Zomeworks patent portfolio

Steve Baer and Dave Harrison filed 20 patents and applications between 1969 and 2010, spanning osmotic heat transfer, zonohedra geometry, passive solar collection, night-sky radiative cooling, and battery ventilation. Together they form a 41-year engineering record of a single sustained thermal vision. All PDFs are in the archive.

Complete portfolio

Patent	Title	Inventor	Assignee	Filed	Granted	Product
US 3,561,525	Heat pipe condensate return	Baer	Energy Conversion Systems	Jul 1969	Feb 1971	Osmotic heat pipe
US 3,618,569	Water reservoir heat transfer	Baer	Individual	Jul 1969	Nov 1971	Stock pond melter
US 3,722,153	Structural system	Baer	Zomeworks	May 1970	Mar 1973	Zome
US 3,884,414	Solar heating device	Baer	Zomeworks	Apr 1974	May 1975	Skylid
US 3,903,665	Heat energy transmission control panel	Harrison	Individual	Nov 1973	Sep 1975	Beadwall
US 4,275,712	Suntracking device	Baer	Zomeworks	Oct 1979	Jun 1981	Sunbender
US 4,476,854	Gas spring solar tracker	Baer	Zomeworks	Nov 1983	Oct 1984	Sunbender
US 4,505,255	Summer/winter solar control louver	Baer	Zomeworks	Nov 1983	Mar 1985	Sunbender
US 4,528,976	Thermal control for solar collector	Baer	Zomeworks	Jun 1984	Jul 1985	Solar tracker overheating protection
US 4,832,001	Lightweight solar panel support	Baer	Zomeworks	May 1987	May 1989	Sunbender
US 4,913,985	Battery temperature regulation	Baer	Zomeworks	Feb 1989	Apr 1990	Battery cabinet / Cool Cell
US 5,070,933	Temperature regulating system	Baer	Zomeworks	Jan 1991	Dec 1991	Battery cabinet / Cool Cell
US 5,143,053	Solar collector tube plate	Baer	Zomeworks	Mar 1991	Sep 1992	Freeze-tolerant collector
US 5,316,872	Passive cooling system	Baer	Zomeworks	Dec 1992	May 1994	Battery cabinet / Cool Cell
US 5,513,696	Passive temperature regulating	Baer	Zomeworks	—	Apr 1996	Cool Cell precursor
US 5,603,656	Passive ventilation device (H₂)	Baer + Harrison	Zomeworks	Sep 1995	Feb 1997	Battery H₂ venting
US 5,609,200	Integral roof cooling container	Harrison	Zomeworks	Jul 1994	Mar 1997	Cool Cell transitional (lapsed 2001)
US 5,660,587	Passive ventilation system (H₂)	Baer + Harrison	Zomeworks	Jul 1995	Aug 1997	Battery H₂ venting
US 6,357,512 B1	Passive heating and cooling	Baer	Zomeworks	Jul 2000	Mar 2002	Cool Cell
US 20,080,000,435 A1	Solar thermal tube plate heat exchanger	Baer + Tan	Zomeworks	May 2007	—	Application; never granted
US 20,100,294,265 A1	Dual axis support for high wind solar panels	Baer + Tan	Zomeworks	—	Nov 2010 (pub.)	Application; grant status unknown

Two product lineages

Collection and shading (geometry → tracking → shade)

US 3,722,153 → US 3,884,414 → US 4,275,712 → US 4,476,854 → US 4,505,255 → US 4,528,976 → US 4,832,001 → US 20,100,294,265

Starts with the zonohedra structural system (1970) that creates the south-facing surfaces. Moves through Skylid (passive louver, freon-actuated) to Sunbender (mirrored tracker that directs winter sun and provides summer shade). The 1984–1989 patents refine the tracker mechanism and add overheating protection.

Thermal storage and cooling (convection → battery → Cool Cell)

US 3,618,569 → US 4,913,985 → US 5,070,933 → US 5,316,872 → US 5,513,696 → US 5,609,200 → US 6,357,512 B1

Starts with a sealed convection loop for a stock pond (1969) — density-driven passive heat transfer, no electricity, no moving parts. The same principle scales through the battery cabinet series (1990–1994) and Harrison’s integral roof container (1994) to the Cool Cell (2002). The thermosiphon that circulates water between ceiling reservoir and roof radiator is the direct descendant of the stock pond melter’s convection loop.

Three assignees

Energy Conversion Systems, Inc. — one patent (US 3,561,525, osmotic heat pipe, 1969). Baer had a separate engineering vehicle at Zomeworks’ founding.

Individual — two patents held personally:

Baer: US 3,618,569 (stock pond melter)
Harrison: US 3,903,665 (Beadwall)

Both were commercialized through Zomeworks despite personal ownership.

Zomeworks Corp — all remaining patents from 1970 onward.

Key observations

The 1969 filing date is the earliest. US 3,561,525 and US 3,618,569 were both filed July 1969 — the year Zomeworks was co-founded. Baer was doing thermal physics (osmotic heat transfer, passive convection) simultaneously with the geometry work, before Zomeworks had a name in the public record.

Dave Harrison is a co-author of the Cool Cell lineage. Beadwall (personal patent, 1973), integral roof cooling container (Zomeworks, 1994), two H₂ venting patents with Baer (1995), VP of Zomeworks with “12+ years with Cool Cell technology.” The Cool Cell was not solely Baer’s engineering — it was a Harrison-Baer collaboration.

Two late applications with Kevin Tan, neither granted. US 20,080,000,435 (solar thermal tube plate heat exchanger, filed May 2007, published January 2008) and US 20,100,294,265 (dual axis support for high wind solar panels, published November 2010) were both co-invented with Kevin Tan and assigned to Zomeworks. Neither appears in the granted patent record. The second extends the collection/shading lineage 21 years after US 4,832,001 (1989).

The Beadwall anomaly. Harrison assigned US 3,903,665 to himself personally in 1973 while working with Zomeworks. Baer’s Sunspots (1975) describes it as one of the finest inventions in the archive: “Such elegant inventions as the beadwall indicate that the healthy response of architecture to increasing energy costs may be increased use of glass in building walls rather than a retreat to underground buildings.”

Canadian patents

US 3,722,153 (Zome structural system) has a Canadian equivalent: CA 949,279 A. Previously ingested as a separate patent in the archive. Whether other US patents have Canadian equivalents is not confirmed.