Solar Array Stringing Automation via Cellular Automata
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Solution Overview
Problem
The solar engineering industry faces a bottleneck in designing solar panel systems due to the time-consuming process of manually creating NEC-compliant and labor-efficient wiring topologies, which increases installation costs and delays project completion.
Innovation Solution
An autonomous computer-implemented method optimizes solar panel array wiring by converting CAD files into two-dimensional coordinate grids, calculating ideal string lengths, identifying hole and edge cells, and generating stringing solutions using cellular automata to minimize labor costs while ensuring electrical code compliance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual drafting and stringing design is used, then NEC compliance and design accuracy are ensured, but installation time and labor costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical drafting process with an automated computer-implemented system. The software automatically generates stringing designs, performs NEC compliance checks, and optimizes wiring configurations, eliminating the need for manual drafting while ensuring code compliance through built-in validation algorithms.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-validation of NEC compliance automatically. The software includes built-in code libraries and validation rules that automatically check generated designs against NEC requirements, allowing the system to self-verify compliance without requiring manual review by engineers, thus reducing time while maintaining reliability.
2Manufacturing precision
If manual stringing design is performed, then design accuracy and code compliance are achieved, but labor costs and project duration increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual engineering design processes with automated computational algorithms. The software automatically generates optimized stringing configurations, performs electrical calculations, and produces construction-ready documentation, achieving the same design accuracy while increasing productivity by eliminating manual drafting bottlenecks.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary automated validation and optimization of stringing designs before construction begins. By pre-calculating optimal configurations and validating compliance upfront, the system ensures design accuracy is achieved rapidly, preventing rework and accelerating project completion.
3Loss of information
If traditional drafting methods are used, then detailed wiring topology is created, but the process becomes a bottleneck limiting engineering firm capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual drafting bottleneck with an automated computer-implemented system that rapidly generates detailed wiring topologies. The software maintains comprehensive design information and NEC compliance details while producing output at speeds that eliminate the capacity limitations of manual drafting processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the fundamental parameter of design production speed by using automated computational methods. The software can generate and validate multiple design configurations rapidly, transforming the engineering firm's capacity from being limited by manual drafting speed to being limited only by computational resources, thereby dramatically increasing productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
A process and computer program for designing solar array installations is provided. A user of the process or computer program provides a CAD file specifying a 2D photovoltaic (PV) array layout. Components and electrical properties of array components are specified. The 2D CAD file is converted to a 2D coordinate grid of cells where each cell is assigned a value indicate the presence or absence of a PV module. An ideal PV string length is calculated and permuted. Holes and edges of the array are identified and recorded. Strings are iteratively generated, in accordance with the ideal and permuted string lengths, and a stringing solution is passed to a CAD program.