Deployable solar tracker system
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing deployable solar tracker systems face challenges in efficient handling and transportation, as they often require individual handling with cranes and lack integrated foldable supporting legs, making them cumbersome to load and unload from transport vehicles and shipping containers without heavy machinery.
Innovation Solution
A deployable solar tracker system with foldable panel array sections and a transport frame that allows for joint handling with a forklift or crane, enabling the system to be fitted into a shipping container through a longitudinal end door, and featuring integrated foldable supporting legs for easier deployment and reduced need for separate support assemblies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If foldable panel array sections are arranged without a transport frame, then individual handling with cranes is required, but this increases handling complexity and requires heavy machinery
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple foldable panel array sections are merged into a single integrated transport unit by fitting them into a common transport frame. The frame combines several sections that can then be handled as one unit by a single forklift, eliminating the need for multiple crane operations on individual sections.
Solution Approach 2:
The transport frame acts as an intermediary device between the foldable panel array sections and the forklift. It provides standardized fork-receiving openings that interface with forklift forks, enabling easy handling without requiring direct crane attachment to each section.
2Ease of manufacture
If support assemblies are shipped separately, then assembly complexity increases, but integrating them adds volume to the transport unit
Solution Approach 1:
The support assemblies are merged with the foldable panel array sections by integrating them directly into the transport frame structure. This eliminates separate shipping of support assemblies and reduces the number of discrete components that need to be transported and assembled.
Solution Approach 2:
The transport frame serves multiple functions: it acts as both the transport container for the foldable panel array sections and as the structural base for the support assemblies. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate support assembly components.
3Ease of operation
If foldable panel array sections are placed side by side without alignment features, then loading is simpler, but precise alignment during deployment becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The transport frame pre-aligns the foldable panel array sections in the correct spatial arrangement before deployment. The sections are positioned and secured in the frame during manufacturing, so that when the frame is installed, the sections are already in their proper aligned positions, eliminating the need for field alignment work.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanical alignment process is replaced by the rigid structural geometry of the transport frame. Instead of relying on field operators to manually align sections using measurement and adjustment, the frame's built-in geometry ensures precise alignment is maintained automatically during transport and installation.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The deployable solar tracker system comprises a single-axis solar tracker (1) including a plurality of foldable panel array sections (10, 10a). Each foldable panel array section (10, 10a) comprises a shaft section (11), a plurality of support ribs (12) hinged to the shaft section (11), a plurality of solar panels (13) attached to the support ribs (12) and a handling element (28) attached on top of the shaft section (11). The handling element (28) has one or more handle openings (29, 30) dimensioned for receiving one or more lift members oriented in a transversal direction perpendicular to the shaft section (11). The handle openings (29, 30) of the handling elements (28) of the plurality of the foldable panel array sections (10, 10a) are mutually aligned when the plurality of foldable panel array sections (10, 10a) are arranged in a shipping arrangement.