|
ENGINEERING:
 This
photo illustrates the importance of Professional Solar's rigorous engineering. The photo was
taken on a roof in Florida after being pummeled by one of the many
hurricanes in the 2004/2005 season. The extremely high winds completely
tore off existing roofing material, yet the RoofTrac
mounting system remains completely unaffected.
Photo courtesy of Sharp
Electronics Corporation.
RoofTrac system after Florida hurricane
Proper engineering provides the following benefits to the installation
contractor:
First:
It guarantees that the product will function as specified.
Second:
It enables the contractor to secure a building permit from the governing
building department.
Third:
Engineering will define how the product should be installed.
Professional Solar Products employs two
types of engineering for its products and we will describe the benefits
for each type. We will also explain why we employ the use of each of these
types of engineering and why each type is appropriate for each of our
products. In some cases we will use a combination of the listed types to
properly engineer our products.
Summary:
Two types of engineering are used to test our products:
| LABORATORY TEST TO FAILURE:
Fixturing a device on a special machine and pulling it until the
device fails while a supervising engineer records the values.
(Conducted by a 3rd party testing laboratory) |
| STATIC LOAD TESTING:
Simulating the exact (real world) conditions that the rack will be
expected to perform under. (Conducted by a 3rd party structural
engineer) |
Description of each type of engineering,
why they are appropriate for each type of device or rack we manufacture:
LABORATORY TEST
TO FAILURE: Excellent way to test an attachment device that
will be used as a sub component such as a stanchion or bracket. We used
this type of testing for the Fast Jack®, Commercial Fast Jack®, and Tile Trac® roof attachments.
This type of testing is inexpensive, the reports are simple and they
provide strength values for sub components only. Disadvantage; this type
of testing is only useful for sub-components (i.e.: the pull-out value of
a Fast Jack® in a rafter). A stanchion or connection strength value will
not determine whether a module clip/clamp will hold.
STATIC LOAD
TESTING (SLT): The best way to engineer complete module rack
systems. Advantages include real world testing for modules mounted to rack
systems. SLT insures that the racking system will hold the glass or
laminate in the frame under load. SLT creates smaller engineering reports
usually between 2-3 pages with no calculations for building and safety to
double check. SLT follows the UL 1703
guideline for testing of PV mounting systems. SLT secures a building
permit with the least amount of expense and time from the local building
department (almost never requires plan check fees). SLT is required by
most PV manufacturers to be considered an OEM (original equipment
manufacture) for their modules. Disadvantage: Very expensive and time
consuming for the manufacturer. Each rack and load condition must be
separately fixtured and engineered. This is the type of engineering that
we offer with our Roof Trac™ and Ground Trac™ systems. To date we have
performed approximately 100 separate static load tests.
COMBINATION OF
ABOVE: In some cases like our Ground Trac™, we perform the SLT
for the module integration to the support rack under load and then use
other vendor engineering to engineer for the footing and
pipe requirements.
|
