AN ANCHOR HAVING THREE-DIMENSIONAL FREEDOM OF MOTION FOR MOUNTING A FRAMEWORK ELEMENT TO A STRUCTURE

• Main Authors: VEENEMA, PETER, KINARD, RICHARD, DALE, HENDERSON, JAMES, L, CREELY JR, ALBERT, L
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French
• Published: 22.04.2010
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; BLASTING; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS,e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USERAPPLICATIONS; 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 USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE; VENTILATING; WEAPONS

The present invention is directed to an anchor for mounting a support framework element for a photovoltaic array to a structure. The anchor includes a footing, including a baseplate connectible to the structure, a tongue and a web for securing the tongue to the baseplate. A carriage for receiving a support framework element is movably connected to the tongue. The carriage is able to translate along and/or rotate around one or more lines of action in response to a force imposed on the carriage by a support framework element, each line of action being parallel to, collinear with or resolvable along one of three mutually orthogonal axes of a reference coordinate system extending through the anchor; and/or displace with respect to the footing by translating along and/or rotating around one or more lines of action to accommodate any misalignment between the exterior surface of the tongue and the plane of the support framework. La présente invention porte sur un ancrage pour le montage d'un élément d'ossature de support pour un champ de panneaux photovoltaïques sur une structure. L'ancrage comprend un socle, comprenant une plaque de base pouvant être reliée à la structure, une languette et une âme pour fixer la languette à la plaque de base. Un chariot pour recevoir un élément d'ossature de support est relié de manière mobile à la languette. Le chariot est apte à se translater le long et/ou à tourner autour d'une ou plusieurs lignes d'action en réponse à une force imposée au chariot par un élément d'ossature de support, chaque ligne d'action étant parallèle, colinéaire ou séparée le long de l'un des trois axes mutuellement orthogonaux d'un système de coordonnées de référence s'étendant à travers l'ancrage; et/ou à se déplacer par rapport au socle par translation le long et/ou en rotation autour d'une ou plusieurs lignes d'action de façon à s'adapter à tout désalignement entre la surface extérieure de la languette et le plan de l'ossature de support.