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US 8,407,895 B2Granted
Methods of manufacturing a slider clip for holding a photovoltaic structure
AssigneeFirst Solar, Inc.
InventorsJohn Hartelius, Michael Monaco, Kyle Kazimir, John Anthony Bellacicco
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described herein are methods for forming a clip for mounting panels to a support frame. The clip has a common support area and a pair of extending panel holder elements extending in opposite directions from the common support area, where one of the extending panel holder elements extends further from the common support area than the other.
Claims19
A method of manufacturing a clip for holding at least one photovoltaic structure to a support structure, said method comprising:
- forming a clip frame having a common support area, a first and second sidewall each connected, respectively, to the common support area, and a first and second top extension each connected, respectively, to the first and second sidewalls;
- and
- forming a pair of extending panel holding elements, each panel holding element adapted to hold an edge portion of a photovoltaic structure, each panel holding element abutting the first and second sidewalls, respectively, of the clip frame, and each extending in an opposite direction from said common support area, one of said panel holding elements extending from said common support area to a greater extent than the other of said panel holding elements,
- wherein each top extension of the clip frame each comprises a top exterior surface and at least one structural feature located on each top exterior surface which cooperates with the respective holding element to hold the holding element in place with the clip frame.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.