aurora LAYOUT GUIDELINES

AURORA LAYOUT GUIDELINES

Design

To design a good layout, we need to be equipped with tools and methods that allow for accuracy and best practices for installation. This training will cover the basics with some hands on activities to practice.

1 | INSTALLER LAYOUT INTUITION

ARRAY LAYOUT OVERVIEW

1 | INSTALLER LAYOUT INTUITION

Before settling on a final layout, you have to consider how the layout will be installed.

Specific things to check:

Arrays are appropriately designed for ease of install:
- Arrays on the same roof are consolidated
- Avoid mixed module orientation
- Avoid pinching between roof obstructions and the edge of the roof.
Modules are strung such that minimal roof junction boxes will be needed.

ARRAY LAYOUT OVERVIEW

Here are a few things to check on your final layout to ensure an installable product:

Arrays on the same roof are consolidated
Avoid mixed module orientation
Avoid pinching between roof obstructions and the edge of the roof.

ARRAY STAGGERING

Remember that rail racking will run horizontally under rows of modules on your array.

Avoid staggering modules vertically as seen to the right
- A demonstration of how this affects racking is also shown here.

Staggering rows horizontally can be advisable to fit into hips or around obstructions as needed as it does not have a profound affect on the racking layout.
- See images to the right for a demonstration of what the racking would look like in this scenario.

Make sure not to only stagger rows horizontally if it is needed due to space constraints. If there is no reason you cannot square up modules, you should square them.

For stringing and racking purposes, the minimum modules per array should not be less than 2.
The maximum modules per string should not exceed 8 and max per circuit should not exceed 13.

Note: the only exceptions are as follows:

String of 1 module results in 3% or more increase in production.
Customer is requesting it.

If neither of these exceptions apply, do not use a single panel array for your layout.

STRINGING

Strings should terminate in a centralized location near the top of the array where the roof junction box will be located
Avoid terminating a string somewhere on the interior or sides/bottom of the array
Try to string such that there will be minimal jumpers between rows of portrait rows of modules
Always string and condense circuits in a way that is realistic:
1. When possible, try to condense circuits as evenly as possible with the max number of modules per circuit being 13 modules.
  1. Example: if you have a 19 module system, try to distribute as evenly as possible.
2. Do not try to string modules between arrays that are not close together.

Example 1:

The preferred module orientation for this region is landscape due to using railless type racking. This designer used a mixed orientation mainly consisting of portrait. More mounts are required for portrait modules using a railless racking system and mixed orientation should always be avoided.

This would have been a much better producing layout using the preferred module orientation.

Example 2:

This designer has separated the racking into four segments.

We should break up the racking as little as possible as it will require less work on the part of the install crew and will require less mounting equipment.

Instead, the designer should have consolidated rows to make install easier and more effieceint.

Inconveniencing the install crew is not excusable if it does not yield at least 3% increase in production to do so.

Example 3:

This design has a lot of staggered rows of modules and mixed orientation which is never preferable if it can be avoided.

On this layout, we have 11 different racking rows. This is going to make install much harder than it needs to be and require extra materials.

These modules are not strung efficiently:

Trunk cables come in portrait or landscape orientation depending on the racking style.
- Portrait cables are meant to span perfectly between arrays that are oriented portrait.
- Landscape cables are slightly longer and are meant to span perfectly between landscape oriented modules.
When the racking preference will use primarily portrait modules, like in this example, portrait trunk cable will be ordered.

Each of the red circles represents one trunk cable connection that will need to be jumped to close the circuit and extend the cable to the next micro inverter. This will be extra work for the install crew.

Additionally, the designer did not render the model correctly. They completed the roof using 3 different pitches which is suspect. It is most common that all roof pitches will be the same, but in some cases, you might see a roof where North/South facing roofs are one pitch whereas East/West facing roofs are of a second different pitch for example. It is uncommon to have a roof with 3 different pitches but not impossible.

When you see this on a model you should be skeptical of its accuracy and do a full audit on the model.

These were the pitches surveyed:

28 degrees
36 degrees

The first step to fix this layout is to fix the model. A different aerial image was chosen, and roofs were fixed using the correct pitches. Other roof sections were also fixed accordingly but the main focus was correcting the pitches and roof area for the roof sections with PV.

This is the new proposed layout. This layout still utilizes a mixed orientation layout but it is much cleaner with a lot less staggering and is more visually pleasing.

By correcting the roof dimensions and consolidating rows, we will have less racking rows overall.

The stringing was also corrected so that there will be less jumpers required between portrait trunk cable connections.

Compare the layout from before and the new improved layout:

11 rows of racking vs 9 rows of racking.
9 Jumped portrait trunk cable connections vs 5.
An annual production of 12,292 kWh vs 13,596 kWh

The new layout is the clear winner!

3 | AESTHETICS

It's important not to forget that there is a customer behind every project. We're on the hook to create an exceptional layout that gives them the best production with the best overall aesthetics.

WHO IS THE CUSTOMER?

Imagine that every time you design a layout, it's going on this adorable old lady's house. This is Ruth. Ruth is 90 years old and can often be seen mowing her own lawn, sipping sweet tea on her porch and her husband passed away 5 years ago. She bakes cookies for her neighbors, goes on walks around the neighborhood and treats everyone like her own grandchild.

Just think "Would I feel good putting an ugly design on this lady's house?"