Snow Melting and Control of Surface Temperature at "HACHI-KITA" Roadside Station Using Reservoir Heat Collection System (RHCS)

SYNOPSIS "Mi chi-No-Eki", HACHI-KITA has been in operation on Route 9 in Muraoka-cho, Hyogo Prefecture, since March 1998.."HACHI-KITA" has two types of snow melting systems using ground heat that is typical of untapped energy. One is a Reservoir Heat Collection System (RHCS) that set water tank in underground, and is used to put on or take off tire chains for a 1120m parking lot. The other is a Bore-hole Heat Exchange System (BHES) used for melting snow on a 310m2 sidewalk. Specially, this paper presents the thermal behavior of the fluid in the water tank and the surrounding ground, as well as the seasonal interaction between them. The snow melting performance of the RHCS was completely satisfactory and this made it possible for people to walk from the parking lot to the "Michi-No-Eki" buildings on a snow-free pavement. The fluid temperature was as high as 19.8•Ž on December 31 and a zone with high ground temperature (17-19•Ž) existed around the tank in winter, even though the ambient ground temperature was only about 15•Ž. From these results, it was confirmed that the effect of the thermal energy storage during summer persisted until the following winter.