One-piece bonding splice for rails

{
  "publication_number": "US11377840B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "One-piece bonding splice for rails",
  "abstract": "A splice having a main body and one or more protrusions extending from the main body. The one or more protrusions can be operable to interfere with a rail when the main body is installed into an opening of the rail. The one or more protrusions may be operable to cut into a coating of the rail and form an electrical connection between the rail and the main body.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A splice comprising: a first sidewall; a second sidewall, the first and second sidewalls forming a main body that is substantially “U”-shaped; and at least one flange extending from the first sidewall, the at least one flange having a bonding edge with a higher material hardness than a coating disposed on a rail, wherein the bonding edge of the at least one flange is operable to cut into a coating of the rail and form an electrical connection between the rail and the splice.",
    "2. The splice of claim 1, wherein the at least one flange is bent outwardly beyond a surface of the first sidewall.",
    "3. The splice of claim 1, wherein a first portion of the at least one flange is in a same plane as a surface of the first sidewall, and a second portion of the at least one flange extends from and beyond the surface of the first sidewall.",
    "4. The splice of claim 1, wherein the bonding edge of the at least one flange is angled.",
    "5. The splice of claim 1, wherein the bonding edge of the at least one flange has a smooth surface.",
    "6. The splice of claim 1, further comprising: an abutment protrusion extending outwardly from the splice, wherein the abutment protrusion and the splice are operable to abut against an end of the rail to prevent the splice from fully entering the rail.",
    "7. The splice of claim 1, wherein the splice is formed from a uniform material.",
    "8. The splice of claim 1, wherein distal edges of the first or the second sidewall are chamfered.",
    "9. The splice of claim 1, wherein the at least one flange extends beyond a bottom surface of the main body, the at least one flange operable to flex when in communication with a surface of the rail.",
    "10. The splice of claim 1, wherein the at least one flange is constructed separately from the splice and attached onto the splice.",
    "11. An assembly comprising: a rail; and a splice, the splice having: a main body; a first sidewall; a second sidewall, the first and second sidewalls forming a main body that is substantially “U” shaped; and one or more flanges extending from the first sidewall, the one or more flanges having a bonding edge with a higher material hardness than a coating disposed on the rail, wherein the bonding edge of the one or more flanges are operable to cut into a coating of the rail and form an electrical connection between the rail and the splice.",
    "12. The assembly of claim 11, wherein the rail has guides along a length of a rail body, the guides extending over and into the opening of the rail."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "Current solar mounting solutions using rails as mounting structure use one or more splices to connect rails together. Current splice designs typically require an assembly of components to mechanically secure and electrically bond splice to a rail section and to adjoin two rail sections together.\n\nIn order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and other advantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a more particular description of the principles briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are not therefore to be limiting of its scope, the principles herein are described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:\n\nFIG. 1 illustrates isometric views of a splice;\n\nFIG. 2 illustrates a close-up isometric view of a bonding flange;\n\nFIGS. 3-5 illustrate various steps of installation of a splice into a rail;\n\nFIG. 6 illustrates an end-view of a splice installed into a rail;\n\nFIGS. 7-8 illustrate various steps of installation of a second rail onto a splice;\n\nFIGS. 9-11 illustrate various steps of installation of an example external splice with one or more rails;\n\nFIG. 12 illustrates an upper perspective view of another example of a splice;\n\nFIG. 13A illustrates an isometric view of another example of a splice;\n\nFIG. 13B illustrates an end-view of the splice of FIG. 13A;",
  "cpc": [
    "E04B 1/2403",
    "E04B 2001/2415",
    "E04B 2001/2433",
    "E04B 2001/2448",
    "E04B 2001/2457",
    "E04C 2003/0417",
    "E04C 2003/0439",
    "E04C 2003/0473",
    "E04C 3/07",
    "F16B 2/241",
    "F16B 7/0413",
    "F16B 7/0426",
    "F16B 7/187",
    "F24S 2025/6005",
    "F24S 25/33",
    "H02S 30/00",
    "Y02B 10/10",
    "Y02B 10/20",
    "Y02E 10/47",
    "Y02E 10/50"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "E04B 1/24",
    "E04C 3/04",
    "E04C 3/07"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Pegasus Solar Inc"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Erich Kai Stephan",
    "Glenn Harris",
    "Peter Wilke",
    "Nicholas Wenzel",
    "James Hsieh"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2020-11-24",
  "publication_date": "2022-07-05",
  "grant_date": "2022-07-05",
  "priority_date": "2019-11-26",
  "application_number": "US-202017103682-A",
  "family_id": "75971250",
  "cited_by_count": 11,
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}