Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Weather control – Snowmaking
Patent
1997-11-20
1999-06-08
Kashnikow, Andres
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Weather control
Snowmaking
239406, F25C 304
Patent
active
059098449
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a water atomizing nozzle adapted to be used in the type of snow making machines, in which water is atomized to very small droplets or water particles in a ring of spray nozzles surrounding an air channel through which air is blown at high speed, and whereby water droplets carried by the flow of air become freezed to snow or ice crystals and are allowed to fall to the ground some distance downstream the snow making machine.
In many cases the atomizing of the water is made under support of air which is supplied in common with water to each separate spraying nozzle.
Making of man made snow by means of a snow making machine involves several different problems. One problem can be that the snow or ice crystals which fall to the ground are not completely freezed throughout the crystals but contain a inner core of water. When such snow or ice crystals are compressed by a load they can be pressed to pieces so that the core of water is released, and this makes said water freeze to ice.
In order to eliminate said problem it has been suggested that the atomizing of the water be made so that there is formed, in each separate nozzle, en central flow of strongly freezed, very small water droplets, acting as a type of catalysts, so called nucleus (pl. nuclei), which spontaneously freeze to about -40.degree. C. when leaving the spray nozzle. Said central flow of nuclei is surrounded by a shell of less strongly freezed water droplets which generally have a larger diameter than said nuclei, and which gradually get into contact with the strongly freezed nuclei and which thereby start a chain reaction in that said nuclei give off their refrigeration energy to the water droplets thereby contributing to making all, or at least nearly all of the water droplets become freezed throughout before they reach the ground.
Another problem is that there is generally a need for a very great amount of feeder air for forming the snow or ice crystals. The preparing of such feeder air constitutes a substantial part of the costs for the snow making process. The reason why the preparation of compressed air involves such high costs is that the air, for providing an effective freezing of the water droplets, must be strongly pressurized, often to more than a pressure of 4 bar, and must move at a high air speed, in particular supersonic flow speed.
It has since long been an aim to make it possible to reduce the amount of air which is needed for making man made snow, in order to thereby reduce the total costs for man making snow. At the same time there is a demand that as large part of the water droplets from the atomizing nozzles as possible become freezed throughout thereby providing the best possible quality of man made snow.
To this end the invention relates to a new type of atomizing nozzle for snow making machines, which nozzle is formed so that it is possible, while maintaining a very high quality of snow, to reduce the amount of air which is needed for making the snow by 50%, or even 60% as compared with the amount of air which has so far generally been needed. The nozzle according to the invention is also formed so as to provide a improved and wider spreading of the snow or ice crystals, whereby it may also be possible to reduce the necessary number of atomizing nozzles without reducing the amount of snow which is made per time unit.
The main idea of the invention is to create an inner plume of very strongly freezed, extremely small water droplets which act as a type of freezer catalysts, called nucleus (nuclei), for making further water droplets become freezed, and to create, exteriorly of said inner plume of nuclei, a hollow cone of less strongly freezed water droplets. This is made in that a little amount of the total flow of water (feeder water) through the atomizing nozzle, for instance 20% thereof, is discharged so as to be carried away by the air passing therethrough, whereby said discharged air flow provides an extreme fine atomizing of the water droplets, especially to a drop size of only about 10 .m
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Ganey Steven J.
Kashnikow Andres
Nilsson Lenko L
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