The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 12, 2003
Filed:
Jan. 18, 2002
Daniel Benjamin Kok, Klimmen, NL;
Rainer Busch, Aachen, DE;
Ford Global Technologies, LLC, Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
A thermoelectric generator includes a thermal generator to which thermal energy is provided from a heat source. In order to keep the output voltage of the thermal generator in a range suitable for charging a battery or for directly feeding into the vehicle's electrical system, the rate of heat production of the heat source and/or the cooling power of a cooling device for the thermal generator is controlled by a regulator. For this purpose, the regulator is connected to a temperature sensor which is mounted on the thermal generator. The regulator can be more cost-effectively configured than a D.C. converter between the output side of the thermal generator and the battery so that this converter can be dispensed with.