The present invention relates to a power plant construction that is configured to accommodate an internal combustion engine and a generator driven by the in- ternal combustion engine, as defined in claim 1.

Background of the invention

Power plants that are based on internal combustion engines and generators that are driven by the internal combustion engines provide a flexible solution to power demand for example in power grids where the power demand may change rap idly or where the power supply varies due to the varying availability of solar power, wind power or other renewable energy. Such power plants are also con venient as emergency power plants, as the engines can be started up quickly.

Power plants can often be constructed using standard engines and generators that do not require significant customization. However, the engines and the gen erators also need a building to protect the engine and the generator, and plan ning and construction of the building can form a significant part of a power plant project. There is thus a need for a power plant construction, which makes power plant projects simpler and shorter.

Summary of the invention

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved power plant con struction that is configured to accommodate an internal combustion engine and a generator driven by the internal combustion engine. The characterizing fea- tures of the power plant construction according to the invention are given in claim

1 .

A power plant construction according to the invention comprises a front wall, a rear wall, a first side wall and a second side wall, the walls of the power plant construction being constructed as modular walls, each modular wall comprising at least two wall modules arranged one upon the other, the wall modules being self-supporting modules having a shape of a rectangular prism, and the wall modules arranged one upon the other forming a self-supporting wall, wherein one or more wall modules of the front wall or the rear wall of the power plant construction is provided with a fluid connection for a corresponding wall module of an adjacent power plant construction.

Because of the self-supporting wall modules, the powerplant construction can be erected quickly using pre-fabricated modules. The fluid connection can be, for instance, a connection for lube oil, cooling liquid and/or fresh water. The fluid connection allows connecting auxiliary systems of the engines of adjacent power plant constructions to a common fluid circuit.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the fluid connection is a connec tion for lube oil, cooling liquid and/or fresh water.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a pipe for supplying fluid to a fluid connection is arranged within the wall module.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the fluid connection is arranged in an end wall of the wall module.

According to an embodiment of the invention, each modular wall comprises three wall modules arranged one upon the other. With three stacked wall mod ules, the power plant construction can be made high enough for accommodating a large engine and a generator, but the height of the wall modules can be kept low enough to allow easy transportation of the wall modules.

According to an embodiment of the invention, each wall module is configured to fit into a standardized intermodal container, such as a 40-foot high-cube con tainer. This allows easy transportation of the wall modules. The containers also protect the wall modules until the construction of the power plant.

According to an embodiment of the invention, each wall module comprises a steel frame.

According to an embodiment of the invention, at least one side wall of each wall module comprises a sound insulating panel.

A power plant according to the invention comprises at least two power plant constructions defined above arranged adjacent to each other. According to an embodiment of the invention, a connecting pipe connects fluid connections of the wall modules of adjacent front walls or rear walls

According to an embodiment of the invention, a side wall at one end of the power plant is provided with equipment serving all the engines of the power plant. According to an embodiment of the invention, a water tank for supplying water to cooling water systems of the engines is arranged within the side wall at one end of the power plant.

According to an embodiment of the invention, two adjacent power plant con structions share a common side wall. This reduces the space needed for the power plant and also decreases investment costs of the power plant.

According to an embodiment of the invention, one or more wall modules of the common side wall comprises equipment serving both engines of the adjacent power plant constructions.

According to an embodiment of the invention, each power plant construction of the power plant is arranged on a foundation frame that is made of steel beams. The foundation frame ensures that all the walls of a power plant construction are arranged at the same level. The foundation frame also helps positioning of the walls, which speeds up the construction of the power plant. The foundation frame can be designed to allow easy expansion of a power plant by adding new power plant constructions adjacent to the existing power plant constructions.

Brief description of the drawings

Embodiments of the invention are described below in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 shows a front view of a power plant according to an embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 2 shows a rear view of the power plant of figure 1 ,

Fig. 3 shows a power plant without front walls,

Fig. 4 shows a cross-sectional top view of part of a power plant Fig. 5 shows one side wall of a power plant construction according to an embod iment of the invention,

Fig. 6 shows an inside view of a power plant according to an embodiment of the invention, Fig. 7 shows an example of a wall module of a power plant construction,

Fig. 8 shows a foundation frame for a power plant construction before concrete pouring, and

Fig. 9 shows the foundation frame of figure 8 after concrete pouring.

Description of embodiments of the invention

The figures show different views of parts of power plants comprising power plant constructions 10 according to embodiments of the invention. Figures 1-4 and 6 show part of a power plant comprising three power plant constructions 10. Flow- ever, a power plant can comprise a single power plant construction according to the invention. The power plant construction 10 according to the invention is con figured to accommodate an internal combustion engine 5 and a generator 6 driven by the engine 5. An engine hall is thus formed within the power plant construction 10. The engine 5 is a large piston engine having a rated power of at least 150 kw per cylinder. The cylinder diameter of the engine is at least 150 mm. The engine 5 can comprise any reasonable number of cylinders, which can be arranged, for instance, in line or in a V-configuration. The engine 5 and the generator 6 form part of a power plant, which produces electric power. The power plant can be connected to a public power-distribution network, or it can produce electricity for example for an industrial plant or a mine. The power plant can function as a main power source of a power-distribution network, in which case it can be operated mainly at the rated power. Alternatively, the main func tion of the power plant can be balancing of the power supply and power demand in a power-distribution network, in which case the ability of internal combustion engines to quickly adapt to changing load is utilized. The power plant could also be used as an emergency power plant, which can be started up when normal power supply in a power-distribution network is cut. The power plant construction 10 comprises a front wall 1 , a rear wall 2, a first side wall 3 and a second side wall 4. The rear wall 2 is arranged opposite to the front wall 1 and the second side wall 4 is arranged opposite to the first side wall 3. The front wall 1 , rear wall 2 and side walls 3, 4 form a closed perimeter, which delimits a space for accommodating an engine 5 and a generator 6. The power plant construction 10 is configured to accommodate one internal combustion engine 5 and one generator 6 that is coupled to the engine 5. The shaft of the generator 6 is aligned with the shaft of the engine 5. The axial direction of the shafts of the engine 5 and the generator 6 is the axial direction of the engine- generator set (genset) formed by the engine 5 and the generator 6. The power plant construction 10 is configured to accommodate the genset so that the lon gitudinal direction of the side walls 3, 4 is parallel to the axial direction of the genset. The side walls 3, 4 are longer than the front wall 1 and the rear wall 2. In the embodiments of the figures, the generator 6 is arranged close to the front wall 1 of the power plant construction 10. The driving end of the engine 5 thus faces the front wall 1 .

The power plant construction 10 further comprises a roof 9. The roof 9 is sup ported by the first side wall 3 and the second side wall 4. Radiators 1 1 are ar ranged above the roof 9 of the power plant construction 10. The radiators 1 1 are supported by a support frame 12. In the embodiments of the figures, the support frame 12 is supported by the first side wall 3 and the second side wall 4. The radiators 1 1 are configured to cool down cooling water of the engine 5.

The walls 1 , 2, 3, 4 of the power plant construction 10 are modular walls. Each wall 1 , 2, 3, 4 of the power plant construction 10 is made of wall modules 1 a, 2a, 3a, 4a, 1 b, 2b, 3b, 4b, 1 c, 2c, 3c, 4c. In the embodiments of the figures, each wall 1 , 2, 3, 4 comprises three wall modules. Each wall module has a shape of a rectangular prism. The shape of the wall modules thus resembles the shape of a container, such as the shape of a ship container. Each wall module has a bottom, top, two sides and two ends. The bottom of the wall module faces down wards in the intended use of the wall module. The top of the wall module is located opposite to the bottom. The ends of the wall module are located opposite to each other and the sides are located opposite to each other. The sides are longer than the ends. At least one side of each wall module is closed. Each wall module is thus provided with at least one side wall. Alternatively, one or more wall panels can be arranged in the middle of the wall module for dividing the wall module in the longitudinal direction into two or more compartments. Depending on the wall module, the top of the wall module can be either open or closed. Also the bottom can be either open or closed. The wall module can thus comprise a floor and/or a roof. With wall modules having an open bottom or top, equipment requiring in the vertical direction more space than is available within one wall module can be accommodated within the front wall 1 , rear wall 2 or a side wall 3, 4. In the embodiments of the figures, the ends of the wall modules are closed. The wall modules are thus provided with end walls. One or more of the side walls and/or the end walls of a wall module can be provided with a door. The floor and/or roof of a wall module can be provided with a hatch or a manhole.

The wall modules are self-supporting structures. The wall modules can be stacked upon each other without a need for additional support structures. The wall modules can be provided with fastening elements for fastening an upper wall module to a lower wall module. The stacked wall modules thus form a self- supporting wall. In the embodiments of the figures, each wall 1 , 2, 3, 4 is made of one stack of wall modules. Each wall 1 , 2, 3, 4 is configured to stand inde pendently of the other walls. The walls can thus be erected in any order. The wall modules can be provided with fastening elements for fastening the front wall 1 and the rear wall 2 to the side walls 3, 4.

Each wall module 1 a, 2a, 3a, 4a, 1 b, 2b, 3b, 4b, 1 c, 2c, 3c, 4c comprises a frame that is made of steel elements. The frame can be a welded steel structure. Each closed surface of a wall module can be made of one or more panels, which can be, for example, sandwich structures and/or made of a composite material. At least one of the side walls of each wall module comprises a sound-insulating panel 21 . If both sides of a wall module are closed, both sides can be made of sound-insulating panels. Also the ends, bottom and/or roof of the wall module can comprise sound-insulating panels. The wall panels can also be fire resistant. Each engine hall can thus form an own fire compartment.

All the wall modules are configured to fit into an intermodal container determined in an ISO standard. One 40-foot long high-cube container, i.e. a container having external height of 9 feet 6 inches can receive one wall module. Because the wall modules can be fit into standardized containers, they are easy to transport to a power plant construction site.

The front wall 1 of the power plant construction 10 comprises a first wall module 1 a, which is the lowermost wall module, a second wall module 1 b arranged on top of the first wall module 1 a and a third wall module 1 c, which is arranged on top of the second wall module 1 b and forms the uppermost wall module. The rear wall 2, the first side wall 3 and the second side wall 4 comprise in a similar way a first wall module 2a, 3a, 4a, a second wall module 2b, 3b, 4b and a third wall module 2c, 3c, 4c. All the first wall modules 1 a, 2a, 3a, 4a have the same height with each other, all the second wall modules 1 b, 2b, 3b, 4b have the same height with each other and all the third wall modules 1 c, 2c, 3c, 4c have the same height with each other. All the wall modules 1 a, 1 b, 1 c of the front wall 1 have the same width and length with each other, all the wall modules 2a, 2b, 2c of the rear wall 2 have the same width and length with each other, all the wall modules 3a, 3b, 3c of the first side wall 3 have the same width and length with each other, and all the wall modules 4a, 4b, 4c of the second side wall 4 have the same width and length with each other. The wall modules 3a, 3b, 3c, 4a, 4b, 4c of the side walls 3, 4 are longer than the wall modules 1 a, 1 b, 1 c, 2a, 2b, 2c of the front wall 1 and the rear wall 2.

The power plant construction 10 further comprises an air outlet channel 13. The air outlet channel 13 is arranged at the front end of the power plant construction 10 and extends upwards from the front wall 1 . The air outlet channel 13 is con figured to ventilate the engine hall. An air inlet 14 for the intake air of the engine 5 is arranged at the rear end of the power plant construction 10. The air inlet 14 is in a side wall of the second wall module 2b, i.e. the middle wall module of the rear wall 2. The air inlet 14 is provided with filters for filtering the intake air. Also an exhaust outlet 15 is arranged at the rear end. The exhaust outlet 15 is in a side wall of the third, i.e. the uppermost wall module 2c of the rear wall 2. Via the exhaust outlet 15, exhaust gas from the engine 5 is conducted out of the power plant construction 10.

As shown in figures 1-4 and 6, one power plant can comprise several power plant constructions, in the example of the figures three. Each power plant con struction 10 comprises one engine 5 and a generator 6 coupled to the engine 5. Each engine 5 is provided with an exhaust duct, which is brought via the exhaust outlet 15 of the power plant construction 10 out from the engine hall and con nected to a chimney (not shown). Two adjacent power plant constructions 10 share a common side wall 3, 4. A first side wall 3 of one power plant construction 10 thus forms a second side wall 4 of another power plant construction 10. One or more wall modules of a common side wall 3, 4 can comprise equipment that serve two engines 5. Due to the shared side walls 3, 4, the space required by the power plant is smaller, less time is needed for the construction work and the investment cost is lower. A side wall 3, 4 at one end of the power plant can comprise equipment serving all the engines 5 of the power plant. For instance, a wall module can comprise a maintenance water tank and/or related devices for supplying water to cooling water systems of the engines 5 of the power plant constructions 10. The water tank or other equipment can extend inside two or more wall modules of the side wall 3, 4. A lower wall module can thus have an open top and an upper wall module can have an open bottom to accommodate equipment that cannot be fit in the vertical direction within a single wall module.

Figure 7 shows an example of a first wall module 3c of a first side wall 3. The wall module 3a is provided with two maintenance water tanks 28, which are ar ranged to supply water to cooling water systems of all the engines 5 of a power plant. The wall module 3a is part of a first side wall 3 at one end of a power plant that comprises at least two power plant constructions 10. Because the mainte nance water tanks 28 are arranged at one end of the power plant, the wall mod ules between the power plant constructions 10 and at the other end of the power plant can comprise other equipment that serve an engine in an adjacent power plant construction 10.

The engines 5 of adjacent power plant constructions 10 can share some auxil iary systems and/or the auxiliary systems of the engines can be connected to each other, to a common control system, or to a system supplying, for example, low-voltage power, medium-voltage power, water or compressed air. One or more wall modules of the front wall 1 and/or the rear wall 2 can be provided with one or more fluid connections for an adjacent power plant construction 10. A wall module can comprise a fluid connection for instance for lube oil, com pressed air and/or water. Figure 4 shows an embodiment of the invention, where a wall module 2a of the rear wall 2 of each power plant construction 10 of the power plant comprises connections for the water of the maintenance water tanks 28. A water pipe 29 is arranged within the first wall module 2a of each rear wall 2. The water pipe 29 connects a water inlet 30 at one end of the wall module 2a to a water outlet 31 at the opposite end of the wall module 2a. A connecting pipe 32 connects the water outlet 31 of a wall module 2a to a water inlet 30 of a wall module 2a of an adjacent power plant construction 10. Water from the mainte nance water tanks 28 can thus be conducted within the wall modules 2a of the rear walls 2 to each engine 5 of the power plant. Pipes for lube oil and compressed air are arranged in a similar way within the first wall modules 2a of the rear wall 2.

Figures 5 and 6 show embodiments of the invention, where the power plant con struction 10 is provided with an overhead crane 8. The overhead crane can also be referred to as a bridge crane. The overhead crane 8 comprises a bridge girder 16, which supports a trolley 17. The trolley 17 is configured to be moveable along the bridge girder 16. The overhead crane 8 comprises an electric motor for mov ing the trolley 17 along the bridge girder 16. The trolley 17 carries a hoist, which is used for lifting and lowering a hook that is suspended by means of one or more ropes, which are typically steel wires. The overhead crane 8 can be used for maintenance and repair of the engine 5, generator 6 and other equipment. For instance, turbochargers, cylinder heads or other heavy items can be lifted by means of the crane 8. If the crane 8 is installed before the engine 5 and the generator 6, the crane 8 could also be used during the installation of the engine 5 and the generator 6, for example for lifting parts that are within the lifting ca pacity of the crane 8.

Each end of the bridge girder 16 is supported by means of a runway beam 7. The bridge girder 16 is configured to be moveable along the runway beams 7. The crane 8 comprises one or more electric motors for moving the bridge girder 16. The runway beams 7 are arranged in the third wall modules 3c, 4c of the first side wall 3 and the second side wall 4. In the embodiments of figures 5 and 6, the inner side of the third wall module 3c, 4c is open. The wall modules 3c, 4c comprise support columns 20 for supporting the runway beams 7 in the vertical direction. The runway beam 7 can form part of the frame of the wall module 3c, 4c. The runway beams 7 can thus be structural elements of the wall modules 3c, 4c, and no additional support structures for the runway beams 7 are needed. By integrating the runway beams 7 to the wall modules 3c, 4c, work at a con struction site of a power plant is simplified. By arranging the runway beams 7 inside the wall modules 3c, 4c, the space within the engine hall can be effectively utilized. The trolley 17 can move close to the inner walls of the engine hall, and the crane 8 can be operated even in the vicinity of the walls.

In the embodiment of figure 6, two adjacent power plant constructions 10 share a common side wall 3, 4. Therefore, the third wall module 3c, 4c between two adjacent power plant constructions 10 comprises two beams 7, each beam func tioning as a runway beam for one overhead crane 8. Both sides of the third wall module 3, 4 are open. However, wall panels 22 are arranged between the run way beams 7. The wall panels 22 can be sound-insulating panels. By means of the wall panels 22, the engine halls formed within adjacent power plant construc tions can be separated from each other.

The third wall modules 3c, 4c can be provided with removable wall panels. This allows expanding a power plant by adding a new power plant construction 10 adjacent to an existing power plant construction. A side wall 3, 4 of the existing power plant construction can form a side wall 3, 4 of the new power plant con struction. The third wall module 3c, 4c of the side wall 3, 4 of the existing power plant construction can comprise a runway beam 7 for the new power plant con struction.

Figures 8 and 9 show a foundation frame 23 for a power plant construction. The foundation frame 23 is arranged on a concrete slab 24. The concrete slab 24 is arranged on ground. The foundation frame 23 comprises supporting beams 25 and stiffening beams 26. The supporting beams 25 are configured to support the first wall modules 1 a, 2a, 3a, 4a of the walls 1 , 2, 3, 4 of a power plant construction 10. The stiffening beams 26 are configured to stiffen the foundation frame 23. The supporting beams 25 and the stiffening beams 26 are steel beams, such as I-beams. The foundation frame 23 can be a welded structure. After the foundation frame 23 has been installed on the concrete slab 24, a space within and around the foundation frame 23 is filled with concrete. Con crete is poured up to the level of the upper surfaces of the supporting beams 25. The upper surfaces of the supporting beams 25 remain visible, as shown in fig ure 9. In the embodiment of the figures, the stiffening beams 26 are covered by the concrete. The supporting beams 25 of the foundation frame 23 form four subframes 23a, 23b, 23c, 23d, one subframe for each wall 1 , 2, 3, 4 of the power plant construction 10. The shape of each subframe 23a, 23b, 23c, 23d corre sponds to the shape of the bottom of the first wall module 1 a, 2a, 3a, 4a of the respective wall 1 , 2, 3, 4. The subframes are thus rectangular-shaped. Each corner of each subframe is provided with anchoring pins 27, which protrude up wards from the upper surfaces of the supporting beams 25. The anchoring pins 27 facilitate positioning of the first wall modules 1 a, 2a, 3a, 4a. The first wall modules 1 a, 2a, 3a, 4a can be attached to the foundation frame 23 by means of the anchoring pins 27. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but may vary within the scope of the ap pended claims.