ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,348,177, issued on July 1, was assigned to Tesla Inc. (Austin, Texas).
"Interlocking BIPV roof tile with backer" was invented by Martin Seery (San Rafael, Calif.), Charles Bernardo Almy (Berkeley, Calif.) and Kathryn Austin Pesce (San Francisco).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems provide for solar panel arrays that can be aesthetically pleasing to an observer. BIPV systems can be incorporated as part of roof surfaces as built into the structure of the roof, particularly as photovoltaic modules having the appearance of a plurality of roofing tiles that each have photovoltaic cells. Each photovolta...