Newly developed solar panel installation robots are dramatically reducing labor costs and human work associated with the construction of solar photovoltaic farms, as Rosendin Electric’s collaboration with the ULC Technologies Robotics firm fine after ‘A year of successful rehearsals in real solar jobs.
Installing panels on big solar farms is a hard work, which requires the crews of several people to start 80 LB to 100 LB panels in pre -constructed assembly racks, with some who have a constant panel while another worker He charges him in place. Large solar farms can easily have one million of these panels, each of which must be lifted and secured individually. This is a forceful work for anyone and workers who start the fresh day are usually exhausted at the ends of their shifts.
Faced with this unpleasant work and a shortage of reliable workers in the remote localities where the projects are, Rosendin Senior Vice President David Lincoln wanted to see if some of this repetitive work could be automated.
“I was in the installation of the photovoltaic module maker and saw that the robot’s arm had to move modules between pallets. It made me think: there is some way to mount a robotic arm in a small setback or as a mini Excavator? ”
Lincoln worked with Rosendin’s internal R&D team on possible options, and agreed that there was nothing in the market, even if he could do everything he provided. But the idea of a factory -style robotic arm that moves through a solar place led them to ULC and their road works and the robotic excavation system. After a year and a half of development, the two companies now have a solar installation robot and have been deployed in solar projects in Rosendin throughout the country.
“Before, it was a completely manual process,” says Ali Asmari, Director of Research and Development of ULC Technologies. Solar panels are usually 3 feet by 6 feet, but they can be up to 4 feet by 8 feet, with mounting racks about 4 feet at 8 feet. “So what the installers have to do is pick up [each] 100 -pound panel on the shoulders and put [it] on the installation zip, while balanced with the shoulders to fix the panel in place. “”
Asmari and his team looked at all the tasks involved in the placement and assembly of the panels before presenting their robotic approach. The basic robotic platform, a fast -paced robot with an articulated arm similar to the road excavation robot, has adapted to various tasks. A robot with an arm capable of 6 ° movement uses a gap -based suction cup to lift a pile panel on the place of the assembly frame. Human operators can then confirm that the panel is properly positioned and driving screws to secure it.

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Two other robots serve as panel carriers, working together to ensure that there is always a fresh pile of panels for the collector’s robot to take one. The panels are usually delivered to the pallets to the end of each row of a solar installation by a directed skid, and workers had to transport them on the unequal soil of the lane to install them. Now, carrier robots can be loaded from the end of the row and leaving the panels down as they settle. Each panel carrier robot can bring 30 to 35 panels at a time.
Robots operate autonomously and work together as a team, but they expect the confirmation of human operators that a panel has been mounted before moving forward. Each robot is loaded with a KMZ map file of the project site and is oriented with GPS and Lidar, so he knows where the next panel must pass without asking.
Asmer, this semi-autonomous flow of work has led to massive productivity gains. “With the field rehearsals we did, we got an installation rate of less than one minute per panel, an hour to install 60 panels. In a 10 -hour turn we could install 600 panels. “On the contrary, a traditional crew that worked in similar conditions was on average 100 to 120 panels per shift of 10 hours. Lincoln says that in a specific essay the firm was able to obtain 350 modules of panels in an eight -hour turn with only two human operators.

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But it is not just about improving efficiency. “When we started entering it, we studied time movement and got a crew of four to a crew of two people, and the security aspects were huge,” says Lincoln. He states that 25% of the labor in solar photovoltaic projects are installing these heavy panel modules. “We looked at the security problems and the strains and sprains were huge [for this workforce]. “”
The robots themselves have been updated from the ULC’s previous road repair robot with completely new navigation systems and GPS, as well as numerous sensors to ensure that various tonnes machines work safely around human workers. Robots can also work manually by means of a cord controller, and all operators have emergency closing switches mounted on a hip for them if needed.
Highing robots for often rough solar installation took a while. Robots are able to withstand tilted time and can navigate unequal terrain and plow puddles and operate up to 30 ° tilt. The problem of power in the remote jobs was a challenge and the Asmari team settled in the power of the battery to provide the power draw needed for the Robot DC electric motors to work, combined with generators. of diesel on board to load the batteries.
Asmari says that crews could work 24 hours a day, if necessary, if necessary. “Why don’t robots work at night? We are not limited to anything, we just have to change the operator’s crew at the end of the change and set up proper lighting. “”
With successful trials and performance of investment in sight, Lincoln says that Rosendin and ULC are now working to evaluate robot components to prepare them for wider production. The most expensive hooking point is the tensile traction, which Lincoln says it works very well, but it may work with a more widely available option. “We have designed it a bit, but we are light years old ahead of anything else in the market,” he says.

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