COMPANY I OVERVIEW
specifically designed to be paired with any one module type or manufacturer. It is common for roof mounting hardware to be selected by the installer. This hardware is manufactured and supplied by companies that do not produce the solar PV module. This separation of module and racking leads to a very large number of possible equipment combinations on the rooftop. Equipment variability combined with installer workmanship directly impacts longevity of a project. As a result, the homeowner is exposed to a wide range of potential outcomes from a quality, cost, appearance and performance perspective. If racking could be integrated with the module, a great deal of variability and uncertainty would be removed from the installation and equipment selection process.
In the U.S. residential solar installations require penetrations into the rooftop to secure the modules, and therefore, one of the risks with any PV installation is the potential for roof leaks. Because PV systems are expected to have a 25-year lifetime, all roof penetrations must be properly sealed. The hardware design and installation quality directly impact the integrity of each roof penetration. An improved system would reduce the total number of penetrations, while also providing a secure sealing method that is proven to provide many years of leak-free performance.
This paper describes a currently popular hardware system (consisting of the EcoFasten Solar bracket combined with a Unirac rail system) to a newly-developed, direct-mount, integrated module and support system from Giga Solar FPC, Inc., a northern California start-up focused on innovative PV modules and mounting systems.
Current hardware design To accommodate different types of rail supports for solar modules EcoFasten Solar offers three mounting hardware solutions for composition shingle roofs. Figure 1 shows the EcoFasten Solar, GreenFasten GF-1 bracket system. The EcoFasten Solar bracket system is a fast-growing, low-cost attachment method. The GF-1 bracket system consists of only four pieces of hardware as shown .
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