Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Masanobu Wada

Takeshi Ogata

Hiroshi Hasegawa

Takumi Hikichi

Atsuo Okaichi

Yu Shiotani

Yasufumi Takahashi

Osamu Kosuda

Masaru Matsui

Osao Kido

Masaya Honma

Shingo Oyagi

Akira Hiwata

Kentaro Shii

Tadayoshi Shoyama

Hirofumi Yoshida

Hiroaki Nakai

Masaaki Nagai

Tsuyoshi Karino

Ryuichi Ohno

Daisuke Funakosi

Takashi Morimoto

Tomoichiro Tamura

Fumitoshi Nishiwaki

Hidetoshi Taguchi

Subaru Matsumoto

Fuminori Sakima

Tetsuya Masuda

Yoshitsugu Nishiyama

Takeshi Nagata

Akira Ikeda

Masaru Yonezawa

Shu Nakao

Seishi Iitaka

A Rankine cycle apparatus includes a pump, an evaporator, an expander, a condenser, and an internal heat exchanger. The internal heat exchanger allows heat exchange to take place between a working fluid discharged from the expander and a working fluid discharged from the pump. A temperature of the working fluid at an inlet of the expander is set so that a temperature of the working fluid at an outlet of the expander be higher than a saturation temperature on a high-pressure side of the cycle.

Rankine cycle apparatus, combined heat and power system, and rankine cycle apparatus operation method

A heat transfer fin () comprises a plate-like base section (), a cylindrical collar section (), a recessed section () which has a sloped surface (), and a flare section () which, when combined with another heat transfer fin (), is in surface contact with the sloped surface () of the another heat transfer fin (). The sloped surface () of the recessed section () and the root of the collar section () are connected, the connection portion where the sloped surface () of the recessed section () and the collar section () are connected is bent at an acute angle, and the root of the collar section () reaches a position beyond a reference plane (S) which is in contact with a surface () of the base section (), the surface () being located on the side opposite the flare section ().

Heat transfer fin, heat exchanger, and refrigeration cycle device

A CHP system includes a combustor (heat source), a Rankine cycle apparatus, and a second heat exchanger. The Rankine cycle apparatus includes, as an evaporator, a first heat exchanger that absorbs thermal energy produced in the combustor. The second heat exchanger is located farther from the combustor than is the evaporator, is in direct contact with the evaporator or in indirect contact with the evaporator via a thermally-conductive member, absorbs thermal energy produced in the combustor, and transfers the thermal energy to a heat medium.

Combined heat and power system

A Rankine cycle apparatus (A) of the present disclosure includes a main circuit (), a heat exchange portion (HX), a bypass flow path (), a flow rate-adjusting mechanism (), and a pair of temperature sensors (A). The main circuit () is formed by an expander (), a condenser (), a pump (), and an evaporator () that are circularly connected in this order. The heat exchange portion (HX) is located in the main circuit () at a position between an outlet of the expander () and an inlet of the pump (). The bypass flow path () branches from the main circuit () at a position between an outlet of the evaporator () and an inlet of the expander (), and joins to the main circuit () at a position between the outlet of the expander () and an inlet of the heat exchange portion (HX). The flow rate-adjusting mechanism () adjusts the flow rate of the working fluid in the bypass flow path (). The pair of temperature sensors (A) detects temperatures of the working fluid at two positions spaced from each other in a flow direction of the working fluid.

Rankine cycle apparatus

A rotary compressor (A) includes a closed casing (), a compression mechanism (), a lower end-face plate (), and a communication hole (). An oil reservoir () is formed at the bottom of the closed casing (). The lower end-face plate () divides the oil reservoir () into a plurality of sections () and () in the vertical direction. The plurality of sections of the oil reservoir () communicate with each other through the communication hole (). The communication hole () is located on the same side as a discharge port () of the compression mechanism () with respect to a reference plane (H).

Rotary compressor

A fin-and-tube heat exchanger comprises: fins () which each have flat sections (), first sloped sections (), and second sloped sections (); and heat transfer pipes (). If a flat plane which is in contact, from the side opposite the crest of a ridge (), with the upstream end and downstream end of the first sloped sections () in the air flow direction is a reference flat plane (H), the angle between the reference flat plane (H) and each of the second sloped sections () measured in a region upstream of a through-hole in the air flow direction is &#x3b8;2, then the range of &#x3b8;2 is determined by the relationship 0&#xb0;&#x3c;&#x3b8;2&#x3c;tan[(L&#xb1;&#x3b1;)/{(S1&#x2212;D1)/2&#x2212;L/tan &#x3b8;1}].

Fin-and-tube heat exchanger and refrigeration cycle device

A Rankine cycle apparatus includes a pump, an evaporator, an expander, and a condenser. The evaporator has a plurality of heat transfer tubes arranged in rows in a flow direction of a high-temperature fluid to be heat-exchanged with a working fluid. The heat transfer tube located in a most upstream row in the flow direction of the high-temperature fluid is defined as a most upstream heat transfer tube. For example, the most upstream heat transfer tube forms an inlet of the evaporator so that the working fluid flows into the evaporator through the inlet and first passes through the most upstream heat transfer tube.

Rankine cycle apparatus and combined heat and power system

A rotary compressor () includes a closed casing (), a cylinder (), a piston (), a lower bearing member (), a vane (), a suction port (), a discharge port (), and a partition member (). The partition member () is attached to the lower bearing member () so as to form a refrigerant discharge space () serving as a flow path of a refrigerant discharged from a discharge chamber () through the discharge port (). The lower bearing member () is provided with a first recess () on the same side as the suction port () with respect to a reference plane, the reference plane being a plane including a central axis of the cylinder () and a center of the vane () when the vane () protrudes maximally toward the central axis of the cylinder (). A portion of oil stored in an oil reservoir () flows into the first recess (), and thereby an oil retaining portion () is formed.

A rotary compressor () includes a closed casing (), a cylinder (), a piston (), a lower bearing member (), a vane (), a suction port (), a discharge port (), and a partition member (). The partition member () is attached to the lower bearing member () so as to form a space enclosed by the partition member () and the lower bearing member () at a position adjacent to the lower bearing member (). A portion of an oil stored in the oil reservoir () flows into the enclosed space, and thereby an oil retaining portion () is formed. The oil retaining portion () is located on the same side as the suction port () with respect to a reference plane (H).

Rotary compressor with oil retaining portion

An electricity generation unitA includes a combustor, a heater, and a Rankine cycle circuit. The combustorcombusts a solid fuel. A combustion gas generated in the combustorpasses through a flue. The heatercontains a heat storage material, and heats the heat storage material by allowing heat exchange to take place between the combustion gas in the flueand the heat storage material. The Rankine cycle circuithas an evaporatorthat evaporates a working fluid in the Rankine cycle by allowing heat exchange to take place between the heat storage material heated in the heaterand the working fluid. With this configuration, stable operation of an electricity generation unit using a combustion gas of a solid fuel is achieved.

Electricity generation unit and cogeneration system

There may be a case where, by simply coupling the first compressor (expander compressor unit) and the second compressor with an oil-equalizing pipe, the first compressor is not lubricated sufficiently, thereby decreasing reliability. The volumetric capacity (V) of the first available oil space () of the first compressor () is set larger than the volumetric capacity (V) of the second available oil space () of the second compressor (). With this configuration, even if the oil level (S) of the first oil sump () decreases in transition to a state of steady operation, it is possible to maintain a sufficient amount of oil in the first compressor (), and thus high reliability as a fluid machine can be achieved.

Fluid machine and refrigeration cycle apparatus

A fluid machine () includes a first compressor () and a second compressor (). The first compressor () has a first closed casing (), a first compression mechanism (), an expansion mechanism (), and a shaft (). A first oil reservoir () is formed in the first closed casing (). The second compressor () has a second closed casing () and a second compression mechanism (). A second oil reservoir () is formed at a bottom portion in the second closed casing (). The first closed casing () and the second closed casing () are connected to each other by an oil passage () so that a lubricating oil can flow between the first oil reservoir () and the second oil reservoir (). An opening () of the oil passage () on a side of the first closed casing () is located above the expansion mechanism () with respect to the vertical direction. This configuration prevents the low temperature lubricating oil in a surrounding space of the expansion mechanism () and the high temperature lubricating oil in the second compressor () from flowing. Thereby, the heat transfer between the first compressor () and the second compressor () is suppressed.

An expander-compressor unit () includes a closed casing (), a compression mechanism () disposed at an upper position in the closed casing (), an expansion mechanism () disposed at a lower position in the closed casing (), a shaft () coupling the compression mechanism () to the expansion mechanism (), and an oil pump () disposed between the compression mechanism () and the expansion mechanism (). The oil pump () supplies the oil held in an oil reservoir () to the compression mechanism () via a suction passage. A strainer () is provided to the suction passage so that the oil to be drawn into the oil pump () passes through the strainer.

Expander-compressor unit

A fluid machine () includes a closed casing () in which an oil reservoir () for holding oil is formed in a bottom part. Disposed in the closed casing () are: a main compression mechanism (), for compressing a working fluid, to which the oil held the oil reservoir () is supplied; a rotary electric motor () disposed above the oil reservoir () in the closed casing (); a main compressor shaft () for coupling the main compression mechanism () and the rotary electric motor () to each other; a power recovery mechanism () for recovering motive power from the working fluid by performing a suction process for drawing the working fluid and a discharge process for discharging the drawn working fluid; a sub compression mechanism (), which is driven by the power recovery mechanism (), for compressing the working fluid and discharging the working fluid to the main compression mechanism () side; and a power recovery shaft () for coupling the power recovery mechanism () and the sub compression mechanism () to each other.

Refrigeration cycle apparatus and fluid machine used therefor

An expander-compressor unit () includes a closed casing (), a compression mechanism (), an expansion mechanism (), a shaft (), and an oil pump (). The shaft () includes an upper shaft () provided with an upper eccentric portion () for the compression mechanism (), and a lower shaft () provided with lower eccentric portions (and) for the expansion mechanism () and an intermediate eccentric portion () for the oil pump (). The expansion mechanism () has an upper bearing member () for supporting a supported portion () of the lower shaft () located immediately above the lower eccentric portion (). The intermediate eccentric portion () has a diameter equal to or less than that of the supported portion ().

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Osaka, Japan

Masanobu Wada