A-Frame Truss Foundation for Solar Trackers With Lower Embedment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The high cost of solar energy infrastructure, particularly the foundations for large-scale solar arrays, is a significant barrier to widespread adoption, with conventional monopile foundations being inefficient due to their design, which requires excessive steel and deep embedment to resist lateral loads from wind, leading to increased material and labor costs.
Innovation Solution
A truss or A-frame foundation system with moderately sloped legs, optimized to reduce the non-linear magnitude of tensile and compressive forces from lateral loads, allowing for smaller steel usage and shallower embedment, thereby reducing material and construction costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional monopile foundations are used to support solar arrays, then the foundations can resist lateral loads from wind, but excessive steel and deep embedment are required, leading to increased material and labor costs
Solution Approach 1:
The monopile foundation is segmented into multiple truss members arranged in a triangular configuration. This segmentation allows the lateral load to be distributed across multiple members rather than concentrated in a single monopile, reducing the steel required in each individual member while maintaining overall structural strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The foundation design transitions from a single vertical monopile (one-dimensional) to a three-dimensional truss structure with members arranged in a triangular configuration. This dimensional change allows the structure to resist lateral loads more efficiently by distributing forces across multiple members in different orientations.
2Strength
If conventional monopile foundations are used to support solar arrays, then the foundations can resist lateral loads from wind, but deep embedment is required, leading to increased installation complexity and cost
Solution Approach 1:
The deep monopile is segmented into multiple shorter truss members. The triangular truss configuration provides structural stability with shallower embedment because the distributed triangular structure resists lateral loads more efficiently than a single deep pile, reducing the required embedment depth while maintaining strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The transition from a single vertical monopile to a three-dimensional truss structure allows the foundation to achieve lateral load resistance with reduced embedment depth. The spatial arrangement of truss members in a triangular configuration provides structural efficiency that eliminates the need for deep single-pile embedment.
3Area of stationary object
If A-frame foundations with steep angles are used, then the structure can be more compact, but the non-linear magnitude of tensile and compressive forces increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The truss member angles are optimized within a specific range (30-60 degrees from horizontal) to balance structural compactness with force management. This parameter optimization ensures that tensile and compressive forces remain within acceptable nonlinear magnitudes while achieving a compact footprint, avoiding the extreme forces associated with steeper angles.
Solution Approach 2:
The foundation uses a composite truss structure combining multiple members in a triangular configuration. This composite arrangement distributes tensile and compressive forces across multiple members rather than concentrating them in single legs, reducing the nonlinear force magnitudes even in compact configurations.
Data Source
AI summary
An A-frame shaped truss foundation system for a single-axis tracker with moderately sloped legs that translate lateral loads into tension and compression without substantially increasing the magnitude of the lateral load force while optimizing material usage. Several such truss foundation systems are installed in a row to support a torque tube of a single-axis solar tracker. An adapter joins ends of adjacent upper legs and separates the truss legs by an angle more than 35-degrees up to 70-degrees. In some cases, the adapter may have an integrated bearing.