JPH0771851A - Snow spraying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make, supply and carry an arbitrary amount of ice and snow so as to comply with a required amount of ice and snow for a skiing slope. CONSTITUTION:Both an ice crusher 11 and an ice making machine 9 are installed to an ice making storage device 7. When the supply of ice and snow for a skiing slope 2 is much required, ice and snow 10A is manufactured with an ice making machine 9 or the like while lump-shaped ice 30 is placed into the ice crusher 11 from the outside, thereby manufacturing ice 10B formed in the shape of fragments. The manufactured ice and snow 10A and 10B are stored in an ice storage box 12. The ice and snow 10A and 10B are force-fed through an ice and snow force-feed pipe, using an ice and snow force-feed device 13 and scattered over a skiing slope by way of discharge nozzles 19.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to snow-sprinkling equipment suitable for application to a ski slope on an artificial ski resort.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an artificial ski slope is constructed by spraying artificially produced ice and snow on the ground.

[0003]

However, since the conventional ice and snow production facilities are provided assuming that the ice and snow production capacity is average weather conditions during the season, a temporary rise in temperature or the like may cause a temporary increase in temperature. When a large amount of ice and snow is needed in a short time such as when the snow melting is accelerated, the production cannot be kept up with the equipment. For this reason, when the temperature is high and the snow is likely to melt for a long time, there is a disadvantage that the slope condition is deteriorated for a long time. On the other hand, if a large ice and snow production facility that can cope with such a snowmelt promotion is provided, the facility will not operate sufficiently for most of the season, which is uneconomical. Therefore,
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a snow sprinkling facility capable of manufacturing, supplying, and transporting an arbitrary amount of ice and snow according to the amount of ice and snow supply required for a slope.

[0004]

That is, the present invention has an ice and snow transport pipe (6) laid on a slope (2), and an ice and snow transport space (6s) is provided inside the ice and snow transport pipe (6). And forming ice-snow pressure-feeding means (13) on the ice-snow transfer pipe (6),
Ice and snow (10A, 10B) is connected to the ice and snow transport space (6s) in a pressure-feedable manner, and discharge means (19) is supplied to the ice and snow transport pipe (6) to supply the ice and snow transport space (6s). (10A, 10B) are provided in a freely dischargeable form, the ice and snow pressure feeding means (13) is provided with an ice storage means (12), and the ice and snow pressure feeding means (13) is freely provided with ice and snow (10A, 10B), and the ice storage is performed. The means (12) is provided with an ice making means (8, 9) connected thereto, and the ice storage means (12) is provided with an ice breaking means (1).
1) is provided so as to be connected. The numbers in parentheses () indicate the corresponding elements in the drawings for convenience, and therefore the present description is not limited to the description in the drawings. The same applies to the following action columns.

[0005]

With the above-described structure, the present invention produces ice and snow (10A) by the ice making means (8, 9), and crushes ice blocks (30) by the ice breaking means (11) to make ice and snow (10B). And the ice storage means (12) acts to store the produced ice and snow (10A, 10B).

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an artificial ski resort to which the snow-spraying equipment according to the present invention is applied.

As shown in FIG. 1, the artificial ski resort 1 has artificially manufactured ice and snow 10 (that is, ice and snow 10A made by the ice making machine 9 and ice 10B made by the ice breaking machine 11).
There is a slope 2 to be sprayed, and on the artificial ski resort 1, granular ice and snow 10 is manufactured and the snow 2 is used.
Is equipped with a snow-sprinkling facility 3 that can be transported and sprayed. The snow-sprinkling equipment 3 is composed of a snow-making plant 5 installed in a plant installation area 2a shown in the lower right part of FIG.

The snow making plant 5 is provided with an ice making storage device 7, and the ice making storage device 7 is composed of a water storage tank 8, an ice making machine 9, an ice crusher 11, and an ice storage 12. A water storage tank 8 capable of storing water 25 is provided in the upper part of the snowmaking plant 5 in FIG. 1. The water storage tank 8 is connected to the water storage tank 8 in an ice making machine 9 and the ice making machine. The water 25 can be sprayed freely through a water inlet 9e provided in 9. The ice making machine 9 has an ice making tank 9a, and the ice making tank 9a is provided with a rotating shaft 9b at its center. A rotary blade 9c is attached to the rotary shaft 9b, and ice / snow 10A adhered to the inner wall 9d by using the water 25 supplied from the water storage tank 8 as a raw material by the rotational drive thereof.
It is provided so that you can scrape off. Therefore, the water storage tank 8 and the ice maker 9 installed in the snowmaking plant 5
Are connected to the ice storage 12 so as to form an ice making means for producing the ice and snow 10A. Further, the snow making plant 5 is provided with an ice crusher 11 arranged in parallel with the ice making machine 9, and the ice crusher 11 has an ice inlet 11b having a predetermined size outside the snow making plant 5. It is provided in such a manner that the ice 30 manufactured in a lump can be supplied. The ice crusher 11 is provided with a rotation mechanism 11a that rotates while pressing the ice 30. Further, the ice crusher 11 is provided with a blade 11d capable of freely crushing ice in the same size as the ice and snow 10A produced by the ice maker 9, and the blade 11d is provided with a shape in which the ice and snow outlet 11c is connected. . An ice storage 12 is provided on the lower side of the ice making machine 9 and the ice crushing machine 11, and ice snow 10A produced by the ice making machine 9 or the like and ice snow 10B crushed using the ice crushing machine 11 are selectively or both. At the same time, 10A and 10B are provided in the storage tank as an ice storage means capable of receiving and storing.

An ice and snow pressure-feeding device 13 is provided below the ice making storage device 7, and the ice and snow pressure-feeding device 13 is
A feeder 15 for supplying the ice and snow 10 produced by the ice making storage device 7 to the ice and snow transfer space 6s formed inside the ice and snow pumping pipe 6, and compressed air for pumping the ice and snow 10 in the feeder 15 is generated. Blower 16, the blower 16
The heat exchanger 17 is capable of supplying compressed air generated and discharged by cooling the compressed air to a predetermined temperature and supplying it to the feeder 15 at a predetermined pressure.

Then, the ice making storage device 7 and the ice snow pumping device 13 provided in the snow making plant 5 are connected to the ice snow pumping pipe 6 provided so as to communicate with the slope 2 via the feeder 15 of the ice snow pumping device 13. A plurality of discharge nozzles 19 are connected to the ice-and-snow pressure-feeding pipe 6 as discharge means so as to form a predetermined interval on the slope 2, and each discharge nozzle 19 is pressure-fed to the ice-and-snow pressure-feeding pipe 6. 10 ice and snow,
It is possible to discharge each toward the slope 2.

Since the artificial ski resort 1 and the slope 2 are constructed as described above, the water reservoir 8 and the ice maker 9 of the snow making plant 5 are used to construct the slope 2 under normal weather conditions. , Ice snow 10A having a substantially predetermined particle size is manufactured and stored in the ice storage 12, and the ice snow pumping device 13 pumps the ice snow 10A to the ice snow pumping pipe 6, and then the ice snow 10A is discharged from an arbitrary discharge nozzle 19. It is sprayed on the slope 2 and discharged. Therefore, first, the ice making machine 9 is operated so that the ice and snow 10A is made to have a particle size suitable for spraying on the slope 2.
To manufacture. The method for manufacturing ice and snow 10A by the ice maker 9 is as follows.
The water 25 stored in the water storage tank 8 is put into the ice making tank 9a of the ice making machine 9 through the water input port 9e in a form of spraying a small amount of water every unit time, and the water 25 is frozen to make ice. The ice and snow 10A attached to the inner wall 9d of the machine 9 is manufactured. After that, the rotary blades 9c provided in the ice making machine 9 are rotated to scrape off. The ice and snow 10A thus manufactured is stored in the ice storage 12. Then, when performing artificial snowfall, a predetermined amount of iced snow 10A is supplied from the ice storage 12 to the feeder 15 per unit time. Along with this, the blower 16 is driven to generate compressed air,
The compressed air is heat-exchanged through the heat exchanger 17 to lower the temperature to generate the air 20, and the air 20 is supplied to the feeder 15 at a predetermined pressure. Then, feeder 1
Reference numeral 5 mixes a predetermined amount of ice and snow 10A with the air 20, and supplies this by pressure to the ice and snow pressurizing pipe 6. Thus feeder 1
The ice and snow 10A, which is pressure-fed and supplied to the ice-and-snow pressure-feeding pipe 6 by the blower 5 and the blower 16, is conveyed in the ice-and-snow pressure-feeding pipe 6 by the pressure of the air 20 whose temperature has dropped to a predetermined temperature. The ice and snow 10A conveyed into the ice and snow pressure-feeding pipe 6 is discharged through each of the discharge nozzles 19 provided in the ice and snow pressure-feeding pipe 6. In this way, the ice making storage device 7, the ice and snow pumping device 13
The ice and snow 10A supplied and pressure-fed to the ice and snow pressure-feeding pipe 6 via
The slope 2 is formed by being sprayed from a plurality of discharge nozzles 19 to various places on the slope 2.

By the way, after the slope 2 has been constructed in this way, if the snowmelt on the slope 2 becomes severe due to a rapid temperature rise or rainfall, a large amount of ice snow 10 is produced within a short time, and It will be necessary to spray it on the part where the snow melted. In such a case, as described above, if the ice making machine 9 produced the ice and snow 10A and stored it in the ice storage 12, the amount of ice and snow 10 supplied to the slope 2 was 10%.
Manufacturing is too late. That is, ice and snow 10 by the ice making machine 9
The production method of A is a method of producing a small amount of water 25 from the water storage tank 8 to the ice making machine 9 per unit time, adhering it to the inner wall 9d, freezing it, and scraping it off to produce ice and snow 10A. Therefore, it takes time to manufacture it. As a result,
There is a risk that the entire ice and snow 10A stored in the ice storage 12 will be pressure-distributed to the slope 2 and the ice storage 12 will become empty, making it impossible to supply more ice and snow 10. Therefore, ice and snow 10A is produced by the ice making machine 9 and the like, and the ice 30 is stored in the ice storage 12, and the ice 30 such as block ice and plate ice produced in the form of ice blocks at an ice making factory other than the snow making plant 5 is crushed. It is thrown in through the ice throwing port 11b provided in the machine 11. Here, the rotating mechanism 11a of the ice crusher 11 rotates the mechanism 11a while pressing the charged ice 30. Then, the ice 30 is crushed by the blade 11d to be crushed, and is dropped into the ice storage 12 from the ice and snow outlet 11c. In this way, the ice crusher 11 manufactures the ice and snow 10B having a particle size substantially the same as that of the ice and snow 10A manufactured by the ice maker 9. Then, the ice and snow 1 already manufactured by the ice maker 9 or the like 1
Ice and snow 10B produced by the ice crusher 11 is also supplied to the ice storage 12 in which 0A is stored. In this way, the ice and snow 10A and 10B simultaneously produced by the water tank 8, the ice maker 9 and the ice crusher 11 are stored in the ice storage 12, and the ice and snow 10A and 10B are supplied to the feeder 15, while As described above, the ice-and-snow pumping device 13 is driven to drive the ice-and-snow 10
A and 10B are pressure-fed and supplied to the ice and snow pressure-feeding pipe 6. Then, the ice and snow 10A and 10B in the ice and snow pumping pipe 6 are discharged through the discharge nozzle 19 to be transported and scattered to the location where the snow melted.
In this way, the snow-melted portion of the slope 2 is covered with ice snow 10A, 10B newly produced by the ice maker 9, etc.
It is repaired by and the slope condition is restored.

As described above, in the snow sprinkling equipment 3 of the present invention, under normal weather conditions, only the ice making machine 9 is operated to produce the necessary snow and snow 10A on the slope 2 and there is a sudden rise in temperature and rainfall. In the event of an emergency, such as during an emergency, the ice maker 9 is operated, and ice 30 in the form of ice blocks is input from the outside, which is crushed by the ice crusher 11 to produce ice and snow 10B. 11 is a form that complements the ice and snow production capacity of the ice making machine 9 and the like, and can produce a sufficient amount of ice and snow 10A, 10B. Therefore, the snow-spraying equipment 3 can produce the amount of ice and snow 10 required for the slope 2 which changes depending on weather conditions, etc., in an amount suitable for the weather conditions, and spray the ice-snow 10 on the slope 2. It is economical.
That is, the ice crusher 11 according to the present invention need not be required to have the ability to make ice, and it is sufficient that it can simply shave or crush the lumpy ice 30, so that the structure thereof is simple. . Therefore, the ice crusher 11 is inexpensive. When the ice crusher 11 is not in operation, the ice crusher 11
Consumes no power. It is therefore economical. Also,
Since the ice crusher 11 can use any amount of ice 30 as long as it can crush ice, the operation of the ice crusher 11 far exceeds the ice-making capacity of the ice maker 9, etc. per unit time. In the form, a large amount of ice and snow 10B can be produced in a short time. Therefore, when the snow-spraying equipment 3 according to the present invention is used, the ice crusher 11 can be selectively operated according to the weather conditions to economically generate the ice-snow 10 of an arbitrary amount. This makes it possible to maintain the slope condition in the slope 2 quickly and easily.

In the above-described embodiment, the ice making machine 9 supplies a small amount of water 25 to the ice making machine 9 for a unit time and freezes the water 25 to form an inner wall 9d of the ice making machine 9.
It was described that the ice and snow 10A attached to the snow was manufactured, and the blade 10c could be rotated to scrape off the ice and snow. It need only be manufactured from water, and is not limited to the structure. That is, the ice maker 9 throws a large amount of water 25 into the ice maker 9 and freezes it to generate ice blocks 30 of ice in the ice maker 9, which are finely ground into pieces of ice snow 10A. It goes without saying that it may be configured to manufacture the.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention,
An ice-snow delivery pipe such as an ice-snow delivery pipe 6 laid on the slope 2 is formed, an ice-snow delivery space 6s is formed inside the ice-snow delivery pipe, and an ice-snow delivery unit such as an ice-snow delivery device 13 is formed in the ice-snow delivery pipe. Ice and snow such as ice and snow 10A and 10B are connected to the ice and snow transport space 6s in a pressure-feedable manner, discharge means such as a discharge nozzle 19 is connected to the ice and snow transport pipe, and ice and snow supplied to the ice and snow transport space 6s can be discharged. In a form in which the ice-snow pumping means is provided with an ice-storing means such as an ice storage 12, and the ice-snow pumping means is capable of supplying ice-snow freely, and the ice-storing means is connected to an ice-making means such as a water tank 8 and an ice-making machine 9. Since the ice storage means is provided with an ice crushing means such as an ice crusher 11 connected thereto,
It is possible to produce ice and snow by the ice making means, produce ice and snow by crushing ice block-shaped ice by the ice breaking means, and store the produced ice and snow by the ice storage means. Therefore, under normal meteorological conditions, ice is produced by ice making means, and when the temperature rises or rainfall causes heavy snowmelt on the slope, and in an emergency when the amount of ice and snow necessary to restore the slope is large, the ice breaking means together with the ice making means Can be driven to produce ice and snow. That is, since the ice making means produces ice and snow by making ice and then crushing or shaving it, the ice making capacity per unit time is limited. Therefore, if the amount of ice and snow to be produced increases in a short time, the ice maker cannot produce the required amount of ice and snow in time. As a result, when the emergency continues, the condition in which the slope condition deteriorates continues. However, by operating the ice crushing means together with the ice making means here, such inconvenience can be easily eliminated. In other words, by throwing ice blocks like ice from the outside,
Sufficient ice and snow can be produced by shaving or crushing this with an ice crusher. As a result, the required ice and snow can be produced in a short time in a form far exceeding the ability to produce ice and snow by operating only the ice making means. Therefore,
According to the snow sprinkling equipment of the present invention, it is possible to produce an arbitrary amount of ice and snow according to the amount of ice and snow supply required for the slope. Therefore, according to the configuration of the snow-spraying equipment of the present invention, it is not necessary to use a large-sized ice making machine or to provide a plurality of ice making machines so as to cope with the maximum supply amount of ice and snow required in an emergency. Therefore, it is not necessary to install such uneconomical equipment that does not operate sufficiently for most of the season. It should be noted that the ice-breaking means does not need to have the ability to make ice, and it is sufficient if it is configured so that it can simply generate lumpy ice into fragmented ice and snow, so its structure is simple, and It is cheap. Further, the ice crushing means may be operated only in an emergency, and when there is little snowmelt on the slope, there is no need to operate it and no electric power is consumed at all. As a result, it becomes possible to produce ice and snow economically necessary.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an artificial ski resort to which a snow-spreading facility according to the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 …… Slope 3 …… Snow-sprinkling equipment 6 …… Snow and ice carrier pipe (ice and snow pressure pump pipe) 6s …… Snow and snow carrier space 8 …… Ice making means (water tank) 9 …… Ice making means (ice making machine) 10 …… Ice and snow 11 ...... Ice breaking means (ice breaking machine) 12 …… Ice storage means (ice storage) 13 …… Snow and snow pressure feeding means (ice and snow pressure feeding apparatus) 19 …… Discharging means (discharging nozzle)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ice-snow transport pipe laid on a slope, wherein an ice-snow transport space is formed inside the ice-snow transport pipe, and ice-snow pumping means can be freely fed to the ice-snow transport pipe, and ice-snow can be pumped to the ice-snow transport space. Connected to the ice and snow transport pipe, discharge means is provided to the ice and snow transport space in such a manner that the ice and snow supplied to the ice and snow transport space can be freely discharged, and the ice and snow pumping means can be provided with an ice storage means and the ice and snow pumping means can be fed with ice and snow. The snow-sprinkling equipment is provided in the form of connecting an ice making means to the ice storing means, and connecting the ice breaking means to the ice storing means.