COMMUNAL HEATING AND POWER STATION UNIT HAVING A RECIPROCATING INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE AND HAVING AN ELECTRICAL MACHINE

1 . A communal heating and power station unit having a reciprocating internal combustion engine and having an electrical generator, which are coupled to one another by means of a shaft which transmits power, the generator having a stator and a rotor, wherein the rotor is borne in a floating manner and wherein a reciprocating internal combustion engine housing also forms the stator housing, or the stator housing is flange-connected to the reciprocating internal combustion engine housing.

2 . A use of a reciprocating internal combustion engine and of an electrical generator, which are coupled to one another by means of a shaft which transmits power, with the generator having a stator and a rotor, and with the rotor being borne in a floating manner, and with a reciprocating internal combustion engine housing also forming the stator housing, or the stator housing being flange-connected to the reciprocating internal combustion engine housing, as a communal heating and power station unit.

3 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the generator is a synchronous machine, in particular with a permanent-magnet external rotor or internal rotor.

4 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein flange elements of the stator are oriented radially outward.

5 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the stator is positioned with respect to the reciprocating internal combustion engine housing by means of dowel pins.

6 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the wall of a first end face of the reciprocating internal combustion engine housing also forms an end wall of the stator.

7 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the rotor is attached, preferably in a rotationally fixed manner, to a first, floating shaft end, which projects outward from the first end face.

8 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the rotor has no shaft.

9 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the shaft forms both the crankshaft of the reciprocating internal combustion engine and the shaft of the generator and/or rotor.

10 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the rotor is borne on one side or in a floating manner by a bearing of the crankshaft of the reciprocating internal combustion engine, in which case the bearing may have a plurality of bearing points.

11 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the crankshaft bearing is also the only bearing for the rotor.

12 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein a cooling circuit cools the reciprocating internal combustion engine and the stator at the same time, with water, oil or air preferably flowing through the cooling circuit.

13 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one cooling line of the cooling is arranged on the radially outer circumference of the stator.

14 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the rotor is cylindrical, and wherein the rotor is short, in particular with a maximum axial length of 4 cm to 6 cm, in particular 5 cm, and/or wherein the ratio of the maximum radial diameter to the maximum axial length of the rotor is greater than 4, in particular in a range from 4 to 10, preferably in a range from 5 to 7.

15 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the rotor is separated by a narrow (air) gap, in particular of a maximum of 2 cm, preferably of a maximum of 5 mm, from the first end face of the reciprocating internal combustion engine housing, such that the (bending or tilting) moment caused by the rotor on the first bearing is as small as possible.

16 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the generator is brushless.

17 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the generator can also be operated as a motor, and wherein, in the motor mode, the generator is used to start the reciprocating internal combustion engine.

18 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the reciprocating internal combustion engine and/or the generator has no separate inertia element, in particular no flywheel, or wherein no separate inertia element, in particular no flywheel, is attached to the shaft in the generator-side area leading away from the reciprocating internal combustion engine, and/or wherein an inertia element, in particular a separate inertia element and preferably a flywheel, is attached to the shaft in the area which is remote from the generator side and leads away from the reciprocating internal combustion engine.

19 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the rotor is an inertia element of the reciprocating internal combustion engine.

20 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein a bearing of the crankshaft is also the bearing of an inertia element, in particular of a flywheel.

21 . The unit or use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein, in particular, sixteen electromagnetic coils are arranged distributed uniformly over the circumference of the stator.

22 . The use as claimed in one of the preceding claims, wherein the cooling is coupled to a heat pump which transmits the heat power from the reciprocating internal combustion engine and from the generator to a thermodynamic system.