ADJUSTABLE BEARING SUPPORTS FOR SINGLE-AXIS FOLLOWERS

Abstract

Adjustable bearing supports for single-axis followers supported by lattice foundations. A two-piece assembly joins a pair of adjacent lattice legs to form a rigid foundation while providing movable support for a follower bearing housing assembly or other structure. The movable support can slide in the plane or, alternatively, allow the bearing housing assembly to slide and rotate relative to the lattice cap structure that joins the adjacent lattice legs.

Description

ADJUSTABLE BEARING SUPPORTS FOR SINGLE-AXIS FOLLOWERS CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This document claims priority for U.S. provisional patent applications numbers: 63 / 094,577 filed on October 21, 2020, entitled Adjustable truss cap for bearing housing assembly, and 62 / 927,515 filed on October 29, 2019, entitled Bearing support for single-axis tracker, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. BACKGROUND Single-axis trackers are becoming the preferred form factor for utility-scale solar power plants. These arrays consist of rotating rows of solar panels oriented along a north-south line, moving from an east-west orientation each day to track the sun's path across the southern sky. Until recently, single-axis trackers were built on plumb-driven monopile foundations. These foundations consist of rows of so-called H-piles driven into the ground at each desired foundation point. The tracker system hardware (e.g., bearing assemblies, motors, dampers, etc.) is attached to the top end of each driven pile. One reason for the predominance of H-piles is their ease of installation.Piles are one-piece structures that are driven into the ground with a vibratory or percussion pile driver and provide a uniform interface for tracker manufacturers to design. Although all single-axis trackers share common characteristics, there are design differences from one manufacturer to another. In most tracking systems, a bearing is fixed to the top of each pile, and the torsion tube is inserted into the bearing so that it rotates around its own axis. A motor in each row, or a mechanical linkage from row to row, is used to rotate the entire torsion tube at once so that the attached solar panels remain exposed to the sun throughout the day. Some trackers, however, such as the NX Horizon series of single-axis trackers from NEXTracker Inc. of Fremont, California, employ a different design described as mechanically balanced. In this type of tracker, the torsion tube swings like a pendulum from a bearing pin at the apex of a cardioid or inverted U-shaped bearing housing assembly (BHA).The tracker's drive motor is offset from the torsion tube axis to align with the bearing pin axis, and the torsion tube oscillates through an arc instead of rotating around its own axis. The axis of rotation for this tracker is the bearing pin, not the torsion tube. The purported advantage of this geometry over conventional single-axis trackers, where the torsion tube rotates around its own axis, is the absence of overturning moment, regardless of the tilt angle. However, because the top of the bearing housing assembly protrudes into the module plane, a gap must be left between modules at each foundation point to prevent mechanical interference between the base frame assembly (BHA) and the modules. As a result, this particular tracker, and others like it, have very little tolerance for positional error in the X direction—that is, the North-South line of the torsion tube.Figures 6B and 6B1 show an example of a mechanically balanced tracker system of this type. The system includes a bearing housing assembly (BHA) 20 that sits on right-angle supports 30. As shown in Figures 6A and 6B1, the bearing housing assembly (BHA) 20 provides a bearing 21 that supports the bearing pin 22. A pair of torsion tube photovoltaic module supports 25 are fixed to each side of the BHA 20 and receive the bearing pin 22 and also support the torsion tube 27. For ease of illustration, only the rear support 25 is shown in 6A. The inverted U-shape of the BHA 20 limits the arc extension through which the torsion tube 27 can swing. Because the BHA 20 needs to accommodate the swing of the torsion tube, the foundation must be wider than the width of the conventional H-pile 5.The width of these beams is dictated by the web dimension; six inches is common (e.g., W6x9, W6x12, etc.). As a result, NEXTracker uses a pair of right-angle brackets 30 attached to the outside face of each beam flange to extend the pile width by H 5 and provide an adjustable flat base for the BHA 20 to rest on. Bolts, dowels, or other fasteners 23 extend from the BHA 20 to the right-angle brackets 30 to hold the BHA 20 in place. RZLcnn / zznz / Β / γΐΛΐ Another potential advantage of the NEXTracker system is that, because the torsion tube is not locked in a bearing but can rotate freely, the foundations do not always have to be perpendicular to the torsion tube. This can be beneficial when installing a tracker on uneven terrain. In such situations, the NEXTracker base area (BHA) and its supporting hardware can be tilted to compensate for any misalignment between the torsion tube and non-perpendicular foundations. With H-pile foundations, both the X-axis alignment and the tilt adjustment relative to the foundation are easily accommodated by sliding or rotating the NEXTracker's right-angle brackets relative to the pile. The applicant for this disclosure has proposed an alternative to H-pile foundations that converts lateral loads primarily into axial tensile and compressive forces, allowing single-axis trackers to be supported with relatively less steel. Commercially known as EARTH TRUSS, this foundation system consists of a pair of angled legs that extend below and above ground and straddle a planned north-south row of trackers. The above-ground ends of each pair of adjacent legs are joined by an adapter, or so-called truss cap, which has connecting portions received at the open end of each leg and a horizontal mounting platform to support the NEXTracker BHA.The various embodiments of this disclosure are directed to adapters used to join lattice legs and support a mechanically balanced tracker, such as the one shown in Figure 6A, or other tracker system requiring a wider support platform than that provided by a conventional W6x9 or W6xl2 H-pile. The conventional truss cap used in the EARTH TRUSS system is a one-piece casting. When combined with a NEXTracker foundation, grooves on the top surface of the truss cap can provide some X-axis adjustability. However, because EARTH TRUSS foundations are generally installed perpendicular to the torsion tube, the one-piece design alone does not allow for pitch adjustment. In recognition of this problem, various embodiments of the invention provide a two-piece truss cap that allows for either X-axis-only or X-axis and pitch adjustment when supporting a single-axis tracker such as the NX Horizon tracker or other trackers with similar geometry. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a front view of a single-shaft follower bearing housing assembly supported by a lattice foundation according to various embodiments; Figure 2 is a side view of the single-shaft follower bearing housing assembly and lattice foundation of Figure 1; Figure 3A is a partially exploded view of the two-piece lattice lid assembly according to various embodiments; Figure 3B is a top view of the two-piece lattice lid assembly shown in Figure 3A; Figure 4 is a front view of the two-piece lattice cover assembly of Figures 3A and 3B supporting a single-axis follower bearing housing assembly according to various embodiments; Figure 5 is a side view of the two-piece lattice lid assembly of Figure 4; Figures 6A and 6B show a single-shaft follower bearing housing assembly supported by a conventional H-pile foundation; Figure 7A shows the components of an adjustable lattice cover and a follower bearing according to various embodiments; Figure 7B shows the adjustable lattice cover and bearing of 7A supported by a lattice foundation according to various embodiments; Figure 8A shows various views of a bearing housing assembly and a lattice cover according to various embodiments; Figure 8B shows various views of another bearing housing and lattice cover assembly according to various embodiments; Figure 8C shows various views of another bearing housing and lattice cover assembly according to various embodiments; Figure 8D shows front and side views of the bearing housing assembly and lattice cover of Figure 8C supported by a lattice foundation according to various embodiments; Figures 9A-9C show perspective, side, and front views, RZLcnn / zznz / Β / γΐΛΐ respectively, of a two-piece lattice lid assembly according to various embodiments; Figure 10 is a perspective view of the two-piece lattice cover assembly of Figures 9A-9C supported by a lattice foundation according to various embodiments; and Figure 11 is a front view of the two-piece lattice cover assembly of Figures 9A-9C and 10 on a lattice foundation and supporting a single-shaft follower bearing housing assembly according to various embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION The following description aims to convey a complete understanding of the described embodiments by providing several specific embodiments and details involving adjustable bearing supports and bearing assemblies for single-axis solar trackers. It should be appreciated, however, that the present invention is not limited to these specific embodiments and details, which are merely illustrative. It is further understood that a person skilled in the art, in view of known systems and methods, would welcome the use of the invention for the intended purposes and benefits in any number of alternative embodiments, depending on the specific design and other requirements. Referring to Figures 1 and 2, these figures show a portion of a single-axis follower system that includes a bearing support or lattice cap 40 according to various embodiments of the invention. The bearing support or lattice cap has a pair of opposing wing portions 41 extending outward on each side and a pair of connecting portions 42 below it that extend downward at an angle to join the above-ground ends of a pair of adjacent lattice legs 50. Although only a portion of each leg 50 is shown in the figure, it should be appreciated that the legs 50 extend downward below ground level. Each leg 50 can be fabricated from a single structural member or from two or more components connected together to form a unit leg structure, as shown, for example, in the context of Figure 7B.When supporting a single-axis tracker, the legs of such a foundation system are normally straddled on a provided North-South oriented rotation axis of the tracker. Once the legs are joined to the lattice cap connection or adapter 40 parts, they can be crimped or otherwise secured to form a rigid, A-frame lattice foundation. In various embodiments, one of these foundations is installed at each required location along the torsion tube where an H-pile would normally be installed. In the system of Figure 1, the lattice cap 40 supports the bearing housing assembly 20 of a mechanically balanced single-axis follower, such as the NX series of followers from NEXTracker, Inc. shown and described in the context of Figure 6A. In various embodiments, the upper surfaces 41 of the lattice cap 40 may have slots extending in a direction parallel to the bearing pin (i.e., North-South or X-direction) to allow some degree of adjustment along the direction of the torsion tube. This is seen, for example, in Figure 2, where the BHA 20 has been adjusted southward (to the right) on the top of the lattice cap 40. This is necessary because the legs 50 of the lattice foundation were displaced too far north of their intended location.To compensate, the BHA 20 slides southward along the X-axis over surfaces 41 to bring it closer to the target position, away from the Northern torsion tube module holder 25 (i.e., the one on the left in the figure). The positions of the torsion tube module holders 25 are dictated by the dimensions of the PV module and are normally fixed. In fact, the torsion tube may have pre-drilled holes that dictate where these components are attached. Therefore, adjustment must be made by moving the bearing housing assembly 20 between the adjacent torsion tube module holders 25. As a result, as the tracker rotates to its steepest angle (60 degrees +), or when wind causes the tracker to flex rotationally, the edge of the lattice cap 40 may interfere with the nearest PV module frame 28 or with the torsion tube module holder 25.To avoid this, the extent of the X-direction adjustment may have to be unduly limited with this type of lattice cap. To address this potential problem, the Applicant of this disclosure has developed a two-piece lattice cover or adapter that provides X-axis adjustability while preventing mechanical interference with the follower's rotating components. The RZLcnn / zznz / B / GALA system, referred to as system 60, is shown in at least one exemplary embodiment in Figures 3A and 3B. The first component is a lower lattice cover portion 61. The lower lattice cover portion 61, like the lattice cover 40 in Figures 1 and 2, includes opposing connecting portions 62 that project from the main body of the lower lattice cover portion 61 to join adjacent lattice legs 50. In various embodiments, the connecting portions 62 are inserted into the open end of each leg 50 and are crimped or otherwise locked in place. In other embodiments, the legs 50 may be received in an opening formed in the connecting portions. The connecting parts 62 may have one or more recesses or channels circumscribing their outer surface that create gaps behind the leg so that the leg deforms during crimping.Above the main body of the lower lattice cap portion 61 is a flat mounting surface 63. As shown, this surface has a pair of parallel grooves 64 running through it and perpendicular to a plane passing through each connecting portion. That is, a line through the center of each connecting portion 50 would be orthogonal to the direction of the grooves 64 formed in the flat mounting surface 63. It should be appreciated that, although two grooves are shown in the figure, various embodiments may use only a single groove. Furthermore, the grooves 64 may actually be T-shaped to allow a T-bolt to slide and protrude upward and then move along the groove 64 to the desired location. When the lower lattice cap portion 61 is installed as part of the lattice foundations, these grooves will be oriented along the X-axis or the North-South axis of the follower. The second part of the two-piece lattice cover assembly 60 shown in these figures is the upper bearing housing assembly support 65. The upper BHA support 65 consists of an elongated, tray-like structure made from a flat metal base 66 with two upward-facing flanges on each side. The base 66 has a pair of opposing openings 68 for receiving bolts or other fasteners that extend outward from the bottom of the bearing housing assembly. In various embodiments, these are close to each end, where the legs or feet of the BHA will contact the upper BHA support 65. In addition, as shown, there is a pair of holes or small slots 67 running lengthwise along approximately the middle of the upper BHA support 65. As discussed in the context of the lower lattice cover portion 61, in various embodiments, the slots 67 can be replaced by a single slot.A pair of fasteners, such as the bolts 69 shown in 3A, can be inserted into the respective slots 67 in the upper BHA bracket 65 and through the slots 64 in the lower lattice cap 61, allowing the upper BHA bracket 65, and by extension the BHA, to move laterally along the X-axis (the direction of the follower row and torsion tube). Because the flat mounting surface 63 of the lower lattice cap portion 61 is substantially narrower than the upper BHA bracket 65, as the upper BHA bracket moves through the overlapping slots 64, 67, there is no remaining structure to mechanically interfere with the rotating components of the follower (e.g., PV modules, PV module mounting brackets, etc.).In this example, the width of the flat mounting surface 63 of the lower support portion is approximately 200 mm wide, while the upper support portion is approximately 300 mm long. With this geometry, or an even greater differential, as the upper support moves along the North-South line (see 3B), there is no longer any mechanical interference between the torsion tube module support and / or the PV modules in the lattice cap because the mounting surface 63 of the lower lattice cap portion 61 does not extend below the distal ends of the upper BHA support 65. Figure 4 shows the two-piece bearing support system of Figures 3A and B supporting the components of a mechanically balanced single-axis follower according to various embodiments of the invention. As with the follower shown in Figure 1, the single-axis follower supported in Figure 4 is a mechanically balanced NX series follower from NEXTracker, Inc. or a similar system. It consists of the BHA 20 with a bearing 21 and a bearing pin 22. A torsion tube support bracket and / or a module support 25 support the PV module 28 and the torsion tube 27. These tracker components are supported by the upper BHA bracket 65, which, in turn, is connected to the lower lattice cover 61. Although the legs 50 are shown away from the connecting parts 62 of the lower lattice cover 61, in practice, the connections between the legs 50 and the connecting parts 62 are made before the tracker components are attached. RZLcnn / zznz / B / GALA follower. The foundation in this figure is an example EARTH TRUSS foundation with a pair of adjacent legs 50 joined together with a lower truss cap portion 61 as shown in Figures 3A / B. An upper BHA support 65 is rigidly fixed to the NEXTracker BHA 20. The torsion tube 27 is suspended from the bearing pin 22 seated in the bearing 21 formed in the BHA 20. The bearing pin 22 supports a pair of torsion tube module supports 25 positioned in front of and behind the BHA 20. For ease of illustration, the front one has been omitted. The BHA 20 is mounted on the upper support, which, in turn, is fixed to the lower bearing support. Figure 5 shows the system of Figure 4, viewed crosswise (east) towards the BHA from the west. As shown in this example, BHA 20 is formed by press-fitting two symmetrical pieces to form a two-sided object. It should be appreciated that BHA 20 can, alternatively, be cast as a single piece or formed as a fabricated weld from multiple pieces. In this example, BHA 20 and the upper support portion 65 have been moved southward to compensate for misalignment of the foundations with respect to their intended location. However, unlike the truss cap shown in Figure 1, as BHA 20 and the upper BHA support 65 are moved, no interfering material remains beneath them, as they are only supported on half of the upper BHA support 65.In fact, as shown in 3B, in various embodiments, the width of the flat support portion 63 is 2 / 3 or less of the length of the upper support 65, leaving 1 / 6 or more cantilevered at each end. This provides sufficient clearance for the photovoltaic (PV) modules 28 to rotate through the full range of tilt angles without mechanical interference while still achieving adequate support. The mounting surface 63 is sufficiently narrow in the East-West direction such that even when a PV module or a torsion tube module holder is directly upon it, as may be the case when the BHA 20 and the upper BHA holder 65 are adjusted to their maximum North or South extension to correct foundation misalignment, the PV module 28 and / or module holders 25 will not contact the lower lattice cap portion 61, even at the maximum tilt angle, which is typically limited to 60–65 degrees.Returning now to Figures 7A and 7B, these figures show a bearing assembly and an adjustable lattice cap 70 for single-axis followers according to various embodiments. This is intended to replace existing third-party bearing assemblies with an optimized lattice assembly. In this case, the lattice cap portion 71 includes a pair of angled connecting parts 72 for joining adjacent lattice legs. The splined projection 73 extends in what will be the X or North-South direction when the lattice is assembled. The BHA 75 includes a bearing opening 76 that receives a bearing pin similar to other third-party BHAs shown and described herein. It has a central opening 78 that provides space for the torsion tube while limiting the extent of its rotation. The splined opening 77 receives the splined projection 73.Hammering the BHA 75 will cause it to slide in the X direction along the splined projection 73 until the correct X orientation is achieved; a key, set screw, or other structure can be used to hold the BHA 75 in the desired orientation. Figure 7B shows the assembly 70 of 7A supported by a lattice foundation. In this example, each lattice leg 50 consists of an anchor screw 51 with a drive coupler 52 at its upper end. The upper leg section 53 is sleeved over the coupler 52 and over the connecting portion 72 of the lattice cap 71. All points of the overlap are crimped to lock the geometry. Figures 8A, 8B, 80, and 8D show BHA assemblies and additional lattice caps according to various embodiments of the invention. Starting with Figure 8A, the system shown in this figure includes a lattice cap 81. The lattice cap 81 has connecting parts 82 that protrude from its underside. As with other embodiments, these connecting parts 82 are received at the open end of the upper leg sections. The lattice cap 81 also has a flat mounting surface 83. Instead of using an intermediate BHA support, as shown and discussed in the context of Figures 2, 3A, and 3B, the BHA 85 has a base portion 86 with holes formed therein, thus eliminating the need for such a support. The X-oriented slots on the flat mounting surface 83 allow the BHA 85 to be fitted in the X-axis (NS) direction after the lattice cap 81 has been attached to the lattice legs.It should be noted that wedges or similar structures can also be used between the mounting surface 83 and the underside of the base portion 86 to achieve alignment. For example, wedges can provide 1 / 2 degree of angular adjustment to correct any misalignment in tilt and roll. Figure 8B shows another assembly of lattice cap 91 and BHA 95. Similar to the assembly shown in 8A, the lattice cap 91 also includes connecting parts 92 and a flat mounting surface 93. In addition, the lattice cap 91 has a notch 94 formed in the mounting surface 93. A hook-shaped portion 97 extending below the base 96 of the BHA 95 slides into the notch 94 and rests against the underside of the surface 93. This provides additional resistance to bending when the bearing is subjected to axial forces along the axis of the torsion tube, while also providing adjustability of the BHA 95 relative to the lattice cap 91 through grooves formed in the mounting surface 93 and corresponding openings in the base 96 of the BHA 95. Figures 8C and 8D show another assembly 100 of a lattice cap and BHA according to various embodiments of the invention. In this assembly, the lattice cap 101 has a pair of angled connecting parts 102, a flat bearing surface 103, a grooved projection 104, and a flange 105. The BHA 106 is similar to the BHA 75 shown in Figures 7A and 7B, but in addition to the grooved opening 108, it includes support parts 107 that rest on the bearing surface 103 when the BHA 106 is sleeved over the grooved projection 104. The fit of the BHA 106 and the lattice cap 101 is shown in greater detail in the front and side views depicted in Figure 8D. Returning now to Figures 9A, 9B, and 9C, these figures show different views of a two-piece lattice cap assembly 110 according to various other embodiments of the invention. The assembly 110 includes the lower lattice cap 111 with the main body portion 112 and connecting portions 113 extending below and away from the main body portion 112 at reciprocal angles |Θ| with respect to a median line through the main body portion. Unlike other lattice caps discussed herein, the lattice cap 111 does not have a flat mounting surface. Instead, a pair of opposing flanges 114 extend vertically above the main body portion 112.The second part of assembly 110 is the upper BHA support 115, which comprises a tray-like structure with a flat, tray-like support surface 116 having a pair of flanges 117 extending vertically below the support surface 116. When the upper BHA support 115 is positioned above the lower lattice cap portion 111, the flanges 117 of the upper BHA support 115 and the opposing flanges 114 of the lattice cap 111 overlap each other. In some embodiments, the flanges of the upper BHA support 117 may be spaced closer together than the flanges 114 of the lower lattice cap 111 so that they fit within the flanges of the lattice cap. In others, they may be spaced further apart to fit around them. These are design options. As can be seen in the figures, each flange of flanges 114 and flanges 117 has a pair of grooves that extend along its width.When the upper BHA bracket is installed on the lower lattice cap 111, these flanges 114, 117, and the corresponding slots will extend along the X-axis of the follower array—in other words, substantially parallel to the North-South axis of the torsion tube. Once the slots are oriented to overlap, bolts or other fasteners can be inserted through each overlapping slot to fit the two components together. During installation of the BHA and torsion tube sections, the BHA is secured to the upper BHA bracket 115, and the bracket can be rotated and / or slid in the X direction relative to the lower lattice cap portion 111 to allow the BHA to achieve the proper orientation for supporting the torsion tube.It should be noted that although slots are shown on both the flanges 117 of the upper BHA support 115 and the flanges 114 of the lattice cover 111, either one could simply have a hole instead of a slot. The specific geometry of the slots and the type of fasteners used to join them are design choices. Figure 11 shows the BHA of NEXTracker 20 seated on the assembly 110 according to various embodiments of the invention. As shown, bolts, dowels, or other fasteners 23 can protrude from the lower end of each leg of the BHA 20 through the upper BHA support 115 via holes formed in the surface 116 of the latter. In the orientation shown in Figure 11, the BHA 20 can be tilted, i.e., rotated at an angle, into and out of the page about the Y-axis (East-West), via the overlapping connection between the flanges 114 of the lower lattice cap 111 and the flanges 117 of the upper BHA support 115. The BHA can also slide in the X direction, i.e., into and out of the page, at the same angle. It should be noted that in various embodiments, the BHA 20 and the upper BHA support 115 can be combined into a single structure to reduce the number of parts.That is, similar to the embodiment shown in Figure 8A, the features of the upper BHA support 115 can be integrated into an integral base of the BHA 20. Such modifications are within the scope and spirit of the invention. The scope of embodiments of the present invention should not be limited to the specific embodiments described herein. In fact, various modifications of the embodiments of the present inventions, in addition to those described herein, will be evident to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings. Therefore, such modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the following appended claims. Furthermore, although some embodiments of the present invention have been described herein in the context of a specific implementation in a specific environment for a specific purpose, those skilled in the art will recognize that their usefulness is not limited to such an implementation and that embodiments of the present inventions can be advantageously implemented in any number of environments for any number of purposes.Therefore, the claims set forth below should be interpreted in light of the spirit of the embodiments of the present inventions disclosed herein.

Claims

1. An adjustable bearing support assembly for a single-axis follower comprising: a lower portion having a pair of opposing connecting parts adapted to join a pair of lattice legs to form a fixed lattice foundation and a mounting surface having at least one adjustment groove formed therein; and an elongated upper portion adapted to support a follower bearing housing assembly and having at least one alignment opening for adjusting its alignment with respect to the adjustment groove of the lower portion when seated on the lower portion.

2. The adjustable bearing support assembly according to claim 1, further comprising at least one clamping element extending through the at least one alignment opening into the at least one adjustment groove, allowing the position of a follower bearing housing assembly to be displaced relative to the mounting surface.

3. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein the elongated upper part comprises a channel with walls that runs substantially along its entire length.

4. The assembly according to claim 3, further comprising a pair of opposing holes in a channel base with walls receiving respective clamping elements extending from a bearing housing assembly.

5. The assembly according to claim 4, wherein the at least one adjustment opening at the top is positioned between the pair of opposite holes.

6. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein the width of the flat mounting surface of the lower part is approximately 2 / 3 the length of the elongated upper part to avoid mechanical interference with the rotating components of the single-axis follower.

7. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein the connecting parts join the pair of angled lattice legs such that they straddle a provided row of followers and at least one of the slots in the mounting surface extends along the provided direction of the row.

8. An adjustable bearing support for a mechanically balanced single-axis follower comprising: a lower portion having a main body, a pair of connecting parts extending away from the main body and a flat mounting surface on the top of the main body, the flat mounting surface having at least one groove extending therethrough; and an elongated upper portion adjustablely seated on the lower portion and adapted to support a bearing housing assembly.

9. The adjustable bearing support according to claim 8, further comprising at least one clamping element extending through the top and at least one slot.

10. The adjustable bearing support according to claim 8, wherein the width of the flat mounting surface is approximately 2 / 3 the length of the elongated top portion to avoid mechanical interference with the rotating components of the single-axis follower.

11. A system comprising: a lower lattice cover portion; an upper bearing housing assembly support; and a bearing housing assembly, wherein the lower lattice cover portion and the upper bearing housing assembly support have respective overlapping flanges enabling adjustment of the position of the upper bearing housing assembly support relative to the lower lattice cover portion.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the respective overlapping flanges have overlapping openings that receive the respective fastening elements to allow the position of the upper bearing housing assembly support to be adjusted with respect to the lower lattice cover portion while remaining fastened to each other.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the upper bearing housing assembly support can be rotated with respect to the lower lattice cover portion.

14. The system according to claim 12, wherein the bearing housing assembly support can slide in the plane with respect to the lattice cover.

15. A two-piece lattice cover for supporting a follower bearing housing assembly with a lattice foundation comprising: a first main body part; a first pair of connecting parts extending below the first main body part; a first pair of flanges extending above the first main body part; and a second bearing housing assembly support part providing a mounting surface for a bearing housing assembly and having a second pair of flanges extending below the mounting surface, wherein the first pair of flanges and the second pair of flanges have respective overlapping openings formed therein to receive the respective fastening elements and permit one to move relative to the other while remaining coupled together.

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