Patents by Inventor Michael F. Willard

Michael F. Willard has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8298423
    Abstract: A floway system for a building roof includes a substrate for supporting a periphyton culture that removes nutrient pollution from surface water and isolates the building envelope from solar-induced heat. The substrate is seedable to form a floway. a harvester for harvesting periphyton from the substrate. Water desired to be bioremediated is channeled to an inlet of the periphyton culture. A gutter system includes a sector for collecting cleansed water from an outlet of the periphyton culture having a drain for permitting water to be emptied therefrom and a sector for collecting periphyton harvested from the substrate therein. An element is provided for directing material exiting the periphyton culture outlet selectively between the water-collecting sector and the periphyton-collecting sector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignee: Aquafiber Technologies Corp.
    Inventors: Kyle R. Jensen, Michael F. Willard
  • Patent number: 7638054
    Abstract: A floway system for a building roof includes a substrate for supporting a periphyton culture that removes nutrient pollution from surface water and isolates the building envelope from solar-induced heat. The substrate is seedable to form a floway. A basin is provided for holding water to be treated, and a pump for pumping water therefrom to the floway inlet. At the floway outlet is positioned an effluent-collection gutter, which channels effluent to a collection vessel. Algal biomass can be harvested. A flexible divider is positioned in the gutter along the long axis, a top edge of securable adjacent the floway outlet so that, during harvesting, algal biomass is scraped into a distal section of the gutter, and thence to a biomass collection basin. The harvester can include a scraper and mechanism for traveling down the floway. The harvester can also move between adjacent floways and to the building roof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2009
    Assignee: AquaFiber Technologies Corp.
    Inventors: Kyle R. Jensen, Michael F. Willard