Patent ID: 8800263

Claim:
A device for exhaust gas heat utilization in internal combustion engines of motor vehicles, comprising: an exhaust gas line which in sections includes a first exhaust gas flow duct and a second exhaust gas flow duct connected in parallel, a valve flap movable between a closed position and an open position, which can selectively close or at least partly clear a flow cross-section of the first exhaust gas flow duct, at least one thermoelectric generator module which is thermally coupled with the second exhaust gas flow duct and with a cooling circuit, an expansion material actuator for temperature-dependent actuation of the valve flap, a spring element that urges the valve flap into a closed position, wherein upon exceedance of a predeterminable temperature limit at the expansion material actuator, the expansion material actuator urges the valve flap into an open position, and wherein a temperature-sensitive material of the expansion material actuator is surrounded by the exhaust gas stream, and wherein the temperature-sensitive material increasingly expands with rising temperature of the exhaust gas stream.