ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,359,381, issued on July 15, was assigned to Caterpillar Paving Products Inc. (Brooklyn Park, Minn.).
"Thermoelectric power generation on a paving machine" was invented by Conwell K. Rife Jr. (Plymouth, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An electrically powered paving machine includes a hopper; a screed assembly; a conveying system; one or more batteries configured to power the electrically powered paving machine; a plurality of thermoelectric generators electrically connected to the one or more batteries; a potential thermal energy conversion device electrically connected to the one or more batteries; and processing circuitry. Addition...