Fuel heater and energy conversion system

A system for energy conversion, the system comprising:

• a propulsion system comprising a compressor section, a heat addition system, and an expansion section in serial flow arrangement;
• a fuel circuit in fluid communication with a fuel tank and a fuel flow control device, wherein the fuel flow control device separates a flow of fuel from the fuel tank into a first portion of fuel and a second portion of fuel, and wherein the fuel circuit is configured to provide the first portion of fuel to the heat addition system;
• a combustion device configured to receive a flow of oxidizer from the compressor section via a fluid circuit, wherein the fuel circuit is in fluid communication with the combustion device to provide the second portion of fuel, and wherein the combustion device is configured to generate combustion gases from the second portion of fuel and the flow of oxidizer, and further wherein the fluid circuit is in fluid communication with the combustion device to flow the combustion gases to the propulsion system;
• a turbine configured to receive the combustion gases from the combustion device via the fluid circuit;
• a load device operably coupled to the turbine via a driveshaft, wherein the load device is configured to receive an output torque from the driveshaft via expansion of the combustion gases through the turbine;
• and
• a combustion gases flow control device positioned at the fluid circuit downstream of the combustion device, wherein the combustion gases flow control device separates the combustion gases into a first portion of combustion gases in fluid communication with the turbine and a second portion of combustion gases in fluid communication with a thermal bus heat exchanger.