Refrigeration – Processes – Congealing flowable material – e.g. – ice making
Patent
1988-08-05
1990-04-10
Tapolcai, William E.
Refrigeration
Processes
Congealing flowable material, e.g., ice making
37222, 62235, 62320, 272 565SS, F25C 304
Patent
active
049149237
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tracks for practising cross-country skiing.
2. Discussion of Background of Material Information
Cross-country skiing, an open-air sporting activity, is practised using special, very light equipment which allows one to slide on snow-covered terrain which is not particularly mountainous.
This sport is currently practised on tracks usually in the form of unidirectional snow tracks which link up to form a loop and which are regularly packed down and marked. The duration of snowfalls is the fundamental criterion as to the suitability for developing the practice of this sporting discipline. The threshold of one hundred and twenty days of guaranteed snowfalls appears, generally speaking, to be the optimum value for successful operation of a cross-country skiing zone. Below this limit, the lack of certainty of snowfalls no longer makes it possible to ensure the conditions of the entire economic sector, associated the practice of this sport.
It is known to create artificial snow-covered tracks by spraying, at the intended location, a mixture of air and water in the form of a mist, into the low-temperature ambient air using snow guns such as those described, for example, in the patent EP-80 400504.9 of the Applicant.
The patent EP 0034930 describes a different device, which also enables artificial skiing tracks to be created
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This method consists in forming a layer of ice on a support arranged in the centre and all the way along the track. The snow is produced from this layer of ice by means of a device travelling along the support, which device comprises blades intended to scrape the layer of ice, as well means for dispersing the snow thus formed, on the track.
Such devices are specially designed for creating alpine-skiing tracks. Moreover, they have the drawback that they do not directly allow the properties of the snow to be maintained in any way nor do they allow the desired quality of this snow to be preserved. The system described in the patent EP 0034930 is, moreover, very costly and very complicated to implement.
There also exist various apparatus, such as those described, for example, in the patent FR 2,564,739 or AT-P-317,970, used for preparing skiing tracks. These apparatus, however, do not produce any snow; they are intended solely to prepare the snow already present at the location.
The object of the present invention is to ensure that skiing tracks and more particularly those intended for cross-country skiing are always and without fail covered with snow, whatever the external atmospheric conditions.
The present invention relates to a method of covering artificial alpine- or nordic-skiing tracks with snow by manufacturing snow from ice produced by refrigerating means.
According to the invention, this method consists: ice so as to form particles of a given thickness depending on the light or heavier quality of the snow required, by means of a scraping, planing, milling or any other operation.
Still according to the invention, this method consists in maintaining the thickness of the layer of ice forming the base of the track by compensating for the layer removed during machining by spraying a screen of water at a correctly adjusted rate.
According to a special feature, the method consists in producing a surface condition with incisions or reliefs which increase the area of exchange between the refrigerating means and the compensating water.
Another particularly interesting feature consists in preserving the properties and quality of the snow, whatever the external temperature and humidity, by means of artificial ventilation consisting in the diffusion of fresh air over the surface of the snow in order to break up any films of ice which may form within the snow.
The invention also relates to the skiing track intended for implementing the method.
According to the invention, this track comprises a network of tubes forming a floor which is kept at a negative temperature by the circulation of a
REFERENCES:
patent: 2763939 (1956-09-01), Zamboni
patent: 3983713 (1976-10-01), MacCracken
patent: 4050169 (1977-09-01), Pasquier
patent: 4345439 (1982-08-01), Gundlach
patent: 4359831 (1982-11-01), Beeley
patent: 4538369 (1985-09-01), Pasquier
patent: 4560303 (1985-12-01), Haug et al.
Duplan Max
Girardin Pierre
Le Froid Industriel York S.A.
Tapolcai William E.
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