Patent 7797938 was granted and assigned to Caterpillar Inc. on September, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
An energy recovery system is provided having a fluid configured to absorb and convey thermal energy. The system also has an exhaust treatment device cooling system configured to transmit thermal energy from an exhaust treatment device to the fluid. In addition, the system has a turbine that is driven by the fluid configured to convert at least a portion of the thermal energy to mechanical energy. The system further has a generator that is powered by the turbine configured to convert at least a portion of the mechanical energy to electrical energy.