U.S. patent application number 13/196529 was filed with the patent office on 2012-02-02 for photovoltaic panel wall.
Invention is credited to Xaioqun Chen, Lintao Hu, Yong Wang, Jianglong Zheng, Chunfu Zhou.
Application Number | 20120023842 13/196529 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44719222 |
Filed Date | 2012-02-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120023842 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wang; Yong ; et al. |
February 2, 2012 |
Photovoltaic Panel Wall
Abstract
The invention is a photovoltaic panel wall mounted on a building
frame and has at least two photovoltaic assembly units. Each of the
at least two photovoltaic assembly units includes an electrical
connector having a male terminal and a female terminal that are
configured to be detachably engaged. An opening is formed in the
building frame, and one of the male and female terminals of the
electrical connector is fixed in the opening.
Inventors: |
Wang; Yong; (Shanghai,
CN) ; Chen; Xaioqun; (Shanghai, CN) ; Zhou;
Chunfu; (Shanghai, CN) ; Hu; Lintao;
(Shanghai, CN) ; Zheng; Jianglong; (Shanghai,
CN) |
Family ID: |
44719222 |
Appl. No.: |
13/196529 |
Filed: |
August 2, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
52/173.3 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01L 31/0488 20130101;
Y02B 10/10 20130101; H01L 31/02008 20130101; H01L 31/05 20130101;
H01R 13/74 20130101; Y02E 10/50 20130101; H02S 40/36 20141201 |
Class at
Publication: |
52/173.3 |
International
Class: |
E04B 2/56 20060101
E04B002/56 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Aug 2, 2010 |
CN |
201010244485.0 |
Claims
1. A photovoltaic panel wall mounted on a building frame
comprising: at least two photovoltaic assembly units, an electrical
connector on each of the photovoltaic assembly units having a male
terminal and a female terminal that are configured to be detachably
engaged, each electric connector being located within a respective
opening formed in the building frame.
2. The photovoltaic panel wall according to claim 1, wherein the
one of the male and female terminals of the electrical connector is
fixed in the opening by a screw.
3. The photovoltaic panel wall according to claim 1, wherein the
one of the male and female terminals of the electrical connector is
fixed in the opening by a snap arrangement.
4. The photovoltaic panel wall according to claim 1, wherein each
of the at least two photovoltaic assembly units further comprises
at least one layer of photovoltaic glass.
5. The photovoltaic panel wall according to claim 4, wherein each
of the at least two photovoltaic assembly units further comprises
at least one layer of normal glass, and the at least one layer of
photovoltaic glass located an outer side of the photovoltaic panel
wall.
6. The photovoltaic panel wall according to claim 5, wherein the at
least one layer of photovoltaic glass and the at least one layer of
normal glass both are removably assembled on the building frame.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of the filing date under
35 U.S.C. .sctn.119(a)-(d) of Chinese Patent Application No.
201010244485.0 filed on Aug. 2, 2010.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention relates to a Building Integrated Photovoltaic
(BIPV) technology, and more particularly, relates to a photovoltaic
panel wall mounted on a building frame.
BACKGROUND
[0003] With the development of the photovoltaic industry, the
Building Integrated Photovoltaic technology applied to various
solar products on the building has been proposed as, for example,
as a photovoltaic panel wall mounted on the building frame.
[0004] The photovoltaic panel wall is mounted on the building frame
and constitutes a part of the wall of the building. Because modern
buildings are often tall and large, it is very difficult for an
operator to assemble the large photovoltaic panel wall on the tall
and large buildings with high accuracy. Generally, in consideration
of facilitating the installation operation and improving the
installation accuracy, the photovoltaic panel wall consists of a
plurality of small photovoltaic assembly units that can be
removably assembled on the building frame. Accordingly, the
operator can assemble only one small photovoltaic assembly unit on
the building frame each time, instead of assembling the whole large
photovoltaic panel wall on the building frame at once. In addition,
after being mounted on the building frame, the plurality of small
photovoltaic assembly units need to be electrically connected with
each other to constitute a whole photovoltaic panel wall or a
complete photovoltaic system.
[0005] Unfortunately, so far, inventors of the present application
have not found a suitable solution to achieve a simple and quick
electrical connection between the photovoltaic assembly units in
the prior art. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a
photovoltaic panel wall which can achieve a simple and quick
electrical connection between the photovoltaic assembly units.
SUMMARY
[0006] The present invention has been made to overcome or alleviate
at least one aspect of the above mentioned disadvantages.
[0007] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is
provided a photovoltaic panel wall mounted on a building frame and
comprising at least two photovoltaic assembly units. Each of the at
least two photovoltaic assembly units comprises an electrical
connector having a male terminal and a female terminal that are
configured to be detachably engaged. An opening is formed in the
building frame, and one of the male and female terminals of the
electrical connector is fixed in the opening.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] The invention will now be described by way of example with
reference to the accompanying figures of which:
[0009] FIG. 1 is a perspective view which shows a part of a
photovoltaic panel wall according to an embodiment of the
invention; and
[0010] FIG. 2 is a perspective view which shows an electrical
connector of a photovoltaic assembly unit mounted on the building
frame according to an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
[0011] The embodiments of the invention will be described
hereinafter in detail with reference to the attached drawings,
wherein the like reference numerals refer to the like elements. The
present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different
forms and should not be construed as being limited to the
embodiment set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided
so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and
will fully convey the concept of the disclosure to those skilled in
the art.
[0012] In an embodiment of the present invention, the photovoltaic
panel wall may comprise two or more photovoltaic assembly units,
although only two photovoltaic assembly units are shown in the
embodiment of FIG. 1.
[0013] As shown in FIG. 1, the photovoltaic panel wall comprises a
first photovoltaic assembly unit and a second photovoltaic assembly
unit. The first photovoltaic assembly unit comprises a first
electrical connector 10 and a first photovoltaic glass block 71.
Similarly, the second photovoltaic assembly unit comprises a second
electrical connector 20 and a second photovoltaic glass block
72.
[0014] Referring to FIG. 1, the first electrical connector 10 is
electrically connected to the first photovoltaic glass block 71 via
a first cable 11. Similarly, the second electrical connector 20 is
electrically connected to the second photovoltaic glass block 72
via a second cable 21. The first electrical connector 10 is
electrically connected to the second electrical connector 20 via a
third cable 12. In this way, the first photovoltaic assembly unit
is electrically connected with the second photovoltaic assembly
unit.
[0015] Please refer to FIG. 1 again, wherein the first electrical
connector 10 has a male terminal 10a electrically connected to the
first cable 11 and a female terminal 10b electrically connected to
one end of the third cable 12. The male terminal 10a and the female
terminal 10b of the first electrical connector 10 are configured to
be removably engaged with each other. Similarly, the second
electrical connector 20 has a male terminal 20a electrically
connected to the second cable 21 and a female terminal 20b
electrically connected to the other end of the third cable 12. The
male terminal 20a and the female terminal 20b of the second
electrical connector 20 are configured to be removably engaged with
each other.
[0016] For the convenience of manufacture and assembly, in an
embodiment of the invention, all photovoltaic assembly units
constituting the photovoltaic panel wall have the same structure.
But, the present invention is not limited to this, photovoltaic
assembly units may have different structures.
[0017] FIG. 2 shows the first electrical connector 10 of the first
photovoltaic assembly unit mounted on the building frame 30
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0018] As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, an opening 31 is formed in
the building frame 30, the female terminals 10b of the first
electrical connector 10 is inserted into the opening 31 and is
secured on the building frame 30 so as to fix the female terminals
10b in the opening 31. In this embodiment of the invention, because
the female terminals 10b of the first electrical connector 10 is
fixed and can not move, the male terminal 10a of the first
electrical connector 10 can be easily aimed at the female terminals
10b and inserted into or pulled out of the female terminals
10b.
[0019] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the female terminal 10b
is fixed in the opening 31 of the building frame 30. But, please be
noted that the terminal fixed in the opening 31 may be any one of
the male terminal 10a and the female terminal 10b of the first
electrical connector 10. For example, the male terminal 10a is
fixed in the opening 31 and the female terminal 10b is not
fixed.
[0020] Similarly, as shown in FIG. 1, another opening 32 is formed
in the building frame 30. The female terminals 20b of the second
electrical connector 20 are inserted into the opening 32 and
secured on the building frame 30 so as to fix the female terminals
20b in the opening 32.
[0021] In an embodiment of FIG. 1, the openings 31 and 32 both are
formed in the rear side wall of the building frame 30 facing the
inner of the building. But the present invention is not limited to
this, the openings 31 and 32 may be formed in other side wall of
the building frame 30, such as the left side wall or the right side
wall.
[0022] As shown in FIG. 2, the female terminal 10b of the first
electrical connector 10 has two wings 13, 13 extending from a
periphery of the female terminal 10b. When the female terminal 10b
is inserted into the opening 31 of the building frame 30, the two
wings 13, 13 of the female terminal 10b are secured on the building
frame 30 by, for example, screws 6. In this way, the female
terminal 10b of the first electrical connector 10 is fixed in the
opening 31.
[0023] Please be noted that the female terminal 10b of the first
electrical connector 10 may be fixed in the opening 31 of the
building frame 30 by other ways, such as by snapping or
adhering.
[0024] Referring to FIG. 1 again, in an embodiment of the present
invention, the photovoltaic panel wall totally comprises three
layers from the outside to the inside. The first layer is a
photovoltaic glass layer 7 located at outmost of the photovoltaic
panel wall, and the second and third layers are two normal glass
layers 8 and 9. In order to improve the sound and thermal
insulation effect, the three glass layers 7, 8 and 9 may be
arranged to form an air gap between two adjacent layers
thereof.
[0025] Please note that the structure of the photovoltaic panel
wall of the invention is not limited to the embodiment shown in
FIG. 1, the photovoltaic panel wall may comprises two or more
layers of photovoltaic glasses, or comprise one, three or more
layers of normal glasses.
[0026] In the invention, the term `photovoltaic glass` means such a
glass product that can collect the solar energy and convert the
solar energy into the electrical energy. The photovoltaic glass of
the present invention may adopt any one of commercially available
photovoltaic glass products. For brevity, description of these
commercially available photovoltaic glass products is omitted
herein.
[0027] The whole photovoltaic glass layer 7 of the photovoltaic
panel wall consists of photovoltaic glass blocks of the plurality
of photovoltaic assembly units. As shown in FIG. 1, in an
embodiment, the photovoltaic glass layer 7 consists of the first
photovoltaic glass block 71 of the first photovoltaic assembly unit
and the second photovoltaic glass block 72 of the second
photovoltaic assembly unit. Similarly, the normal glass layers 8, 9
each consist of normal glass blocks of the plurality of
photovoltaic assembly units. Therefore, in order to prevent dust or
dirt from entering into the building through the gap between the
glass blocks, elastic seals 4, 5 are provided to seal the gap
between the glass blocks. With this feature, it also can prevent
the outer strong wind from blowing into the building and generating
annoying noise.
[0028] As shown in FIG. 1, the three layers of glasses 7, 8, 9 are
sandwiched and held in the building frame 30. But the present
invention is not limited to this, the three layers of glasses 7, 8,
9 may be adhered on the building frame 30.
[0029] In various embodiments of the present invention, by forming
the opening in the building frame and fixing one of the male and
female terminals of the electrical connector in the opening, the
other of the male and female terminal of the electrical connector
can be simply inserted into the one terminal. In this way, a
plurality of photovoltaic assembly units can be simply and quickly
electrically connected together or detached from each other.
[0030] Although several embodiments have been shown and described,
it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various
changes or modifications may be made in these embodiments without
departing from the principles and spirit of the disclosure, the
scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents. It
should be noted that the term "comprising" does not exclude other
elements or steps and the "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality.
It should also be noted that reference signs in the claims shall
not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.
* * * * *