Patent ID: 7516619

Claim:
A heat transfer system for converting heat into energy, comprising: a power sub-system communicatively coupled to a heat source stream, said power sub-system comprising: a first heat exchanger adapted to heat a multi-component working stream with heat from said heat source stream thereby producing a heated working stream; a turbine adapted to expand said heated working stream thereby producing a spent stream; a stream splitter adapted to split a partially heated working stream into a first substream and a second substream prior to being heated in said first heat exchanger, and a second heat exchanger adapted to heat said first substream with heat from said spent stream thereby producing a cooled spent stream having a first set of thermodynamic characteristics; a distillation condensation sub-system adapted to receive said cooled spent stream having substantially the same thermodynamic characteristics as said first set of thermodynamic characteristics, thereby producing a condensed working stream; and a residual heat exchanger adapted to heat said condensed working stream with heat from a low temperature tail of said heat source stream thereby producing said partially heated working stream.