Patent Application
20230008251
This application claims priority to India Application No. 202111031051, filed Jul. 10, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates generally to tile installation. More specifically, it relates to a system and method for expedited installation of a tile.
Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Conventional mounting methods for roof tiles, such as solar or glass tiles, include rails and custom flashing or individual clamps tailored to a solar tile. The conventional mounting method involves the set of flashings, rails or the clamps being bolted down to the roof, one at a time, which results in more time to enable proper alignment of each tile with the surrounding group of tiles. Further, the conventional method requires that the flashing or clamp position be determined related to the adjacent tiles and then bolted down, which again requires more time and effort to achieve the right alignment and fit.
It is required that the tile mounting method significantly reduce the time to install the tiles, eliminate the need to check the alignment and fit for each tile, provide a robust clamping mechanism to install the roof solar or glass tiles, and a mechanism to arrest the tile movement in any direction after installation.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a system and method for efficient and expedited tile installation which can obviate aforementioned limitations in the art.
A general object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method for tile installation which obviates the above mentioned limitations of conventional tile mounting systems.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method to significantly reduce the time to install one or more tiles.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a tile installation system and method to eliminate the need to check alignment, measurement, or fit for one or more tiles.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method based on a robust clamping mechanism to install the roof solar or glass tiles.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a tile installation system and method that facilitates use of standard length rails which may be cut on site according to requirement.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a tile installation system and method for easy and expedited tile installation that can be implemented with any shape or size of the roof.
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system and method for using a flexible strip and wedge based tile mounting mechanism for easy and expedited tile installation.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide an improved clamp design that facilitates easy and expedited tile installation.
Still yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide an improved clamp design that includes one or more cabled holding clips to facilitate integrated cable management.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a mechanism which arrest tile movement in all direction once installed.
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a system for expedited tile installation. The system may include at least one clamp strip made of a plurality of conjoined foldable strips; wherein each of the plurality of foldable strips may include one or more clamps, wherein the at least one clamp strip may be adhered to a surface using one or more fastening mechanisms. The system may also include at least one tile with one or more wedges fixed to a rear side of the at least one tile, each of the one or more wedges may be configured to be inserted into a corresponding clamp of the clamp strip for installing the at least one tile. The one or more clamps and the one or more wedges maybe configured to interlock for gripping the at least one tile to the at least one clamp strip.
In an embodiment, the at least one clamp strip may be in a roll shape, and the roll of the at least one clamp strip may be unrolled for being laid on the surface.
In another embodiment, the one or more fastening mechanisms for adhering the at least one clamp strip to the surface include at least one of gluing and bolting/screwing.
In another embodiment, the at least one clamp strip may include one or more openings for fastening one or more bolts/screws for adhering the at least one clamp strip to the surface.
In another embodiment, the wedges along one side of the tile may have a height different from height of the wedges along the opposite side of the tile, wherein wedges of different height on opposite sides may enable installation of adjacent tiled in overlapping configuration.
In yet another embodiment, the one or more wedges may be either triangular or rectangular in shape, and the one or more clamps may have corresponding shape to enable interlocking of the wedges and the corresponding clamps.
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a method for expedited tile installation. The method may include providing at least one clamp strip made of a plurality of conjoined foldable strips. Each of the plurality of foldable strips may include one or more clamps, wherein the at least one clamp strip may be adhered to a surface using one or more fastening mechanisms. The method may include providing at least one tile with one or more wedges fixed to a rear side of the at least one tile, each of the one or more wedges may be configured to be inserted into a corresponding clamp of the clam strip for installing the at least one tile. The method may also include adhering the at least one clamp strip to the surface using one or more fastening mechanisms, and positioning the at least one tile on the at least one clamp strip for interlocking the one or more clamps with the one or more wedges for gripping the at least one tile to the at least one clamp strip.
In an embodiment, the at least one clamp strip may be provided in rolled shape.
In another embodiment, the at least one clamp strip may be unrolled to lay out the at least one clamp strip on the surface.
In yet another embodiment, two adjacent tiles may be installed in an overlapping configuration, wherein the overlapping configuration may be achieved by providing the wedges along one side of the tile with a height different from height of the wedges along the opposite side of the tile.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure. The diagrams are for illustration only, which thus is not a limitation of the present disclosure.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details.
Groupings of alternative elements or embodiments of the invention disclosed herein are not to be construed as limitations. Each group member can be referred to and claimed individually or in any combination with other members of the group or other elements found herein. One or more members of a group can be included in, or deleted from, a group for reasons of convenience and/or patentability. When any such inclusion or deletion occurs, the specification is herein deemed to contain the group as modified thus fulfilling the written description of all groups used in the appended claims.
Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments are shown. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. These embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those of ordinary skill in the art. Moreover, all statements herein reciting embodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future (i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure).
Embodiments explained herein relate to a tile mounting system. More specifically, it relates to a system for installing solar roof tiles on roof tops.
In an embodiment, a proposed system and method for roof solar tile or glass tile installation process to rapidly install a solar roof is described. The proposed system may include key system components such as one or more clamp strips, one or more tiles, and the like. The components may be custom built to facilitate the quick installation of the solar roof. The one or more clamp strips may include a custom clamp strip (herein after interchangeably referred to as “CCS” or “clamp strip”). The one or more tiles may include solar tiles with wedges (herein after interchangeably referred to as “PVT”), or Glass tiles with wedges (herein after interchangeably referred to as “GT”).
In another embodiment, the CCS may include one or more conjoined foldable strips, which may be made of soft polymer material. Each of the one or more conjoined foldable strips may include one or more clamps into which the PVT or GT can be wedged into.
In an embodiment, an assembly process with CCS and wedged PVT/GT could include various steps. In a first step, a bottom strip of the CCS may be aligned to lower edge of the roof. In a second step, adhesion covering the bottom strip may be removed, if required, and the strip may be unrolled over the roof surface. Next, a subset of the clamps (e.g., half or two-thirds of the clamps) may be bolted to the roof starting with the edge clamps. Further, the PVT/GT may be installed by pushing them into the clamps. Finally, a row height marking tool may be used to mark next position of the strip. The sequence of steps starting from the second step may be repeated to continue installation of more PVT/GT until all the PVT/GT have been installed.
In an embodiment, the proposed system and method may address several key requirements to significantly reduce the time needed to install a solar roof. The key requirements may include measurement and alignment for each tile, standard length rails that may need to be cut on site, fit any shape of the roof with strip rolled across, and speed up installation with PVT/GT wedged once strip is placed.
In another embodiment, each wedge of a tile can be of different profile height to allow for tiles to be placed in an overlapping configuration and provide seamless layering of PVT/GT. Further, the clamp designs can also be enhanced to include cabled holding clips to facilitate integrated cable management.
Thus, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the diagrams, schematics, illustrations, and the like represent conceptual views or processes illustrating systems and methods embodying this invention. The functions of the various elements shown in the figures may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing associated software. Similarly, any switches shown in the figures are conceptual only. Their function may be carried out through the operation of program logic, through dedicated logic, through the interaction of program control and dedicated logic, or even manually, the particular technique being selectable by the entity implementing this invention. Those of ordinary skill in the art further understand that the exemplary hardware, software, processes, methods, and/or operating systems described herein are for illustrative purposes and, thus, are not intended to be limited to any particular named.
In the foregoing description, numerous details are set forth. It will be apparent, however, to one of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, to avoid obscuring the present invention.
As used herein, and unless the context dictates otherwise, the term “coupled to” is intended to include both direct coupling (in which two elements that are coupled to each other contact each other)and indirect coupling (in which at least one additional element is located between the two elements). Therefore, the terms “coupled to” and “coupled with” are used synonymously. Within the context of this document terms “coupled to” and “coupled with” are also used euphemistically to mean “communicatively coupled with” over a network, where two or more devices are able to exchange data with each other over the network, possibly via one or more intermediary device.
The present disclosure provides a system and method for tile installation which obviates the above mentioned limitations of conventional tile mounting systems.
The present disclosure provides a system and method to significantly reduce the time to install one or more tiles.
The present disclosure provides a tile installation system and method to eliminate the need to check alignment, measurement, or fit for one or more tiles.
The present disclosure provides a system and method based on a robust clamping mechanism to install the roof solar or glass tiles.
The present disclosure provides a tile installation system and method for facilitate use of standard length rails which may be cut on site according to requirement.
The present disclosure provides a system and method to adjust with any shape or size of the roof for easy and expedited tile installation.
The present disclosure provides a system and method for using a flexible strip and wedge based tile mounting mechanism for easy and expedited tile installation.
The present disclosure provides a system and method to facilitate a clamp design to include one or more cabled holding clips to facilitate integrated cable management.
The present disclosure provides a system and method based on a robust clamping mechanism to Arrest all movement of the tile once installed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202111031051 | Jul 2021 | IN | national |
