panels on a bowed roof [RE-wrenches]

[Kirk Herander]

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Jeff,

Its not easy to follow the arc when 4 x 8 DHW collectors have to be
mounted in side-by-side in portrait mode per customer request. 

I could mount multiple rows of PV panels in landscape mode, on Unirac
rails. The rail feet would have to be shimmed to allow the panel to lay
flat on the rail, and Unirac sells shims. Each row of panels would
"follow the arc" on its respective slope.

Kirk Herander
Vermont Solar Engineering
802.863.1202
fax 802.863-7908
NABCEP(tm) Certified Solar PV Installer
Xantrex Certified Dealer Charter Member
NYSERDA-eligible installer
VT Solar and Wind Partner


-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Clearwater [mailto:clrwater at earthlink.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 7:47 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: RE: panels on a bowed roof [RE-wrenches]

Hi Kirk,

Again, why not follow the arc?  It would look so much better, be so 
much easier to rack, have less uplift and support problems???  Your 
facet lengths would be your panel width.  You simply use standoffs to 
each panel.  Clean follows the architecture and elegant.

Best,

Jeff C.


>
>William,
>Thanks for your good advice.
>To be clear, this is not to compensate for an old sagging or warped
>roof.
>>From a side view, the roof is not a straight slope but rather a long,
>sweeping arc, the slope of which varies depending on the height of the
>roof you're at. Call it a bell curve, sort of. It has a name
>architecturally, but I forget it. The challenge is to create an
>evenly-sloped rack to mount panels which is "tangent" to the arc and at
>proper tilt angle at point of mounting.
>After looking through some catalogs, I found that unistrut makes a 6"
>strut welded to a 2 hole mounting plate. They also make a hinge. So the
>tangent can be made by bolting one end of the hinge to the top of the
6"
>unistrut mount, then bolt unistrut rail to the top end of the hinge (2
>feet per rail). The rail is the tangent line running up/down the roof.
>Several of these rail assemblies across the roof form the base to bolt
>on horizontal unistrut rails and problem solved. I hope.
>
>Kirk Herander
>Vermont Solar Engineering
>802.863.1202
>fax 802.863-7908
>NABCEP(tm) Certified Solar PV Installer
>Xantrex Certified Dealer Charter Member
>NYSERDA-eligible installer
>VT Solar and Wind Partner
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`~

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