JPS6388489A - Automatic snow depth meter with alarm - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately determine the snow load on a roof, by providing a means for counting the number of pulses resulting from photoelectrical conversion to convert the same to a snow depth and displaying said depth and a means for generating an alarm when the number of the counted pulses exceed a predetermined value. CONSTITUTION:A light emitting bar 3 and a light receiving bar 4 are each vertically erected on the ground 6 at a proper interval and a light emitting part 1 is provided to the upper tip of the light emitting bar 3 and a large number of photo detectors 2(2a, 2b...) are provided to the light receiving bar 4 at equal intervals. When the number of the photo detectors 2 are set to (n), the interval therebetween to (h), the total length of the light receiving bar 3 to H1 and a snow depth to H2=H1-nh is formed and, by measuring the number (n) of the photo detectors 2 (the number of pulses n), the snow depth H2 can be measured. The output from the light receiving bar 4 is received by setting the wire or wireless system between terminals A, B and recorded. For example, in the case of the wire system, the terminals A, B are connected by wire and the output from the light receiving bar 4 is recorded on a recorder 13 through a detector 9 and an amplifier 10 and, when the output from the amplifier 10 exceeds a predetermined value, an alarm is issued from an alarm 11.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a snow-covering device, and more particularly to a snow-covering device with an alarm that measures the depth of snow on a roof and issues an alarm when the snow reaches a certain depth. .

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, rural areas have become increasingly depopulated, especially in areas with heavy snowfall, resulting in a shortage of manpower to remove snow from roofs during heavy snowfall, and this has become a serious problem in terms of roof protection.

Furthermore, as we head into the 21st century, the age structure of Japanese people will become older as the young population declines, and the proportion of older people in society will increase. Furthermore, the recent phenomenon of nuclear families has led to an increase in the number of households consisting only of elderly couples.

In these times, many houses find it extremely difficult to remove snow from their roofs when it snows. For this reason, the development of roof structures that do not require snow removal is progressing. Major design changes such as these have been forced. However, at present, such design changes require enormous costs and cannot be made by all households.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

On the other hand, a roof has a limit to its snow resistance, and if the amount of snow exceeds this snow resistance limit, it is necessary to remove the snow from the roof. However, until now, nothing has been considered to detect the amount of snow that has fallen on the roof. For this reason, in the past, the amount of snow accumulated on the roof was estimated from the amount of snow accumulated on the level ground, and the snow removal work was performed as appropriate.

For this reason, in the past, the decision to remove snow was made without regard to the snow load of the roof, so the snow was removed early because it was necessary to remove the snow before the house collapsed, and the snow was removed unnecessarily. This caused problems such as the number of times the snow was cleared and houses collapsed due to the timing of snow removal being made at the wrong time.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide a snow depth meter with an alarm that can measure snowfall suitable for the snow load of a roof and issue an appropriate warning.

Means for Solving Problem C] The present invention includes a plurality of vertically arranged photodetecting sections at regular intervals, and a laser emitting section facing the photodetecting section. a photoelectric conversion section that converts light into an electric pulse signal; a conversion means that counts the number of pulses converted in the photoelectric conversion section and converts it to 11t snow depth for display;
The apparatus is characterized by comprising an alarm means for issuing an alarm when the counted number of pulses exceeds a predetermined value.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

In the first part, one embodiment of the present invention is shown.

In FIG. 1(A), a light emitting rod 3 is erected approximately vertically on the ground 6. A light emitting section 1 is provided at the top end of the light emitting rod 3. Also, this luminescence! A light-receiving rod 4 is erected approximately perpendicularly to the ground 6 parallel to the light-emitting rod 3 at an appropriate distance of 1$3. This light receiving rod 4 has a plurality (n) of photodetecting elements 2 (2a, 2b, . . .
...2n) is provided, and this photodetecting element 2
is for receiving light emitted from the light emitting section 1 attached to the tip of the light emitting rod 3.

Further, the light emitting rod 3 is provided with wiring for supplying power to one light emitting section 1, and a power supply device 7 is connected to this wiring via a modulator 8. Also.

For the photodetecting element 2 attached to the light receiving rod 4.

A serial/parallel converter 25, a high frequency power supply device 26, and a high frequency detector 27 are connected. Terminal B' connected to this serial-parallel converter 25 is connected to terminal B. A receiving device is connected to this terminal B. An amplifier 10 is connected to terminal A on the receiving side via a detector 9, and a recording bag r113 is connected to this amplifier 10. Also, a detector 9, an amplifier 1o, and a recording device i! 13 is supplied with power from the power supply device 12. Further, an alarm device 11 is connected to the power supply device 12 . This alarm 11
The amplifier 1o is configured to operate when the output from the amplifier 1o exceeds a predetermined value.

In this way, the light-receiving rod 4 and the light-emitting rod 3 face each other in parallel at an appropriate interval, and a pulsed modulated laser beam is used as the light emission source. The light receiving rod 4 is provided with n light receiving elements (optical fibers, photodetecting elements, etc.) arranged at regular intervals along the axis.1 The light emission from the tip of the light emitting rod 3 is shown in Fig. 2 (A). The beam 20 with a circular cross section is passed through a transparent tube 1 in order to form a light beam that is widened in a planar manner as shown.
8 or the cylindrical rod 180, due to the characteristics of the laser beam, it is converted into a planar shape as shown in A of FIG. 2(A). This planar beam A is received by a rotating mirror surface (cross-section, triangular or polygonal) 17 shown in FIG. Trace downwards periodically. In addition, when using an optical fiber for each light receiving element 2 arranged on the light receiving rod 4, each time light is received, an element 23 for photoelectric conversion is added as shown in FIG.
(light lens) and 24 (light detection element) are connected to the end of the optical fiber. In addition, when using a direct photodetection element, each photodetection element is connected in parallel, as illustrated in FIG.

Now, in Fig. 1 (A), the number of light receiving elements is n, the distance between light receiving elements is calculated, the total length of the light receiving rod is Hl, and the length of the light receiving part is H3.
Then, the snow depth H2 is H2=H□-H3...
......(1) It is expressed.

However, the length Hl of the light receiving part is H,=nh ・・・・・・・・・・・・(
2), so the equation (1) is H2=H ni nh...River...(3
).

Therefore, by measuring the number of pulses n, the snow depth H2
can be measured. The measurement accuracy increases as h decreases. As shown in FIG. 1A, the output from the light receiving rod 4 is received and recorded by connecting terminals A and B in a wired or wireless manner. In the case of a wired type, the distance between parts A is shown in Figure 1 (
As shown in B), a wired connection is made, and analog or digital recording is performed by a recording device 13 via a detector 9 and an amplifier 10.

In the case of a wireless type, as shown in FIG.
The signal is transmitted from terminal B through terminal B, is detected 9 and amplified 10 at terminal A on the receiver side, and is recorded in analog or digital form in recording section 13.

The diameter of the light receiving rod 4 affects the error in the measured value. In order to reduce this error, that is, to reduce the dented area near the snow surface due to sunlight, the diameter is set to about 100 lb. or less, and the light receiving rod 4 is placed in a state where it absorbs less light.

In order to prevent snow and ice from accumulating even during snowfall or blizzard, a heating element is placed inside the light receiving rod 4 so that the surface area does not drop below 0°C. This is done by connecting elements in series that heat up when the temperature drops below 0°C and turn off the power when the temperature drops to 0°C.

In this snow depth gauge, if the alarm 11 is set to issue an alarm when the snow depth exceeds a predetermined value, the alarm will be issued by sound, light, etc. when the snow depth exceeds the predetermined value. Also, when measurement accuracy is not required, only the light receiving rod 4 can be used as LI.
It is possible to obtain an approximate snow depth using the electromotive force generated by sunlight or white light. In this case, when a photodetector is used for detection, each element is connected in series using a converter 25 that switches the elements to be connected in series for measurement.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the invention.

This embodiment uses an ultrasonic transceiver element instead of transmitting and receiving laser light.

In the figure, n sets of ultrasonic transmitting elements 26a and ultrasonic receiving elements 27a are provided at equal intervals on a support 50 that is erected on the ground or the like.

In this way, the ultrasonic transmitting elements 26a, 26b, 26
The ultrasonic waves emitted from c...26n receive only the ultrasonic waves reflected from the snowfall at each receiving element 27b, 27a...27n. This operation is performed sequentially from the top of the holder 50 to 26, 26, .・・・・・・26n
When a high-frequency voltage is applied to the transmitting element, the receiving element detects the reflected sound when it reaches the snowy surface, takes it out as an output voltage, and transmits it to B'.

When this position is detected as a pulse n, equation (3) holds true as in the case of optical detection in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and the snow depth can be measured. In this case, the parts related to the light emitting rod 3 in the embodiment of FIG. 1 are not required.

FIG. 5 shows yet another embodiment of the invention.

This embodiment is an automatic snow depth meter with an alarm using COD and optical fiber. The optical fibers are buried in 81-deep rods, and their ends are spaced apart at regular intervals.

2b...N numbers up to 2n are arranged. now,
Optical fibers are 2a, 2b, ... up to 2h,
When the light is out on the snow, that part of the light reaches the light receiving surface of the CCD 29 via the lens 28. The number of light spots reaching this surface is recognized by the computer 31 and recorded on the computer disk 32.

When this number is entered into equation (3) and processed, it is recorded as the snow depth.

Figure 5 (B) shows an automatic snow depth meter with an alarm that uses a COD and a snow gauge. The part of the snow scale that appears on the snow surface is the lens 2.
8 and is imaged into a linear COD. This portion is converted into an electric signal (frequency) and entered into the computer 31, where it is recognized as the snow depth. This information is recorded on computer disk 32.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the snow load on the roof can be accurately grasped, and the snow can be safely managed by early snow removal before the house collapses due to the snow load.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically measure snowfall not only on roofs but also on flatlands, mountainous areas, roadsides, etc., so it is possible to issue snow depth warnings for road management and flatlands and mountainous areas, It is possible to measure the amount of snowfall for water resource management in mountainous areas.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, by using it for river water or seawater, the water level can be automatically measured and a warning can be issued.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the light received by the detector is attenuated in proportion to the snowfall intensity (the amount of snowfall per unit time, per unit area), so if snowfall occurs during snow measurement, the snowfall intensity cannot be measured. It can be used for road traffic to warn of snowfall conditions, visibility, and visibility.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 (A) is a diagram showing the planar dispersion of laser light from a transparent tube, Fig. 2 (B) is an enlarged view of the light emitting part, and Fig. 3 The figure shows an example in which an optical fiber is used for the light receiving rod, Figure 4 is a layout diagram of an ultrasonic transmitting and receiving element, Figure 5 (A) is a diagram showing an example using a CCD and an optical fiber, and Figure 5 (B) is a COD It is a figure showing an example using the snow amount. 1... Light emitting part, 2... Photo detection element, 3... Light emitting stick. 4... Light receiving rod, 5... Snowfall, 6... Ground, 7...
・Power supply device, 8...Modulator, 9...Detector, 10.
...Amplifier, 11...Alarm, 12...Power supply device,
13... Recording device, 14... Amplifier, 15... Modulator, 16... Oscillator, 17... Rotating mirror, 18...
・Transparent glass tube, 180...Transparent glass rod, 19...
・Laser transmitter (semiconductor or glass management). 20... Laser beam (circular cross section), 21... Laser beam (thin plate type cross section), 22... Light detection unit (optical fiber), 23... Condensing lens, 24... Light detection element (photo) diode or phototransistor), 2
5...Amplification and recording device, 26a, 26b, 26c...Ultrasonic transmitting element. 27 a, 27 b, 27 c - ultrasonic receiving element, 28... condensing lens, 29... CCD element,
30... Snowfall amount, 31... Computer, 32...
・Computer disk,

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A plurality of photodetectors arranged vertically at regular intervals;
A photoelectric conversion section that includes a laser emitting section facing the photodetection section and converts the light detected by the photodetection section into an electric pulse signal; and a photoelectric conversion section that counts the number of pulses converted in the photoelectric conversion section and calculates the snow depth. 1. An automatic snow detector with an alarm, comprising: a conversion means for converting and displaying the counted pulse number; and an alarm means for issuing an alarm when the counted number of pulses exceeds a predetermined value.