Flexible Steel Cable Photovoltaic Support Tutorial

What is cable-supported photovoltaic (PV)?

Cable-supported photovoltaic (PV) modules have been proposed to replace traditional beam-supported PV modules. The new system uses suspension cables to bear the loads of the PV modules and therefore has the characteristics of a long span, light weight, strong load capacity, and adaptability to complex terrains.

What is the structure of flexible PV support?

The structure of the flexible PV support adopted in this study is shown in Fig. 1. The height of the columns is 6 m, and the center-to-center spacing between two adjacent rows of PV modules is 3.5 m. The span of the flexible PV support is 33 m, which is consisted of 28 PV modules.

What is a supporting cable structure for PV modules?

Czaloun (2018) proposed a supporting cable structure for PV modules, which reduces the foundation to only four columns and four fundaments. These systems have the advantages of light weight, strong bearing capacity, large span, low cost, less steel consumption and applicability to complex terrain.

What is the inclination angle of the flexible PV support?

The span of the flexible PV support is 33 m, which is consisted of 28 PV modules. The inclination angle between the PV modules and the horizontal plane is 15°, and the PV modules are mounted on two steel cables C1 and C2. Furthermore, steel cable C3 is set to reduce the vertical deformation under the actions of wind and snow loadings.

Do stability cables increase critical wind velocity of flexible PV modules support structures?

Wind-induced response and critical wind velocity of a 33-m-span flexible PV modules support structure was investigated by using wind tunnel tests based on elastic test model, and the effectiveness of three types of stability cables on enhancing the critical wind velocity of the flexible PV modules support structures was carefully examined.

What are the characteristics of a cable-supported photovoltaic system?

Long span, light weight, strong load capacity, and adaptability to complex terrains. The nonlinear stiffness of the new cable-supported photovoltaic system is revealed. The failure mode of the new structure is discussed in detail. Dynamic characteristics and bearing capacity of the new structure are investigated.