Apparatus and method for producing sustainable power and heat

Abstract

An integrated system provides electricity and heat from solar, waste heat, biomass and fossil fuel energy. The system operates with a volatile organic working fluid that circulates in a variable speed heat engine type cycle, that is heated either to its boiling point, to a saturated state or above its boiling point, or to a superheated gas state, expanded through an expander, with working fluid injected therein such that the fluid exiting the expander is cooled in a condenser in thermal communication with a facility's domestic hot water, space heating or process heating systems, and circulated by a pump. Heat exchange loops define hot water production capability for use in a facility while a generator is coupled to the expander to produce electricity and is connected to the utility grid at fixed frequency and voltage in either a paralleling or island mode.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates generally to the onsite production of heat and power from sustainable resources such as solar, waste heat and biomass system for the supply of electrical power, domestic hot water and space heating operating either in parallel or in isolation from the central grid, and more specifically, to a modular, scalable systems that enables maximum harvesting of solar energy, waste heat energy and heat from the combustion of fuel, to produce electrical power and useable heat in a closed loop heat engine cycle using a volatile organic working fluid in a system dynamically responsive to the source temperature, sink temperature, facility's electrical and thermal loads and ambient conditions.[0002]In recent years, six major trends have emerged that are reshaping the energy industry. First, millions of consumers have experienced more frequent, more prolonged and more devastating electrical outages from failure of the central grid cause...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0020]It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus which will maximize the overall energy efficiency of the energy process of harvesting and converting solar energy to usable electrical power and heat, while overcoming the disadvantages and drawbacks of known methods of solar photovoltaic, solar thermal electric, and solar thermal systems.

[0023]Still another object of the invention is to provide an integrated method and apparatus for optimizing the conversion of heat energy into electrical power and minimizing the power losses from the expansion of the working fluid to a superheated condition.

Problems solved by technology

While the above-described systems fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned systems do not describe a system that uses beneficial portions of the Rankine and Carnot cycles to produce electricity and heat at minimal amounts of energy.

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