JPH11303008A - Operation method and apparatus for road heating - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To well follow variation of weather forecasts and carry out an effective preheating operation by making the presetting temperature a preheating temperature which is obtained by subtracting from a preheating target temperature of a road face immediately before snowfall the product of a rising speed of temperature and a time from a setting time to an estimated time of snowfall in weather forecast information. SOLUTION: A preset temperature for a preheating operation is set at a temperature (H-KT) which is obtained by subtracting from a target temperature H the product KT of a temperature K rising through an objective road heater and a time T from a setting time to an estimated time of snowfall in weather forecast information. Snowfall is detected by a snowfall sensor. When it is snowing, a snow-melting operation means is driven to thaw snow. When it is not snowing, water on a road face is detected by a water sensor. When water is detected, a freeze prevention operation is driven by a freeze prevention operation means. When water is not detected, a preheating operation is driven by a preheating operation means. In this way, the road temperature is controlled to have a required target temperature H by a forecast snowfall time. Before the time, the apparatus is operated in the preheating temperature. Accordingly, snowfall can be prevented as long as it is not an entirely sudden heavy snow.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a driving method and a driving device for road heating for preventing snow melting and freezing on a road, and more particularly, to a road surface having an appropriate temperature which does not cause a problem even if snow falls before snow falling. The present invention relates to a road heating operation method and an operation device for performing a preheating operation for preheating the preheating.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, road heating in cold regions has been practiced to prevent snow melting and freezing. This road heating is usually performed by burying a heating wire at a predetermined depth from the road surface of the road, and energizing the heating wire to heat the road surface. The constant heating consumes a lot of wasteful power, and therefore, an efficient operation method is demanded.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-11800 discloses an operation method using weather forecast for controlling such a snow melting apparatus.
No. 7 proposes a road heating device in which a road surface temperature is controlled using a snowfall probability forecast. This road heating apparatus includes means for inputting a snowfall probability forecast for each time zone by a weather station, means for calculating a snowfall prediction in proportion to time based on the snowfall probability forecast, and a preheating operation based on the snowfall prediction. Means for controlling the road surface temperature by selecting the preheating target temperature, and a certain effect can be obtained in terms of energy saving.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, the weather forecast used is three hours to six hours from the weather station.
Since it is a snowfall probability forecast for each prefecture of each time zone (Hokkaido is divided into 14 branches), it calculates the snowfall probability proportionally for each time to avoid a sudden change between time zones, and calculates each snowfall The set temperature corresponding to the probability is determined in advance, and the operation is performed at the set temperature corresponding to the snowfall probability at that time. Therefore, when the snowfall probability suddenly increases, there is a serious problem that even if the temperature is raised with the entire capacity of the heater, the temperature cannot be sufficiently raised before the snowfall, and the snowfall cannot be prevented. The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and has as its object to provide a road heating driving method and driving device that can well follow a weather forecast change and perform an effective preheating operation from the power saving aspect.

[0005]

The above object is achieved by the present invention described below. That is, the present invention provides a road heating operation method for preheating a road surface before snowfall at a set temperature according to weather forecast information, wherein the set temperature is increased from a preheating target temperature H of the road surface immediately before snowfall by a heating rate of the road surface. The product K of K and the time T from the setting time to the snowfall forecast time of the weather forecast information
A road heating operation method characterized in that a preheating temperature P obtained by subtracting × T is set to P = (H−K × T).

[0006] As an apparatus for performing this, a road heating operating device including a preheating operating device for preheating a road surface before snowfall at a set temperature according to weather forecast information, the device including the preheating operating device. On-site control means installed at the site of the road surface, binarize the wide-area weather forecast information including the weather forecast information of a plurality of areas to be input into the presence / absence of snowfall, and determine the area of the road surface from the wide-area weather forecast information. A central control means for extracting weather forecast information and transmitting the information to the local control means, wherein a set temperature S of the preheating operation means is set from a preheating target temperature H of the road surface immediately before snowfall to a heating rate K of the road surface. From the time T until the snowfall forecast time of the weather forecast information
It is preferable to set a preheating temperature P = (H−K × T) by subtracting T.

In the present invention, the weather forecast information is updated periodically, in other words, at a predetermined cycle, and the set temperature is set at least every time the weather forecast information is updated. It is preferable in terms of properties. Hereinafter, details of the present invention will be described based on examples.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an operation method of the embodiment, FIG. 3 is a detailed flowchart of a preheating operation means, and FIG. It is a time chart showing a result.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a computer for a central system of central control means for centrally managing a road heating control panel 5 of local control means installed on a road in each area where road heating is laid. . The computer 1 for the center system is connected to a weather information providing system 2 provided by the Japan Meteorological Association and the like via a modem 4 for weather information reception by a communication line 3 and a wide area weather forecast including weather forecast information of a plurality of related areas. Information is received every hour.

The road heating control panel 5 and the center system computer 1 communicate with each other via the communication line 3 by means of the center system side local control panel communication modem 6 and the local control panel side center system communication modem 7. The center system computer 1 can set the load heating controller 8 in the local load heating control panel 5 installed at each location and can monitor the state.
As described above, the basic configuration is the same as that of the above-described related art.

The center system computer 1 is provided with a plurality of continuous weather forecast information at a constant time interval from the weather information providing system 2 over a wide area. Specifically, in this example, the weather forecast information is obtained at one hour, two hours and three hours ahead. Receives three consecutive hourly weather forecast information over a wide area at one-hour intervals, and from the received wide-area weather forecast information of a target area including each target area, a weather forecast of each area to which each road on which road heating is laid belongs. The information is extracted and transmitted to the road heating control panel 5 in each area.

The wide-area weather forecast information received in this example is weather forecast information edited for sections divided by a grid having a grid interval of 5 km, and there is no rain, snow, strong rain, or weak rain for each section. , Strong wet snow, weak wet snow, strong dry snow,
The weather information is expressed in eight different states: weak dry snow and missing data. This grid weather forecast information is useful for judging the weather forecast of each area on the safe side as described later.

By the way, the center system computer 1 determines the weather forecast information of each area every time the wide area weather forecast information is received as follows. That is,
First, among the eight kinds of weather information in each section of the received wide area weather forecast information, the information of no rain / snow, strong rain, and weak rain indicates no snowfall, strong wet snow, weak wet snow, strong dry snow. ,
Information of a type such as weak dry snow and missing data is binarized into two values, one with snowfall and the other with or without snowfall. Next, binarized weather forecast information of the section to which the target area belongs and four surrounding sections adjacent to the section is checked, and if any of the weather forecast information of these sections has snowfall, the weather forecast of the area is determined. It is determined that there is snowfall in the prediction information, and when all the weather prediction information of these sections does not have snowfall, the weather prediction information of the area is determined to have no snowfall. Then, the result is transmitted to the road heating control panel 5 in the area every reception, specifically, every hour. This binarization has an advantage that the processing in the load heating control panel 5 is greatly simplified.

The road heating controller 8 of the local control means is configured as follows. That is, it is connected to a road surface temperature sensor, a heater temperature sensor, a snowfall sensor, and a moisture sensor (not shown), and includes a snow melting operation unit, an anti-freezing operation unit, and a preheating operation unit that operate based on these detection signals. When snowfall is detected by the snowfall sensor, the snowmelt driving means controls the road surface temperature via a heater to a high temperature set temperature suitable for snowmelt as a snowmelt operation mode. The anti-freezing operation means sets the anti-freezing operation mode when there is no snowfall and the moisture on the road surface is detected by the moisture sensor, and similarly controls the road surface temperature to the minimum temperature required for the anti-freezing. When there is no snowfall or moisture, the preheating operation means is set to the preheating operation mode as described below, and performs the following power saving operation. Note that the flow of FIG. 2 is a known digital control, and is executed at a predetermined clock cycle as is well known.

Next, the preheating operation method will be described. Normal,
The road heating controller 8 prepares for a sudden snowfall even when there is no snowfall due to the preheating operation means and there is no moisture on the road surface. Is performing preheating operation for controlling the heater temperature.

The operation method together with the preheating operation according to the present invention will be described below in the case where the target temperature is set at H ° C. and the weather forecast information up to three hours ahead is used. Here, the road to be controlled is previously set in a state where the outside air temperature close to the actual state is low, for example, about −5 ° C., and the maximum heater capacity is 3 hours or more in the present example, that is, the longest time in the weather forecast information. Specifically, all heaters are forcibly and continuously energized to measure their temperature rise characteristics. Then, the obtained temperature rising characteristics are linearly approximated by dividing the obtained temperature rising characteristics into appropriate time sections, and the gradient of the straight line is taken as the temperature rising rate of the road surface in the section, and the temperature rising rate is actually measured. The heating rate may be obtained by simulation or the like, but is preferably measured in terms of reliability and accuracy.

In this example, the section is 1 hour, the rate of temperature rise in 0 to 1 hour is k1 [° C./h], the rate of temperature rise in 1 to 2 hours is k2 [° C./h], and 2 to 3 hours. Temperature rise rate at k3 [° C
/ H]. The actual measurement result in the implemented example is k
1 = k2 = k3 = 2 [° C./h].

Then, using the heating rate, the set temperature P of the preheating operation is set by the target road heater at the time T from the set time from the target temperature H to the predicted snowfall time of the weather prediction information as follows. A temperature at which the temperature can be increased, that is, a temperature (H-KT) obtained by subtracting a product KT of the temperature increase rate K and the time T is set. Specifically, when the actual measurement value is used as the heating rate K, the heater set temperature P0 in the case where it is predicted that there will be snowfall one hour ahead is P0 = H [° C.]. Is P1 = P0−
k1 [° C.], the heater set temperature P2 in the case of prediction that there is snowfall three hours ahead is P2 = P1−k2 [° C.], and the heater set temperature P3 in the case of prediction that there is no snowfall three hours ahead is P3 = P2-k3 [° C.].

Based on this, the operation of the road heating including the preheating operation is performed as follows. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the presence / absence of snowfall is determined by a snowfall sensor, and if the snowfall sensor is yes with snowfall, the snowmelt driving means is activated and the snowmelt driving is performed. If the snow sensor is no, the moisture sensor determines the presence or absence of moisture on the road,
If the moisture sensor indicates yes with moisture, the antifreeze operation means is activated, and the antifreeze operation is performed.

When the moisture sensor is no, the preheating operation means is started, and the preheating operation shown in FIG. 3 is performed. First, based on weather forecast information received and stored hourly from the center system computer 1, set temperatures P0, P1, P2, and P3 at respective forecast times are calculated and stored in the respective set temperatures.

Next, first, in the case of weather forecast information without snowfall for three hours or more, the first preheating control means is entered, and the first selection means checks whether the heater temperature is P3 or less.
In the following cases, the heater is energized as the preheating operation. If the heater temperature exceeds P3, the second selecting means checks the weather forecast information one hour ahead. If the weather forecast one hour ahead predicts that there is snowfall, the second preheating control means is entered, the heater temperature is checked, and if it is less than P0, the heater is energized. If the heater temperature exceeds P0, the power supply to the heater is turned off.

If the forecast one hour ahead is no snowfall, the third selection means checks the weather forecast information two hours ahead. 2
If the weather forecast at the time point indicates that there is snowfall, the control enters the third preheating control means, checks the heater temperature, and if it is P1 or lower, the heater is energized as preheating operation. When the heater temperature exceeds P1, the power supply to the heater is turned off.

If the prediction two hours ahead is no snowfall, the fourth selection means checks the prediction three hours ahead. If the prediction three hours ahead is a prediction that there is snowfall, the fourth preheating control means is entered, the heater temperature is checked, and if it is less than P2, the heater is energized as preheating operation. If the heater temperature exceeds P2, the power supply to the heater is turned off. If the prediction three hours ahead is no snowfall, the power supply to the heater is turned off as first preheating control means.

As described above, the heater temperature, that is, the road surface temperature is always controlled to a desired target temperature H which does not cause an obstacle even if snow falls by the time of the snowfall in the forecast. Before that, there is an effect that the preheating operation can be performed at the minimum preheating temperature allowed by the heater capability while following the weather forecast information.

Next, the actual operation will be described with reference to the time chart of FIG. The figure is an example of the following weather conditions. That is, before time t [h], the weather forecast is
Time and 3 hours ahead without rain and snow, time t [h]
In 1 hour and 2 hours ahead, the forecast is snowfall without rain and snow and 3 hours ahead, and time (t + 1) [h]
, The prediction one hour ahead is the prediction of snowfall two hours ahead without rain and snow, and the prediction of snowfall one hour ahead at time (t + 2) [h], and the time ts [h] (> t + 3)
[H]) shows an example in which snowfall is actually detected by the snowfall sensor of the road heating control panel 5.

The solid line in FIG. 4 represents the set temperature of the heater surface,
The dotted line represents the actual temperature. Hs [° C.] is a set temperature when snow melting operation is performed by the snow melting operation means when the road heating controller 8 detects snowfall. t
Until [h], the set temperature of the heater surface is the desired target temperature H
P3 lower than (° C) by (k1 + k2 + k3) [° C]
The preheating operation is performed by the first preheating means at [° C.]. As a result, even when it is predicted that there will be snowfall three hours later at a certain time, the temperature state is set such that the existing heater capacity can cope with the situation.

Since the snowfall two hours later is predicted by the weather forecast at time t [h], the set temperature P2 can be raised to H [° C.] in two hours by (k1 + k2) [° C.] lower than this.
The preheating operation is performed by the fourth preheating control means at [° C.]. However, the actual temperature was as shown by the dotted line in the figure because of the temperature rise rate k1 [° C./h]. Next, the snowfall one hour later was predicted by the weather forecast at time (t + 1) [h].
The preheating operation is performed by the third preheating control means at a set temperature P1 [° C] lower by k1 [° C] than the temperature which can be raised to [° C].

Similarly, since the snowfall one hour later is predicted by the weather forecast at the time (t + 2) [h], the set temperature of the target temperature H is set so that the temperature can be raised to a desired target temperature H [° C.] in one hour. The preheating operation is performed by the second preheating control means at P0 [° C.]. Therefore, it was possible to sufficiently prepare for the snowfall that occurred at time ts [h] after one hour or more. By performing the preheating operation by lowering the preheating temperature within such a maximum allowable range of the heater capacity, the heater energizing time corresponding to the difference in the temperature of the hatched portion is reduced, and the power saving operation is achieved during the preheating operation. .

In the above-described embodiment, a plurality of preheating control means for on / off control are provided as preheating operation means from the aspect that the configuration can be easily realized with simple software, and the selection means is based on weather forecast information. However, other known means, for example, one in which a set value is updated by one control device with weather forecast information, can be applied to the preheating operation means.

Although the weather prediction information is processed by binarizing the weather prediction information, which is advantageous in terms of processing and transmission, the weather prediction information of the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it can predict the snowfall time in the area. This is clear from the gist. Furthermore, although the temperature control of the preheating operation is performed at the heater surface temperature in which the response and the correlation with the road surface temperature are good and the detection accuracy is stable, the present invention is not limited to this. It is also clear from the gist of the present invention that the vehicle temperature may be detected and controlled directly by the road surface temperature.

[0031]

As described above, the present invention uses the weather forecast information at the snowfall forecast time and performs the preheating operation at the set temperature as low as possible within the range covered by the heater capacity. Preheating operation is performed at a temperature that always follows the temperature, so that snow accumulation is prevented unless it is a sudden heavy snowfall. Further, when there is no snowfall, the set temperature of the heater can be set low, so that the energization time of the heater can be shortened. This has a great effect as a power saving operation in the road heating control method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating a system configuration according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an operation method according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a detailed flowchart of a preheating operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a time chart illustrating a preheating operation result in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 Computer for center system 2 Weather information providing system 3 Communication line 4 Modem for receiving weather information 5 Load heating control panel 6 Modem for communication between local control panels on center system side 7 Modem for communication between center systems on local control panel side 8 Road heat Controller

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshitaka Fujioka 1-6-7 Minamihonmachi, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Teijin Limited

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A road heating operation method in which a road surface is preheated before snowfall at a set temperature according to weather forecast information, wherein the set temperature is increased from a target preheating temperature H of the road surface immediately before snowfall to a heating rate K of the road surface. And the preheating temperature P obtained by subtracting the product K × T of the time T from the setting time to the snowfall forecast time of the weather forecast information =
(H−K × T). 2. The weather forecast information is updated at a predetermined cycle,
2. The driving method apparatus for road heating according to claim 1, wherein the set temperature is set at least every time the weather forecast information is updated. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the road surface is heated at a constant power for a predicted maximum time and the temperature rise characteristic is measured, and the obtained temperature rise characteristic is divided into a plurality of time sections to perform linear approximation. The slope of a straight line is set as the temperature rising rate of the road surface in each time section.
The driving method of the road heating described. 4. The weather forecast information is converted into a binary value indicating the presence or absence of snowfall.
The road heating operation method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the operation is performed by converting the value into a value. 5. The road heating operating method according to claim 1, wherein said weather forecast information is a forecast target area divided by grids having a predetermined grid interval, and is forecast information for each section. 6. When the weather forecast information includes information on a section to which the target road surface belongs, information on surrounding sections adjacent thereto is added, and there is prediction information that can determine that there is snowfall in any of these sections. The road surface forecast information is snowfall,
6. The road heating driving method according to claim 5, wherein when there is no prediction information that can determine that there is snowfall in any of the sections, the road surface prediction information is that there is no snowfall. 7. The road heating driving method according to claim 1, wherein said weather forecast information comprises weather forecasts at a plurality of continuous time intervals. 8. The road heating operation method according to claim 1, wherein the control temperature of the preheating operation is a heater surface temperature. 9. A road heating driving device having a preheating operation means for preheating a road surface before snowfall at a set temperature according to weather forecast information, wherein the driving device is installed at a site on the road surface having the preheating operation means. On-site control means, and binarize the wide-area weather forecast information including the weather forecast information of a plurality of areas to be input into the presence or absence of snowfall, extract weather forecast information of the road surface area from the wide-area weather forecast information, and Central control means for transmitting to the on-site control means, wherein the set temperature S of the preheating operation means is based on a preheating target temperature H of the road surface immediately before snowfall, a heating rate K of the road surface and a snowfall prediction of the weather forecast information from the setting time. The preheating temperature P obtained by subtracting the product K × T with the time T up to the time T = (H−K ×
A driving device for road heating, wherein T) is set. 10. The weather forecast information comprises a plurality of continuous weather forecasts at predetermined time intervals, and a plurality of preheats are set by the preheating operating means to set each of the preheat temperatures P obtained from each weather forecast as a set temperature. 10. A control system comprising: a control unit; and a selection unit that selects the preheating control unit based on the weather forecast information.
The driving device for road heating according to the above. 11. The road heating system according to claim 9, wherein the central control means periodically receives the wide area weather forecast information through a communication line and transmits the weather information of each area to each local control means through a communication line. Driving device.