Patent ID: 11894797
Assignee: POWERSHINGLE, LLC
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  Y | IPC H

Claim 13:
14. A method of assembling a structure to support an array of photovoltaic panels arranged in columns and rows, the method comprising:
connecting a plurality of parallel channel rails to a plurality of purlins forming a framework where two adjacent parallel channel rails form a column and where centers of adjacent parallel channel rails are spaced slightly wider than a width of a photovoltaic panel to be installed on the structure;
affixing shingling rails having an inverted “L” shaped profile along a bottom side of substantially an entire length of opposed first and second sides of a first photovoltaic panel resulting in a first shingling rail affixed to the first side and a second shingling rail affixed to the opposed second side of the first photovoltaic panel;
leaving a third and a fourth side of the first photovoltaic panel without shingling rails;
placing the first photovoltaic panel in a first column of the structure defined by adjacent channel rails, where a part of the first shingling rail extending from the bottom side lies within a channel of one of the adjacent channel rails, and a part of the second shingling rail extending from the bottom side lies within a channel of another one of the adjacent channel rails, wherein the first photovoltaic panel lies parallel to a common plane defined by the plurality of channel rails;
affixing other shingling rails having an inverted “L” shaped profile along a bottom side of opposed first and second sides of a second photovoltaic panel; and
placing the second photovoltaic panel in a second column of the structure adjacent to the first column and defined on one side by a common channel rail with the first column, where a part of one of the other shingling rails extending from the bottom side of the second photovoltaic panel lies within the common channel rail;
wherein the first photovoltaic panel and the second photovoltaic panel are separated on adjacent sides by a space permitting water and debris to flow into the common channel rail.