Innovative Heat Recovery Method Earns U.S. Patent

摘要

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded POWER Engineers, Inc. (POWER) a patent for its innovative heat recovery method of recovering energy from hot geothermal fluids and converting the energy to electricity. POWER developed the heat recovery method to optimize energy recovery from the particular kind of geothermal fluids found in Turkey, where geothermal fluidsthough energy-rich and readily accessible through wells-characteristically contain a high proportion of gases that can complicate the extraction of heat energy if a conventional geothermal steam cycle is used. "The POWER approach partitions the two species of fluids-the non-condensable gases and the condensable water/vapor fraction-so that energy can be harvested from each fluid type in an efficient and appropriate way," says POWER'S Senior Project Manager Kevin Wallace.