US Patent Issued to Bradford White on June 16 for "Obstruction detection for a heat pump water heater system" (New Hampshire Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,656,035, issued on June 16, was assigned to Bradford White Corp. (Ambler, Pa.).

"Obstruction detection for a heat pump water heater system" was invented by Stephen Kimball Joy (Union, N.H.), Richard O. Oliveira (New Durham, N.H.) and Joseph Albert Stocker (Dover, N.H.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A heat pump water heater system includes a compressor configured to compress a coolant and an evaporator including an evaporator fan that is configured to cause air to flow through the evaporator when the evaporator fan is actuated. A first heat exchanger fluidly interposes the compressor and the evaporator and is configured to transfer heat b...