1. Field of the Invention
The instant disclosure relates to a solar greenhouse structure; and more particularly, to a solar greenhouse having a light weight and configurable structure.
2. Description of Related Art
With the increasing environmental awareness, solar power has been widely adopted for practical use. Solar panels in sophisticated modern devices, such as solar batteries or solar heaters, are used to convert solar radiation into useful forms of energy such as electricity or heat. To effectively obtain solar energy, the solar panels need to be mounted at unobstructed locations, usually in an elevated manner, by specially designed supporting structures.
A greenhouse is commonly used as an agricultural shelter having different types of covering materials that are usually transparent to solar radiation. Due to the nature of this agricultural structure, greenhouses are usually built in locations where sunlight is abundant. Thus, intuitively, the rooftop of a greenhouse structure is an ideal place for mounting solar panels. However, most conventional greenhouses are not designed to host solar panels. Particularly, most light-weight or low-budget greenhouses, lack the structural integrity to host solar panels on their rooftops. As a result, the remodeling cost for converting conventional greenhouses is often very high.
In addition, externally mounted solar panels must be rigid enough to withstand adverse weather conditions, such as rain and hails. Therefore, the external mounting of solar panels usually requires the use of thicker solar panels for added strength or additional protective layer. As a result, the cost of setting up a solar greenhouse is relatively high. The attempt to increase structural strength inevitably adds weight to the solar panel.
However, conventional greenhouses often use vinyl coverings; their main structures are usually not designed to withstand excessive weight loading. As a result, the additional weight on the solar panels makes them less suitable for external installation on conventional greenhouse structures, particularly to the roof structure thereof.
To resolve the above issues, the inventor researched and proposes the following design solutions to address the above shortcomings.