The principle of snowmaking is simple

however the process is complex and highly dependent on environmental conditions. In recent years

to achieve the goal of "300 million people on ice and snow" and to host the "2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games" China has attached great importance to the innovation of snowmaking technology. In this study the working principle

evaluation index

influencing factors

and technology development process of artificial snowmaking are analyzed based on the mechanism of snow formation. The formation of crystal nuclei is the key to the formation of snow

and the growth characteristics of snowflakes are related to the ambient temperature and water vapor supersaturation. The core of artificial snowmaking technology is the creation of a low-temperature environment by throttling refrigeration to catalyze the formation of crystal nuclei. The snow crystals are seeded with the crystal nuclei

and the crushed fog droplets are then adsorbed to form snowflakes. The wet-bulb temperature is the trigger for artificial snowmaking activity. The latent heat of the phase change and convective heat transfer of droplets are different at different wet-bulb temperatures

and -2 ℃ is generally considered as the snowmaking activity threshold. The optimization direction of artificial snowmaking technology is the structural optimization of snow core making nozzlesand spray nozzles

the addition of water source active agents

external precooling nucleation

and intelligent control. Development of Chinese artificial snowmaking technology started late

and it needs to be improved in the directions such as snowmaking mechanisms

technologies

components

machines

and systems in the future.