Method and Structure for a Cool Roof by Using a Plenum Structure
AssigneePVT Solar, Inc.
InventorRamachandran Narayanamurthy
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Abstract
A plenum structure for cooling both a roof and a solar module includes an upper surface comprising at least a portion of a bottom face of a solar module having a length and a width and an under surface comprising a top face of a pan structure disposed a first vertical spacing directly below the upper surface and a second vertical spacing above the roof. The plenum structure includes a first side face and a second side face respectively coupled to the upper surface and the under surface, a first end face and a second end face respectively coupled to upper surface, the under surface, the first side face, and the second side face to enclose a spatial volume defined by the length, the width, and the first vertical spacing.
Claims26
A plenum structure for cooling both a roof and a solar module on the roof, the plenum structure comprising:
- an upper surface comprising at least a portion of a bottom face of a solar module having a length and a width;
- an under surface comprising a top face of a pan structure disposed a first vertical spacing directly below the upper surface and a second vertical spacing above the roof;
- a first side face and a second side face respectively coupled to the upper surface and the under surface;
- a first end face and a second end face respectively coupled to upper surface, the under surface, the first side face, and the second side face to enclose a spatial volume defined by the length, the width, and the first vertical spacing;
- at least one opening structure associated with the first end face for drawing an airflow into the spatial volume;
- and
- an exit opening being disposed in a vicinity of the under surface and the second end face for extracting out the airflow flowing through the spatial volume, wherein the under surface and the under surface modulate the airflow for removing thermal energy generated by the solar module at least partially.
A method for providing a cool roof utilizing a plenum structure associated with a solar panel mounted on the roof, the method comprising:
- mounting a first rail structure and a second rail structure to a roof, the first rail and the second rail being inclined with a slope with respect to a horizontal plane;
- installing a pan structure to the first rail structure and the second rail structure, the pan structure comprising a planar material substantially inclined with the slope to cover a portion of the roof, the pan structure having a width and a length;
- coupling a solar panel to the first rail structure and the second rail structure, the solar panel being disposed at a distance directly above the pan structure to form a plenum structure characterized by a volume of spatial region caped between the solar panel and the pan structure and sided with the first rain structure and the second rail structure, the plenum structure including at least an intake region near a lower end of the pan structure inclined with the slope and an exit region located substantially near a higher end of the pan structure;
- drawing an airflow at a flow rate through the plenum structure from the intake region to the exit region;
- and
- maintaining a temperature profile through the plenum structure using at least the flow rate of the airflow modulated by the pan structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.