PROSPECTS OF SNOW MELTING SYSTEMS (SMS) USING UNDERGROUND THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE (UTES) IN JAPAN

Kinya Iwamoto, Shigeyuki Nagasaka, Yasuhiro Hamada, Makoto Nakamura, Kiyoshi Ochifuji, and Katsunori Nagano Hokkaido University N13W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060 Japan TEL +(81)11-706-6286 FAX +(81)11-706-7890

ABSTRACT In this paper, practical snow treatment methods generally used in Japan and the popularity of Snow Melting Systems (SMS) using Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES) are explained. In particular, an increasing number of systems without water heating equipment using primary energy have been installed. This type of system circulates hot water in pavement at the soil temperature level and uses power supplied only from a circulating pump. As an example of SMS using UTES, the case of snow melting/de-icing operations on a bridge roadway at the foot of a mountain in Hiroshima is introduced. The system was composed of a vertical ground heat exchanger, heat dissipation pipes in the concrete pavement and a heating carrier circulating pump. Solar heat collected on the pavement and stored in the soil during the summer was extracted and dissipated into the pavement in winter. In addition, an experiment conducted at Hokkaido University is introduced, and the obtained results compared with those for the system in Hiroshima. The system at Hokkaido University also used UTES (vertical ground heat exchanger type) and solar heat was stored during summer and extracted in winter. The heating carrier temperature after extracting heat from the soil was approximately 6 to 10 (almost the same as in Hiroshima), and the depth of the ground heat exchanger required for a snow melting area of 1 m2 is calculated for both cases. In Hokkaido, 3~5 m was required, in Hiroshima 2~3 m. The difference depended on climate, because Hokkaido is located north of Hiroshima. In the conclusions of this paper, the prospects of SMS using UTES is described and the keys to its popularity in Japan are discussed.

1.

INTRODUCTION

The most popular and commonly practiced method of snow treatment is removal from roads, and transportation to public snow storage sites. But in Japan, the use of studded tires has been prohibited in recent years, and to ensure winter road safety, especially on steep slopes or sharp curves, SMS (hot water circulation or electric cable types) have been installed. In regions south of Hokkaido Prefecture, the method of directly sprinkling ground water on roads is possible because the average air temperature in winter is above 0. Recently, however, a lack of ground water has caused ground subsidence, therefore non-sprinkling systems such as hot water circulation types have become popular. Figure 1 shows the ratio of practical snow treatment methods on roads in Sapporo, and Fig. 2 shows the ratio of snow treated by each snow melting method installed in Sapporo. In this report, the popularity of the UTES system in Japan will be explained and snow melting systems using ground heat sources will be introduced and discussed in regard to performance, cost and global environmental concerns.

Transportation (to Snow Melting Tank) 0.1% Transportation (to Open Space) 19% Snow Removal (Sidewalk) 0.4%

Road Heating 0.4%

Other 0.3%

Total 30.2 million m (1998)

3

Residential Roof Heating 6% Residential Snow Public Road Meting Tank Heating 16% 31 % Total 378,8 thousand m 19.4TJ (1998) Residential Road Heating 36%
3

Snow Removal (Road) 77%

Public Snow Melting Tank 11%

Fig.1 Snow treatment on roads in Sapporo

Fig.2 Snow melting in Sapporo

2.

POPULARITY OF SMS USING UTES IN JAPAN

Table 1 shows examples of SMS using UTES in Japan which have been presented to the public through research papers and reports. It is believed that at least 19 examples are currently in existence. These systems have become popular in the 1990s. This type of system circulates hot water in pavement at the soil temperature level and uses power supplied only from a circulating pump. Before the 1990s, SMS directly using ground water circulation without heat exchangers were popular, because method involving the directly sprinkling of ground water on roads caused ground subsidence. The need for the retention of used ground water after dissipating on road has gradually increased and

heat collection from solar energy through dissipation pipes in road is now have been utilized in summer. SMS using UTES are used for parking lots, bridges, entrances and exits of road tunnels and slopes, and sometimes for entrances and parking spaces of houses. This is a year-round system and is operated for storage of solar heat in summer and snow melting and de-icing in winter. Horizontal heat exchangers were used at the beginning of 1990s, but vertical heat exchangers have become popular. Table 1 SMS using UTES in Japan (Practical)
No. Location Prefecture Niigata Akita Okayama Town Nagaoka Kyowa Kawakami Construction Year 1989 1990 1991 Snow Melting Area/Applications (Sidewalks) 200 m2 (Roads) Heat pipe type 300 m2 (Sidewalks in parking areas) Heat pipe type 400 m2 (Parking) 400 m2 (Parking) 118 m2 (Parking) Parking for 80 houses 150 m2 (Parking) Heat pipe type Pedestrian bridges 900 m2 (Parking) (Parking) (Roads) 100m2 (Roads) 266m2 (Roads) (Road tunnels) 44 m2 (Roads) 310 m2 (Parking) (Roads) (Base camps) (Horizontal heat exchanger) Storage in soil (4.5 m depth) (Vertical heat exchanger) (Horizontal heat exchanger) (Vertical heat exchanger) (Vertical heat exchanger) (Vertical heat exchanger) 8 m depth 27 pipes(D=80) Storage tank (1320 m3) (Vertical heat exchanger) 150 m depth3 pipes(D=89) (Vertical heat exchanger) (Vertical heat exchanger) 100 m depth (D=150) (Vertical heat exchanger) (Vertical heat exchanger) (Vertical heat exchanger) Earth Heat Exchanger/ Heat Storage

1 2 3

(Horizontal heat exchanger) Storage in soil (3000 m3) (Horizontal heat exchanger) Storage in soil (Horizontal heat exchanger) (Vertical heat exchanger) 35 m depth48(D=400 mm) (Vertical heat exchanger) 30 m depth 3 pipes

4 5 6 7

Niigata Fukui Aomori Aomori

Kochidani Fukui Aomori Aomori

1991 1992 1992 1992

8 9 10 11 12 13

Tottori Torrori Niigata Hiroshima Hiroshima Hokkaido

Yonago Tottrori Kasiwazaki Saijoh Tokawanai Kitami

1992 1993 1994 1994 1994 1994

14 15 16 17 18 19

Iwate Hyogo Hiroshima Hyogo Fukui Shiga

Ninohe Haga Yokotani Muraoka Kanatsu Imatsu

1995 1995 1995 1996 1996 1996

As an example of SMS using UTES, the case of snow-melting/de-icing operations on a bridge roadway at the foot of a mountain in Hiroshima will be explained. Figure 3 shows an outline of this system. The system is composed of a vertical ground heat exchanger, heat dissipation pipes in the concrete pavement and a heating carrier circulating pump. The only energy consumed in operation is the electric power for the pump. The inlet temperature of the heat dissipation pipes is approximately 5~6, which is the level of soil temperature. The integrated amount of heat collection was 27.8GJ and the integrated amount of heat dissipation was 31.8GJ. The heat stored in summer was efficiently used in winter.

3.

EXPERIMENT OF SMS USING UTES AT HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY

As another example of SMS using UTES, an experiment of snow-melting at Hokkaido University will be explained. Figure 5 shows an outline of this system. The system was composed of a vertical ground heat exchanger, heat dissipation pipes in the pavement (iron board and high-conductive concrete types were tried), and a heating carrier circulating pump. The system was the same as that in Hiroshima, except for, the structure of the pavement and the vertical ground heat exchanger. The depth of the vertical ground heat exchangers for both systems was also 100 m, but at Hokkaido University, a set of double pipes was used. The snow melting area was 26 m2, and the calculated depth of the ground heat exchanger required for a snow melting area of 1 m2 was 3~5 m (2~3 m in Hiroshima). The difference depended on climate, because Hokkaido is north of Hiroshima. The integrated amount of solar energy measured by the solar energy sensor was 970.5MJ/ m2 (25.2 GJ for the total area), and the integrated amount of heat collection was 346.4 MJ/ m2 (9.0GJ for the total area). Collection efficiency was 36%. Figure 4 shows the movement of total amount of solar energy and heat collection from solar energy in summer. On the other hand, snow melting energy was extracted from soil in winter, and sometimes solar heat was even stored in soil in winter, especially in March. Figure 6 shows the movement of total amount of snow melting energy from soil and heat storage in soil. The integrated amount of snow melting energy extracted from soil was 197.0MJ/ m2(5.1GJ), and the integrated amount of heat storage in soil was 17.0 MJ/ m2(0.4GJ) in winter (February and March). Considering that the period of measurement in summer was 74 days, and the period in winter was 60 days, there was a balance between output and input as a yearly cycle. In this experiment, the snow melting performance using no primary energy was evaluated, because it is important to maintain traffic safety, on public roads in Sapporo, on which 5 m snow falls. Figure 7 shows the frequency of appearance of non-melted areas. The ratio of non-melted days during which the ratio of non-melted areas was less than 0.2 was less than 20% of the whole term of the experiment. This meant that non-melted snow remained on the road 14 days per one winter season, but the depth was almost less than 2 cm and there was no freezing zone on the surface. During the experiment period, the average air temperature was -1.5 (-3.4 in February, 0.5 in March), and the depth of snowfall was 145.5 mm as water (1.455 m as snow). There were 31 snowfall days. This system showed potential for practical use for residential or traffic (parking, walking, etc.) convenience.

Energy(MJ/mday)

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
7/13 7/20 7/27 8/10 8/17 8/24 8/31 7/6 8/3 9/7

Solar Energy Heat Collection

Daily Energy Movement 1995 7/6~9/12

Fig. 4 Solar energy and heat collection in summer (Experiment at Hokkaido University)

Energy(MJ/mday)

10 Heat Extraction from Soil Heat Storage in Soil 5

0 2/15 2/22 2/29 3/14 3/21 3/28 2/1 2/8 3/7

Daily Energy Movement 2/1~3/31

Fig. 6 Snow melting energy from soil and heat storage in soil in winter (Experiment at Hokkaido University)

100 90 (%) 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Frequency 0

Iron bord Concrete (High conductivity)

0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 Ratio of non-melted areas

Fig.7 Frequency of appearance of non-melted areas

4.

DISCUSSION OF PROSPECTS OF SMS USING UTES

The initial costs of SMS using UTES present economic disadvantages compared with SMS using primary energy, because construction costs, mainly due to digging vertical boreholes, are generally expensive. In Japan, the cost of digging a vertical borehole 1 m deep is approximately \10,000 ~ \15,000 ($80~$120). In the case in Hiroshima, the initial cost per 1 m2 was approximately twice that of a conventional system using primary energy, but the running cost was approximately 1/8 to 1/20 that of a conventional system. Consequently, it was thought that the required years for cost recovery are 10 to 20 years. In view of energy saving or environmental conservation, it is necessary to discuss increasing the energy efficiency of the system, and utilizing natural energy sources. Considering that temperatures over 1 are sufficient to melt snow, the utilization of low-temperature energies such as the ground heat sources should become popular in the near future. Figure 8 shows a typical flow diagram for the design of SMS using UTES. According to the required snow melting rate, the required depth of the ground heat exchanger and snow melting energy are

calculated, and an optimum system is determined. In the case of conventional systems (in Japan), supplied snow melting energy was approximately 150~250W/m2. In the case of the SMS using UTES, this was approximately 50~100W/m2. Supplemental operations such as storage tanks or heat pumps are therefore sometimes available to maintain safety of public roads.

5.

CONCLUSIONS

(1) The most popular snow treatment method is removal and transportation, but snow melting methods such as road heating systems (hot water circulation type) have recently become popular in Japan. Also SMS using UTES without water heating equipment using primary energy have been installed. (2) Examples of SMS using UTES include at least 19 systems currently in existence in Japan. These systems have become popular in the 1990s. Before the 1990s, SMS directly using ground water were popular. (3) As an example of SMS using UTES, the case of snow-melting/de-icing operation on a bridge roadway in Hiroshima was briefly introduced. (4) As another example of SMS using UTES, an experiment at Hokkaido University was introduced. This system can be applied for practical use. (5) SMS using UTES present economic disadvantages because of the high costs of digging vertical boreholes, but from a viewpoint of energy saving or environmental conservation, its necessity is increasing.

REFERENCES K.Moriyama, H.Baba and T. Hayashi, Misawa Architectural Technology Co., Ltd.(1997) Using the Deep Layer Underground Heat, and the Rocks with Heat Storage Proceedings of MEGASTOCK97. Shigeyuki Nagasaka, Kiyoshi Ochifuji, et. al.(1996) Study on Snow Melting System Utilizing Natural Energy Sources - Part 3 Experiment on Collecting Solar Heat by Using Snow Melting Panels in Summer Proceedings of Annual Conference of The Society of Heating, Air-Conditioning and Sanitary Engineers of Japan.