Patent 7603857 was granted and assigned to Toyota on October, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
An exhaust heat recovery apparatus includes a first piston; a second piston; a first cylinder in which the first piston reciprocates; a second cylinder in which the second piston reciprocates; and a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger includes a heater that is independently shiftable with respect to at least one of the first cylinder and the second cylinder, and has one end portion arranged at a side of the first cylinder and receiving heat from heat medium, a regenerator that is arranged at a side of another end portion of the heater, and a cooler that has one end portion arranged at a side of the regenerator and another end portion arranged at a side of the second cylinder.