US 12,110,880 B1
Photovoltaic installation including triangular tube heat collector and piston
Nasir Ghazi Hariri, Dammam (SA); Ibrahim Khalil Almadani, Khobar (SA); and Ibrahim Sufian Osman, Khobar (SA)
Assigned to Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam (SA)
Filed by Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam (SA)
Filed on Jun. 11, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/739,506.
Application 18/739,506 is a continuation of application No. 18/599,798, filed on Mar. 8, 2024, granted, now 12,025,109.
Application 18/599,798 is a continuation of application No. 18/160,042, filed on Jan. 26, 2023, granted, now 11,976,641, issued on May 7, 2024.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. F03G 7/06 (2006.01); F24S 20/60 (2018.01); F24S 30/00 (2018.01); F24S 40/20 (2018.01); H02S 40/10 (2014.01)
CPC F03G 7/06145 (2021.08) [F24S 20/60 (2018.05); F24S 40/20 (2018.05); H02S 40/10 (2014.12); F24S 2030/115 (2018.05); Y02E 10/46 (2013.01); Y02E 10/50 (2013.01)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A cleaning system for photovoltaic installations, comprising:
a gear mechanism, a cleaning spindle, a photovoltaic panel, and a thermomechanical actuator,
wherein the thermomechanical actuator comprises:
a piston, a solar heat collector, a plurality of springs, a rod, a pulley, a bias load, and a cable,
wherein the piston of the thermomechanical actuator is attached to the gear mechanism,
the gear mechanism comprising a rack and a pinion,
the rack mechanically attaching to the pinion,
wherein the cleaning spindle is attached to a top face of the pinion,
wherein the thermomechanical actuator, the gear mechanism, and the cleaning spindle are fixed to the photovoltaic panel,
wherein the solar heat collector of the thermomechanical actuator is a triangular tube comprising a triangular front cover, a triangular central volume, and a triangular back cover, wherein the piston is in the form of a triangular plate matching the triangular front cover and the triangular back cover, and
wherein the rod is configured to slide linearly parallel to an axis of the triangular tube.