Closed circuit operating according to a rankine cycle and method using same

Abstract

The present invention relates to a closed circuit operating according to a Rankine cycle, comprising a circulation and compression pump ( 12 ) for a working fluid in liquid form, a heat exchanger ( 20 ) swept by a hot source ( 22 ) for evaporation of said fluid, expansion means ( 28 ) for expanding the fluid in vapour form and a cooling exchanger ( 32 ) for condensation of this fluid, traversed by a cooling fluid between an inlet face ( 38 ) and an outlet face ( 40 ). According to the invention, this circuit comprises thermopiles ( 44 ) for capturing and converting ( 42 ) the calorific energy coming from cooling exchanger ( 32 ) to electric energy and said thermopiles are arranged in the heated cooling fluid stream coming from outlet face ( 40 ) of the cooling exchanger.

1 . A closed circuit operating according to a Rankine cycle, comprising a circulation and compression pump for a working fluid in liquid form, a heat exchanger swept by a hot source for evaporation of said fluid, expansion means for expanding the fluid in vapour form and a cooling exchanger for condensation of this fluid, traversed by a cooling fluid between an inlet face and an outlet face, characterized in that it comprises thermopiles for capturing and converting the calorific energy coming from cooling exchanger to electric energy and in that said thermopiles are arranged in the heated cooling fluid stream coming from outlet face of the cooling exchanger. 
     
     
         2 . A circuit as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that thermopiles are arranged on outlet face of the cooling exchanger. 
     
     
         3 . A circuit as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that the cooling fluid is air. 
     
     
         4 . A circuit as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that the cooling fluid is water. 
     
     
         5 . A circuit as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that hot source comes from the exhaust gas of an internal-combustion engine. 
     
     
         6 . A method using a closed circuit operating according to a Rankine cycle, said circuit comprising a circulation and compression pump for a working fluid in liquid form, a heat exchanger swept by a hot source for evaporation of said fluid, expansion means for expanding the fluid in vapour form and a cooling exchanger swept by a cooling fluid between inlet face and outlet face thereof for condensation of this fluid, characterized in that it consists, during operation of the circuit, in capturing, by means of thermopiles arranged in the heated cooling fluid stream coming from outlet face of the cooling exchanger, the calorific energy coming from said exchanger so as to convert it to electric energy. 
     
     
         7 . A method as claimed in  claim 6 , characterized in that it consists in using the calorific energy of the exhaust gas of an internal-combustion engine for the hot source sweeping heat exchanger.