Cogeneration system

• US 8,035,239 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2009
• Issued: 10/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Horie, Ariko, Nakagawa, Yoshinori, Wakitani, Tsutomu
• Primary Examiner(s): ZARROLI, MICHAEL C
• Application Number:
  US12/321,518
• Publication Number:
  US 20090206600A1
• Time in Patent Office: 992 Days
• Field of Search: 237/12.3
• US Class Current: 290/2
• CPC Class Codes: F01K 13/02 Controlling, e.g. stopping or starting
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 20/14 Combined heat and power generation [CHP]

Abstract

In a cogeneration system having a power plant that includes a generator and an internal combustion engine for driving the generator such that exhaust heat of the engine is supplied to a thermal load, there are provided a battery, a controller that controls operation of the thermal load, a main switch disposed to be operable by an operator, a microprocessor that controls operation of the power plant when the main switch is turned on by the operator, and an external terminal adapted to transmit an activation signal to the controller upon manipulation by the operator when the main switch is kept off. In the system, the microprocessor is operated by power supplied from the battery in response to the activation signal so as to activate the power plant. With this, even when the operator stays at a place away from the main switch, the power plant can be activated to supply power to electrical loads.

Claims

1. A cogeneration system having a power plant that includes a generator connected to an AC power feed line between a power network and an electrical load and an internal combustion engine for driving the generator such that exhaust heat of the engine is supplied to a thermal load, comprising:

a battery that stores DC power;

a controller that controls operation of the thermal load;

a main switch disposed to be operable by an operator;

a microprocessor that controls operation of the power plant when the main switch is turned on by the operator; and

an external terminal adapted to transmit an activation signal of the power plant to the controller upon manipulation by the operator when the main switch is kept off,

wherein the microprocessor is adapted to be operated by power supplied from the battery in response to the activation signal received by the controller so as to activate the power plant.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is connected to Internet and the external terminal transmits the activation signal to the controller through the Internet.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the external terminal is at least one of a mobile phone and a computer.

4. The system according to claim 1, further including:

an information supplier that informs the operator using the external terminal whether the power plant has been activated or not.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the microprocessor includes a CPU, a peripheral circuit and a memory.

6. A cogeneration system having a power plant that includes a generator connected to an AC power feed line between a power network and an electrical load and an internal combustion engine for driving the generator such that exhaust heat of the engine is supplied to a thermal load, comprising:

a battery that stores DC power;

a controller that controls operation of the thermal load;

a main switch disposed to be operable by an operator;

a main microprocessor that controls operation of the power plant when the main switch is turned on by the operator;

an external terminal adapted to transmit an activation signal of the power plant to the controller upon manipulation by the operator when the main switch is kept off; and

a sub-microprocessor adapted to be operated by power supplied from the battery in response to the activation signal received by the controller so as to operate the main microprocessor to activate the power plant.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the controller is connected to Internet and the external terminal transmits the activation signal to the controller through the Internet.

8. The system according to claim 6, wherein the external terminal is at least one of a mobile phone and a computer.

9. The system according to claim 6, further including:

an information supplier that informs the operator using the external terminal whether the power plant has been activated or not.

10. The system according to claim 6, wherein the main microprocessor and the sub-microprocessor each includes a CPU, a peripheral circuit and a memory.