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US-12618598-B2 - Snow environment test apparatus and snow environment test method

US12618598B2US 12618598 B2US12618598 B2US 12618598B2US-12618598-B2

Abstract

A snow environment test apparatus includes a first nozzle that injects water particles, a second nozzle that injects water particles smaller in size than the water particles from the first nozzle, an air conditioner that regulates a temperature in a test chamber to a set temperature, a state selection section that sets a state of snow to be caused to fall, and a flow rate regulation valve that regulates a ratio between quantities of water to be supplied to the first nozzle and to the second nozzle for obtaining the state of the snow set by the state selection section at the set temperature as a temperature at which a snow environment is obtained.

Inventors

  • Hiroyuki Enoki
  • Haruki SETO

Assignees

  • ESPEC CORP.

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20230829
Priority Date
20220830

Claims (11)

  1. 1 . A snow environment test apparatus for creating a snow environment in a test chamber, the apparatus comprising: a first nozzle configured to inject water particles; a second nozzle configured to inject water particles smaller in size than the water particles from the first nozzle; an air conditioner for regulating a temperature in the test chamber to a set temperature; a controller comprising a computer; and an input device operatively connected to the controller; wherein the controller includes a state selector configured to set, based on an input by a user via the input device, a degree of sleet based on a ratio between rain and snow as a state of snow to be caused to fall or configured to set, based on an input by the user via the input device, one out of snow, sleet, and rain as a state of snow to be caused to fall; and wherein the snow environment test apparatus further comprises a flow rate regulator configured to regulate a ratio between quantity of water to be supplied to the first nozzle and quantity of water to be supplied to the second nozzle for obtaining the state of the snow set in the state selector at the set temperature as a temperature at which a snow environment is obtained.
  2. 2 . The snow environment test apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the flow rate regulator is configured to regulate the ratio between the quantity of the water to be supplied to the first nozzle and the quantity of water to be supplied to the second nozzle while a total flow rate of the water to be supplied to the first nozzle and the second nozzle is kept constant.
  3. 3 . The snow environment test apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the flow rate regulator is configured to regulate the ratio between the quantity of the water to be supplied to the first nozzle and the quantity of water to be supplied to the second nozzle so that the quantity ratio of the water to be supplied to the first nozzle is greater in a case of the set temperature being a second temperature than in a case of the set temperature being a first temperature, the second temperature being lower than the first temperature.
  4. 4 . The snow environment test apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the flow rate regulator is configured to regulate the ratio between the quantity of the water to be supplied to the first nozzle and the quantity of water to be supplied to the second nozzle so that the quantity ratio of the water to be supplied to the second nozzle is greater in a case of the set temperature being a second temperature than in a case of the set temperature being a first temperature, the second temperature being higher than the first temperature.
  5. 5 . The snow environment test apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein at least the second nozzle is configured by a two-fluid nozzle, the apparatus further comprising: a pressure regulator configured to regulate a pressure of air to be supplied to the second nozzle for creation of a snow environment where sleet is caused to fall in a case where the sleet is set as the snow state by the state selector, the sleet including snow and rain.
  6. 6 . The snow environment test apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein at least the second nozzle is configured by a two-fluid nozzle, the apparatus further comprising: a pressure regulator configured to regulate a pressure of air to be supplied to the second nozzle, wherein the pressure regulator is configured to make the pressure of the air to be supplied to the second nozzle higher as the total flow rate of the water to be supplied to the first nozzle and the second nozzle is greater in a case where sleet including snow and rain is set as the state of snow by the state selector.
  7. 7 . The snow environment test apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein at least the second nozzle is configured by a two-fluid nozzle, the apparatus further comprising: a pressure regulator configured to regulate a pressure of air to be supplied to the second nozzle for a change in quality of snow to be caused to fall.
  8. 8 . A snow environment test method for creating a snow environment in a test chamber, the method comprising: a user setting a temperature in the test chamber; a user setting a degree of sleet based on a ratio between rain and snow as a state of snow to be caused to fall, or setting one out of snow, sleet, and rain as a state of snow to be caused to fall; setting a ratio between a quantity of water to be supplied to a first nozzle and a quantity of water to be supplied to a second nozzle to obtain the state of the snow set at the set temperature in the test chamber; regulating a temperature in the test chamber to the set temperature by an air conditioner; supplying water to the first nozzle and the second nozzle at the set ratio; and injecting water from the first nozzle and from the second nozzle to create the snow environment, the water from the second nozzle including water particles smaller in size than water particles included in the water from the first nozzle.
  9. 9 . The snow environment test method according to claim 8 , wherein a total flow rate of the water to be supplied to the first nozzle and the second nozzle is constant.
  10. 10 . The snow environment test method according to claim 8 , wherein the ratio between the quantity of the water to be supplied to the first nozzle and the quantity of water to be supplied to the second nozzle is set so that the quantity ratio of the water to be supplied to the first nozzle is greater in a case of the set temperature being a second temperature than in a case of the set temperature being a first temperature, the second temperature being lower than the first temperature.
  11. 11 . The snow environment test method according to claim 8 , wherein the ratio between the quantity of the water to be supplied to the first nozzle and the quantity of water to be supplied to the second nozzle is set so that the quantity ratio of the water to be supplied to the second nozzle is greater in a case of the set temperature being a second temperature than in a case of the set temperature being a first temperature, the second temperature being higher than the first temperature.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a snow environment test apparatus and a snow environment test method. BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, JP H5-113278 A discloses a known artificial snow making device that reproduces a snow environment in a room. In the artificial snow making device described in JP H5-113278 A, a snowfall phenomenon is reproduced by freezing fine water particles injected from a nozzle. In the artificial snow making device described in JP H5-113278 A, a snow state is determined depending on a temperature in a room because the size of the fine water particles injected from the nozzle is defined. Therefore, under a predetermined temperature environment, this device can only provide a snow environment where snow is caused to fall depending on this temperature. Thus, this makes it impossible to meet a demand for creating another snow environment different from the above-described environment under this temperature condition. For example, in nature, in a case where the surface of the earth or the vicinity of the surface of the earth is at a certain specific temperature, snow may be formed, or sleet where snow and rain coexist may be formed depending on the temperature in the sky. On the other hand, in the environmental test apparatus, different snow environments are desired to be created under certain specific temperature conditions, but the artificial snow making device described in JP H5-113278 A cannot meet such a demand. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to create not only a snow environment determined depending on a temperature condition but also a snow environment in a desired snow state, in particular, a sleet environment. A snow environment test apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention that creates a snow environment in a test chamber includes a first nozzle configured to inject water particles, a second nozzle configured to inject water particles smaller in size than the water particles from the first nozzle, an air conditioner for regulating a temperature in the test chamber to a set temperature, a state selection section for setting a state of snow to be caused to fall, and a flow rate regulation section for regulating a ratio between quantities of water to be supplied to the first nozzle and the second nozzle for obtaining the state of the snow set in the state selection section at the set temperature as a temperature at which a snow environment is obtained. A snow environment test method according to another aspect of the present invention for creating a snow environment in a test chamber includes setting a temperature in the test chamber, setting in a state selection section a state of snow to be caused to fall, setting a ratio between quantities of water to be supplied to a first nozzle and a second nozzle to obtain the state of the snow set at the set temperature as a temperature at which the snow environment is obtained, regulating a temperature in the test chamber to the set temperature by an air conditioner, and supplying water to the first nozzle and the second nozzle at the set ratio and injecting water particles from the first nozzle and from the second nozzle, to create the snow environment, the water particles from the second nozzle being smaller in size than the water particles from the first nozzle. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a snow environment test apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram for describing a function of a controller. FIG. 3 is a diagram for describing information stored in a related information storage section. FIG. 4 is a diagram for describing information stored in a related information storage section according to a modification. FIG. 5 is a diagram for describing information stored in a related information storage section according to a modification. FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing a snow environment test method according to the embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram for describing an example of the snow environment test method according to the embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram for describing information stored in a related information storage section according to another embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically illustrating a snow environment test apparatus according to another embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a snow environment test apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is an apparatus that creates a snow environment in a desired snow state in a test chamber 1 and performs a test for exposing a specimen placed in the test chamber 1 to the snow environment. Here, the snow state means a property of snow or the like indicating whether the snow is any one of snow or sleet. That is, the snow environment test apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment can create n