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AssigneeSavco, Inc.
InventorsWilliam Foulks Meyers, Oleg Serge Savinov
Estimating the term…
Instead of supplying all electrical current for residences or similar buildings from a single central station by way of distribution power lines, each building is also provided with its own engine-driven electrical generator the output terminals of which are connected to the power lines. The heat from the engine in each building is used in satisfying the thermal load for that building, for example to heat the building and the domestic hot water, and/or to supply heat for heat-input forms of air conditioners or refrigerators. Thermostatic control is used to turn the engine on and off as needed to perform its heating function. The electrical current generated while the engine is running is used to supply part or all of the electrical load in the building, and any excess is supplied to the distribution power lines. A two-way watt-hour meter registers the net electrical power flow in or out of the building to enable securing of credit for the current delivered to the power lines from each building. The local generators are enabled by their connection to centrally-activated power lines, so that upon a shutdown of the central station or a break in the lines to central, any local generator connected to the then-deactivated power lines will automatically be prevented from delivering current to the power lines, as a protection to persons who may be working with the supposedly "dead" lines. This system produces significant improvements in the efficiency of use of fuel in producing electrical and thermal energy, and reduces thermal pollution of the environment.
In a power generating and distributing system including central station means for generating electrical power, local user installations having electrical loads requiring electrical power and having useful time-varying thermal loads requiring thermal power, and distribution power lines for interconnecting said central station means and said electrical loads at said local user installations, the improvement comprising:
The method of generating and delivering electrical and thermal power to local electrical and thermal loads at a plurality of user installations interconnected by electrical power lines supplied from central power station means, comprising:
A heating system comprising electrical generator means, means for connecting the electrical output of said generator to distribution power lines, engine means for driving said generator means, heat exchange means for delivering to a heat load heat generated by operation of said engine means and generator means, and control means for automatically controlling the operation of said engine means in response to the heat demand of said heat load so that said delivered heat matches the heat demand of said heat load and in a manner to vary the electrical output of said electrical generator means in the same sense as said heat generated by said engine means and said generator means, whereby substantially all of said generated heat and electrical output are usefully employed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.