Supporting structure for solar panels
View Patent ↗A support structure for solar panels is comprised of two or more circular and concentric tracks or rails on which a plurality of pylons are mounted. The pylons are parallel and equipped with support wheels so as to support, through respective frames, a plurality of solar panels. The pylons rotate with respect to the common center of the concentric tracks so as to carry out a rotational movement for the azimuthal tracking (RA) of the sun (from east to west), while a plurality of actuators, which are mounted within each pylon, move one or more panels in order to obtain a rotational movement for the zenithal tracking (RZ). The combination of the two rotations is controlled by an electronic control unit, so as to follow at every moment of the day the sun's position. The support structure may be mounted on poles and can be isolated or can be installed on coverings, building roofs or generic flat surfaces.
1. A support structure for solar panels, comprising at least two concentric tracks or rails having a circular geometry which are fixed to a supporting surface through foundation piles and a plurality of pylons, which are connected to related frames containing a plurality of solar panels and which are connected together by means of perpendicular trusses which form a braced frame with said pylons, said pylons being bound to said tracks or rails and moving on said tracks or rails through drive wheels which rest on said tracks or rails and which are linked to said pylons through support means, so that said pylons and said trusses rotates around a central bearing or node, an electronic control unit, controlling said support structure, said solar panels being thus free to spatially rotate according to an azimuthal direction (RA) around said central bearing or node through said drive wheels and being free to spatially rotate according to a zenithal direction (RZ) around a hinge axis or pin, which is placed centrally and longitudinally on each frame containing said solar panels, wherein said solar panels which are installed on a frame of a respective pylon are rotated in the opposite direction with respect to the solar panels which are installed on the frames of the adjacent pylons of the support structure.
2. The support structure as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said electronic control unit is housed in the central bearing or node and is connected to said pylons via a connecting frame.
3. The support structure as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said electronic control unit controls respective actuators and/or kinematic mechanisms, which are able to rotate said pylons on said tracks or rails and to spatially rotate said solar panels of each frame according to said zenithal direction (RZ), said electronic control unit being also able to instantly control the positions of each solar panel, so that the solar radiation which hits each solar panel is always perpendicular to the surface of said solar panel.
4. The support structure as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said electronic control unit monitors the weather conditions, so as to place said pylons in positions of minimal resistance to the wind.
5. The support structure as claimed in claim 1 , wherein that said solar panels which are installed on a fixed frame of a respective pylon are rotated according to said zenithal direction (RZ) independently with respect to the solar panels which are installed on the frames of the other pylons of said support structure.
6. The support structure as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said solar panels are constituted by modular solar panels.
7. The support structure as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said panels are selected from solar panels and/or photovoltaic panels and/or thermal panels.
8. The support structure as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said drive wheels are of at least two different types and independent between them, so that when a first type of wheels is used for an azimuthal rotation of tracking, a second type of wheel, which is also used for said azimuthal rotation, performs a fast return of the structure for a new collimation.
9. The support structure as claimed in claim 8 , wherein said different types of wheels turn at different speeds.