Patent Publication Number: US-2012031787-A1

Title: Package for shipping and storing photovoltaic panel products

Description:
This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/371,697 filed Aug. 8, 2010, and is herein incorporated by reference in its entirely as if fully set forth herein. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to the field of packaging for shipping and storing products, and more specifically to packaging systems for shipping and storing glass-based photovoltaic panel products. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Glass based panel products which are formed in sheet, plate or panel construction such as multilayer photovoltaic panels can be challenging to package and ship as they are prone to crack if dropped or supported only on the edges in a horizontal orientation. 
     While methods of packaging, transporting, and storing flat panel photovoltaic products are known in the art, there are a number of problems associated with these methods. By way of example, photovoltaic modules stored in packaging systems of the prior art must be spaced by a distance equal to the thickness of the photovoltaic module and it&#39;s protruding junction box, which leads to a relatively low packing density and few photovoltaic modules in a box of a given size. 
     As the cost per watt of photovoltaic energy goes down the relative cost per watt of the materials and systems used during storage and transportation of photovoltaic modules become an important cost element and it is therefore desirable to minimize this cost. 
     SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS 
     One embodiment of the invention provides a system of packaging flat panel products such as photovoltaic modules by securing the flat panel products with tines having alternating channel depths to allow the flat panel products to be arranged with offset heights to decrease the spacing between adjacent panels. In some embodiments the panels are characterized by protruding features located at the edges, for example protruding electrical junction box housings. 
     Another embodiment of the invention provides a system and method of automated loading of photovoltaic panels by way of special features within the securing tines to allow for top-loading at multiple angles, particularly for automated means such as multi-axis robotic arms. 
     Another embodiment of the invention provides a packaging system with three easily removable walls that provides for top-loading the packaging system at high speed with an automated means such as a multi-axis robotic arm. 
     In yet another aspect of the invention, a package for shipping a flat panel product is provided wherein the securing tines are rounded or angled to improve the tolerance of the packaging system to positioning errors in a multi-axis robotic arm which is used to load flat panel products into the packaging system. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a photovoltaic module packaging system according to one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a photovoltaic module packaging system partially loaded with photovoltaic panels according to one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 3A  is a close-up side-view of alternating height tines within a photovoltaic module packaging system according to one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 3B  is a close-up view of the tip of a protruding tine feature according to one embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a close-up bottom view of the layered structure of the exmplary cardboard tines according to one embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring now to the figures and more particularly to  FIG. 1 , a shipping container  107  constructed in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention is shown. Shipping container  107  may be sized to hold photovoltaic panels or other flat plate products for shipping and storage. In one embodiment, shipping container  107  is about 1.5 meters long by about 1 meter wide by about 1 meter high in order to house up to 50 photovoltaic panels in a single container for compact shipping. Other dimensions may be chosen appropriately to match the size of flat panel products that will be housed in the container for shipping and storage. In  FIG. 1 , a series of tines  100  are mounted to support rails  103 . In one embodiment, tines  100  are comprised of layers of reinforced cardboard, a bottom view of which is shown in  FIG. 4 , and are attached via an adhesive to mounting rails  103 . The mounting rails may be comprised of lightweight and/or inexpensive woods such as pine, douglas fir, or other softwoods. In some embodiments, hardwoods such as oak or cherry may be used to transport heavier flat panel products in excess of 50 kilograms per panel. Optionally, lightweight and inexpensive materials such as PET and recycled plastic may be used for the pallet support frame. Optional support rails  102  may be used to transfer an additional portion of the weight of the flat panel products directly to the underlying frame of the pallet support rails  103 . 
     A planar base  104  may optionally be used to form a mounting surface on the pallet and to further provide an enclosing surface for the panels within shipping container  107 . Additional support and lateral security is provided to the flat panel products using tines  101  secured to vertical wall  105 . Vertical sidewalls  105  and  106  along with planar base  104  may be comprised of reinforced cardboard to provide inexpensive enclosing walls for the flat panel products. In addition, other low-cost materials such as recycled PET and plastic may be used to form these walls. 
     Tines  100  are spaced to define a plurality of channels dimensioned to accept flat panel products having a predetermined thickness, for example 10 mm, for example 15 mm. Other channel dimensions may be used in accordance with various embodiments of the invention to cause the panels to be held in a secure fashion, such as 5 mm, 8 mm, and in some cases up to 30 mm in order to allow for loading and unloading the flat panel products without requiring undue force, for example an insertion force of less than 1,000 Newtons (N). In some embodiments, the tines  100  may have alternating depths to reduce the space required to package flat panel products with protruding edge features. In  FIG. 3A , tines  100  are depicted with channel depths  302  and  303  which are arranged in an alternating fashion down the length  304 . The benefits of this novel arrangement of channel depths  302  and  303  is depicted in  FIG. 2 , wherein the flat panel products  201  and  202  are shown resting at alternating heights as a result of the alternating channel depths. This novel arrangement of flat panel products provides a system wherein a series of flat panel products  201  and  202  are packed more tightly than the protruding edge features  205  would otherwise allow, for example in the case of constant depth tines. During the loading process, flat panel products  201  and  202  are added to the packaging system with inverted orientations relative to each other as shown in  FIG. 2  to allow the panels  201  and  202  to be packaged together in a relatively small volume and to keep the edge features  205  from requiring a greater spacing between adjacent flat panel products. 
     In an alternative embodiment, edge securing tines  101  may have an analogous pattern of alternating channel depths to allow for arranging flat panel product in an offset manner horizontally in cases where protruding edge features are located at various locations around the perimeter of the flat panel products  201  and  202 . 
     Advantageously, the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1  has at least three sides of the packaging system open during loading to facilitate rapid placement of flat panel products and to provide an unobstructed point of entry for automated loading equipment such as multi-axis robotic arms. In other embodiments, only one side of the packaging system is open during loading, and in further embodiments, two sides of packaging system are open to provide the unobstructed point of entry for automated loading equipment. 
     During the step of loading flat products  201  and  202  into container  107 , the inventors have found that the allowable tolerance to positioning errors of, for example, a multi-axis robot is increased by angling or rounding-off the end portion  305  of tines  100  as shown in  FIG. 3B . In this close-up view of a single tine, top portion  305  is angled or rounded with respect to vertical edge  309  by angle  308 . The inventors have found that multi-axis robots, often moving at high speed to rapidly load flat panel products and relying on cameras and other positioning tools commonly known in the art, will occasionally have small positioning errors relative to channels  307 , whereby the angled feature  305  causes flat panel product  201  to load easily into channel region  307  by forcing tines  100  to flex or bend slightly. This also aids in human assisted loading of flat panel products  201  into channel region  307 . In some embodiments, the tines have rounded tips, and in other embodiments the tines have pointed tips. 
     In another embodiment of the present invention, a lower section  310  of channel region  307  may be widened or rounded slightly to a greater channel width than upper region  311  of channel region  307 . By increasing the width of channel region  307  in region  310  by, for example, 10%, 20%, or in some embodiments 40% of the width at the upper portion of the channel, the loading of flat panel products  201  can be improved by allowing the flat panel product to be loaded at a slight angle with respect to their final, vertical orientation. By allowing a multi-axis robot to load flat panel product  202  into a channel  307  at a slight angle, the risk of impact with a previously loaded flat panel product  201  is reduced, which allows the loading of flat panel products to proceed more rapidly in certain embodiments.