cables, it is not necessary to provide the snow accumulation sensor 45 for each of the plurality of cables, but one sensor may be provided for each typical cable and the signal thereof may be transmitted to each cable. .

In FIG. 13, 47 is a manual switch, 4
Reference numeral 8 denotes a switch for switching the polarity, which is normally held in the positive polarity and is configured to switch the polarity according to the detection signal of the ultrasonic sensor 33. 49 is a breaker, and when an overload current flows to the DC motor 16 due to a failure of a mechanical system connected to the DC motor 16,
It is arranged to cut off the electric current. DC motor 1
The electromagnetic clutch 17 connected to 6 is arranged to be released when the current to the DC motor 16 is off,
When the trolley 5 breaks down for some reason while climbing the cable, the towing rescue is possible.

Next, the operation of the cable snow removing device constructed as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
Take snow removal for the example as an example. First, the cable snow removing device 1 is attached to each of the plurality of cables 2 prior to the snowfall season. When the cable snow removing device 1 is attached to the cable 2, the trolley 5 has a two-part structure, so the two parts are applied to the cable 2 from both sides, and the electrical circuit connector (not shown) is connected, and the flange 7 is attached. They can be easily attached by bolting them together. At this time, since the battery 43 is heavy,
It is preferable to attach the carriage 5 to the cable 2 and then attach the same.

The carriage 5 attached to each cable 2 stands by at the standby position at the base of the cable 2 (see FIG. 12). At this time, as shown in FIG. 13, the battery 43 in the carriage 5 is connected to the charger 42 and charged. At the same time, the heater 24 of the trolley 5 is connected to the commercial power supply 41 to keep the inside of the trolley 5 warm.

When there is snowfall and the representative cable 2 has a predetermined amount of snow or more, the snowfall sensor 45 provided in the representative cable 2 detects it and outputs a detection signal. This detection signal is applied to the brush 3 provided on each cable 2
8c, the switch 46 is turned on via the slip ring 37c of the carriage 5, and thereafter kept in the on state. As a result, a current is sent from the battery 43 to the DC motor 16 and drives the DC motor 16. At this time, switch 48
Are held in the positive polarity, the DC motor 16 rotates in the positive direction, and the wheels 10 rotate in the positive direction. Thus, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the truck 5 rotates around the cable 2 and climbs along the cable 2, while the cutting edge 6 spirally moves on the outer peripheral surface of the cable 2 to cause snow accumulation. Scrape off.

The trolley 5 climbs up along the cable 2,
When approaching its upper end, the ultrasonic sensor 33 provided on the front surface of the carriage 5 senses the tower 50 (see FIG. 2) supporting the cable 2, and temporarily turns off the switch 48 in the power supply circuit for the DC motor, and then After a few seconds, switch 48 is switched to the reverse polarity position and held. As a result, the DC motor 16 rotates in the opposite direction, and the dolly 5 descends along the cable 2 while rotating in the opposite direction. When the carriage 5 approaches the return point, the limit switch (not shown) provided at that position turns off the switch 46, and simultaneously returns the switch 48 to the positive polarity and holds it. Then, the carriage 5 returns to the original standby state and stands by.

The cable snow removing operation by the cable snow removing device 1 described above is simultaneously performed on a plurality of cables 2 in parallel, as shown in FIG. 2, and therefore snow removing work can be performed in an extremely short time. Is.

While the truck 5 is climbing the cable 2 to remove snow, the DC motor may be overloaded for some reason and an overload current may flow. In this case, the breaker 49 provided in the middle of the power supply circuit is turned off to protect the DC motor 16 and the battery 43.
At this time, the electromagnetic clutch 17 is disengaged, and the wheel 10
Is disconnected from the DC motor 16. Thereby, the wheel 10
Can rotate lightly, and the carriage 5 descends while rotating around the cable 2 by its own weight and returns to the original standby position. Also, when the motor winding or the power supply system is broken, the electromagnetic clutch 17 is released and the carriage 5 returns to its own weight. If the trolley 5 does not return to its own weight, a rescue trolley in which the cutting blade at the tip of the trolley 5 is replaced by a magnet is prepared, and the trolley is mounted on the cable 2 and allowed to climb along the cable 2. Then, the magnet attached to the tip of the rescue cart is attracted to the attracted surface 34a of the rear surface of the breakdown cart 5 which is stopped in the middle of the cable, and then the rescue cart is lowered to return the breakdown cart 5 to the back. Can be made.

In the above embodiment, when there is snowfall, the snowfall is detected and the cable snow removing device 1 is automatically started,
The cable is automatically returned after snow removal, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and the operator operates the cable snow removal device by manual operation by wireless when there is snow. You may.

[0032]

As described above, in the cable snow removing device of the present invention, a cutting blade for scraping off the snow accumulated on the cable is provided at the tip of the truck that runs along the cable while rotating around the cable. Therefore, you can remove the snow from the cable by moving the trolley itself along the cable.Even if the cable is extremely high, you can easily remove it without using a large crane as in the past. Can remove snow. Moreover, the trolley used here may be one that can move without rotating along the cable, so it is small, has a simple structure, and can be manufactured at low cost. Therefore, even for a large number of cables such as cable-stayed bridges, it is possible to install each cable without increasing the equipment cost, and by operating the cable snow removal devices provided for each cable at the same time, It is possible to remove snow from a large number of cables in an extremely short time. Further, since the cable snow removing devices are distributed for each cable, the range of influence of the failure is small, and the same machine can be easily used to rescue the troubled machine, which does not require much time for restoration.

Eliminating the fear of snowfall by providing such a cable snow removing device further enhances the usability of a cable utilizing structure such as a cable-stayed bridge.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a state where a cable snow removing device according to an embodiment of the present invention removes snow from a cable.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing a state in which a plurality of cables of a cable-stayed bridge are simultaneously snow-removed by the cable snow removing device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of the cable snow removing device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing the driving means for a wheel in the cable snow removing device in an expanded manner.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view illustrating the arrangement of wheels and shafts in the cable snow removing device.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the cable snow removing device.

FIG. 7A is a schematic cross-sectional view of the front surface portion of the cable snow removing device, and FIG. 7B is a schematic front view thereof.

FIG. 8A is a schematic perspective view showing a modified example of the cutting blade used in the cable snow removing device, and FIG. 8B is a schematic sectional view thereof.

FIG. 9 is a rear view of the cable snow removing device.

FIG. 10 is a schematic sectional view of a rear surface portion of the cable snow removing device.

FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view of a part of a skirt attached to the cable snow removing device.

FIG. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state where the cable snow removing device is returned to a standby position at the base of the cable.

FIG. 13 is a schematic electric circuit diagram of the cable snow removing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 cable snow removal equipment 2 cables 3 snow 5 dolly 6 cutting edges 7 flange 8 body plate 9 frames 10 wheels 11 axes 12 Bearing block 13 Support block 15 Drive means 16 DC motor 17 Electromagnetic clutch 23 Thermal insulation 24 heater

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yoshifumi Sakamoto             5-9-1 Nishihashimoto, Sagamihara City, Kanagawa             Honetsu Steel Co., Ltd.             In the center (72) Inventor Isamu Tsuchida             5-9-1 Nishihashimoto, Sagamihara City, Kanagawa             Honetsu Steel Co., Ltd.             In the center (72) Inventor, Taniguchi T.             2-8-3 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture             1 High Frequency Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shigeki Kishihara             2-8-3 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture             1 High Frequency Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshiyuki Morishita             2-8-3 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture             1 High Frequency Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of wheels, which are arranged so as to surround the cable and have a declination with respect to the circumferential direction of the cable so as to be in contact with the cable, and drive means for driving the wheels. A cable snow removing device having a trolley and a cutting blade attached to the tip of the trolley so that the blade edge is almost in contact with the cable. 2. The cable snow removing device according to claim 1, wherein the driving means is a DC motor, and the carriage is provided with a battery for driving the DC motor.