JPH0551910A - Controlling method for operation of road heating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To raise snow-thawing effect and antifreezing effect of the road surface. CONSTITUTION:As a road water sensor to detect the presence of piled snow and water on the road surface, the first road water sensor 10 with a heater 14 for sensor and the second road water sensor 15 without heater for sensor are provided. When 'water is present on the road surface' is detected by the second sensor 15, even when 'no water on the road surface' is detected by the first sensor 10, the road heater 2 is actuated to heat the road surface 1 for thawing snow on the road surface 1 and the freezing of piled snow and water on the road surface 1 is prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a road heating device for preventing snow melting and freezing on a road surface of a pavement, and more particularly to a road heating device capable of enhancing a snow melting effect and a freezing preventing effect on a road surface. The present invention relates to the operation control method of.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of a road heating device for preventing snow melting and freezing on a road surface of a pavement, as shown in a flowchart of FIG. 5, in addition to snowfall information from a snowfall sensor for detecting the presence or absence of snowfall, Road surface information is collected from the road surface moisture sensor that detects the presence or absence of snow and the presence of road surface moisture, and when the outside temperature is below the set temperature (for example, 5 ° C) and the snowfall sensor determines that "snowfall is present," snowmelt operation is performed. And then
In addition, when the snowfall sensor determines that "snowfall is not present" and the road surface moisture sensor determines that "road surface moisture is present", the antifreezing operation is performed. Furthermore, the snowfall sensor determines that "snowfall is not present", Further, there is known one having a driving control function of stopping the road heating device when the road surface moisture sensor determines that "road surface water content: none".

Conventionally, in such a road heating device, as a road surface moisture sensor, the snow received by the snow receiving portion is heated by a heater provided in the sensor to be melted, and the water generated at this time is received by the snow. There is used a structure in which the presence or absence of snow on the road surface or water content on the road surface is detected by detecting the change in the electrical characteristics between the electrodes provided in the section.

[0004]

However, the road surface moisture sensor described above generally heats the snow receiving portion with the heater regardless of the presence or absence of snowfall.
Even if snow or water remains on the road surface due to evaporation of water in the snow-receiving part and a dry state between the electrodes, it is determined to be "road surface water content: none". As a result, since the road heating device stops, there is a problem that snow may remain on the road surface, or if the road temperature falls below the freezing temperature, the snow and water on the road may freeze and the road surface may freeze. there were. Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an operation control method for a road heating device capable of enhancing the snow melting effect and the antifreezing effect on the road surface.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides first and second road surface moisture detecting means for detecting a road surface moisture state based on water produced by snow melting. The heating means for promoting the snow melting is provided only in the road surface water content detecting means, and when the first road surface water content detecting means determines “water content: none”, based on the output of the second road surface water content detecting means. The road heater is characterized in that the road heater is driven when the road surface moisture condition is determined and the second road surface moisture detecting means determines "moisture: present".

[0006]

In the present invention, when the snow receiving portion of the first moisture detecting means is in a dry state and it is determined that "water is not present", the second moisture detecting means determines that "water is present" In addition, the road heater is driven to heat the road surface to melt snow on the road surface and prevent freezing of water on the road surface.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a load heating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the load heating apparatus. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates a road surface of a pavement, and a road heater 2 is embedded in the road surface 1 at a predetermined depth. Reference numeral 3 indicates an outside air temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the outside air, and reference numeral 4 indicates a road surface temperature sensor that detects the temperature near the surface of the road surface 1. This road surface temperature sensor 4 is near the surface of the road surface 1. It is buried at a predetermined depth. The snowfall sensor 5
The comb-shaped electrodes 7 and 8 are provided on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 6, and
A snow melting heater (hereinafter referred to as “sensor heater”) 9 is provided on the back surface of the insulating substrate 6, and the snow falling on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 6 is heated by the sensor heater 9 to be melted. The presence or absence of snowfall is detected by changing the electrical characteristics between the comb electrodes 7 and 8 by the generated water.

The first road surface moisture sensor 10 includes an insulating substrate 11
Is provided with a circular electrode 12, 13 on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 11, and a snow melting heater (hereinafter, referred to as “sensor heater”) 14 on the rear surface of the insulating substrate 11, so that the moisture on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 11 is removed by the annular electrodes 12, 13. The presence or absence of snow and water on the road surface 1 is detected by detecting the change in the electrical characteristics between the two. The second road surface moisture sensor 15 also detects the presence or absence of snow and water on the road surface 1, and is provided with annular electrodes 17 and 18 on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 16. Second
The road surface moisture sensor 15 differs from the first road surface moisture sensor 10 only in that the sensor heater 14 is not provided, and the other configurations are the same. In addition, in the second road surface moisture sensor 15, the snow that has fallen on the insulating substrate 16 is detected by the road heater 2.
It is desirable that the insulating substrate 16 is installed at a position where the upper surface of the insulating substrate 16 is melted by the heat of 1 and the water content is similar to that of the road surface 1.

The controller 20 has four operating modes (snow melting) described below based on signals from the outside air temperature sensor 3, the road surface temperature sensor 4, the snowfall sensor 5, the first road surface moisture sensor 10 and the second road surface moisture sensor 15. Automatic control of operation a, snow melting operation b, freeze prevention operation, preheating operation), temperature control of the load heater 2 and temperature control of the sensor heaters 9 and 14 in each operation mode are performed.
0 is connected to the signal line of each sensor, the power supply line to each heater, and the power supply line from the AC power supply 19.

Next, the electrical configuration of the load heating device will be described with reference to FIG. The load heating device of this embodiment is controlled by a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as “CPU”) 21. An outside air temperature sensor 3, a road surface temperature sensor 4, a snowfall sensor 5, a first road surface moisture sensor 10 and a second road surface moisture sensor 15 are connected to the CPU 21 via an input interface circuit 22. Further, the CPU 21 includes a load heater control unit 23 that proportionally controls the amount of electric power supplied to the load heater 2 by a PWM method.
A sensor heater control unit 24 for controlling ON / OFF of energization to the sensor heaters 9 and 14 is connected via an output interface circuit 25.

The CPU 21 arithmetically processes the signals from the respective sensors to load the heater 2 and the sensor heaters 9 and 14.
And a memory 26 storing a control program thereof. In addition, in this memory 26,
3 in which the outside temperature t and the control temperature T are associated as shown in FIG.
Various types of control temperature data curves (hereinafter referred to as “data curves”) A, B, C, and other data are stored. Considering heat dissipation from the road surface 1, the control temperature T is
In the range where the outside air temperature t is equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature, the lower the outside air temperature t is,
It is set to be high.

In this embodiment, the CPU 21 is
(1) A function of outputting a control signal to the sensor heater control unit 24 based on the output signal of the outside air temperature sensor 3, (2) Based on the output signals of the first road surface moisture sensor 10 and the second road surface moisture sensor 15. , A function of reading a predetermined data curve from the data curves A, B, C stored in the memory 26,
(3) A function of determining the control temperature T to -1 ° C as described later based on the output signals of the first road surface moisture sensor 10 and the second road surface moisture sensor 15, (4) The read data curve and the outside air temperature Based on the output signal of the sensor 3, the control temperature T
And (5) a function of outputting a control signal to the load heater control unit 23 based on the control temperature T and the output signal of the road surface temperature sensor 4.

Next, the operation of the load heating apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the same load heating apparatus, and P51 to P72 in the figure show respective steps of the flow chart. First, in step P51, the outside air temperature t is read from the output signal of the outside air temperature sensor 3 at predetermined time intervals (in this embodiment, every two minutes), and in the following step P52, this outside air temperature t is set to the set temperature (in this embodiment). Then, 5 ℃)
Whether or not it is determined below. If "NO" is determined, the process proceeds to step P53, and if "YES" is determined, the process proceeds to step P54. In Step P53, the CPU
21 outputs a stop command signal to the sensor heater control unit 24, which stops the sensor heaters 9 and 14.

In step P54, a drive command signal is output from the CPU 21 to the sensor heater control section 24, and the sensor heaters 9 and 14 are driven thereby to heat the snowfall sensor 5 and the first road surface moisture sensor 10. Next, in step P55, it is determined from the output signal of the snowfall sensor 5 whether or not there is snowfall, and if "YES" is determined, the process proceeds to step P56, and if "NO" is determined. Control goes to step P57. In Step P56, it is determined from the output signal of the first road surface moisture sensor 10 whether or not the road surface 1 has water (whether or not the road surface 1 is wet), and if "YES" is determined, the subsequent Step P59.
If it is determined to be "NO", the process proceeds to step P58. In Step P58, the second road surface moisture sensor 15
It is determined whether there is water on the road surface 1 (whether or not the road surface 1 is wet) from the output signal of No. 1, and if “YES” is determined, the process proceeds to the subsequent step P59 and is determined as “NO”. Then, the process proceeds to step P60.

On the other hand, in step P57, step P5
Similar to 6, it is determined from the output signal of the first road surface moisture sensor 10 whether or not there is water on the road surface 1 (whether or not the road surface 1 is wet), and if "YES" is determined, step P6
If it is determined to be "NO" by shifting to 1, shifts to step P62. In Step P62, similarly to Step P58, it is determined from the output signal of the second road surface moisture sensor 15 whether or not there is water on the road surface 1 (whether or not the road surface 1 is wet), and it is determined to be "YES". Then, the process proceeds to step P61, and if “NO” is determined, the process proceeds to step P63.
In step P63, the control temperature T (D) is determined to be -1 ° C.

At step P59, the data curve A is selected from the data curves A, B and C stored in the memory 26 and read out. At step P64, the control temperature T (A) is obtained from this data curve A and the outside air temperature t. Calculate Step P6
At 0, the data curve B is selected and read from the memory 26, and at the subsequent step P65, the control temperature T (B) is calculated from this data curve B and the outside air temperature t. In step P61, the data curve C is selected and read from the memory 26, and in the following step P66, the control temperature T (C) is calculated from the data curve C and the outside air temperature t. Here, the operation mode for controlling the road surface temperature (the temperature detected by the road surface temperature sensor 4) t'to the control temperature T (A) is the snow melting operation a, and the operation mode for controlling the road surface temperature t'to the control temperature T (B). Is the snow melting operation b, and the road surface temperature t'is the control temperature T
The operation mode controlled in (C) is the antifreeze operation, and the operation mode in which the road surface temperature t'is controlled to -1 ° C is the preheating operation.

The following steps P67 to P72 will be described when the operation mode of the snow melting operation a is selected. In step P67, the road surface temperature t'is read from the output signal of the road surface temperature sensor 4, and in the following step P68, it is determined whether or not this road surface temperature t'is less than or equal to the control temperature T (A), and "YES". If it is determined, the process proceeds to the subsequent step P69, and if it is determined as "NO", the process proceeds to step P72 described later. In Step P69, the CPU
21 calculates the temperature difference between the control temperature T (A) and the road surface temperature t ', and outputs a temperature command signal based on this temperature difference to the load heater control unit 23 to set the power supply amount to the load heater 2 to P.
Proportional control is performed by the WM method.
Is driven to heat the road surface 1. In a succeeding step P70, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time (2 minutes) has elapsed since the previous reading of the outside air temperature t in the step P51, and if “YES” is determined, the process proceeds to step P51, and the outside air temperature is again provided. t is read, and the above-described processing from step P52 onward is executed based on the outside air temperature t read this time.

On the other hand, in step P70, "NO"
If it is determined that the road surface temperature t'is equal to the control temperature T (A) in step P71.
If it is determined to be "YES", the process proceeds to the subsequent step P72, and if "NO" is determined, the process returns to step P69. In Step P72, CP
A stop command signal is output from U21 to the load heater control unit 23, whereby the load heater 2 is stopped, and then the process returns to step P51, and the above-described processing of step P51 and thereafter is executed again.

Incidentally, steps P55, P56 and P58
When the snow-melting operation b is selected as a result of the processing in step 1, the control temperature in steps P68 and P71 becomes T (B). Further, as a result of the processing in steps P55, P57 and P62, when the freeze prevention operation is selected, the control temperature in steps P68 and P71 becomes T (C),
As a result of the similar processing, when the preheating operation is selected,
The control temperature in steps P68 and P71 becomes -1 ° C.

As described above, in this embodiment, the first road surface moisture sensor 1 having the sensor heater 14 is used as a road surface moisture sensor for detecting the presence or absence of snow and water on the road surface 1.
0 and the second road surface moisture sensor 15 having no sensor heater
If the first road surface moisture sensor 10 is in a dry state and it is determined that “road surface water content: none”, the second sensor
The road surface moisture is determined based on the output of the road surface moisture sensor 15, and when the second road surface moisture sensor 15 determines that "road surface moisture: present", the road heater 2 is driven.
Unlike the conventional road heating device, the road heater 2 does not stop when snow or water remains on the road surface 1, and thus the snow melting effect and the antifreezing effect on the road surface 1 can be enhanced.

In the above-described embodiment, even when there is no snowfall and the second road surface moisture sensor 15 determines that "road surface water content: none", when the outside air temperature t is equal to or lower than the predetermined temperature, the road heater 2 is spared. An example of a road heating device that can perform a heating operation to further enhance the snow melting effect and the antifreezing effect on the road surface has been illustrated. However, when there is no snowfall and the second road surface moisture sensor 15 determines that "road surface water content: none". The load heater 2 may be stopped.

From the outside temperature t and the data curves A, B and C stored in the memory 26, the control temperatures T (A), T are obtained.
Although the load heating device for controlling the temperature of the road surface 1 by calculating (B) and T (C) is illustrated, the data curves A, B and C and the data curves A, B and C stored in the memory 26 are shown. Control temperatures T (A), T (B), T based on the outside temperature t
The arithmetic processing of (C) is not essential to the present invention.

[0023]

As described above, according to the operation control method of the load heating device of the present invention, even if the first moisture detecting means is in the dry state and it is determined that there is no moisture,
When the second moisture detecting means determines "moisture: present", the road heater is driven to heat the road surface, so that the snow melting effect and the antifreezing effect on the road surface can be enhanced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a load heating device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the load heating device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data curve in which an outside air temperature t and a control temperature T are associated with each other.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the load heating device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of a conventional load heating device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ………… Road surface 2 ………… Road heater 5 ………… Snowfall sensor 10 …… First road surface moisture sensor 14 …… Sensor heater 15 …… Second road surface moisture sensor 20 …… Control device 23 …… Road heater control Department

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An operation control method for a road heating device, which controls the operation of a road heater based on the outputs of snowfall detection means and road surface moisture detection means, wherein the road surface water content detection means is based on water produced by snow melting. It is composed of first and second road surface moisture detecting means for detecting a road surface moisture state, and only the first road surface moisture detecting means is provided with a heating means for promoting the snow melting, and the first road surface moisture detecting means is : "No", the road surface moisture condition is determined based on the output of the second road surface moisture detecting means, and when the second road surface moisture detecting means determines "moisture: present", A driving control method for a load heating device, characterized in that the load heater is driven.