JPH0551911A - Controlling method for operation of road heating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To set up control temperatures suitable for the outside air temperature by a method in which on the output of sensors for falling snow and road surface water, given control temperature data re read out from control temperature data stored in a storage device. CONSTITUTION:The first road surface water sensor 10 with a heater 14 for the sensor to detect the presence of piled snow and water on the road surface 1 and the second road surface water sensor 15 without heater for the sensor are provided. An outside air temperature sensor 3 to detect outside air temperature and a falling snow sensor 5 to detect the presence of pile snow are also provided. A memory storing data curves as control temperature data corresponding to the outside air temperature and control temperature is provided. On the output of the sensors 5, 10, and 15, given data curves are read out from the memory, and a control temperature is set up from the data curves so read out and detected temperature by the sensor 3. According to changes of external conditions, snow-thawing effect and energy-saving effect on the road surface can thus be raised.

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 an operation control method for a road heating device capable of enhancing a snow melting effect and an energy saving effect. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an example of an operation control method for a road heating device, the outside air temperature t is a set temperature (for example, 5).
℃) or less and when the snowfall sensor determines that "snowfall is present", the load heater is driven so that the detected temperature t'of the road surface temperature sensor matches the preset control temperature T. Those that control are known.

[0003]

In the road heating device described above, it is ideal that the road surface temperature sensor is attached to the ground surface to detect the actual road surface temperature. However, in reality, the road surface temperature sensor is The road surface temperature is indirectly measured by detecting the temperature near the road surface temperature sensor in order to prevent damage by vehicles or pedestrians passing on the road surface. Therefore, the outside temperature t
When the temperature becomes low and the amount of heat dissipated from the road surface increases, the actual road surface temperature may become lower than the snow melting temperature even though the detected temperature t'of the road surface temperature sensor matches the control temperature T. In such a case, there is a problem in that the snow on the road surface cannot be completely melted and snow is left on the road surface.

On the other hand, if the control temperature T is set higher than the conventional value in consideration of the fact that the amount of heat dissipated from the road surface becomes large when the outside air temperature t is low, the road surface can be made even when the outside air temperature t is low. However, when the outside air temperature t is relatively high, the road surface is excessively heated, and energy is wasted. Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and a control temperature suitable for the actual outside temperature can be determined, and thus the operation of the road heating device capable of enhancing the snow melting effect and the energy saving effect. It is intended to provide a control method.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention determines the control temperature based on the outputs from the outside air temperature detecting means, the snowfall detecting means and the road surface moisture detecting means, and determines the road surface temperature detecting means. In an operation control method of a load heating device for controlling a load heater so that a detected temperature matches the control temperature, a storage means for storing a plurality of control temperature data in which the outside air temperature and the control temperature are associated with each other is provided. Predetermined control temperature data is read from the plurality of control temperature data based on outputs from the snowfall detection means and the road surface moisture detection means, and the control is performed based on the read control temperature data and the detected temperature of the outside air temperature detection means. Characterized by determining the temperature.

[0006]

In the present invention, the predetermined control temperature data is read out from the plurality of control temperature data stored in the storage means based on the outputs of the snowfall detecting means and the road surface moisture detecting means. Then, the control temperature is determined from the read control temperature data and the temperature detected by the outside air temperature detecting means, and the load heater is controlled so that the temperature detected by the road surface temperature detecting means matches the control temperature.

[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 device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a road surface, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the load heating device. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 represents a pavement road surface,
As shown in FIG. 2, 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 outside air, and reference numeral 4 indicates a road surface temperature sensor that detects the temperature near the surface of the road surface 1,
As shown in FIG. 2, the road surface temperature sensor 4 is embedded near the surface of the road surface 1 at a predetermined depth. Snowfall sensor 5
Is provided with comb-shaped electrodes 7 and 8 on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 6 and a snow-melting heater (hereinafter referred to as “sensor heater”) 9 on the back surface of the insulating substrate 6, and is provided on the upper surface of the insulating substrate 6. The falling snow is heated by the sensor heater 9 to melt it,
The presence or absence of snowfall is detected by changing the electrical characteristics between the comb-shaped electrodes 7 and 8 by the moisture generated at this time.

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, and the control temperature T is the outside air temperature t in consideration of heat dissipation from the road surface 1. The lower the value, the higher the setting.

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. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the 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 set to -1.
Determine to ° 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, according to this embodiment,
Based on the outputs from the snowfall sensor 5, the first road surface moisture sensor 10 and the second road surface moisture sensor 15, a predetermined data curve is read out from the data curves A, B and C stored in the memory 26, and this is read out. Since the control temperature T is determined from the data curve and the outside air temperature t, it is possible to determine the control temperature T that is suitable for the snowfall condition, the road surface moisture condition and the actual outside air temperature, thereby enhancing the snow melting effect and the energy saving effect. You can Further, since the outside air temperature t is read at a predetermined time interval and the arithmetic processing for determining the control temperature T is executed at a predetermined cycle to update the control temperature T, it is possible to quickly respond to the change in the outside air temperature.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the control temperature data provided with the three data curves A, B and C is illustrated, but the control temperature data is not limited to these. Further, as the road surface moisture sensor for detecting the water content of the road surface 1, the one provided with the two sensors of the first road surface moisture sensor 10 and the second road surface moisture sensor 15 has been exemplified.
The road surface moisture sensor 15 is not essential to the present invention.

[0022]

As described above, according to the operation control method of the road heating apparatus of the present invention, the control temperature suitable for the actual outside temperature is determined, so that the snow melting effect on the road surface can be enhanced. It is possible to enhance the energy saving effect.

[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 sectional view of a road surface.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a load heating device.

FIG. 4 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. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the load heating device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ………… Road surface 2 ………… Road heater 3 ………… Outside air temperature sensor 4 ………… Road surface temperature sensor 5 ………… Snowfall sensor 10 …… First road surface moisture sensor 21 …… CPU 23 …… Road heater controller 26 ... Memory

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A control temperature is determined based on outputs from an outside air temperature detecting means, a snowfall detecting means and a road surface moisture detecting means,
In an operation control method of a load heating device for controlling a load heater so that a detected temperature of a road surface temperature detecting means matches the control temperature, a memory storing a plurality of control temperature data in which an outside air temperature and a control temperature are associated with each other. Means for reading predetermined control temperature data from the plurality of control temperature data based on outputs from the snowfall detecting means and the road surface moisture detecting means, and the read control temperature data and the outside air temperature detecting means. An operation control method for a load heating device, characterized in that the control temperature is determined from a detected temperature.