Abstract:
A rainwater collection and storage system includes at least one rainwater collector and a rainwater storage unit. The rainwater collector includes a bucket, a rainwater collector plate, and a decorative item. The decorative item camouflages the rainwater collector and makes it more pleasant to see. The rainwater collector also includes one or more filtering elements, filtering out leaves and debris and preventing intrusion of insects into the bucket. The rainwater collected is pumped to the rainwater storage unit. The rainwater storage unit has a support structure and a flexible rainwater container attached to the support structure. Because of the flexible rainwater container, the rainwater storage unit can be placed in a terrain that is not flat. The rainwater storage unit is also camouflaged to resemble a tree.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The invention relates to water storage, and more particularly, to a system for collecting and storing rainwater. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Water conservation has become an important issue in many cities, states, and countries. When drought affects a city, most often the first water use restriction imposed by city officials is to stop outdoor use of water, and this measure affects greatly all the outdoor activities that require water, such as car wash, gardening, or even some indoor use, such as flushing toilets, laundry, or shower after some simple treatment. 
         [0003]    To overcome this limitation, house owners have resort to saving rainwater in plastic containers. Several containers are available for purchase and most of them are either in barrel shape or square shape. These containers are simple in construction, which essentially comprises of a storage compartment with an opening for collection of rainwater and an outlet for draining of stored rainwater. Generally, these containers are not pleasant to see and require to be placed on a relatively flat surface. Consequently, they are placed away from the front entrance of a house or any position that is easily seen from the street. Often, homeowners have to build short wall or fence to block the view of the containers from the street. 
         [0004]    Besides the appearance problem, the containers often cause another problem, which is providing a breeding place for mosquitoes. Stored rainwater in the containers often provides a good environment for mosquitoes to lay eggs, and this problem has stopped some homeowners from installing rainwater collection containers. Another problem is that these barrels are usually small and range from 50 to 200 gallons, generally not big enough for storing rainwater for more extensive water use, such as irrigation, car wash, or toilets use. Large scale water tank is available, but it is generally for commercial and/or industrial use and requires a large space and professional installation with a high cost of installation, shipping, removal, relocation, and dismounting. A rainwater barrel normally is placed near a downspout and not interconnected to other rainwater barrels and thus not suited for centralized filtration. 
         [0005]    Maintenance is another issue for the water tank and rainwater collectors. Many commercial tanks are large and it is difficult to clean, replace, relocate, move, and disassemble. For large plastic tanks, it is not easy to access inside of a tank and not safe because of lack of fresh air. Another issue with plastic tanks is they age easily. Steel tank is expensive and not easy to clean. Cement (concrete) tank is not easy to replace, clean, move, and disassemble. 
         [0006]    A large rainwater storage tank is also vulnerable to crack with ice formation inside the tank, which is likely to happen when the water reaches a freezing temperature. Large tank also poses an aesthetic problem for residential users living in subdivisions with restrictive covenants. 
         [0007]    The cost is also an issue for a rainwater collection and storage system. The tap water is normally cheap and the low cost of the tap water does not give much incentive for users to use free rainwater by making investment in a rainwater collection and storage system. To make a rainwater collection and storage system attractive to users, the rainwater collection and storage system must be able to provide long term savings. 
         [0008]    Therefore, there is a need for a low cost rainwater collection system that reduces the chance of mosquitoes, is easily installed and visually pleasant, is easy to install, remove, and relocate, and is resistant to icing weather and to rust and it is to this apparatus the present invention is primarily directed to. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    The present invention provides a rainwater collection and storage system. In one embodiment, the rainwater collection and storage system has at least one rainwater collector for collecting rainwater and a rainwater storage unit connected to the at least one rainwater collector. The rainwater collector has at least one decorative camouflage. The rainwater storage unit has a flexible rainwater container and at least one decorative camouflage. The rainwater collected by the rainwater collector is transferred to the rainwater storage unit. 
         [0010]    In another embodiment of the invention there is provided a rainwater collector. The rainwater collector has a container, a collector plate with a second center opening, a conic filter with a third center opening, and a decorative camouflage. The container has a slow dripping outlet and a first opening; the collector plate is placed on top of the container, and the conic filter is placed concentrically on top of the collector plate. The decorative camouflage is placed through the second center opening and the third center opening. 
         [0011]    In yet another embodiment of the invention there is also provided a rainwater storage unit. The rainwater storage unit has a support structure, a flexible rainwater container, a bottom outlet (optional with a pump on outlet, or inside of water), (to inlet or side inlets) and a plurality of decorative camouflages. The flexible rainwater container is removably attached to the support structure through a plurality of attaching devices and has a top opening removably covering the top opening. The plurality of decorative camouflages is attached to the support structure. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    Features and advantages of embodiments of the invention will become apparent as the following Detailed Description proceeds, and upon reference to the Drawings, where like numerals depict like elements, and in which: 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  illustrates a rainwater collection and storage system according to one embodiment of the invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  illustrates a rainwater collector according to one embodiment of the invention: 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  illustrates a filter for the rainwater collector: 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  illustrates a collector plate for the rainwater collector; 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  illustrates an rainwater collector according to an alternative embodiment of the invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  illustrates a small scale rainwater collection system according to one embodiment of the invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 7  depicts a rainwater storage unit; 
           [0020]      FIG. 8  depicts a camouflage scheme for the rainwater storage unit; 
           [0021]      FIG. 9  illustrates an alternative small scale rainwater collection system; 
           [0022]      FIG. 10  depicts an alternative support structure for a rainwater storage unit; 
           [0023]      FIG. 11  depicts yet another alternative support structure for a rainwater storage unit; 
           [0024]      FIG. 12  depicts yet another alternative support structure for a rainwater storage unit; 
           [0025]      FIG. 13  depicts a cross section view of an alternative embodiment of a rainwater collector; 
           [0026]      FIG. 14  depicts a perspective view of a rainwater collector for a corner; and 
           [0027]      FIG. 15  depicts a perspective view of a rainwater collector for a wall. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0028]    The present invention provides a rainwater collection and storage system that is decorative and easy to maintain. The rainwater collection and storage system of the present invention is easy to clean, to replace, to check, to install, and to move. The rainwater collection and storage system also provides a good return in investment through reducing household water consumption Its construction is also resistant to sunshine, freezing temperature, and rust resistant. It is expandable (size of bag, height of water tank), movable (change location, rearrange), extendable (add more units), easy to upgrade, portable (integrate with other system, pump, connections, and purification system), easy to dismount, easy to ship away, and easy to dispose  FIG. 1  illustrates a rain collection and storage system  100  according to one embodiment of the invention. The rainwater is generally collected from rain that falls on the roof  102  of a house, and collected through the gutters  104  and downspouts  106 . A decorative rainwater collector  108  can be placed at the end of the downspout  106  to collect the rainwater. The decorative rainwater collector  108  is connected through a pipe  110  or a flexible hose to a rainwater storage unit  112 . The rainwater collected at the decorative rainwater collector  108  can be transferred through the pipe  110  to the storage unit  112 . The rainwater storage unit  112  has an outlet from which the rainwater can be drained and used for different purposes. The rainwater storage unit  112  can be placed anywhere near house; it can be placed near the rainwater collectors  108  or near the place of usage. The rainwater storage unit  112  can also be placed in less visible locations for aesthetic reasons. Both the decorative rainwater collector  108  and the rainwater storage unit  112  are camouflaged with decorations, thus making them visually pleasant, and homeowners no longer need to hide them behind fences or walls or get special permission from their homeowner association. 
         [0029]      FIG. 2  depicts a cross section view of a decorative rainwater collector  108 . The decorative rainwater collector  108  may have different themes. The decoration on the decorative rainwater collector  108  may resemble a small tree, a flower plants a sculpture, or other artistic decoration. The decoration can be either real plants and flowers or artificial trees and silk flowers. The decoration shown in  FIG. 2  is a tree  202 , but other type of decorations may also be employed. The tree  202  may be a single piece made from plastic or a suitable recycled material. The tree  202  may also be a real plant. The tree  202  may also be composed by branches  204  of leaves inserted onto a main trunk  206 . The trunk  206  is then inserted into a cup  226  attached to a concave collector plate  210 . The cup  226  may have different shape or size; a live potted plan may be placed inside the cup  226 . The concave collector plate  210  is placed on the top of a container, such as a bucket  212 . The bucket  212  preferably has a conic shape with a large opening facing up, but any other shape, such as round, square, polygon, or partially flat, may also be used. Though the decorative rainwater collector  108  is shown to have a circular shape, it may a half circular shape as shown in  FIG. 15  for placing adjacent to a flat surface or ¾ circular for placing around a corner of a building as show in  FIG. 14 . 
         [0030]    The concave collector plate  210  is shown in more detail in  FIG. 4 . The concave collector plate  210  has preferably a round shape with a border  404  that may be slightly raised up from the concave surface  402 . When the border  404  is tall, the angle between the border  404  and the concave surface  402  is diminished. At the center of the concave surface  402  there is a cup  226  and some openings  406  around the cup  226 . The openings allow the rainwater collected through the concave collector plate  210  to flow through the cup  226  and into the bucket  212 . The cup  226  is preferably made from a mesh material, having openings that enable flow of rainwater but detaining solid materials of certain sizes, such as leaves and branches. This is second filtration, which has longer time to filter and provides finer filtration. The mesh materials can be a fine cloth bag which can catch small dust and particles. The mesh also prevents the mosquito getting into the bucket. The bucket  212  and the concave collector plate  210  can be made from plastic, fiber glass, glass, aluminum, stainless steel, ceramic, porcelain, wood, cement, or other rust resistant material and they may have shapes other than the circular conic shape. 
         [0031]    An additional filter  208  can be used to screen off leaves and also to prevent insects from depositing eggs inside the bucket  212 . The filter  208  can serve as a mechanical support for the tree  202 . The filter  208  is also used to support the main trunk  206 . One embodiment of the filter  208  with a conic shape is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . The filter  208  has a conic surface  304  and a center opening  302 . The filter  208  is placed concentrically on the top of the concave collector plate  210 , such that the trunk  206  of the tree  108  can be inserted through both the filter  208  and concave collector plate  210 . The filter  208  may be a large mesh and serves as the first filtration stage. The filter  208  requires less time to filter and is easy to clean. If the area is clear of debris, this filter  208  is optional. The filter  208  may also have different shape such as square. 
         [0032]    The filtering may also be accomplished with a different filter illustrated in  FIG. 13 . The decorative piece may be a real or fake plant  1302  in a pot  1304 . The pot  1304  is placed on a collector  1308  filled with filtering material  1306 , such as stone and sand or other suitable material. The collector  1308  is placed on top of a bucket  212 . 
         [0033]    The bucket  212  has a slow dripping (drainage) outlet  220  near its bottom and an overflow opening  222  near its top. The overflow opening  222  may be a recess on the edge of the bucket  212  as shown in  FIG. 15 , so the pump lines can be easily taken in and out. The slow dripping outlet  220  allows a small amount of rainwater to exit from the bucket  212 , thus preventing accumulation and freezing of rainwater inside the bucket  212 . By allowing an automatic draining of the rainwater from the bucket  212 , it can also reduce the chance of procreation of mosquitoes inside the bucket  212 . Alternatively, the slow dripping outlet  220  can be replaced by a faucet that allows a user to control the amount of rainwater flowing out of the bucket  212 . A pump  214  may be placed inside the bucket  212 . The pump  214  has a float control  218 , an intake  216 , and an outlet hose  224 . The float control  218  determines when the pump  214  should operate and when the pump  214  should shut down. The intake  216  is preferably a floating intake, taking water from the surface or near the surface, instead of taking water from the bottom where most likely there will be some debris. The outlet hose  224  may be bundled with the electrical cable into one unit for a certain length, thus reducing number of hose and cables inside the bucket  212 . After the predetermined length, the outlet hose  224  and the electrical cable can then be separated. 
         [0034]      FIG. 5  depicts a cross section view of a decorative rainwater collector  108  according to one alternative embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the bucket  508  has two interconnecting outlets  502 . The interconnecting outlet  502  can be closed by a cap  506 . The interconnecting outlets allow a bucket  508  be connected to neighboring buckets  508 . The overflow from one bucket  508  can flow to another bucket  508 . This is useful when a user for esthetic reasons wants to place multiple decorative rainwater collectors  108  close to each other, as shown in  FIG. 6 , and only one of them is placed near a downspout  108 . Multiple decorative rainwater collectors  108  may be connected in series by placing them at the same level or at different levels, as shown in  FIG. 9 , which requires only one pump at the lowest position collector. Rubber bumps may be used near the garage door area for protecting the connecting pipe  110  as the pipe crosses different areas outside the house. Alternatively, the decorative rainwater collectors  108  can be connected to each other through the slow dripping outlet  220  (not shown). When several decorative rainwater collectors  108  are connected to each other, only one pump  214  is needed to pump rainwater out of multiple rainwater collectors  108 . The decorative rainwater collectors  108  can be interconnected by a fixed or flexible pipe  602 . 
         [0035]    The bucket  508  may have an optional filtering cup  504  placed at the inside bottom. The filtering cup  504  may permanently attached to the internal base inside the bucket  508 , and a filtering cloth may be placed inside. The rainwater flowing out from the cup  226  is discharged into the filtering cup  504 . The filtering cup  504  provides an additional filtering, and the filtering cloth can be easily washed or replaced. Alternatively a filtering bag may be connected to the cup  226 , which will allow the rainwater to gradually leak out by gravity. The filtering bag is disposable and requires no clean effort. The filtering bag can be made from plastic, cloth, rubber, or any porous or netlike material. A submersible pump  214  is placed inside the bucket  508  and pumps rainwater from the outside of the filtering cup  504 . Alternatively, a pedestal pump or other type of pump can also be used. The pump may be of 110 V or powered by a battery pack. It is recommended the pump be operated by a battery of 12V, 24V, or 36 V, which is safe, and the pump may be controlled by a water level sensor. 
         [0036]      FIG. 7  illustrates a rainwater storage unit  112 . The rainwater storage unit  112  includes a support  702  and a flexible rainwater container  706 . The support  702  is preferably made from rods or tubes of different sizes and diameters. The support  702  may be made from stainless steel, aluminum, plastic, wood, bamboo, fiberglass, coated steel, or other materials that is rust resistant. The rods may be shipped loose by manufacturer and assembled by the end user. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 7 , the support  702  has a square top made from four rods, but the support  702  can have different shape, such as triangle, polygon, circle, trees shape, or spherical. The square top is supported by four leg-rods  708  and several horizontal rods  704  are attached between two adjacent leg-rods. The horizontal rods  704  strengthen the frame and may also serve as ladder for accessing the top of the rainwater storage unit  112 . The leg-rods and horizontal rods are made from plastic, wood, or other solid and rust resistant material. The support  702  may have different sizes depending on the number of rods used for the leg-rods. If the end-user prefers, he may have a support  702  with a height that ranges from 3 feet to 20 feet tall. The support  702  may be assembled from several individual pieces, which allows the support  702  to be extendable to different heights. The support  702  may also be flexible and bendable frame like camping tent&#39;s support. The support  702  can have different “shoes” such as nail-like which can go to ground, or rubber shoes such as those used for ladders for concrete floor. The flexible rainwater container  706  can be made from plastic, rubber, enforced fiberglass, or specially treated water-resistant fabric. The flexible rainwater container  706  may be also have multiple layers, where one layer serves as a strength net and other layer serves as a disposable plastic bag. The flexible rainwater container  706  can be also extendable with additional sections attached through zippers in a construction commonly used in traveler bags. The flexible rainwater container  706  has special edges  708  with holes. Hooks or hangers  710  can be placed into these holes and attached to the support  702 , so the rainwater container  706  can be removably attached to the support  702  after water in the container  706  is drained. The attachment of the rainwater container  706  to the support  702  can be done in a manner similar to hanging a shower curtain onto a shower rod. 
         [0037]    The flexible rainwater container  706  has a top opening  714 , which can be covered by a top cover  716 . The top cover  716  can be closed with a zipper placed around the top opening  714 . The top cover  716  may have openings for different hoses. Alternatively, the top cover  716  may be closed with a loop-and-hook faster, such as Velcro™. The border of top cover  716  may be reinforced with thin rods, so the proper shape of the top cover  716  can be maintained. The top cover  716  may have a filtering screen  718  with a cover to shield the inside of the flexible rainwater container  706  from light). The filtering screen  718  allows a visual inspection of inside of the flexible container and prevents entrance of insects into the flexible rainwater container  706  The flexible rainwater container  706  should be preferably completely sealed from light to prevent growth of mold and mildew. The top cover  716  should prevent, when covering the top opening  714 , smell from escaping the flexible rainwater container  706 , but should not be air tight. The flexible rainwater container  706  may also be equipped with an outlet  720 , which allows the stored rainwater be drained and used. 
         [0038]    The rainwater from a rainwater collector  108  can be channeled to the rainwater storage unit  112  though a flexible hose with one end inside the flexible rainwater container  706 , or alternatively, through a fixed pipe, such as PVC pipe connected to an inlet pipe  724  attached to the flexible rainwater container  706 . The flexible hose or the PVC pipe can be hidden behind camouflages and go into the container from its top. 
         [0039]    The flexible rainwater container  706  has a soft bottom surface and can be placed in any irregular surface. The flexible rainwater container  706  can also be easily washed, cleaned, or replaced by removing it from the support  702  after draining the container  706 . The flexible container  706  can be flipped inside out for cleaning purposes. The rods on the support  112  have holes onto which decorative camouflages  802  can be placed on the leg-rods  708  and support rods  704  as shown in  FIG. 8 . The decorative camouflages may be military camouflages, such as net/clothing of different shape and color, silk flowers, artificial plants and trees, sculptures, artistic decorations, statutes made from plastic, cement, stone, wood, fiberglass, porcelain, etc. Alternatively, live plants may also be hung around the support  702 . When the support  702  is covered by the decorative camouflages, the support  702  may resemble a tree or other artistic decorations, thus making it pleasant to see. 
         [0040]    The rainwater storage unit  112  may have a water pump placed immerse the flexible rainwater container  706  for pumping the water out of the container  706 . A filtration system can also be attached to the water pump for filtering purposes. An incoming water filtration system may also be installed by connecting to the inlet pipe  724 . The inlet pipe  724  can be also discharge from the top into the container  706 . The inlet pipe  724  can be installed on the top of the rainwater storage unit  112 . 
         [0041]    A filtering bag may be placed inside the flexible rainwater container  706 . The filtering bag can be made from cloth, plastic, rubber, or other suitable porous material. The stored rainwater water will flow through the filtering bag first before exiting the flexible rainwater container  706 . The filtering bag has a large surface to allow water penetrate. This will speed up the filtration speed while requiring no pressure and drive for the filtration. As the pump pumps the stored rainwater out of the rainwater storage unit, the deposit/dust will be kept inside the bag. 
         [0042]    The rainwater storage unit  112  may have a profile other than trapezoidal form shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8 . The rainwater storage unit  112  may have a triangular profile, a circular profile, a polygonal profile, etc.  FIG. 10  depicts an alternative support for the rainwater storage unit  112 . The support rods  1002  are circular and fixed on the leg-rods  1004 .  FIG. 11  depicts another alternative support where the leg-rods  1104  are curved. In  FIG. 12 , the leg-rods  1204  are curved and extend above the top support-rod  1202 . These different shapes of supports enable the rainwater storage unit  112  to have a different external appearance when camouflages are placed on these supports. 
         [0043]    The rainwater collection and storage system of the present invention can be sold to end-users as a system or as separate items. The system can be easily installed and uninstalled; each component can be cleaned easily. The design of the rainwater collection and storage system is modular, and can be extended easily to increase the amount of rainwater collected and stored. Additional storage will also increase the level of water purity as additional filtering stages may be added with the additional storage capacity. 
         [0044]    The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described (or portions thereof), and it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims. Other modifications, variations, and alternatives are also possible. Accordingly, the claims are intended to cover all such equivalents. Dimensions in the drawings here presented are not to the scale unless otherwise indicated.