DESCRIPTION

The present patent concerns the field of photovoltaic panels and in particular it concerns a new support for photovoltaic modules or cells.

Supporting structures for solar photovoltaic modules or cells are known, for example Italian patent no. PD201 1 A000264 describes a device that is useful for the following main reasons:

- it fixes / constrains / supports photovoltaic modules;

- it channels various types of fluids that are useful for cooling or heating the modules;

- it delivers these fluids to a coil /cooler that is in direct contact with the module;

- the entire structure represents a continuous circuit for the fluid, maximizing efficiency;

- cooling the modules means improving their electricity production;

- the modules can be heated, for example in order to cause snow and ice to melt, if necessary;

- the resulting hot fluid can be used for heating purposes.

The construction of the above mentioned structure involves various costs that are mainly the following:

- cost of the coil / cooler, also of the roll bond type;

- cost for welding two (or more) aluminium tubes (delivery and outlet) to the cooler;

- cost of said metal tubes;

- cost of plastic joints used to join said aluminium tubes to flexible plastic hoses;

- cost of said flexible plastic hoses; - cost of the taps used to join said plastic hoses to extruded supporting and conveyance rods;

- cost of the supporting/conveyance rods;

- cost of the teflon necessary to ensure a sealing action;

- cost of specialized labour necessary for carrying out the connections and the assembly.

In order to reduce many of the above mentioned costs a new support for photovoltaic modules or cells has been designed and constructed, said support being formed by a single integrated extruded section bar, meaning that it comprises the coil/cooler, the cooler inlet/outlet ducts, the supporting and conveyance pipes for the inflow and outflow of the cooling fluid, rails suitable for connection.

The section bar can be made of aluminium or ceramic and/or glazed clay and/or terracotta or any other suitable material.

The invention represents the purest possible implementation of the original concept and it exploits a technique that drastically lowers costs while at the same time increasing the thermal efficiency, sturdiness and eco-logicity of the final product.

The new invention does not concern only extrusion technology but above all the construction of such integrated structures comprising coil/cooler, cooler inlet and outlet ducts, supporting and conveyance inflow and outflow pipes by exploiting all the techniques known in the art, like but not limited to the following: CNC milling, plasma cutting, water jet cutting, lost wax casting or similar techniques, moulding, metal printing, chemical processes and the like.

The resulting product is the ideal solution to constrain photovoltaic modules or cells, adhesives of the amorphous type, modules without "junction box" at the back like Revolution 6 modules, but also traditional "frameless" modules with the "junction box" projecting from the structure ("offset"). According to another embodiment, an insulating area is incorporated in the structure itself. If the cooler is exposed to air, it tends to create condensation/precipitation. By obtaining an apposite compartment behind the cooler, thanks to a third metal sheet that defines an insulating area with the further advantage of reinforcing the entire structure, it is possible to insert a panel made of polystyrene, rock wool and other insulating materials. As an alternative, it is possible to avoid the additional cost necessary for the addition of the third metal sheet, by simply applying an insulating panel behind a regularly extruded piece.

According to a further new embodiment of the invention, it is possible to exploit the integrated extruded structure, provided with various special seats, to house or integrate electric cables or a copper bar that can be introduced laterally so that in this way it can be accessed from the outside. Furthermore, the bar can be electrically insulated, by exploiting all the techniques known in the art, for example, but not exclusively, by exploiting rubber, surface anodizing treatments or micro arc oxidation (MAO), creating one of the poles combined with only one cable constituting the second pole.

A further solution concerns the possibility to join/weld partially extruded parts or small metal components with the purpose of producing said integrated structures in parts that are successively welded to one another. For example, said individual bars can be joined to sheets or extruded rectangles through welding (TIG/MIG or other) in order to obtain said integrated structures.

In certain places/locations it is very difficult to eliminate the heat produced by such a system. In certain cases it may happen that the modules need to be cooled without collecting/exploiting the heat produced. In these cases, dissipating heat represents a problem that is resolved by proceeding as described below.

A further innovation concerns the combination of a "vortex tube" with said integrated support, which is operated with compressed air or fluid gas. A "vortex tube" offers the opportunity to separate the hot air from the cold air. The hot air can be simply released in the environment, while the cold air is introduced in the cooling circuit. By exploiting this technique the system is cooled with no need to resort to a separate system, for example a water or gas heat pump.

The use of these pipes and their configuration in parallel or in series, according to the need, with respect to photovoltaic thermal systems, PVT, is an innovative solution that increases the capacity to cool said support. For example, a "vortex tube" is applied at the outlet of each individual integrated structure, so that the hot air is released directly into the atmosphere while the cold air is conveyed towards the main cooling circuit. It has been observed that it is also possible to use one of the two pipes of the support as a "vortex tube" positioned upstream of each structure; in this configuration, a duct of the integrated structure is used, in which a vortex separating the hot air from the cold air is generated. Only the cold air is introduced in the evaporator, or on the flat part supporting the photovoltaic cells, and finally discharged after collecting the heat of the integrated modules. This innovative configuration eliminates the need to purchase return pipes and the circuit is a disposable compressed air circuit.

The characteristics of the present invention are highlighted in greater detail in the following description, with reference to the attached tables that are provided by way of non-limiting example.

Figure 1 shows an extruded section bar (1) according to a first possible embodiment, wherein said section bar (1) is produced in a single extrusion cycle and comprises: a cold fluid inlet pipe (A), a hot fluid outlet pipe (B), a cooling coil / cooler (D), cooler inlet-outlet ducts (C).

The innovative aspect of the present invention lies in that it makes it possible to produce section bars through extrusion or analogous processes, a technical advancement that leads to huge savings in terms of time and money. The use of the extrusion technique, which for said conveyance supporting structures is completely innovative, considerably reduces the production time that is presently required for the creation of the structure and for making the connections in the cooling circuit, module by module, through manual processes which often are scarcely reliable.

If necessary, said cooling coil can be provided with apposite holed reinforcing elements (F), in the shape of a plane wing, inserted in claws/rails (E). Said holed reinforcing elements (F), if necessary, can be fixed or glued, for example with epoxy glue.

The section bar (1) comprises also rails (G) that are useful to constrain the structure and the modules.

As shown in Figure la, said section bar (1) may alternatively comprise two half-sections (H) or however two modular section bars, for example when no large press is available, wherein said single section bar (1) is obtained by welding the two halves (H). In this case, the ends of the half- section (H) comprise a closed wall (HI) on which successively it is possible to make lateral holes (I), obtained at a later moment through a CNC milling process or an analogous process in order to complete the cooling circuit.

Said section bars (1) can then be obtained also from modular portions that can successively be joined to one another through a welding process, using gaskets or other elements.

Figures lb, lc, Id, le, If, li show further possible embodiments of the new section bar (1), comprising, in addition to said pipes (A, B), the cooling coil (D) formed by two opposite walls (Dl, D2) and partitions (D3) among said walls (Dl, D2), wherein said partitions (D3), in addition to constituting the reinforcement structure of the section bar (1), are also suited to be milled in order to obtain the coil path. Figures lg and lh show two possible embodiments of the rails (G) on the pipes (A, B).

Figure 2 shows an advanced extruded section bar (2) for the construction of said integrated structure, comprising also a third metal sheet (K) that defines an insulating area offering the further advantage of reinforcing the entire structure. According to an alternative possible embodiment of the invention, the metal sheets of the cooler can have different thicknesses, for example the metal sheet (Dl) that is in contact with the module can be thinner, in order to better transmit the external heat to the fluid.

According to a possible alternative embodiment, a thermoelectric generator or TEG (T) can exploit the produced heat to generate electricity or power a light or a LED. A circuit (M) amplifies the voltage produced by the TEG to power a LED or an OLED (Tl).

A further innovative aspect concerns the possibility to exploit the integrated extruded structure to accommodate or integrate electric cables in various apposite seats. As shown in Figure 2a, for example, a copper bar (Nl) can be introduced laterally and in this way be accessible from the outside. The bar (Nl) can be electrically insulated exploiting all the techniques known in the art, for example (but not exclusively) using rubber or surface anodizing treatments. A side rail (N) can be used to introduce/accommodate a copper bar (Nl) electrically insulated by means of rubber.

As shown in Figure 2b, according to a further possible embodiment, the opposite walls (Dl, D2) of the cooler (D) can have the same thickness and be provided with vertical supports (D3) intended to ensure increased sturdiness during the extrusion process. As shown in Figure 3, a further innovative aspect concerns the possibility to join/weld extruded parts or small metal components in order to produce integrated structures like those described above. For example, the single pipes (A, B) can be joined to metal sheets or extruded rectangles (Dl, D2) through a welding process, a TIG/MIG process or other processes (P) in order to obtain integrated structures.

By drilling (G) the pipes (A, B) laterally, it is possible to create ducts that convey fluid to the coolers created by joining single pieces.

A photovoltaic system is produced using valuable materials. The cables, for example, are made of copper, which is a valuable material and therefore is likely to be stolen. In order to prevent the cables from being stolen, said structures can be electrically insulated and then exploited as large electric cables. This aspect represents an original and innovative solution in the field of "supporting structures". It has been found that the extruded structures can be electrically insulated with rubber / special paints or through accurate and heavy surface anodizing treatments or micro arc oxidation (MAO), or other analogous processes presently known in the art. It has been found that at a later moment a CNC milling machine or an equivalent machine can obtain a male or female electric outlet (P) from the body of the extruded part, as shown in Figure 4. This procedure eliminates the need for anodizing treatments or any other insulating protection layer when access to the conductive metal should be ensured. It has been observed that this technique is particularly suited to be used in systems for cooling gas/air instead of water.

As shown in Figures 5a and 5b, the new section bar (1) comprises also a "vortex tube" that is operated with compressed air or fluid gas and in turn comprises an inlet (VI) for the compressed air, which enters tangentially said cold air pipe (A), and wherein the flow of hot air (V2) that is conveyed out of the pipe (A) and released into the environment is separated from the flow of cold air (V3) that is introduced in the cooling circuit.

Said "vortex tube" can be obtained by simply milling the walls in a suitable manner.

According to a possible solution, said section bars (1, 2) comprise a head element or end cap (Z) whose shape and size correspond to or in any case are suited to close the opposite ends of the section bars. Said head elements (Z) can be welded or simply assembled with sealing gaskets.

Said head elements (Z) can be carried out in such a way as to maintain the half-sections or modular section bars (H) joined to one another, with no need to weld them.

Furthermore, said head elements (Z) can be configured so as to comprise partitions intended to convey the fluid along the coil path, thus eliminating the need to mill the partitions (D3) of the section bars (1, H).

As shown in Figure 11, said head elements (Z) may comprise a plurality of caps (Zl, Z2) for said pipes (A, B) and for the channels (D4) made in the section bar (1) and defined by said partitions (D3).

Figure lm shows a three-dimensional view of a single cap (Z2) suited to be inserted in the section bar (1) and provided with sealing gaskets of the O ring type (Z3).

Said extruded parts can be completely or partially made of plastic, glass, aluminium, or other metals or materials.

These are the schematic outlines that are sufficient to the expert to carry out the invention, consequently, in the construction stage variants are possible that do not affect the substance of the innovative concept described herein.

Therefore, with reference to the above description and the attached drawing, the following claims are expressed.