Engine operated machine system

Details Engine operated machine system Engine operated machine system

2002-12-23

2004-08-17

Denion, Thomas (Department: 3748)

Power plants

Fluid motor means driven by waste heat or by exhaust energy...

C123S002000, C123S041140, C237S012100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06775981

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an engine operated machine system including an engine and a working machine driven by the engine, which are accommodated in a box-shaped case. In particular, the present invention relates to an improvement in an engine operated machine system suitable for a case where a waste-heat recovery unit for recovering the waste heat of the engine is accommodated in a case, as in a cogeneration system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In solving environmental problems, recovery and utilization of waste heat discharged from an engine by a cogeneration system and the like has recently attracted public attention. In an engine operated machine system including a waste-heat recovery unit, such as a cogeneration system, all devices that include an engine, a working machine, and a waste-heat recovery unit are completely covered by a box-shaped case in consideration of the operational noises emitted to the surrounding environment, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-46741.
In the engine operated machine system disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-46741, a ventilating fan and a ventilation port are provided in order to cool the devices within the case. In terms of recovering the waste heat discharged by the engine, the lowered temperature within the case leads to a heat loss, and energy needed to drive the ventilating fan results in an overall increase in energy consumption. In making the overall structure compact for accommodating the electrical equipment needed to control the engine and the working machine within the box-shaped case, the thermal influence from the engine and the working machine must be prevented from affecting the electrical equipment. However, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-46741 does not disclose any such thermal influence preventing measures.
In contrast, the Applicants of the present invention have already achieved a cogeneration system, wherein the inside of a case is vertically divided into an upper chamber and a lower chamber to cut off the flow of air. An engine, a working machine, and a waste-heat recovery unit are accommodated in the lower chamber, while components, such as an electric control device needed to avoid the thermal influence from the engine and working machine, are accommodated in the upper chamber. As a result, waste heat from the engine is sufficiently recovered to enhance energy recovery efficiency, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-132564.
However, with the arrangement of the engine operated machine system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-132564, it is difficult in some cases to appropriately maintain the temperature within the case. In addition, a partition wall is required to be disposed at a particular location in order to appropriately maintain the temperature within the case. In addition, the partition wall is disposed at a location closest to a high-temperature portion of the lower chamber. As a result, a feature to help avoid the influence of the heat transmitted to the upper chamber through the partition wall is required in response to conditions of temperature setting and the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-described drawbacks of the Related Art.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an engine operated machine system which easily prevents a thermal influence from affecting the components which must avoid the thermal influence in order to provide enhanced waste-heat recovery efficiency.
To achieve the above objects, there is provided an engine operated machine system including an engine, a working machine driven by the engine, and a waste-heat recovery unit for recovering the waste heat of the engine. The components of the engine operated machine system are accommodated in a box-shaped case. The box-shaped case is provided with a partition wall that partitions the inside of the case into a working-machine accommodating chamber that accommodates the engine, the working machine and the waste-heat recovery unit, and an electrical-equipment accommodating chamber. The partition wall has a draft bore which connects the working-machine accommodating chamber to the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber. The case is also provided with a cooling-air intake port connecting the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber to the outside or atmosphere, a discharge port for forcibly discharging, to the outside, air discharged from the working-machine accommodating chamber by a fan driven by the engine, and an assist fan disposed in the draft bore and adapted to be operated, in response to the temperature in the working-machine accommodating chamber exceeding a predetermined value, to feed the air in the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber into the working-machine accommodating chamber.
With the arrangement of the above-described feature, when the temperature in the working-machine accommodating chamber is equal to or lower than the predetermined value, the assist fan disposed in the draft bore is not operated and functions as a draft resistance. Thus, an excessive amount of air does not flow from the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber into the working-machine accommodating chamber, and the amount of the air forcibly discharged by the fan driven by the engine only flows from the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber into the working-machine accommodating chamber. Therefore, the temperature in the working-machine accommodating chamber is prevented from being lowered excessively, thereby enhancing the efficiency of recovery of the waste heat energy. Only when the temperature in the working-machine accommodating chamber exceeds the predetermined value does the assist fan feed the cooling air into the working-machine accommodating chamber, thereby preventing the temperature in the working-machine accommodating chamber from rising excessively. Moreover, the cooling air flows through the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber into the working-machine accommodating chamber, that is, the components in the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber are cooled by the cooling air having a relatively low temperature.
According to a second feature of the present invention, the partition wall extends vertically, and the draft bore is provided in a lower portion of the vertically extending partition wall. With this arrangement, because the partition wall extends vertically, the temperature of the partition wall itself is suppressed to be lower relative to a partition wall that vertically partitions the inside of the case so that the amount of heat transmitted through the partition wall to the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber is decreased. Therefore, it is easy to appropriately maintain the surrounding temperature in the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber.
According to a third feature of the present invention, at least the engine of the engine and working machine driven by the engine is supported on a bottom of the case with buffer members interposed therebetween, and the assist fan is mounted to the partition wall so that it blows the air within the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber toward the buffer members. With this arrangement, the air from the assist fan, which is operated in response to the temperature in the working-machine accommodating chamber exceeding the predetermined value, is blown to the buffer members. As a result, it is easy to suppress the temperature of the buffer members which are liable to be thermally influenced within an acceptable temperature range.
According to a fourth feature of the present invention, the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber has a labyrinth-shaped intake passage defined therein for guiding the air from the cooling-air intake port to an upper portion of the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber and then guiding the air through the electrical-equipment accommodating chamber to the dra

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