Patent Application
20170354103
This invention is a form of green roofing. Green roofing is a method of construction of roofing via materials and design that allows for more efficient building and lower utility costs. Traditional green roofing methods involve a soil medium to allow for growth of plant material, which in turn provides insulation. The soil adds weight, which requires additional structural support. The structural requirements for traditional green roofing incur additional cost and are prohibitive to application on existing buildings.
Hydroponic principals are utilized for the invention. Hydroponics is a method of growing plant matter without the use of soils. Plants are usually applied in a container with the root system suspended in a water medium.
The invention involves a combination of these two technologies, along with a modification of existing roof gutter designs, to provide a form of green roofing that can be constructed on buildings in a manner that has yet to be applied.
This is a modified gutter system that incorporates traditional hydroponic principles allowing growth of an organic medium onto the building roof, thus providing shade and a layer of insulation for the building.
The building's proposed gutter system, generally located around the perimeter of the roof, is designed with the downspout entrance elevated so to retain water and a top lid or cover with port holes to allowing installation of plant modules and the accompanying plants. This allows the plant material to grow utilizing traditional hydroponic methods. This method of green roofing requires little additional structural requirements for the building, and can be retro-fitted onto existing roofs.
The system is composed of traditional roof gutter drainage equipment, a long narrow channel with a rectangular or semi-circular cross section composed of metal of plastic, with some additional parts and modifications to allow for growth of the plant media. The gutter itself would require a lid with holes and housing to accommodate the plants and inhibit sunlight from reaching the root system. The gutter downspout entrance is elevated to retain a specific amount of water. The water retained in gutters serves as the growth medium for the plant roots. The gutter system still operates in its intended manner, capturing and directing rainwater to downspouts that discharge the water to the ground or off-site. Discharge would only occur when the rainfall directed to the gutters exceeded the designed retention volume. Additional structural requirements would be required to account for the weight added by the water retained in the gutters.
The gutters are effectively a hydroponics growth system. Thus, the gutters would require all the appurtenances that accompany such systems to enable the growth of the plant media. This may include but is not limited to, water pumps, submerged air diffusers, supplemental water supply, supplemental nutrient supply and submerged water heaters. A form of trellis or lattice may be required to be installed parallel to the roof to encourage growth directionally.
The system is intended to grow plant media over the roof, thus absorbing the radiation from the sunlight and providing an additional form of insulation, in turn helping to cool the interior and reduce utility costs. The system is most effective when implemented in warm climates.
