ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,498,142, issued on Dec. 16, was assigned to Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (Tokyo).
"Heat-pump water heater" was invented by Kosuke Kawano (Tokyo) and Kimitaka Kadowaki (Tokyo).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A heat-pump water heater includes a refrigerant circuit, a water circuit, and a controller. The refrigerant circuit includes a main circuit and a bypass circuit. The main circuit includes a compressor, a water heat exchanger, a first pressure-reducing device, an air heat exchanger, and an air-sending device. The bypass circuit includes a second pressure-reducing device. The water circuit includes a hot water tank, a water pump, and the wat...