CLEVELAND, Oct. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Roll-A-Rack, a faster, lower-cost, ballasted solar-racking solution, will unveil its first portable, roll-forming machine in October at its virtual SPI 2020 showroom. Like seamless rain gutters, which are cut to length on each installation site by a portable roll-forming machine, Roll-A-Rack produces custom solar racking on site and on demand. The new system simplifies the solar-racking supply chain, eliminates waste and speeds installation time.
The rack, aerodynamically engineered to minimize wind uplift, was tested in the atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel of the independent testing lab, CPP Wind Engineering. A video (click here) illustrates ballast calculations as wind speeds increase from zero to 200 mph across a ground-based solar array. The results show ballast is needed only at the corners and edges of the array.
Roll-A-Rack was designed to be roll-formed on site, yet sturdy enough to withstand snow loads and wind uplift. A second video (click here) shows finite element analysis (FEA) simulations. FEA is a method of calculating how roll-a-rack would respond to snow or wind by calculations on a 3D computer-aided design model.
Roll-A-Rack is seeking 10 developers or solar installers to help refine the installation processes. For more information about becoming a beta tester, visit roll-a-rack.com., email beta@roll-a-rack.com., or download the informational flyer.
Roll-A-Rack product development research is funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. Click here to view our SPI 2020 conference technical poster.
About Acme Express: dba as Roll-A-Rack
Acme Express, Inc. (roll-a-rack.com) is a technology company that develops applications for the transportation, finance, education healthcare, and renewable energy industries. The company's founder, Don Scipione, an experimental elementary particle physicist, has been awarded multiple innovation grants from Ohio Third Frontier, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Research Resources, National Library of Medicine, and U.S. Department of Energy.
About Solar Power International 2020
SPI 2020 (www.eventscribe.com/2020/spi-esi/index.asp) is powered by the Solar Energy Industries Association (www.seia.org), the national trade organization for the U.S. solar industry, and the Smart Electric Power Alliance (www.sepapower.org), a provider of education, research, standards, and collaboration to utilities, electric customers, and other industry players.
About CPP Wind Engineering & Air Quality Consultants
CPP Wind Engineering (cppwind.com ) pioneered many of the current best practices that dictate how engineers design for wind, and works closely with professionals in the solar industry to ensure that its recommendations are relevant to solar arrays and other solar products in the current market.
About the Solar Energy Technologies Office
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (energy.gov/solar-office) supports early-stage research and development to improve the affordability, reliability, and performance of solar technologies on the grid.
News Media Contact :
Acme Express, Inc.
Joe Mosbrook
3821 Prospect
Cleveland, OH 44115
216-375-2141
mosbrook@acclaimllc.com
SOURCE Acme Express, Inc.
