Microgen Energy Limited

Microgen Engine Corporation Holding B.v.

David Anthony Clark

Heather Allderidge

Wayne Kenneth Aldridge

James Robert Lowrie

Adam Richard Gregory

Julie Patricia Hyde

Stephen Michael Hasko

Joseph Le Mer

John Antony Stephenson

Frank Ferdinandi

Graham Richard Roberts

Christopher John Spenceley

Adrian Robin Richardson

George McChesney Francis

Nigel Graham Moore

Alan William McCarthy-Wyper

Trevor James Appleton

David Anthony Tokell

John Howard Alderson

Jennifer Jane Lamb

David Michael Jennaway

Adam Henry Green

A Stirling engine has a housing containing a displacer and a power piston arranged to reciprocate relatively to one another. A head is adjacent to the displacer to absorb heat, and is surrounded by a block of copper or aluminum. A substantial proportion of the block is clad with a layer of stainless steel or Inconel having a thickness of between 3 mm and 0.15 mm.

Stirling engine

An annular burner assembly having an annular burner mesh. An annular gas/air supply duct supplies a combustible gas/air mixture to the burner mesh in a substantially axial direction. A flow modifier is provided in the vicinity of the burner and has a plurality of fins each extending in a substantially radial plane to define a plurality of passages arranged circumferentially around the supply duct to substantially laminarise the gas/air mixture. The fins provide a thermal link from the burner to a location radially away from the burner. The burner assembly is particularly suited to a Stirling engine.

Annular burner assembly

This invention relates to domestic heat and power systems that allow efficient methods of operating a domestic combined heat and power (dchp) unit and to energy-efficient methods of scheduling domestic appliance operation within a household having a dchp unit. Dchp units provide heating and hot water for the home and also generate electricity for use in the home. A domestic heat and power system is provided that comprises a dchp unit, a dchp unit controller, a programmer module and an energy scheduler linked to allow communication therebetween, wherein the programmer module receives data input and generates a heating and/or hot water schedule therefrom, the dchp unit controller determines operating times of the dchp unit in accordance with the schedule and provides the operating times to the energy scheduler that then operates the domestic appliance during operating times.

Domestic heat and power system

A domestic combined heat and power system comprising a Stirling engine and water heater in the form of a supplementary burner. The exhaust gas from the Stirling engine is used to preheat combustible gas entering the Stirling engine and subsequently used to heat the water. The water heater has a helical water duct towards the periphery of a housing. Separate parts of this duct are heated, in series, by the exhaust gas from the Stirling engine and the supplementary burner firing radially outwardly through the helical duct.

Heating appliance

A wall mounted domestic combined heat and power appliance comprising housing () containing a prime mover to generate electrical power and heat output. At least one bracket () at each side of the housing mounts the housing to a wall (W). Each bracket comprises a main body which is elongate in a vertical direction and has a L-shape cross section. Each extremity of the L-shape cross section has an enlarged portion (), a first () of which provides a spacer between the main body and the housing, and a second () of which provides a spacer between the main body and the wall.

Wall mounted domestic combined heat and power appliance

A domestic combined heat and power (dchp) unit includes a Stirling engineto provide heat for a domestic dwelling along with a source of electrical power. Under normal operation, the dchp is supplied with power from the national grid. When there is an interruption in the mains power from the grid, the dchp switches into a grid independent mode wherein power is generated by the dchp and is supplied to a controllerand to a water pump so as to maintain integrity of heat supply to the dwelling; the remaining power after that is supplied to selected domestic electrically powered equipment such as lights or television sets. The invention also discloses methods for black start of the dchp during a mains power loss, and also modification of the operating voltage on start up of electrical equipment during a power loss, to prevent the Stirling engine stalling.

Domestic combined heat and power unit

A domestic combined heat and power system comprising a Stirling engine () and water heater in the form of a supplementary burner (). The exhaust gas from the Stirling engine is used to preheat combustible gas entering the Stirling engine and subsequently used to heat the water. The water heater () has a helical water duct () towards the periphery of a housing (). Separate parts of this duct are heated, in series, by the exhaust gas from the Stirling engine and the supplementary burner () firing radially outwardly through the helical duct.

A Stirling engine assembly comprising a Stirling engine () with a hot head () and a cold region (). An annular burner () surrounds the head and is arranged to provide heat to the head. A corrugated seal () between the Stirling engine and the burner prevents the flow of combustion gases from the head into the surrounding environment. The Stirling engine is supported by a mounting frame () at least in part via the seal.

Stirling engine assembly

A seal between the head of a Stirling engine () and surrounding burner assembly (). The seal comprises an annular trough () attached to one component and filled with a viscous liquid (), and an annular blade attached to the other component inserted into the viscous liquid. This forms a seal to the gas path between the engine and burner.

A Stirling engine assembly for a DCHP system. A Stirling engine () is suspended from a mounting frame () by a plurality of tension springs (). An annular absorber mass () surrounds the Stirling engine and is suspended from the engine on a plurality of resilient members () arranged asymmetrically about the main axis. The asymmetric arrangement is provided by members of different stiffnesses, or irregular spacing of the members. The absorber mass () itself may be reduced adjacent to the resilient members.

The heating appliance, and particularly a dchp system, comprising two burners (). A splitter valve () splits a stream of air () into two streams, one for each burner. Combustible fuel is mixed with the air. A controller controls the combustible fuel, and the splitter valve position, thereby controlling the portion of air fed to each burner.

A fan assembly comprising two fans () for supplying combustible gases to two burners () respectively. The flow parts from the first and second burners are combined in a common manifold. Temperature censor () detect the temperature of the gases passing through each fan, and the speed of a particular fan is increased if the temperature sensor detects reverse flow of combustion gases.

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Hugglescote, United Kingdom

David Anthony Clark