Solar Panel Rail Edge Connectors for Fast Secure Mounting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solar panel installation methods require significant material use, high labor costs, and slow installation speeds due to clamping processes that are cumbersome and require precise hole alignment, while existing tongue and groove techniques are not suitable for outdoor solar panel installations.
Innovation Solution
A solar panel design featuring integrated tongue and groove elements with mechanical locking mechanisms that couple the panel frame to the rail, providing mechanical strength and preventing drifting or shaking, allowing for efficient installation and replacement without bolts, and using materials like extruded aluminum and roll-formed steel for frames and rails.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If clamps with bolts and nuts are used to attach solar panels to rails, then the connection is secure, but the installation process becomes tedious and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling system is divided into separate tongue and groove components that can be independently manufactured and then quickly assembled. The tongue fits into the groove to create a secure connection without requiring multiple fastening operations, thus maintaining reliability while improving installation speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The tongue and groove features are integrated directly into the frame and rail structures, merging the coupling function with the structural components. This eliminates the need for separate clamps and multiple fastening steps, significantly reducing installation time while maintaining secure connection through the interlocking geometry.
2Device complexity
If prefabricated holes are made for direct bolt attachment, then fewer parts are needed, but accessing the holes for bolting becomes difficult or impossible
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring bolts to access holes from one direction, the tongue and groove system allows the tongue to insert into the groove from an accessible direction and lock into place. This reverses the traditional fastening approach, making the coupling operation accessible and simple while reducing the number of separate parts needed.
3Productivity
If side insertion clamps are used for fast installation, then installation speed improves, but the frame size increases and more materials are used
Solution Approach 1:
The frame and rail structures serve multiple functions: they provide structural support and simultaneously incorporate the tongue and groove coupling features. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for additional side insertion clamps, maintaining fast installation speed while reducing overall material usage by integrating the coupling mechanism into the existing structures.
4Strength
If frame clamping is used to meet mechanical strength requirements, then safety codes are met, but the frame requires large amounts of aluminum material
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling system combines the frame and rail into an integrated structural assembly where the tongue and groove interlocking creates a composite structure. This composite approach distributes mechanical loads across both components and their connection, achieving the required mechanical strength and safety code compliance while reducing the amount of aluminum material needed in the frame alone.
Data Source
AI summary
Solar panels, which at least at edges of two opposite sides, have frames, for use in fixed tilt solar system as well as use in tracking solar system, are provided with coupling parts together with rails and have coupling parts cooperating with each other, substantially in the form of tongue and groove. The coupling parts have integrated mechanical locking elements, which prevent drifting or separating apart of a coupled solar panel and rail in a direction perpendicular to the solar panel surface and parallel to the solar panel surface. The coupled tongue and groove are balanced by a set of forces and integrated to support each other, and to support solar panel with combined mechanical strength, which provide opportunities to reduce materials usage, dimensions, packaging materials, shipping costs, and installation time, as well as limiting installer error.