Method of charging fuel costs among the various apartments in an apartment house or the like and suitable devices in this connection

Claim 1

A method for an equitable allocation of heating costs in an apartment building or the like equipped with a central heating plant common to a number of individual consumers (apartments), characterized in that the allocation of said costs is made dependent on the heat comfort really enjoyed by the consumers concerned by being based upon a representative instantaneous value of the air temperature (average temperature) in the apartment in question, said method comprising the steps of determining said temperature value by electric measurement with means highly sensitive to temperature changes and placed at one or more suitable points in the apartment concerned, weighting said temperature value with respect to the room area represented, thereafter integrating the obtained average temperature by passing the measured value via a signal converter to an electric integrating device, the output value of which determines in conjunction with the apartment area the part each individual consumer has in the total heating costs for the apartment building, said integration covering the whole heating season and the temperature measuring device being arranged to switch on and off simultaneously with the electrical equipment for the central heating plant.

Claim 2

A method for an equitable allocation of heating costs in an apartment building or the like equipped with a central heating plant common to a number of individual consumers (apartments), characterized in that the allocation of said costs is made dependent on the heat comfort really enjoyed by the consumers concerned by being based upon a representative instantaneous value of the air temperature (average temperature) in the apartment in question, said method comprising the steps of determining said temperature value by electric measurement with means highly sensitive to temperature changes and placed at one or more suitable points in the apartment concerned, weighting said temperature value with respect to the room area represented, thereafter integrating the obtained average temperature by passing the measured value via a signal converter to an electric integrating device, the output value of which determines in conjunction with the apartment area the part each individual consumer has in the total heating costs for the apartment building, said integration covering the whole heating season and the temperature measuring device being arranged to switch on and off simultaneously with the electrical equipment for the central heating plant.

Claim 7

A device for an equitable allocation of heating costs in an apartment building or the like equipped with a central heating plant common to a number of individual consumers (apartments), characterized in that the allocation of said costs is made dependent on the heat comfort really enjoyed by the consumers concerned by being based upon a representative instantaneous value of the air temperature (average temperature) in the apartment in question, comprising: a certain number of temperature sensors placed in the individual apartments to establish a representative instantaneous air temperature (the average apartment temperature measured at one or several representative points), weighting means connected to each of said temperature sensors, said weighting means comprising electrical resistors having values chosen to regulate the effect each individual temperature sensor with respect to the area it represents in producing a signal representing the total value measured for each apartment, a signal converter for each individual apartment connected to receive the signals representing the measured values, an electric integrating device for each individual apartment connected to integrate the output of said signal converter, and coupling means for automatically switching on said device simultaneously with the electrical equipment of the central heating plant.

Claim 8

A device for an equitable allocation of heating costs in an apartment building or the like equipped with a central heating plant common to a number of individual consumers (apartments), characterized in that the allocation of said costs is made dependent on the heat comfort really enjoyed by the consumers concerned by being based upon a representative instantaneous value of the air temperature (average temperature) in the apartment in question, comprising: a certain number of temperature sensors placed in the individual apartments to establish a representative instantaneous air temperature (the average apartment temperature measured at one or several representative points), weighting means connected to each of said temperature sensors, said weighting means comprising electrical resistors having values chosen to regulate the effect each individual temperature sensor with respect to the area it represents in producing a signal representing the total value measured for each apartment, a signal converter for each individual apartment connected to receive the signals representing the measured values, an electric integrating device for each individual apartment connected to integrate the output of said signal converter, and coupling means for automatically switching on said device simultaneously with the electrical equipment of the central heating plant.