Patent ID: 8534064

Claim:
A vehicle comprising: a fluid source for a vehicle system wherein the fluid source includes; an inlet and an outlet; a first fluid region proximate to the inlet and having a first temperature; and a second fluid region proximate to the outlet and having a second temperature different from the first temperature; a heat engine including a pseudoplastically pre-strained shape-memory alloy in heat exchange contact with the first fluid region and the second fluid region, wherein the shape-memory alloy has a crystallographic phase changeable between austenite and martensite in response to a temperature difference between the first fluid region and the second fluid region; and wherein the heat engine is operable to mix the fluid between the first fluid region and the second fluid region through fluid currents that are created by the operation of the heat engine in response to the crystallographic phase change of the shape-memory alloy to reduce the difference in temperature between the first fluid region and the second fluid region.