摘要 |
A method and apparatus for implementing a thermodynamic cycle. A heated gaseous working stream including a low boiling point component and a higher boiling point component is expanded to transform the energy of the stream into useable form and to provide an expanded working stream. The expanded working stream is then split into two streams, one of which is expanded further to obtain further energy, resulting in a spent stream, the other of which is extracted. The spent stream is fed into a distillation/condensation subsystem, which converts the spent stream into a lean stream that is lean with respect to the low boiling point component and a rich stream that is enriched with respect to the low boiling point component. The lean stream and the rich stream are then combined in a regenerating subsystem with the portion of the expanded stream that was extracted to provide the working stream, which is then efficiently heated in a heater to provide the heated gaseous working stream that is expanded.
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