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US 2018/0001975 A1Published application
Photovoltaic Array System and Method
AssigneeConcept Clean Energy, LLC
InventorElliot Jaramillo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method of providing, assembling and maintaining floating rows and/or arrays of photovoltaic solar panels and terrestrial or elevated based rows and/or arrays of photovoltaic solar panels.
Claims10
A floating photovoltaic panel support and maintenance system for a body of water, the system comprising:
- A buoyant base assembly including a sealable internal volume;
- Means for mechanically connecting a photovoltaic panel to the buoyant base assembly;
- A spacer mechanically connecting the buoyant base assembly to an adjacent buoyant base assembly in a first row of buoyant base assemblies;
- and
- A channel forming linkage mechanically connecting the spacer to another spacer in a second row of buoyant base assemblies, where the channel forming linkage extends from the spacer and deflects downward so as to be submerged before connecting to the other spacer in the second row of buoyant base assemblies, the channel forming linkage maintaining a spaced relationship between the first row of buoyant base assemblies and the second row of buoyant base assemblies and a submerged depth sufficient to permit flotation travel along a channel formed between the first row of buoyant base assemblies and the second row of buoyant base assemblies.
2 more elements
A floating photovoltaic panel support and maintenance system for a body of water, the system comprising:
- A plurality photovoltaic panels;
- A plurality of buoyant base assemblies each including connectors for mechanically connecting one of the plurality of photovoltaic panels to the buoyant base assembly;
- A plurality of spacers mechanically connecting adjacent buoyant base assemblies to form a first row of buoyant base assemblies;
- A plurality of channel forming linkages each mechanically connecting the first row of buoyant base assemblies to a second row of buoyant base assemblies, where each channel forming linkage deflects downward from the first row of buoyant base assemblies so as to be submerged before connecting to the second row of buoyant base assemblies, each channel forming linkage maintaining a spaced relationship between the first row of buoyant base assemblies and the second row of buoyant base assemblies and a submerged depth sufficient to permit flotation travel along a channel formed between the first row of buoyant base assemblies and the second row of buoyant base assemblies;
- and
- a maintenance vessel having at least two spaced parallel flotation hulls, where the flotation hulls are spaced a distance corresponding to a multiple of a distance between the channel formed between the first row of buoyant base assemblies and the second row of buoyant base assemblies and a second channel formed between the second row of buoyant base assemblies and a third row of buoyant base assemblies.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.