More Photovoltaics...
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I think it is excessively strong but because there is a structural engineer involved I have to defer to his best judgement and calculations. The rack shown is about 11 feet wide and will be exposed to relatively strong winds. Just the other day we had 60-to-70 mph gusts and that was at ground level. That was a fairly routine storm. We get worse ones a few times a year and the rooftop where these will be located (here's a webcam of the construction site) is above the tree canopy.
I can post the solar pv texture I used when I get home tonight.
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Ross is this a one off installation? or installed in an array like earthies solar pergola.
I'd agree it is heavy structured even despite the forecast wind loading!
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The installation will have three of these racks (all the same) mounted on the flat roof of the building that can be seen in the webcam I linked above. It is an academic building currently under construction that I designed at a local college here in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The PV's are intended more as a demonstration to the students since there aren't enough to power the building. Every little bit helps of course. The facility will have a geothermal system and stormwater is collected for flushing toilets.
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As requested by Henk, here's the PV solar panel texture I used. It looks like the design used on PV's manufactured by Sharp.
I had used a texture on the steel but the render (Render[In] plugin) shows some artifacts. I've brought those issues to the attention of the plugin developers and am hopeful they'll have the texture-related issues solved in their next beta. They've fixed the earlier problem where smoothed geometries were appearing faceted. Now they are nice and smooth.
Regards, Ross
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Thanks Ross! Here's a few more I found online while doing my project.
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Ross, when an architect does payback calculations is any account taken of the decreased solar load on the building because it is shaded by solar panels? Can anyone point me to a solar design where solar panels were used to extend the eaves on a house to shade the walls and windows in addition to providing electricity? What about designs that take into account bird crap and desert dust?
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Very nice, clean and detailed model.
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@roger said:
Can anyone point me to a solar design where solar panels were used to extend the eaves on a house to shade the walls and windows in addition to providing electricity?
Deluxe eave installs capture direct and reflected light as well as allowing light to pass through.
http://us.sanyo.com;80/dynamic/product/Downloads/HIT%20Double%20Brochure-15873583.pdf -
@wind-borne said:
@roger said:
Can anyone point me to a solar design where solar panels were used to extend the eaves on a house to shade the walls and windows in addition to providing electricity?
Deluxe eave installs capture direct and reflected light as well as allowing light to pass through.
http://us.sanyo.com;80/dynamic/product/Downloads/HIT%20Double%20Brochure-15873583.pdfSweet looking product. Probably unaffordable, but still inspirational.
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Ross, glad to see you doing some solar projects. I know there some anti-solar Luddites that lurk in our forums, but I am starting to see the handwriting on the wall. There are several precursors that I recently noticed.
- Two large home improvement outlets here in Phoenix, Arizona carry laser aimed non contact thermometers for checking energy efficiency. When I went to buy one, both companies were temporarily sold out.
- I checked with a local distributor of the Sanyo double HIT solar panels that you told me about and they were also sold out (although its possible that could be traced back to Tsunami/nuclear failure shortages).
- Here and there I am seeing more units installed one-by-one and am seeing a lot more ads from installers.
However, the one thing that bothers me is that I am not impressed with the type of installation being done. The solar units are being tightly coupled to the roof surface. The results are:
The units transmit solar heat to the roof
The units themselves are less electrically efficient at higher temperatures
The units are not being used to create wall shade which in itself would lower electrical demand
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