Patent ID: 7576282

Claim:
A deployable and retractable photovoltaic awning assembly, comprising: a sheet of photovoltaic devices; a rotatable roll formed of a non-metallic composite corrugated material, corrugations of which define conduits, said corrugated material being connected to contoured drums at opposite ends thereof and receiving said sheet and adapted to alternatively rotatably pay-out said sheet and retract and retrieve said sheet; a boom at an end of said sheet opposite said roll; a cable connected to said boom at each of opposite ends thereof, said cables being windingly received by said contoured drums; a pair of support tubes extending along opposite edges of said sheet between said ends of said booms and said contoured drums, said sheet having positioned therealong a plurality of elongated strips of photovoltaic material; conductors interconnecting said photovoltaic strips, said conductors being received within said roll and passing through said conduits; and reinforcing disks interposed between said contoured drums, and about which said non-metallic composite material is rolled.