Altair Case Studies Optimization of Photovoltaic Mounting Structures: Material and Cost Savings
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Optimization of Photovoltaic Mounting Structures: Material and Cost Savings

Altair
Functional Applications - Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS)
Functional Applications - Transportation Management Systems (TMS)
Renewable Energy
Transportation
Maintenance
Product Research & Development
Construction Management
Transportation Simulation
Thesan, an Italian company specializing in the design, manufacture, and distribution of mounting structures for photovoltaic plants, was faced with the challenge of optimizing the mounting structure of a medium-sized PV field with a power of 5 MW. The field consisted of 1700 arrays, each mounted on two poles, with each individual assembled structure weighing about 60 kg. The total weight of the mounted structures on the field was 204 tons of steel, with material costs of about 170,000 Euro. A weight reduction of only 5 kg per structure would lead to significant savings in material and cost. The structure was composed of two main parts, a steel driven pile and an aluminum rafter, with the weight reduction of the more costly aluminum parts being crucial. Another significant factor for cost savings was transportation, as PV fields are often built in remote areas with poor infrastructure. Lighter structures would not only mean less material costs in production, but also lower transportation efforts and costs. However, the new, lighter weight structures still had to be able to carry all occurring loads from natural causes such as wind or snow and the dead load of the structure, ensuring perfect quality, consistent stability and the requested stiffness of the structures.
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Thesan is an Italian company based in Chiusa di San Michele that designs, manufactures, and distributes mounting structures for photovoltaic plants. In addition, the company also develops, constructs, and operates renewable energy power plants, including photovoltaic and mini-hydroelectric power plants. Thesan was founded in 2008 and operates as a subsidiary of Savio Spa, a global manufacturer and foremost specialist in hardware for aluminum windows and doors, with factories in Italy, China, and India. Drawing on the Savio Group’s competence in the design of steel and aluminum structures and thanks to a team of over 40 engineers, Thesan is able to satisfy every construction requirement of photovoltaic power plants at all altitude and climatic conditions, using any specific fixation requirements. The company provides the technical expertise and the corresponding experience to follow all phases of the production chain; from project development to construction, management to maintenance of the power plant.
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To reduce the weight of the overall structure while still ensuring stiffness and safety, the engineers at Thesan identified the profile of a mounting part (rafter), which is used to connect the solar panels to the support poles, as offering the highest potential for weight savings via structural optimization. They used OptiStruct®, the optimization tool and FE-solver included in Altair‘s HyperWorks® suite, to optimize the rafter component. They created a design space, added boundary conditions and loads such as those coming from snow, wind, and dead loads, and varied the wall thicknesses and the overall shape of the profile to minimize weight while keeping stresses and displacements within an acceptable level. The optimization results proposed a new profile design, with a decreased upper, lateral, and lower wall thickness and an overall increased height as well as an increased lower section. The new design was then verified with FE analysis to assure its stiffness and safety at possible angles and occurring loads. A similar strategy was then applied to reduce thickness and optimize the shape of the steel structure, leading to a light but nonetheless reliable and safe structure.
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The optimized profile for the rafter component offers two major benefits to Thesan. With the new design, they are able to save a lot of material, which means that the production itself is much more cost efficient. In addition, the lighter overall construction requires less transportation effort, which is especially important for PV fields that are mounted in remote areas with poor infrastructure. The use of HyperWorks OptiStruct helped Thesan to reduce material usage in the production, reduce manufacturing costs, reduce transportation costs, and improve the competitiveness of Thesan in a contested market.
The weight of the new design has been reduced by 13.5 percent, coming to a total weight of 1.78 kg/m.
The new design resulted in a net saving of more than 15 tons of aluminum.
The lighter overall construction requires less transportation effort, leading to significant cost savings.
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