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US-12620926-B2 - Waterproofing mounting system for attaching solar modules to a roof

US12620926B2US 12620926 B2US12620926 B2US 12620926B2US-12620926-B2

Abstract

A roof mounting system for the attachment of an article to a roof, the system comprising a plurality of PV modules each having at least one corner and a frame member, a flashing member having a top surface; an upstanding sleeve attached to the top surface of the flashing member; an elevated water seal having a borehole formed therethrough, the elevated water seal further comprising at least one screw for providing a waterproof seal between the article and the roof structure; and whereby the plurality of PV modules are interlocked in a way to provide a corner-to-corner coupling arrangement supported above the roof through the frame members of the plurality of PV modules.

Inventors

  • Claudia Wentworth
  • Stuart Wentworth

Assignees

  • Wencon Development, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20240721

Claims (16)

  1. 1 . A rail-less roof mounting system comprising: a. a plurality of PV modules each with four sides, each of the four sides supported by a respective side frame member; b. a clamp assembly further comprising: i. a clamp member comprising two flange portions extending outwardly in opposite directions; and ii. a plate member comprising two plate portions extending outwardly in opposite directions; iii. wherein the clamp member and the plate member are configured to clampingly engage the plurality of PV modules above and beneath said frame members; and c. a base mount supporting the clamp assembly above a roof, and comprising a block slider secured to a top slider, wherein the block slider has an upstanding portion having at least one pair of opposing ridges, and wherein the top slider has as a downwardly extending portion and at least one pair of recesses which mate complementarily with the opposing ridges of the upstanding portion of the block slider; and d. wherein at least two of the PV module frames are adjacent and sandwiched between one plate portion and one flange portion, thereby coupling the at least two adjacent PV modules.
  2. 2 . The rail-less roof mounting system according to claim 1 , wherein the top slider is secured to the block slider via a fastener.
  3. 3 . The rail-less roof mounting system according to claim 1 , wherein each pair of opposing ridges extend outwardly from the upstanding portion.
  4. 4 . The rail-less roof mounting system according to claim 1 , wherein each pair of recesses extend inwardly within the downwardly extending portion.
  5. 5 . A rail-less roof mounting system, the system comprising: a. a plurality of PV modules having perimeter sides, each perimeter side having a supporting frame member, the frame members connected and forming framed module corners; b. a plurality of base mounts, the base mounts comprising a block slider and a top slider ( 124 ), wherein the block slider has an upstanding portion having at least one pair of opposing ridges, and wherein the top slider has a downwardly extending portion comprising a sliding groove, the sliding grove comprising a pair of downwardly extending opposing side portions, the downwardly extending side portions comprising opposing recesses which cooperate with the opposing ridges of the block slider upstanding portion; c. a plurality of clamp assemblies, the clamp assemblies each having a clamp member and a plate member and configured to support said PV modules by sandwiching the plurality of PV modules between the clamp member above and the plate member beneath the frame members of the plurality of PV modules; d. at least one clamp assembly of the plurality of clamp assemblies configured to support at least two of said PV modules, the at least one clamp assembly clampingly engaged with a first framed module corner and at least one other framed module corner, the corners adjacent in a cross-slope direction; e. whereby the plurality of PV modules are interlocked in a way to provide a corner-to-corner coupling arrangement which enables the connection of at least one framed module corner to at least one directionally cross slope adjacent framed module corner by sandwiching above and beneath said framed module corners of the at least two of the plurality of PV modules between the clamp member above and the plate member beneath the frame members of the plurality of PV modules; and f. wherein the clamp assemblies are each supported above a roof via a base mount.
  6. 6 . The rail-less roof mounting system of claim 5 , wherein the clamp member comprises two flange portions.
  7. 7 . The rail-less roof mounting system of claim 5 , wherein the top slider is secured to the block slider via a fastener.
  8. 8 . The rail-less roof mounting system according to claim 5 , wherein each pair of opposing ridges extend outwardly from the upstanding portion.
  9. 9 . The rail-less roof mounting system according to claim 5 , wherein each pair of recesses extend inwardly within the downwardly extending portion.
  10. 10 . A rail-less roof mounting system, the system comprising: a. a plurality of PV modules having perimeter sides, each perimeter side having a supporting frame member, the frame members connected and forming framed module corners; b. a plurality of base mounts, the base mounts comprising a block slider and a top slider ( 124 ), wherein the block slider has an upstanding portion having at least one pair of opposing ridges, and wherein the top slider has a downwardly extending portion comprising a sliding groove, the sliding groove comprising a pair of downwardly extending opposing side portions, the downwardly extending side portions comprising opposing recesses which cooperate with the opposing ridges of the block slider upstanding portion ( 114 ); c. a plurality of clamp assemblies, the clamp assemblies each having a clamp member and a plate member and configured to support said PV modules by sandwiching the plurality of PV modules between the clamp member above and the plate member beneath the frame members of the plurality of PV modules sandwiching above and beneath the frame members of the plurality of PV modules; d. at least one additional clamp assembly of the plurality of clamp assemblies configured to support four of said PV modules by sandwiching above and beneath the frame members of the PV modules, the at least one additional clamp assembly further having a clamp member and a plate member, the at least one additional clamp assembly clampingly engaged with a first pair of laterally adjacent framed module corners of a first framed module corner and a second framed module corner, the corners adjacent in a cross slope direction; and e. a second pair of laterally adjacent framed module corners of a third framed module corner and a fourth framed module corner, the corners adjacent in a cross-slope direction, thereby interconnecting said first framed module corner, said second framed module corner, said third framed module corner and said forth framed module corner; f. whereby the four PV modules are interlocked in a way to provide a corner-to-corner coupling arrangement which enables the connection of two framed module corners to two directionally cross slope adjacent framed module corners by sandwiching the framed module corners of the PV modules between the clamp member above and the plate member beneath the frame members of the plurality of PV modules; and g. wherein the clamp assemblies are each supported above a roof via a base mount.
  11. 11 . The rail-less roof mounting system of claim 10 wherein the block slider upstanding portion is secured within the sliding groove.
  12. 12 . The rail-less roof mounting system of claim 10 wherein the plate member comprises two plate portions extending outwardly in opposite directions, and the clamp member has two flange members extending outwardly in opposite directions.
  13. 13 . The rail-less roof mounting system of claim 10 wherein the block slider comprises a first portion parallel to the roof and a second portion integral to the block slider, perpendicular to the roof, and comprising an opening.
  14. 14 . The roof mounting system of claim 13 wherein the block slider first portion and the block slider second portion extend away from each other at an approximately 90-degree angle.
  15. 15 . The rail-less roof mounting system according to claim 10 , wherein each pair of opposing ridges extend outwardly from the upstanding portion.
  16. 16 . The rail-less roof mounting system according to claim 10 , wherein each pair of recesses extend inwardly within the downwardly extending portion.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. nonprovisional application with Ser. No. 18/144,419 filed May 8, 2023, now granted as U.S. Pat. No. 12,047,030, which is a continuation of U.S. nonprovisional application with Ser. No. 17/477,754 filed Sep. 17, 2021, now granted as U.S. Pat. No. 11,646,692, which is a continuation of U.S. nonprovisional application Ser. No. 17/096,839 filed Nov. 12, 2020, now granted as U.S. Pat. No. 11,139,774, and which is a continuation of U.S. nonprovisional application with Ser. No. 16/539,134 filed Aug. 13, 2019, now granted as U.S. Pat. No. 10,868,491, which is a continuation of U.S. nonprovisional application with Ser. No. 16/380,918 filed Apr. 10, 2019, now granted as U.S. Pat. No. 10,511,252, which is a continuation of U.S. nonprovisional patent application Ser. No. 16/160,504 filed Oct. 15, 2018, now granted as U.S. Pat. No. 10,211,775, which is a continuation of U.S. nonprovisional patent application Ser. No. 15/803,656 filed Nov. 3, 2017, now granted as U.S. Pat. No. 10,103,683, which is a continuation of U.S. nonprovisional application with Ser. No. 15/225,704 filed on Aug. 1, 2016 and now granted as U.S. Pat. No. 9,755,572, which is a continuation of U.S. nonprovisional application with Ser. No. 15/045,434 filed on Feb. 17, 2016 and now granted as U.S. Pat. No. 9,712,106, which is a continuation of U.S. nonprovisional application with Ser. No. 14/605,368 filed on Jan. 26, 2015, now granted as U.S. Pat. No. 9,813,012, which is a continuation of U.S. nonprovisional application with Ser. No. 14/166,633 filed on Jan. 28, 2014, now granted as U.S. Pat. No. 8,938,932 and which claims the benefit of provisional patent application with Ser. No. 61/916,046 filed on Dec. 13, 2013. BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE Technical Field of the Disclosure The present embodiment relates in general to mounting systems for photovoltaic (PV) modules on roof structures. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a rail-less photovoltaic (PV) module mounting system for providing a cost-effective means to install a plurality of photovoltaic (PV) modules on a roof structure. Description of the Related Art With the increased use of photovoltaic (PV) roofing systems for generating electricity, a demand for mounting hardware, which attaches frames for the purpose of installing the PV modules to the roof structure or any other support structure, has been developed. In recent years, various kinds of mounting structures have been used which allow the installation of PV modules to the roof structures. Mounting structures come in a variety of sizes and patterns to meet installation purposes. However, most of the mounting structures require increased labor time and cost for installation of the PV modules on the roof structures. Conventional mounting structures for supporting PV modules in frames have considerable drawbacks. For example, many mounting structures utilize rails to mount the PV modules to the roof structure to form a PV array. The use of these rails requires additional materials to support the PV modules. Because of use of the additional material, these traditional mounting structures can result in excess shipping costs. They can also limit the PV array layout possibilities and dramatically increase the time for designing, engineering and installing the mounting structures. Existing devices are expensive, difficult to use and can require additional manpower to install. For example, a typical 5 kW PV mounting system designed to mount 20 PV panels (15.37% efficient) mounted on a traditional rail mounting system requires approximately 302 parts at a total cost of $0.69/W retail for the mounting structure only and weighs over 300 Lbs. Typical installation times for a simple 4×5 (4 rows and 5 columns) PV module rail based mounting system are approximately 49 man-hours. Traditional rail mounting systems require 5 penetrations per mount, 4 mounts per PV module, additional grounding lugs, and requires specifically engineered PV modules. In addition, existing rail mounting systems may have substandard waterproofing for roof penetrations, along with complex grounding, wire management, and increased labor time on the roof structure due to design flaws. Hard and soft balance of system (BOS) may include bypass diodes, blocking diodes, solar controller, wiring system, battery and/or inverter etc. The hard and soft balance of system (BOS) costs for PV rail mounting system are high due to high material costs as well as long system engineering and installation times. Also, the traditional rail mounting systems require long strings that are difficult to break up, causing difficulty in working around roof obstructions (e.g. vents, skylights). One of the existing mounting systems describes an integrated module frame and racking system for a solar panel. The system comprises a plurality of solar modules and a plurality of splices for coupling the plurality of solar modules together.