Transportable and multi configurable, modular power platforms
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional solar power platforms require extensive pre-development, costly foundations, and significant site disruption, making them inefficient and environmentally harmful for distributed renewable energy applications.
Innovation Solution
A transportable, modular solar power platform using toggle anchors with rods and cables for earth anchoring, allowing for rapid deployment and minimal site disruption, eliminating the need for heavy equipment and complex engineering processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional foundations and support structures are used for solar arrays, then structural stability is achieved, but installation cost and time increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The solar array support system is divided into modular components: adjustable support legs with feet, interchangeable foundation elements (concrete blocks, ballast weights, or ground anchors), and standardized mounting brackets. This segmentation allows rapid assembly without complex engineering, resolving the contradiction between structural reliability and installation speed.
Solution Approach 2:
Foundation elements are pre-positioned or pre-assembled before solar panel installation. Concrete blocks are placed in advance, ballast weights are pre-attached to support structures, and ground anchors are installed beforehand. This preliminary action eliminates time-consuming on-site construction while ensuring structural stability.
2Reliability
If conventional foundations and support structures are used for solar arrays, then structural stability is achieved, but environmental disruption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the heavy concrete pouring and earth-moving operations from the installation process. By using pre-fabricated concrete blocks, ballast weights, or minimal ground anchors, the system achieves structural stability without the environmental disruption of conventional foundation work, effectively taking out the harmful elements while retaining the stabilizing function.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses temporary or easily removable foundation elements such as ballast weights and adjustable support legs that can be deployed and removed without permanent site modification. These replaceable components provide necessary stability during operation but cause minimal environmental disruption during installation and decommissioning.
3Manufacturing precision
If conventional foundations and support structures are used for solar arrays, then engineering precision is achieved, but procurement time and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure uses universal, standardized components that can be used across different solar array configurations and site conditions. The same adjustable support legs and mounting brackets work with various panel types and orientations, eliminating the need for custom-engineered solutions and reducing procurement time while maintaining engineering precision through standardized manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses adjustable support legs with variable height and angle settings, allowing a single standardized component to adapt to different site conditions and engineering requirements. This parameter adjustability provides the necessary engineering precision for various applications without requiring multiple specialized components, thereby reducing procurement complexity and time.
4Reliability
If heavy equipment and complex engineering processes are used, then foundation stability is achieved, but installation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The support structures are designed to be self-aligning and self-adjusting. The adjustable legs automatically adapt to uneven ground, and the modular components fit together through simple mechanical connections without requiring complex engineering procedures or heavy equipment. This self-service design achieves foundation stability while minimizing installation complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Support platforms for one or more solar panels and systems and methods for securing support platforms are provided. In one embodiment, a frame of a support platform includes a plurality of support legs, each leg including a shoe plate. One or more toggle anchors with rod and/or cable are provided that include an anchor portion and a toggle portion pivotally coupled to the anchor portion, and a rod and/or cable is coupled to the toggle portion. Each anchor is driven into the ground with a driving rod such that an exposed end of the rod and/or cable extends from the ground. The driving rod is removed, and the rod and/or cable is pulled to deploy the anchor, and which the anchor is pull tested and measured in real time soil conditions whereupon the exposed end is coupled to the shoe plate of one of the support legs to apply a desired tensile force between the exposed end and the anchor to secure the support leg and, consequently, the support platform relative to the ground.