Solar cell apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9800200-B2
Application number	US-201615278786-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2016
Priority date	Mar 31, 2014
Publication date	Oct 24, 2017
Grant date	Oct 24, 2017

Abstract

This solar cell apparatus is provided with: a long mounting frame having a guide rail section in an upper portion; and a fixing member, which is provided by being slid and moved in the longitudinal direction of the mounting frame, and which is fixed at a predetermined position of the mounting frame. The fixing member has: a base section that engages with the guide rail section; an upright wall section that is provided to stand on the base section; and insertion sections that extend from the upright wall section such that the insertion sections are inserted into a module frame of an eave-side solar cell module and a module frame of a ridge-side solar cell module.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A solar cell apparatus comprising:
a plurality of solar cell modules wherein each solar cell module has a solar cell panel, and a plurality of module frames where each module frame is provided at a periphery of a corresponding solar cell panel;
a long mounting frame that is fixed along an eave-ridge direction on a roof, and has a guide rail section in an upper portion; and
a fixing member that is provided by being slid and moved in a longitudinal direction of the mounting frame along the guide rail section, and is fixed at a predetermined position of the mounting frame, wherein
each module frame of the plurality of modules frames is provided with: an internal groove section that stores a peripheral portion of the corresponding solar cell panel; and
an external groove section provided on an opposite side of the corresponding solar cell panel, and wherein
the fixing member has: a base section that engages with the guide rail section; an upright wall section that is provided to stand on the base section; an eave-side insertion section that extends from the upright wall section so as to be inserted into the external groove section of one of the plurality of solar cell modules installed on an eave side of the roof; and a ridge-side insertion section that extends from the upright wall section so as to be inserted into the external groove section of another of the plurality of solar cell modules installed on a ridge side of the roof,
at least one module frame of the plurality of module frames is opposed to another module frame of the plurality of module framed via the fixing member along the eave-ridge direction,
the internal groove section of each of the module frames comprises a bottom surface, an upper surface, and a side surface such that the internal groove section fits the peripheral portion of the corresponding solar cell panel,
the external groove section of each of the module frames comprises a bottom surface, an upper surface, and a side surface such that the external groove section fits the eave-side insertion section and the ridge-side insertion section, at least a part of the peripheral portion of the corresponding solar cell panel and at least a part of the eave-side insertion section or the ridge-side insertion section overlap with each other in a plan view, and the module frames are mounted on the guide rail section.

2. The solar cell apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the eave-side insertion section is an eave-side projection section provided in a projecting manner at the upright wall section so as to be inserted into the external groove section of the corresponding solar cell module installed on the eave side of the roof, and wherein
the ridge-side insertion section is a ridge-side projection section provided in a projecting manner at the upright wall section so as to be inserted into the external groove section of the corresponding solar cell module installed on the ridge side of the roof.

3. The solar cell apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the upright wall section of the fixing member has an upper-side wall section that extends above the eave-side projection section and the ridge-side projection section, and is sandwiched between the ridge-side module frame and the eave-side module frame of at least two adjacent solar cell modules of the plurality of solar cell modules.

4. The solar cell apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein an upper end surface of the upright wall section of the fixing member is formed so as to be substantially flush with the ridge-side frame and the eave-side frame located on both sides of the upper end surface.

5. The solar cell apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the fixing member is fixed to the mounting frame by a screw that penetrates the base section and the mounting frame, and a groove section indicating a position that the screw is made to penetrate is formed in the base section along a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the mounting frame.

6. The solar cell apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a fixture by which the mounting frame is fixed to the roof, wherein
the fixture has: a fixing section fixed to the roof; and a pair of support sections extending upwardly from the fixing section and opposed to each other with an interval substantially corresponding to a width of the mounting frame, a female screw hole is formed in at least one of the support sections, and a tip of a bolt screwed into the female screw hole abuts against the mounting frame whose height has been adjusted to be a desired height and that has been arranged between the support sections, thereby the mounting frame is temporarily fixed.

7. The solar cell apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein burring is performed on the support section formed of a metal plate, an inner peripheral surface thereof is threaded, and as a result the female screw hole is formed.

8. The solar cell apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the support section of the fixture is formed integrally with the fixing section by folding a portion partitioned by a notch formed in one metal plate.

9. The solar cell apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein a through hole is formed in the support section of the fixture, and the mounting frame is fixed to the fixture by the screw penetrating a side wall of the mounting frame and being screwed thereinto from the through hole.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Higuchi Minoru
• Arai Yutaka
• Arimoto Mamoru
• Goto Ryo
• Kubo Koichi
• Kawashita Yoshihide

Classifications

• Y02E10/47

  Mountings or tracking · CPC title

• F24S25/632

  Side connectors; Base connectors · CPC title

• F24S25/61

  for fixing to the ground or to building structures · CPC title

• F24S25/20

  Peripheral frames for modules · CPC title

• H02S20/23 Primary

  specially adapted for roof structures · CPC title