Patent Application
20240426499
The present disclosure relates to systems and equipment for setting up portable gas generators for whole house use.
Many places around the world have homes or other small buildings that use air conditioning units which sit outside the walls of the home or building. Such units generally use substantial power to run them. The air conditioning units typically have powerful compressors that are required to be turned on and off by a controller in an attempt to maintain the home at a relatively constant or desired temperature. When these compressors kick on, they typically draw large transient currents from the electrical power source.
Because places that often use air conditioning units also may be susceptible to power outages due to windstorms and the like or power outages due to other reasons, many home owners prefer to have some kind of backup gas, propane, or natural gas generator so that they may continue to run their air conditioning units even during a power outage. If the generator is large enough, the current draw required by the air conditioning unit may not be an issue, however these generators are typically very large and expensive. Many consumers prefer to buy less expensive generators with much lower power capacity and therefore, large current draws may cause these generators to fail because they can't generate enough transient power even if they can accommodate the power of the air conditioner in steady state.
Some embodiments relate to a system that includes a gas generator coupled to a gas supply and configured to generate alternating current (AC) electricity and a receptacle coupled to the gas generator and configured to receive AC electricity from the gas generator. The system also includes an interlock switch coupled to the receptacle and configured to switch to gas generator power when a power outage occurs. Further, the system includes an electrical panel coupled to the interlock switch, the electrical panel including at least one circuit breaker. Further still, the system includes an air conditioning unit, the air conditioning unit including a current reducer configured to reduce the transient current draw encountered during startup of a compressor of the air conditioning unit.
Some embodiments relate to a method of constructing a backup generator system including providing a gas-powered electrical generator, coupling a cable from the gas generator output to a receptacle and coupling an interlock switch from the receptacle to an electrical panel. The method also includes coupling an air conditioning unit to the electrical panel; and coupling a current reducer to an air conditioning unit that is electrically coupled to the electrical panel.
Some embodiments relate to a system that includes a gas generator coupled to a gas supply and configured to generate alternating current (AC) electricity. The system also includes an interlock switch coupled to the gas generator and configured to switch to gas generator power when a power outage occurs. Further, the system includes an electrical panel coupled to the interlock switch, the electrical panel including at least one circuit breaker. Further still, the system includes an air conditioning unit, the air conditioning unit including a current reducer configured to reduce the transient current draw encountered during startup of a compressor of the air conditioning unit.
The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.
Illustrative embodiments are illustrated in referenced figures of the drawings. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here.
Referring now to
It is not desirable from a cost perspective to purchase a gas generator with a higher power output only to accommodate this high transient current draw. Thus, this system incorporates a current reducer 160 which is designed to reduce the current draw by air conditioning unit 150 generally, but also is able to reduce the transient current draw by air conditioning unit 150. This unique system combines the use of a current reducer 160 to enable the use of lower power and less expensive portable gas generators to power an entire home including the use of the central air conditioning unit 150 which would otherwise not be possible. This unique combination of hardware enables an unexpected and advantageous system to be set up that was not before possible. This unique combination of hardware brings lower priced and simpler whole house backup generator systems to homeowners that was never before possible unless they were to completely turn off their central air conditioning systems.
In some embodiments of system 100, a carbon monoxide (CO) or carbon dioxide (CO2) sensor may be incorporated as part of the system to provide some security to the homeowner that while running the gas generator 110, fumes from the exhaust are not entering the home at a dangerous level of concentration. Such a CO or CO2 monitor may provide any of a variety of alarms including audible, visible, notifications to smartphones or other information displays, or to automatic shut off devices.
Referring now to
In some instances, one or more components may be referred to herein as “configured to,” “configured by,” “configurable to,” “operable/operative to,” “adapted/adaptable,” “able to,” “conformable/conformed to,” etc. Those skilled in the art will recognize that such terms (e.g. “configured to”) generally encompass active-state components and/or inactive-state components and/or standby-state components, unless context requires otherwise.
While particular aspects of the present subject matter described herein have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modifications may be made without departing from the subject matter described herein and its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to claims containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that typically a disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms unless context dictates otherwise. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be typically understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”
With respect to the appended claims, those skilled in the art will appreciate that recited operations therein may generally be performed in any order. Also, although various operational flows are presented in a sequence(s), it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated or may be performed concurrently. Examples of such alternate orderings may include overlapping, interleaved, interrupted, reordered, incremental, preparatory, supplemental, simultaneous, reverse, or other variant orderings, unless context dictates otherwise. Furthermore, terms like “responsive to,” “related to,” or other past-tense adjectives are generally not intended to exclude such variants, unless context dictates otherwise.
While the disclosed subject matter has been described in terms of illustrative embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the claimed subject matter as set forth in the claims.
