INTEGRATED SOLAR ROOFING TILE CONNECTION SYSTEM
An integrated solar roofing tile connection system for installing on a roof surface for converting solar energy into electrical energy includes a plurality of battens that each have a length and are mounted to the roof surface. The plurality of battens are generally parallel to and spaced from one another. A plurality of electrically connected female connectors mounted to each batten and spaced along the length of each batten. A plurality of photovoltaic roofing tiles are mounted to each batten. Each photovoltaic roofing tile has a tile base that has a first side surface, a second side surface and a top edge and a photovoltaic circuit. The photovoltaic circuit includes a plurality of electrically interconnected photovoltaic cells and first and second terminal ends. Each photovoltaic roofing tile includes a male connector that extends from the tile base. Each male connector at least partially exposes the first and second terminal ends. Each male connector is removably mountable to and in electrical engagement with a corresponding female connector.
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This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/942,151 filed Jun. 5, 2007 entitled “Solar Roofing Connector System”, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/942,112 filed Jun. 5, 2007 entitled “Solar Roofing Tile Connection System” and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/942,124 filed Jun. 5, 2007 entitled “Solar Roofing Tile”.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to a solar roofing tile connection system, specifically a solar roofing tile connection system that includes solar roofing tiles, custom battens and female connectors that facilitate an electrical connection between adjacent solar roofing tiles in an integrated solar roofing system.
Photovoltaic cells formed of single crystal and/or thin film sub-modules convert solar energy into electrical energy. Various systems have been introduced to adapt photovoltaic cells for installation on to commercial and residential roofs. Conventionally, photovoltaic modules were provided as separate devices on top of an existing roof. However, roofing products have recently been developed that integrate the photovoltaic cells directly into individual roofing tiles or shingles which are assembled to form an integrated solar roofing system. The integrated solar roofing system is installed like a typical pitched roof. Any area of the roof that is undesirable for solar energy generation is covered with visually consistent inactive tiles, removing the obstacle of seamlessly blending photovoltaic cells with an existing roofing product. Together they create a functionally and visually integrated roofing membrane.
The flow of electricity travels from one photovoltaic roofing tile to another and is used or transmitted to a grid. Alternatively, the electricity may be stored. The photovoltaic roofing tiles must be easy to install and easily removable to allow for repairs and replacement. The electrical interconnection from one photovoltaic roofing tile to the next, or from one photovoltaic module to another photovoltaic module, has been typically formed either through direct interconnection of photovoltaic module or roofing tiles or through wiring which electrically connects the photovoltaic roofing tiles or modules. Such a configuration however, often requires special installation steps, instructions, and special training to prepare and establish the electrical connections. Therefore, a different installation method is required for the photovoltaic roofing tiles than that used for installing the inactive or conventional tiles. In some instances an electrician is required, further increasing expense and installation time. Additionally, removal and replacement of a defective photovoltaic roofing tile without damaging or disturbing adjacent tiles is often difficult.
There it is desirable to provide a solar roofing connection system that allows for simplified installation such that installation and replacement of the photovoltaic roofing tiles is similar to that of non-photovoltaic or conventional roofing tiles. Ultimately, there is a need to provide a solar roofing connection system that requires minimal installation deviation from that of a typical roof installation.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONBriefly stated, the present invention is directed to an integrated solar roofing tile connection system for installing on a roof surface and converting solar energy into electrical energy. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system includes a plurality of battens that each have a length and are mounted to the roof surface. The plurality of battens are generally parallel to and spaced from one another. A plurality of electrically connected female connectors mounted to each batten and spaced along the length of each batten. A plurality of photovoltaic roofing tiles are mounted to each batten. Each photovoltaic roofing tile has a tile base that has a first side surface, a second side surface and a top edge and a photovoltaic circuit. The photovoltaic circuit includes a plurality of electrically interconnected photovoltaic cells and first and second terminal ends. Each photovoltaic roofing tile further includes a male connector that extends from the tile base. Each male connector at least partially exposes the first and second terminal ends. Each male connector is removably mountable to and in electrical engagement with a corresponding female connector.
In another aspect, the invention is directed to an integrated solar roofing tile connection system for installing on a roof surface and converting solar energy into electrical energy. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system includes a plurality of battens that each have a length and a top edge and are mounted to the roof surface. The plurality of battens are generally parallel to and spaced from one another. A plurality of electrically connected female connectors are pivotably mounted to the top edge of each batten and are spaced along the length of each batten. A plurality of photovoltaic roofing tiles are mounted to each batten. Each photovoltaic roofing tile has a tile base that has a first side surface, a second side surface, a top edge and a lateral edge. Each photovoltaic roofing tile includes a photovoltaic laminate that includes a plurality of electrically interconnected photovoltaic cells. The photovoltaic laminate is fixedly mounted to the first side surface of the tile base and is spaced a second tile overlap distance from the top edge. The laminate substantially covers the remainder of the first side of the tile base. The laminate includes a contact tab that extends outwardly from the top edge of the tile base. A photovoltaic circuit electrically connects the photovoltaic cells and has first and second terminal ends that extend along the contact tab. The first and second terminal ends are at least partially exposed on a surface of the contact tab facing toward the second side surface of the tile base. Each photovoltaic roofing tile includes a rigid contact support that is mounted partially over the contact tab and is generally parallel to the photovoltaic laminate. Each photovoltaic roofing tile includes a flange that is mounted around a periphery of the contact tab and the contact support proximate the top edge of the tile base forming a male connector. Each male connector is removably mounted to and in electrical engagement with the corresponding female connector. A central photovoltaic roofing tile overlaps a laterally adjacent photovoltaic roofing tile by an amount equal to a first predetermined tile overlap distance and two photovoltaic roofing tiles adjacent the top edge of the central photovoltaic roofing tile each overlap the central photovoltaic roofing tile an amount equal to the second tile overlap distance.
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings an embodiment which is presently preferred. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.
In the drawings:
Certain terminology is used in the following description for convenience only and is not limiting. The words “right”, “left”, “lower” and “upper” designate directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words “inwardly” and “outwardly” refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of an integrated solar roofing connection system in accordance with the present invention, and designated parts thereof. Unless specifically set forth herein, the terms “a”, “an” and “the” are not limited to one element but instead should be read as meaning “at least one”. The terminology includes the words noted above, derivatives thereof and words of similar import.
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The tile base 18 preferably includes at least one and preferably a pair of recessed space apart nail targets 24 located toward the top edge 18c of the tile base 18. Each nail target 24 preferably has a flat base 24a to provide a large surface in direct contact with a batten 26 (
A first ridge 30 preferably extends away from the first side 18a of the tile base 18 proximate the top edge 18c. A second ridge 32 preferably extends away from the second side 18b of the tile base 18 proximate the bottom edge 18d. The first and second ridges 30, 32, act as dams or barriers when the photovoltaic roofing tiles 12 are installed to prevent wind driven rain or moisture from extending beyond and eventually underneath the overlapping photovoltaic roofing tiles 12. The tile base 18 also preferably includes an upwardly facing grove 34 on the first side 18a of the tile base 18 proximate the first lateral side 18e and a correspondingly shaped downwardly facing groove 36 on the second side 18b proximate the second lateral side 18f. The upwardly facing grooves 34 mate with the downwardly facing grooves 36 during installation such that the downwardly facing grooves 36 overlap the upwardly facing grooves 34 allowing an overlap of the second lateral side 18f a first overlap distance D1 to overlap the first lateral side 18e of an adjacent photovoltaic roofing tile 12 as the photovoltaic roofing tiles 12 are installed from left to right along the roof surface 20. The orientation of the upwardly facing grooves 34 may be switched with the downwardly facing grooves 36 such that the first lateral side 18e of the photovoltaic roofing tile 12 overlaps the second lateral side 18f of an adjacent photovoltaic roofing tile 12.
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The laminate 38 is preferably manufactured via a vacuum lamination process where a specific cycle of heat, vacuum, and pressure is applied to produce a flexible but durable laminate that provides outdoor and mechanical and environmental protection to the photovoltaic cell(s) 16. The photovoltaic laminate 38 is formed by assembling the photovoltaic layer 42 between the first and second laminate sheets 44, 46, with or without the first and second adhesive layers 48, 50 and then placing the stack in a vacuum laminator (not shown). Preferably, but not limiting, a platen (not shown) is set at 150° C. For approximately three minutes, both chambers then pull a vacuum for about seven minutes the upper chamber is released to atmosphere for a total cycle of about 10 minutes. Aluminum sheets (not shown) are preferably used as carrier sheets to carry the laminate 38 into and out of the laminator. A gritted surface such as sandpaper (not shown), is preferably provided on one of the carrier sheets to provide a textured surface to the first laminate sheet 44. Alternatively, the aluminum of the carrier sheets or the platen of the laminator themselves could be textured to provide the textured surface to the first laminate sheet 44. The back sheet 52 is then attached to the second laminate layer 46, preferably using the third adhesive layer 54. While a preferred series of layers for the photovoltaic laminate 38 has been described above, other arrangements of layers and other materials for the individual layers could be used to achieve the same result of securing photovoltaic cells 16 to the tile base 18.
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The batten sheet 76 is preferably installed with the battens 26 and female connectors 74 already attached prior to installation. Pre-installation of the battens 26 and the female connectors 74 facilitates simplified installation of the integrated solar roofing system 10 and allows for automated and precise assembly in a factory setting. However, the battens 26 and female connectors 74 may be assembled on the roof surface 20 as well. The female connectors 74 are preferably pre-installed on the respective batten 26 and the battens 26 are attached to the roof surface 20 or batten sheet 76 at the appropriate locations by the manufacturer or distributor. However, the female connectors 74 may be attached to the battens 26 during roof installation, with the spacing being measured or dictated by the location of the corresponding male connector 64. If the batten sheet 76 is installed first without pre-connected battens 26, the batten sheet 76 is installed in the same manner that the conventional underlayment 78 is installed except that the batten sheet 76 preferably includes nail markings for positioning of the battens 26. Once the batten sheet 76 is installed in an area where the photovoltaic roofing tiles 12 are to be installed, the battens 26 are nailed or otherwise secured into place and the female connectors 74 are positioned on the battens 26 where it is projected that a male connector 64 will extend from the top of the photovoltaic roofing tiles 12. The male connector 64 allows for mechanical and electrical connection of the photovoltaic cells 16 and the female connectors 74 such that adjacent photovoltaic roofing tiles 12 may be electrically connected to combine the resulting electrical energy.
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A bypass diode 100 preferably extends between the first and second contacts 90, 92 such that the first and second contacts 90, 92 and the circuitry 40 in the photovoltaic layer 42 may be electrically bypassed allowing electricity to run from the first electrical wire 94 to the second electrical wire 96 without interruption in the event that the photovoltaic roofing tile 12 fails or the connection between the female connector 74 and the male connector 64 is interrupted. A first crimp sleeve 102 preferably secures the first electrical wire 94 to the first contact 90 and a second crimp sleeve 104 preferably secures the second electrical wire 96 to the second contact 92. The first and second crimp sleeves 102, 104 also preferably hold the bypass diode 100 in connection with the first and second electrical wires 94, 96.
The female connector 74 is preferably comprised of a back cover 74a and receiving window 74b. The receiving window 74b is at least partially open toward the batten 26 for receiving the male connector 64 from a photovoltaic roofing tile 12, preferably allowing the only access to the first and second contacts 90, 92. The receiving window 74b preferably includes sealing ribs 106 extending toward the center of the receiving window 74b and slanted back toward the back cover 74a (
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The female connectors 74 along a batten 26 are electrically connected by the first and second electrical wires 94, 96. The battens 26 may be configured either in parallel or series. For example, when the photovoltaic roofing tiles 12 are arranged in series, the first and second electrical wires 94, 96 runs from a female connector 74 to the next adjacent female connector 74 along one row from left to right such that the electrical wires 94, 96 do not cross (
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The horizontal installation of the photovoltaic roofing tile 12 also allows for easier removal and replacement of a defective photovoltaic roofing tile 12 without disturbing adjacent tiles 12, 14. During removal or replacement of the photovoltaic roofing tile 12, the nail 114 is removed and the batten latch 28 is either disengaged by the use of a tool (not shown) or may be broken off to allow the photovoltaic roofing tile 12 to be removed in a generally planar fashion as similar to insertion. A replacement photovoltaic roofing tile 12 is then installed similarly to the initial installation such that the photovoltaic roofing tile 12 is slid in a plane generally parallel to the roof surface 20 and the male connector 64 is inserted into the female connector 74.
Installation of the photovoltaic tiles 12 concludes by dropping two leads, positive and negative (not shown), that extend from the batten sheet 76 or the upward most solar roofing batten 26 connected to the electrical wires with “quick-connect” terminals (not shown) into the roof ridge line or through a hole drilled through the roof surface 20. The leads allow an electrician to connect one batten sheet 76 to another batten sheet 76.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be made to the embodiment described above without departing from the broad inventive concepts thereof. It is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but it is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
Further, to the extent that the assembly methods do not rely on the particular order of steps set forth herein, the particular order of the steps in the steps set forth in the preferred methods should not be construed as limitation on the claims. The claims directed to the method of the present invention should not be limited to the performance of their steps in the order written, and one skilled in the art can readily appreciate that the steps may be varied and still remain within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. An integrated solar roofing tile connection system for installing on a roof surface and converting solar energy into electrical energy, the integrated solar roofing tile connection system comprising:
- a plurality of battens each having a length and being mounted to the roof surface, the plurality of battens being generally parallel to and spaced from one another;
- a plurality of electrically connected female connectors mounted to each batten and spaced along the length of each batten; and
- a plurality of photovoltaic roofing tiles mounted to each batten, each photovoltaic roofing tile having a tile base having a first side surface, a second side surface and a top edge and a photovoltaic circuit, the photovoltaic circuit including a plurality of electrically interconnected photovoltaic cells and first and second terminal ends, each photovoltaic roofing tile further including a male connector extending from the tile base, each male connector at least partially exposing the first and second terminal ends, each male connector being removably mountable to and in electrical engagement with a corresponding female connector.
2. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1, wherein the photovoltaic cells and photovoltaic circuit are contained within a laminate that is mounted to each tile base.
3. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 2, wherein the laminate is spaced a first predetermined tile overlap distance from the top edge of the base and substantially covers the remainder of the first side surface of the tile base.
4. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1, wherein each male connector has an outwardly extending flange that extends around an outer periphery of the male connector proximate the top edge of the tile base.
5. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 4, wherein the flange includes a sealing elastomeric o-ring.
6. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1, wherein the male connector extends from the top edge of the tile base.
7. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1 wherein each batten includes a pivot extension extending from a top edge of the batten, each female connector being pivotably mounted to a respective pivot extension.
8. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1 wherein each female connector is electrically connected through wiring, the wiring at least partially mounted to each batten and extending between each of the female connectors.
9. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1, wherein each female connector is mounted to the respective batten.
10. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1, wherein each female connector includes first and second contacts electrically coupling with the first and second terminal ends respectively.
11. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1, wherein each photovoltaic roofing tile partially overlaps three adjacent photovoltaic roofing tiles.
12. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1, wherein each female connector includes a bypass diode electrically connected between the first and second terminal ends.
13. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1, wherein the male connectors are rigid.
14. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1, wherein the first and second terminal ends are exposed on a bottom surface of the male connector facing toward the second side surface of the tile base.
15. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1, wherein each tile base includes at least one batten latch flexibly extending from the second side surface, each batten latch releasably engaging a top edge of the corresponding batten at least partially securing the roofing tile to the respective batten.
16. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of non-photovoltaic roofing tiles mounted to the battens.
17. An integrated solar roofing tile connection system for installing on a roof surface and converting solar energy into electrical energy, the integrated solar roofing tile connection system comprising:
- a plurality of battens each having a length and a top edge and being mounted to the roof surface, the plurality of battens being generally parallel to one another; and
- a plurality of electrically connected female connectors pivotably mounted to the top edge of each batten and spaced along the length of each batten;
- a plurality of photovoltaic roofing tiles mounted to each batten, each photovoltaic roofing tile having: a tile base having a first side surface, a second side surface, a top edge and a lateral edge, a photovoltaic laminate including a plurality of electrically interconnected photovoltaic cells, the photovoltaic laminate being fixedly mounted to the first side surface of the tile base and being spaced a second tile overlap distance from the top edge, the photovoltaic laminate substantially covering the remainder of the first side of the tile base, the photovoltaic laminate including a contact tab extending outwardly from the top edge of the tile base, a photovoltaic circuit electrically connecting the photovoltaic cells and having first and second terminal ends extending along the contact tab, the first and second terminal ends being at least partially exposed on a surface of the contact tab facing toward the second side surface of the tile base, a rigid contact support mounted partially over the contact tab and being generally parallel to the photovoltaic laminate, a flange mounted around the contact tab and the contact support proximate the top edge of the tile base forming a male connector,
- wherein each male connector is removably mounted to and in electrical engagement with the corresponding female connector, and
- wherein a central photovoltaic roofing tile overlaps a laterally adjacent photovoltaic roofing tile by an amount equal to a first predetermined tile overlap distance and two photovoltaic roofing tiles adjacent the top edge of the central photovoltaic roofing tile each overlap the central photovoltaic roofing tile an amount equal to the second tile overlap distance.
18. The integrated solar roofing tile connection system of claim 17 further comprising a plurality of non-photovoltaic roofing tiles generally covering the remainder of the roof surface.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 5, 2008
Publication Date: Dec 11, 2008
Applicant: SOLAR ROOFING SYSTEMS, INC., (Philadelphia, PA)
Inventors: Peter Bressler (Philadelphia, PA), Seth Galewyrick (Philadelphia, PA), Edward Siahaan (Philadelphia, PA), Abby Nessa Feinstein (Philadelphia, PA), David Wachob (New Hope, PA), Martin Low (Collegeville, PA)
Application Number: 12/134,049
International Classification: E04D 13/18 (20060101);