ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 15 -- United States Patent no. 12,663,184, issued on June 23.
"Solar pool heater" was invented by Kenneth Barksdale (Sykesville, Md.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An automated wirelessly-controlled solar pool heater including a photothermal module atop a floatation vessel for exposure to the sun, an internal pump assembly, a first temperature sensor for sensing temperature in the photothermal module, a second temperature sensor for sensing ambient pool water, a microcontroller board with wireless transceiver for remote monitoring and operation, and a solar-charging battery. In operation, the pump assembly self-primes and automatically fills the entire photothermal modul...