JPH1018260A - Road snowmelt apparatus integrated with snowmelt tank - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To use suitably regardless of the size of portions to be used by burying a snowmelt tank in the ground in a manner opening the placing port on the ground surface, providing heating means for heating snow and hot water within the snowmelt tank, and communicating and disposing a hot water circular path in the snowmelt tank. SOLUTION: A part of hot water W is pumped up from the inside of a snowmelt tank 10 by means of a pump 16, and then the hot water W is sent into the inside of a gutter 1 after flowing through a hot water piping 15. The hot water W poured in the gutter 1 flows down in the direction W of arrow, and finally poured into the inside of the snowmelt tank 10. Namely, the hot water W circulates back to the snowmelt tank 10 via the hot water pipe 15 and gutter 1 and heated by an electric heater 13, followed by a continuation of the same cycles. When snow masses S recovered by snow shoveling or snow removal are placed in the snowmelt tank 10 form a placing port 11 on the ground side, the snow masses S are melted promptly by the electric heater 13 or a predetermined quantity of ready reserved hot water W.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an underground snow melting tank for throwing snow and melting it, and a snow melting apparatus for circulating warm water to melt snow on a road surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is well known that in cold regions where there is a large amount of snowfall, snow on roads and houses is actively removed to secure living activities. They are disposed of at once in a river, or collected in an appropriate place and dissolved naturally. However, in order to collectively treat snow from private residences, it is necessary to first carry the snow to roads or vacant lots with a certain width, but the snow may be removed due to equipment and human factors. In some cases, it is difficult to carry the snow to a predetermined location. In such a case, it is necessary to individually treat the snow in each house.

[0003] The final disposal form of snow is to dissolve it into water, but in urban areas there is often no space or time to wait for the snow to be melted naturally, so that conventionally, 2. Description of the Related Art Snowmelt tanks that can individually melt snow in general houses and apartment houses have been developed. The general structure is that a hollow structure with an opening on the ground surface is buried in the ground, a lid is attached to the opening, and the snow that is thrown into the hollow structure is removed by heat or gas from an electric heater. It is configured to be melted by the heat of combustion of oil or oil.

On the other hand, snow-melting devices that use hot water, such as hot spring wastewater and domestic wastewater, as a heat source are used for large areas such as major roads and large-scale parking lots in the area. I have. To briefly explain an example of this type of snow melting apparatus, one end of each of a plurality of heat pipes is arranged in a shoulder portion of a road or in a gutter installed at a shallow depth in the ground and through which hot water flows. The other end of the heat pipe is disposed at a predetermined pitch below a road surface to be subjected to snow melting.

As a result, a temperature difference occurs at both ends of each heat pipe, and the liquid-phase working fluid evaporates due to the heat of the hot water in the ends of the heat pipes arranged in the side grooves. The working fluid vapor flows toward the end disposed on the road surface side where both the internal pressure and the temperature are low,
The heat is deprived by the surrounding low-temperature soil and condenses. That is, the heat of the hot water is carried into the soil near the road surface by a number of heat pipes. As a result, the snow on the road surface is almost uniformly melted.

[0006]

As described above, snow melting on roads and snow removal around houses are both indispensable matters in cold regions where a large amount of snow falls. However, the above-mentioned heat pipe type snow melting device is limited to large-scale facilities such as roads due to equipment cost and operation management problems, whereas the snow melting tank is small-scale due to problems such as ground use. Limited to houses.

That is, on a large-scale road, it is desired that the area to be processed is large and that there is no snow on the road at all times from the viewpoint of ensuring smooth traffic. The amount of snow collected when snow removal is performed using human power or a dedicated vehicle is enormous. Then, when processing this large amount of snow using a snow melting tank, it is necessary to install a large number of snow melting tanks near the road, and of course, it is necessary to perform the work of dumping snow inside the snow melting tank. Therefore, it is very inefficient, and therefore, as described above, a heat pipe snow melting device is used for a large-scale road.

On the other hand, in a house, in addition to the snow on the ground surface, snow collected from the roof by a snow-dropping operation is to be processed, and these snow chunks are processed by a heat pipe snow melting apparatus. In some cases, some time is required to completely dissolve the amount,
The inconvenience of leaving a lump of snow around the house for a while occurs.
For this reason, snow melting tanks are used for ordinary houses and apartment buildings.

As described above, in each of the above-mentioned conventional processing methods,
There are inconveniences in which the locations to be used are each limited.Therefore, conventionally, a snow processing method suitable for large-scale roads and houses, and for other general small-scale roads that are connected to large-scale roads, for example, has been proposed. The fact was that it had not been developed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a snow melting tank integrated type road surface snow melting apparatus which can be suitably used regardless of the size of a place to be used. .

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to the first aspect of the present invention provides a snow melting tank buried in the ground with an input port opened to the surface of the ground, and the snow melting tank. Heating means for heating snow and hot water inside the tank, and a hot water circulation path communicating with the snow melting tank and disposed underground,
And a pump for pumping hot water from the inside of the snow melting tank and flowing the hot water through the hot water circulation path.

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the hot water stored in the snow melting tank is pumped up by the pump, flows through the hot water circulation path, and then returns to the inside of the snow melting tank. As described above, since the hot water circulation path is buried in the ground, the heat of the hot water is transmitted to the soil through the pipe wall, and as a result, the surface of the ground is warmed. Therefore, if there is snow on the surface, it will be melted.

[0013] Here, when a snow lump is thrown into the snow melting tank from the ground side inlet, the snow lump is melted by the heating means inside the snow melting tank, and then becomes hot water. If a new snow mass is introduced into the snowmelt tank while such a circulation cycle of hot water is continued, the snowmass is mixed with the warm water refluxed to the snowmelt tank, so that the snowmelt tank is simply put in the snowmelt tank. The time it takes to melt and become hot water is shorter than in the case of throwing in.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, one end of a heat pipe for transporting heat as latent heat of a working fluid is disposed inside the hot water circulation path so as to be able to exchange heat with the hot water. The other end of the heat pipe is disposed directly below the ground surface.

Therefore, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the liquid-phase working fluid inside the heat pipe is evaporated by the heat of the hot water. The working fluid vapor flows toward an end of the container disposed on the ground surface side, and is condensed by being deprived of heat by soil, pavement and the like. That is, the heat pipe transfers the heat of the warm water to the ground surface. In that case, since the heat pipe has an apparent thermal conductivity that is several times to several tens times that of a metal such as copper or aluminum, the hot water has a higher temperature than the configuration according to claim 1. Heat is more efficiently delivered to the surface, resulting in a further increase in snow melting capacity.

[0016]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2, a side groove 1 is provided at a shoulder portion of a road 2 along a longitudinal direction (a left-right direction in FIG. 2). The gutter 1 is, for example, a plurality of concrete blocks 3 having a U-shaped cross section which are open on the upper side, which are connected to each other.
It is buried underground so that it is located at the same level as.

The road 2 provided with the gutter 1 is a small road in which asphalt is cast as a road surface 4 on a roadbed and is connected to a large road. Road surface 4
Is gently inclined so as to descend from the right side to the left side in FIG. On the other hand, reference numeral 5 denotes a lid, which is detachably attached to the open upper part of the concrete block 3 and is formed of a concrete plate. The lid 5 is for preventing the vehicle from coming off the wheel, and is provided as necessary.

Inside the side groove 1, respective ends of the plurality of heat pipes 6 serving as heating portions 7 are arranged. More specifically, the heating section 7 of the heat pipe 6 is provided with a side groove 1 inside the side groove 1 to secure a predetermined length, similarly to the conventional apparatus.
Are arranged horizontally at a predetermined pitch on the bottom of the concrete block 3 in a state of being extended in the longitudinal direction of the concrete block 3.

On the other hand, the other end of each heat pipe 6 penetrates one side wall of the concrete block 3 from inside, and extends into the asphalt of the road 2. Therefore, these ends disposed on the road 2 serve as the heat radiating portions 8 of the heat pipes 6. The heat pipe 6 contains a working fluid (for example, water or Freon) in a thin cylindrical pipe having a closed structure from which non-condensable gas such as air is degassed.
And a wick is provided inside if necessary.

In the ground near the left end of the side groove 1 in FIG. 2, a snow melting tank 10 is buried. The snowmelt tank 10 is, for example, a rectangular parallelepiped having a hollow structure made of FRP, concrete, or the like, and has an inlet 11 for inputting a snow lump S from the ground at the ceiling surface. The input port 11 opens on the ground surface (road surface 4) and is opened and closed by a lid 12.
Further, an electric heater 13 as a heating means is attached near the bottom inside the snow melting tank 10.

An electric heater 13 is provided at the inner bottom of the snow melting tank 10.
A predetermined amount of warm water W heated by the above is stored.
Therefore, the snow melting tank 10 has a configuration also serving as a so-called hot water storage tank. The warm water W can be sufficiently used as a heat source of the heat pipe 6.

A drain pipe 14 communicating with a rainwater basin (not shown) is connected near the upper portion of the side wall of the snow melting tank 10. Therefore, when the amount of snow or hot water W accumulated in the snow melting tank 10 reaches the level at which the drain pipe 14 is located, excess water is sent to the rainwater basin via this drain pipe and discarded. An end of the side groove 1 penetrates a portion of the side wall of the snow melting tank 10 close to the ground surface. That is, the hot water W is directly injected from the side groove 1 into the snow melting tank 10.

A hot water pipe 15 is buried in the ground immediately below the gutter 1 so as to be aligned with the direction of the gutter 1. One open end of the hot water pipe 15 penetrates near the bottom of the side wall of the snow melting tank 10. On the other hand, hot water piping 1
The other open end 5 communicates with the side groove 1 near the upper portion in FIG. 1 after being raised toward the road surface 4. Therefore, in this specific example, the side groove 1 and the hot water pipe 15 correspond to a hot water circulation path.

Further, a pump 16 for pumping hot water W from the snow melting tank 10 is provided in the hot water pipe 15, and on the upstream side of the pump 16, gravel or fine particles inevitably contained in the hot water W. A strainer (not shown) for capturing solids such as dust is provided.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. First, a part of the warm water W is pumped up from the inside of the snow melting tank 10 by the pump 16. This hot water W
After passing through the hot water pipe 15, it is sent into the inside from the right end of the side groove 1 in FIG. As described above, the gutter 1
Is not only a slope, but also the pump 16 is continuously pumping the hot water W.
The hot water W poured into the snow melting tank 10 flows down in the direction of the arrow, and finally is poured into the snow melting tank 10. That is, the hot water W returns to the snow melting tank 10 via the hot water pipe 15 and the side groove 1,
Heat again and continue the same cycle.

When the hot water W flows in the inside of the side groove 1 as described above, the heat of the hot water W is transmitted to the heating section 16 of each heat pipe 6, and the liquid phase operation sealed in the container evaporates. . The working fluid vapor is disposed under the road surface 4 and has a temperature and an internal pressure which are both low.
And the heat around the container deprives the soil of heat and condenses. Then, this heat is transmitted to the asphalt forming the road surface 4 and the road surface 4 is heated.

As a result, if there is snow on the road surface 4, it is quickly melted, and even if there is no snow, freezing of water is prevented. In addition, the working fluid that re-heated to the liquid phase
Due to the capillary pressure of the wick and gravity, the water flows back to the heating unit 16 disposed inside the concrete block 3, where it is heated again and evaporated.

Here, for example, when there is a snow lump S on the roof of a house adjacent to the road 2 or on the shoulder of the road 4, the snow lump S is collected by a snow plowing operation or a snow plowing operation, and further, the input port 11 on the ground surface side is collected. From the snowmelt tank 10. Since a predetermined amount of hot water W has already been stored inside the snow melting tank 10 and the electric heater 13 is continuously operated, the snow mass S that has been input is quickly melted and newly added to the hot water W. Becomes In this case, the hot water W flowing back to the snowmelt tank 10 through the side groove 1 is immersed in the snow mass S, and the two are mixed, so that the snow mass S is heated more quickly than the case where the snow mass S is melted using only the electric heater. become.

Thus, according to this specific example, the road 2
While the snow melting is continuously performed, the snow inevitably left on the road surface 4 and the snow collected from other than the road 2 to be melted can be dumped. Therefore, a suitable snow removal effect can be obtained even when used on a large-scale road, a house, or a small-scale road, and as a result, it becomes a comprehensive snowfall processing device in a cold region where a large amount of snowfall occurs.

In the above specific example, the side groove 1 and the hot water pipe 15 are illustrated as the hot water circulation path, and a configuration in which one end of the heat pipe 6 is disposed inside the side groove 1 is shown. It is not limited to the above specific examples, for example, a configuration in which one end of a heat pipe is attached to a hot water header pipe,
Alternatively, the configuration may be such that the hot water pipe itself is disposed below the road surface without using a heat pipe.

[0031]

As is clear from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the snow melting tank buried in the ground with the input port opened to the surface of the ground, and the snow inside the snow melting tank. And a heating means for heating hot water, a hot water circulation path communicating with the snow melting tank and disposed underground, and a pump for drawing hot water from the inside of the snow melting tank and flowing it through the hot water circulation path. Therefore, it can be suitably used for both large-scale roads and houses. In other words, a snow melting tank-integrated road surface snow melting apparatus capable of suitably obtaining a snow removing effect irrespective of the size of the use target area is provided.

Further, if one end of the heat pipe is disposed inside the hot water circuit so that heat can be exchanged with hot water, the snow melting ability can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a specific example of the present invention with a part cut away.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an arrangement relationship between a snow melting tank and a side groove.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Gutter, 4 ... Road surface, 10 ... Snow melting tank, 11 ... Input port, 13 ... Electric heater, 15 ... Hot water piping, 16 ...
Pump, S: snow lump, W: hot water.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Takashi Chiba 1007, Izumizawa, Chitose-shi, Hokkaido 151 Inside Fujikura Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A snow melting tank buried in the ground with an input port opened on the ground surface side, heating means for heating snow and hot water inside the snow melting tank, and communicating with the snow melting tank and A snow melting tank-integrated road surface snow melting apparatus, comprising: a hot water circulation path provided; and a pump for drawing hot water from inside the snow melting tank and flowing the hot water through the hot water circulation path. 2. An end of a heat pipe for transporting heat as latent heat of a working fluid is disposed inside the hot water circulation path so as to be able to exchange heat with the hot water, and the other end of the heat pipe is The snow melting tank integrated type road surface snow melting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the snow melting tank is integrated immediately below the ground surface.