SNOW-MAKING APPARATUS

Abstract

A snow-making apparatus has a housing, an evaporator roller rotatable in the housing, and a rotary distributor connected to the roller for circulating a coolant through the evaporator roller and thereby cooling the roller. Nozzles on the housing project a mixture of water and air at the evaporator roller such that the liquid freezes into a layer of ice crystals on the roller. A doctor blade smooths the layer of ice crystal on the rotating roller, and a scraper blade scrapes the ice crystals off the roller.

Claims

1. An apparatus for making snow, the apparatus comprising: a housing; an evaporator roller rotatable in the housing; a rotary distributor connected to the roller for circulating a coolant through the evaporator roller and thereby cooling the roller; nozzles on the housing for projecting a mixture of water and air at the evaporator roller, whereby the liquid freezes into a layer of ice crystals on the roller; a doctor blade for smoothing the layer of ice crystal; and a scraper blade in the housing scrapes the ice crystals off the roller.

2. The snow-making apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the scraper blade is mounted near a lowest point of the evaporator roller (1).

3. The snow-making apparatus defined in claim 1, further comprising: drive means for rotating the roller at a speed of 10 to 50 rpm.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0015] The invention will be described in more detail below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings, without being limited to this example. Therein:

[0016] FIG. 1 is a side view of the apparatus according to the invention;

[0017] FIG. 2 is a top view of the apparatus of FIG. 1; and

[0018] FIG. 3 is a section along line of FIG. 1.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] Referring to the drawings, an evaporator roller 1 in a housing pan 5 that also serves as a nebulization housing is mounted on a support structure of a base frame 4 and side walls 9. A geared motor 6 and a rotary distributor 7 for supplying a coolant is provided to drive the evaporator roller 1.

[0020] Nozzles 8 are arranged to feed water and air.

[0021] A scraper blade 2 and a doctor blade 3 for smoothing the spray film act on the evaporator roller 1.

[0022] In operation, a coolant is conducted through the rotary distributor 7 in the evaporator roller 1 to cool it. The roller 1 is driven by the geared motor 6 so that it rotates during operation. Suitably, the evaporator roller 1 rotates in the range of 10 to 50 rpm.

[0023] Water and air are sprayed in the housing pan 5 onto the roller 1 through the nozzles 8 (water nozzles and/or two-substance nozzles). The snow layer forming on the roller 1 is smoothed with the doctor blade 3 and scraped off by the scraper blade 2 positioned near the lowest point of the evaporator roller 1. The scraped-off material falls through a shaft 10 into an unillustrated receptacle, and may be fed out from there for its intended use, for example, by blowing it into a system.