Patent ID: 8646261

Claim:
An exhaust system for an internal combustion engine, with circulating coolant, for driving an automotive vehicle, the exhaust system comprising: an engine with an exhaust manifold from which a exhaust stream of combustion gas is expelled by engine operation, the exhaust gas having temperatures varying over a temperature range; an exhaust gas conduit system for conducting the gas in a contained flow path from the exhaust manifold to a gas-flow terminus at which the exhaust gas is discharged from the vehicle, the contained flow path having a location with a perimeter for transfer of heat and thermal energy from the exhaust gas to a thermoelectric device; the thermoelectric device comprising at least one thermoelectric module for generating electrical energy from the thermal energy of the exhaust, the thermoelectric device having a high temperature side and a low temperature side, and being shaped and placed around the perimeter of a portion of the exhaust gas flow path with the high temperature side of the thermoelectric device in heat transfer contact with the flowing exhaust gas stream; and a first body of thermally conductive material, solid at ambient temperature, contained and interposed around the perimeter of the exhaust gas flow path and between the exhaust gas and the high temperature side of the thermoelectric device, the contained, thermally conductive material providing a heat transfer path between the exhaust gas and the high temperature side of the thermoelectric device, the body of thermally conductive material having a mass and a melting point or melting range such that heat transferred from the exhaust gas elevates its temperature above ambient and melts a portion of the body of material, the latent heat of the partially melted body of material reducing the temperature at the high temperature side of the thermoelectric device as it is heated by the exhaust gas.