Patent ID: 8511082

Claim:
A system comprising: an automotive vehicle including: a battery, a battery compartment, an exhaust pipe, a transmission, a brake, and a radiator; a first fluid region having a first temperature, and including a component selected from the group of the battery, the battery compartment, the exhaust pipe, the transmission, the brake, and the radiator, the component having an initial component temperature; a second fluid region having a second temperature, the second temperature lower than the first temperature; a heat engine including a pseudoplastically pre-strained shape-memory alloy having a crystallographic phase disposed in heat exchange contact with the first fluid region and the second fluid region, wherein the alloy is changeable between austenite and martensite in response to a temperature difference between the first fluid region and the second fluid region; wherein the heat engine is operable to transfer heat from the first fluid region to the second fluid region in response to the crystallographic phase of the shape-memory alloy; wherein the heat engine transfers heat from the first fluid region to the second fluid region to thereby reduce a temperature of the component below the initial component temperature; and wherein at least one of the first fluid region and the second fluid region includes a fluid that is air.