Author(s): Yusuke Fukushima
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Snow-melting pipe; Snow removal; Active control; Inverter; Internet; In situ experiment
Abstract: The new snow-melting pipe system which melts snow over the road efficiently is developed under collaboration among Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka City and private companies. The system is composed of the pump controlled by the inverter which makes us economize the quantitiy of water pumped up from underground. Serious problems often occur due to the use of underground water: i. e. the subsidence of the ground surface and the lack of ground water in spring. By the use of the new snow-melting pipe system these problems can be prevented and it will be made possible to construct the snow-melting pipe network for the wider area. In order to demonstrate efficiency of the new snow-melting pipe system, several measuring instruments are set in the system: the discharge meter, the snow intensity meter, the temperature meter and three sets of the digital live cameras. All of the data obtained were sent by the use of the Internet through ADSL. All data except for the image data were sampled at one-minute intervals. The image data was sampled at ten-minute intervals. Thus, the in-situ experiment in town was made possible and successfully examined the saving ratio of the underground water and the efficiency of melting snow with the new system. The lack of the data never occurred during the two terms of experiment, first, from the beginning of the January to the end of March 2003 and, second, from the middle of December, 2003 to the end of March 2004.
Year: 2005