THREE-DIMENSIONAL SOLAR ARRAYS

• Main Author: EDGAR ROSS ALLAN
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 10.03.2011
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; BLASTING; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERATION; GENERATION OF ELECTRIC POWER BY CONVERSION OF INFRA-REDRADIATION, VISIBLE LIGHT OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT, E.G. USINGPHOTOVOLTAIC [PV] MODULES; HEATING; LIGHTING; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; RANGES; REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGYGENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION; SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; SOLAR HEAT COLLECTORS; SOLAR HEAT SYSTEMS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE; VENTILATING; WEAPONS

An assembly for retaining a plurality of photovoltaic modules in a three-dimensional array, the assembly including a plurality of overlapping vertically spaced grid layers each defining a plurality of horizontally spaced positions, wherein the photovoltaic modules are arranged and retained in the positions of successive grid layers in substantially non-overlapping vertical relationship so that none of the photovoltaic modules in any grid layer substantially vertically occludes any other of the photovoltaic modules in any other grid layer.