2009 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Evaluation of the heat exchange characteristics and strength of stored snow in the snow cooling system with water circulating

Research Project

Project/Area Number	19560219
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Thermal engineering
Research Institution	Nagaoka National College of Technology
Principal Investigator	KAWADA Yoshitaka Nagaoka National College of Technology, 機械工学科, 教授 (50177705)
Project Period (FY)	2007 – 2009
Keywords	エネルギー利用 / 雪氷冷熱エネルギー / 熱交換
Research Abstract	A characteristics of the heat exchange between the snow reserved in the snow storage for about 4 months and water flowing through the bottom of the stored snow was investigated experimentally. A 20 ft. reefer container was modified into the snow storage. As the result, the following knowledge was obtained. The snow particles combine with each other to form a block of the whole stored snow. The bonding strength of the stored snow fairly increases for a long stored period. Thus, the stored snow hardly falls off into the water even when melting of the snow proceeds. These characteristics of the snow cause reduced efficiency of chilling water. If the crack occurs in the stored snow and the snow block separates, the efficiency of chilling water improves temporarily. The efficiency of chilling water becomes higher as the water level in the snow storage rises, but saturates at about 10 cm levels.