Solar Foundation Piles with Inline Drilling and Segmented Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional H-piles used in solar tracker foundations are overbuilt, inflexible, and require costly remediation for misalignment and refusal situations, leading to inefficiencies and increased costs due to their one-piece construction and static driving techniques.
Innovation Solution
The EARTH TRUSS system employs two adjacent legs driven at angles and joined above ground with an adapter, using a drilling tool to eliminate pre-drilling and enabling precise alignment with a laser system, and multi-piece pile foundations for reduced steel usage and positional adjustments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional H-piles are used with overbuilding to withstand lateral wind loads, then structural strength is improved, but steel consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The foundation system is divided into multiple discrete H-piles rather than using a single monolithic structure. Each H-pile is independently driven and can be optimized for local soil conditions, allowing reduced overall steel consumption while maintaining required strength through strategic placement and sizing of individual piles.
Solution Approach 2:
The H-piles are designed with varying dimensions and properties tailored to local soil conditions and load requirements at each specific location. This allows optimization of steel usage in each local area rather than using uniform overbuilding across the entire foundation system.
2Ease of manufacture
If one-piece H-pile construction is used, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but adaptability to misalignment during driving deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The H-pile is segmented into multiple sections that can be independently adjusted. The top section can be rotated or repositioned relative to the driven lower sections, allowing compensation for misalignment during driving while maintaining the simplicity of the overall one-piece H-pile construction approach.
Solution Approach 2:
The H-pile incorporates adjustable elements that allow dynamic repositioning after driving. The top portion can be rotated to correct angular misalignment or repositioned to correct linear misalignment, providing adaptability while maintaining manufacturing simplicity.
3Ease of operation
If static driving techniques are used, then installation simplicity is improved, but positional mitigation requirements increase costs
Solution Approach 1:
The H-pile is pre-drilled with a borehole before driving, establishing a precise predetermined position. This preliminary action allows the pile to be driven into an accurate location without requiring complex post-installation positional mitigation, reducing costs while maintaining installation simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The traditional mechanicalpercussive driving method is enhanced with a drilling component that creates a precision borehole first. This substitution of purely mechanical driving with a drill-then-drive sequence enables precise positional control without increasing overall installation complexity or cost.
4Reliability
If deeper embedment is used to compensate for misalignment, then structural reliability is improved, but installation time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The borehole is drilled to the required depth before driving the H-pile, establishing the precise final position in advance. This allows the pile to be driven directly to the correct depth and position without requiring excessive embedment to compensate for misalignment, reducing installation time while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The drilling process provides feedback on the precise location and depth requirements before driving. This feedback mechanism allows the H-pile to be driven to the exact predetermined position, eliminating the need for deeper embedment to compensate for misalignment and reducing installation time.
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
This approach reduces steel consumption, allows shallower embedment depths, and minimizes costly remediation by enabling precise alignment and flexible load distribution, thereby lowering installation costs and cycle times.
Implementation Method 1
a laser system to establish precise alignment references
Implementation Method 2
a drilling tool to eliminate pre-drilling
Implementation Method 3
They are a brute force approach to the problem but are relatively easy to install with a vibratory or percussive pile driving rig
Implementation Method 4
vibratory or percussive pile driving rig
Data Source
AI summary
Improved masts for solar pile driving machines are provided that incorporate inline drilling as well as alignment and assembly devices that enable greater positional accuracy than possible with conventional equipment. In some cases, a jig, holder, or other device on the mast of the machine can be used to place a bearing assembly for a single-axis tracker while the foundation is being installed. Also disclosed are various multi-piece foundation piles that enable positional adjustment between below and above-ground components to compensate for misalignment.