Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Sanyo Electronic Co., Ltd.

Masaaki Konoto

Atsuo Okaichi

Takumi Hikichi

Osao Kido

Noriyoshi Nishiyama

Yoshio Tomigashi

Osamu Kosuda

Tetsuya Matsuyama

Subaru Matsumoto

Kazuhiro Seo

Masaya Fujii

Kunihisa Sekiguchi

Hiroshi Kurokawa

Masahiro Makino

Koichiro Esaka

Tetsuya Mutsuyama

An air cooling unit is an air cooling unit used in a Rankine cycle system and includes an expander and a condenser. The expander recovers energy from a working fluid by expanding the working fluid. The condenser cools the working fluid using air. The air cooling unit includes a heat-transfer reducer that reduces heat transfer between the expander and an air path.

Air cooling unit

A combined heat and power system according the present disclosure includes a Rankine cycle apparatus including an evaporator that heats a working fluid by heat exchange between the working fluid and a heat source medium, an expansion machine that converts expansion power of the working fluid into rotational power, and a condenser that cools the working fluid by heat exchange between the working fluid and a heat medium, and a thermal circuit for using the heat medium heated by the condenser. An expansion volume ratio of the expansion machine is equal to or less than an expansion ratio in a theoretical Rankine cycle determined based on a state of a temperature and a pressure of the working fluid at a discharge port of the expansion machine and a state of a temperature and a pressure of the working fluid at a suction port of the expansion machine.

Combined heat and power system including expander having expansion volume ratio equal to or less than that of theoretical rankine cycle

A thermal power generation apparatus includes a control circuit that selects a single operation mode from among a plurality of modes including a normal mode and a specific mode on the basis of a voltage in a commercial system. The normal mode is an operation mode in which alternating-current power output from an inverter is adjusted so that a direct-current voltage in a direct-current power line follows a target voltage. The specific mode is an operation mode in which direct-current power absorbed by an electric power absorber and/or the amount of heat per unit time supplied to a heat engine are/is adjusted so that the direct-current voltage follows the target voltage.

Thermal power generation apparatus and thermal power generation system

A permanent magnet synchronous machine includes a rotor including a core body and an overhang protruding further in an axial direction than a core of a stator. An end surface of the core body includes an N-region disposed on a north pole and an S-region disposed on a south pole. The overhang includes first permanent magnets arranged along an outer edge of the end surface with distances therebetween and a plurality of second permanent magnets disposed on the end surface and adjacent to the first permanent magnets. The first permanent magnets include at least one of a permanent magnet comprising a north pole facing the N-region and a permanent magnet comprising a south pole facing the S-region. The second permanent magnets are provided in the configuration which causes the second permanent magnets to generate a magnetic flux extending from the S-region toward the N-region.

Permanent magnet synchronous machine

A Rankine cycle device in the present disclosure includes an evaporator as a heater, an expander, a cooler, a first temperature sensor, a second temperature sensor, and a control device. The first temperature sensor detects a temperature of the working fluid flowing from an outlet of the heater to an inlet of the expander in the circuit of the working fluid. The second temperature sensor detects a temperature of the working fluid flowing from an outlet of the expander to an inlet of the cooler. The controller controls a number of rotation of the expander based on a difference between a detected temperature of the first temperature sensor and a detected temperature of the second temperature sensor.

Rankine cycle device

A power generation control system includes a converter and a controller. The converter controls a generator of a Rankine cycle system, the Rankine cycle system including an expander, the generator, which is interconnected to the expander, a pump which feeds a working fluid, and an evaporator which evaporates a working fluid. The controller causes the converter to execute, in at least one of a startup operation and a shutdown operation of the Rankine cycle system, first control in at least one of a startup operation and a shutdown operation of the Rankine cycle system such that the expander is prevented from expanding a working fluid if the working fluid at an outlet of the evaporator contains a liquid component while the pump is operating.

Power generation control system, power generation apparatus, and control method for rankine cycle system

A fuel cell system according to the invention comprises a fuel cell stack, a fuel feeder that supplies the fuel cell stack with fuel, a rechargeable battery that is an electric storage device, a bidirectional DC/DC converter that selectively performs an operation of converting the output voltage of the rechargeable battery into a predetermined voltage and then outputting it (a discharge operation), or an operation of charging the rechargeable battery using the electric power outputted from the fuel cell stack (a charge operation), and a mode control circuit. The mode control circuit detects the output voltage of the fuel cell stack so that, when it is higher than the set value, the mode control circuit makes the bidirectional DC/DC converter perform the charge operation; when it is not higher than the set value, the mode control circuit makes the bidirectional DC/DC converter perform the discharge operation.

Fuel cell system

Provided is a contactless power receiving unit which has a simple configuration, and which is capable of generating constant induced electromotive force regardless of the orientation of a power receiving coil. Multiple power receiving coils are arranged to form certain relative angles to one another in a parallel magnetic field generated by a power supply unit. A rectifier circuit is connected to each power receiving coil. An adder circuit is configured to add DC power obtained, through the rectifier circuits, from the multiple power receiving coils, and to output resultant DC power of the addition.

Contactless power receiving unit and electronic device employing the same

A fuel cell system of the present invention includes a fuel cell stack, a fuel feeder that provides the fuel cell stack with fuel, a fuel cell DC/DC converter that converts the output voltage of the fuel cell stack to a predetermined voltage and then outputs it, a rechargeable battery that is an electric storage device, and a rechargeable battery DC/DC converter that converts the output voltage of the rechargeable battery to a predetermined voltage and then outputs it. The setting of a voltage at a node at which an output end of the fuel cell DC/DC converter and an output end of the rechargeable battery DC/DC converter are connected together is changeable, and the rechargeable battery is detachable. As a result, the fuel cell system of the present invention has high versatility.

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Masaaki Konoto