Floating Solar Carrier Structure With Integrated Receiving Regions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solar element support systems for floating on water bodies are inflexible, costly, and difficult to assemble, with potential issues in production and assembly efficiency, stability, and resistance to environmental conditions.
Innovation Solution
A floating carrier device with a carrier structure that supports solar elements, utilizing floating bodies with integrated receiving regions and a metal carrier structure, allowing form-fit accommodation and easy assembly, and featuring stack elements for stability and anti-skid implementations to enhance flexibility and robustness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If existing solar element support systems are used, then solar elements can be supported on water bodies, but the systems are inflexible, costly, and difficult to assemble
Solution Approach 1:
The floating carrier device is divided into modular components: multiple identical floating bodies (at least four) that can be independently manufactured and assembled, a separate carrier structure with carrier elements, and receiving regions integrated into the floating bodies. This segmentation allows for simplified manufacturing of individual modules and easy assembly by connecting modules together, directly addressing the problem of difficult assembly in existing systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The receiving regions are integrated directly into the floating bodies themselves, merging the support function with the buoyancy function. The carrier structure is then coupled to these integrated receiving regions, combining multiple functions into a unified system. This merging reduces the number of separate components needed and simplifies the overall assembly process.
2Ease of manufacture
If existing carrier structures are used, then solar elements can be supported, but production and assembly costs are high
Solution Approach 1:
The floating bodies are designed with specific geometric parameters including receiving regions with defined shapes and dimensions that accommodate the carrier structure. The carrier elements have specific cross-sectional shapes (such as U-shaped or channel-shaped profiles) that provide structural strength while using material efficiently. These parameter optimizations reduce material costs while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system combines different materials strategically: the floating bodies are made from buoyant materials (such as foam or hollow plastic structures) to provide flotation, while the carrier structure uses metal or composite materials to provide structural support for the solar elements. This composite approach optimizes both cost and structural reliability by using the right material for each function.
3Ease of manufacture
If floating bodies without integrated receiving regions are used, then manufacturing is simpler, but support force transfer is less efficient
Solution Approach 1:
The receiving regions are pre-formed as integral parts of the floating bodies during the floating body manufacturing process. This preliminary action ensures that the support force transfer paths are built-in and optimized from the start, eliminating the need for separate attachment operations while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through integrated molding or forming processes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a flexible, cost-effective, and efficient assembly of solar elements on water bodies, with enhanced stability and resistance to environmental conditions, including temperature fluctuations and ice pressure, while minimizing production and assembly costs.
Implementation Method 1
By a 'floating body' is herein in particular a body to be understood that generates a buoyancy force
Data Source
Figure 1a
Figure 1b
Figure 2
AI summary
A floating carrier device that is configured to support at least one solar element (10) floating on a water body, in particular an inland water body, with at least one floating body (12) and with a carrier structure (14, 14a) which is coupled with the floating body (12) and is configured to transfer a support force of the at least one solar element (10) to the at least one floating body (12).