Snow making apparatus
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing snow making apparatuses face challenges in efficiently making agglomerated-snowflakes due to difficulties in frozen bodies adhering to the adhering surface of the snow catching body, leading to inefficient growth of large snowflakes.
Innovation Solution
A snow making apparatus comprising a snow making container, a supply unit for providing fine snow or water droplets, a catching unit to catch the fine snow, and a drive unit to move the catching unit towards areas where fine snow is flying, along with a fall-off unit to shake the caught snow off, facilitating the formation and detachment of agglomerated-snowflakes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the water jetting port faces downward and the adhering surface extends vertically, then the apparatus structure is simple, but the frozen body cannot efficiently adhere to the adhering surface
Solution Approach 1:
The catching unit is made movable rather than stationary, allowing it to actively pursue and catch fine snow particles in the air. The drive unit moves the catching unit horizontally to track the flight path of fine snow, maximizing the catching efficiency and snowmaking productivity while maintaining structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The catching unit is moved from a static vertical configuration to a dynamic system that operates in both horizontal and vertical dimensions. The drive unit enables horizontal movement while the catching unit maintains its vertical orientation for effective snow catching, adding a dimensional aspect to resolve the contradiction between simple structure and high productivity.
2Device complexity
If the catching unit is stationary, then the apparatus structure is simple, but it cannot efficiently catch flying fine snow
Solution Approach 1:
The catching unit is transformed from a stationary component to a dynamic one that can move horizontally. The drive unit provides the motion capability, allowing the catching unit to track and efficiently catch fine snow particles as they fly through the air, significantly improving catching efficiency without excessive complexity.
3Productivity
If fine snow adheres strongly to the catching unit, then snowmaking efficiency is improved, but snow cannot be easily detached
Solution Approach 1:
The shaking unit applies periodic vibrational action to the catching unit at specific intervals. This periodic shaking temporarily reduces the adhesion between caught snow and the catching unit surface, allowing easy detachment of accumulated snow without affecting the strong adhesion needed during the snowmaking process. The cyclic nature of this action resolves the contradiction between accumulation efficiency and detachment ease.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus efficiently forms agglomerated-snowflakes by ensuring effective adherence and growth of fine snow on the catching unit, and then efficiently detaching these large snowflakes, thereby creating a realistic snowfall environment.
Implementation Method 1
a supply unit configured to supply fine snow or fine water droplets to the inner space
Implementation Method 2
a catching unit for catching the fine snow or fine snow formed from the water droplets
Implementation Method 3
a drive unit configured to move the catching unit toward a place where the fine snow is flying in the inner space
Implementation Method 4
The catching unit is configured to be shaken thereby making snow caught by the catching unit fall off from the catching unit
Data Source
AI summary
A snow making apparatus includes: a snow making container having an inner space for snow making; a supply unit configured to supply fine snow or fine water droplets to the inner space; a catching unit configured to catch the fine snow or the fine snow formed of the water droplets; and a drive unit configured to move the catching unit toward a place where the fine snow is flying in the inner space. The catching unit is configured to be shaken thereby making snow caught by the catching unit fall off from the catching unit.