Wire management System

Abstract

A wire management system and method for protecting wires originating from roof-mountable photovoltaic panels, including system components made up of base support (s), an elongated tray and an elongated cap or cover piece. The base supports are mountable to the roof, the elongated tray fits within the base supports, and the cap or cover piece overlies the tray and interlocks with the base supports. Wires from the photovoltaic panels are threaded within the base supports, through the tray, and protected by the cover piece.

1 . A wire management system for protecting wires originating from roof-mountable photovoltaic panels, said system comprising,
 at least one base support mountable to a roof for receiving wires from a photovoltaic panel, said base support comprising an elongated planar base mountable to the roof and a pair of side panels extending in a first direction, defined as upwardly, from the planar base, each side panel including an internally-facing side panel face and an externally-facing side panel face, each side panel having an opening for receiving wires, the internally-facing side panel faces including a ledge extending laterally in a direction from one face toward the opposite face, said ledge lying above said opening, each said externally-facing side panel face including an interlocking edge member for locking with a cover and including a wing member extending outwardly and angularly downwardly in a direction toward the planar base;   an elongated tray having a width sized to fit within the side panels of the base support comprising a planar tray base having upright tray side panels extending vertically from the tray base and a pair of vertical support legs extending downwardly from the tray base, each support leg supportable by said ledges of the base support to maintain the tray supportable by said base support between the base support side panels and above the base support openings; and   an elongated cover piece for covering the tray and interlocking with said base support comprising a top portion and a pair of vertical side walls extending in a second direction, defined as downwardly, from said top portion, each vertical side wall having a free edge defining an interlock edge for interlocking with the interlocking edge member of said base support to secure the cover piece to the base support.   
   
   
       2 . The wire management system of  claim 1  comprising plural base supports each having a length substantially less than the length of the tray -and cover piece. 
   
   
       3 . The wire management system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the base supports, tray, and cover piece are plastic. 
   
   
       4 . The wire management system of  claim 3 , wherein said plastic comprises polyvinyl chloride (PVC). 
   
   
       5 . The wire management system of  claim 3 , wherein said plastic comprises acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA). 
   
   
       6 . The wire management system of  claim 2 , wherein each of said plural base supports are linearly mountable to the roof to receive the elongated tray and cover piece. 
   
   
       7 . The wire management system of  claim 3 , wherein the plastic is coated with a UV coating. 
   
   
       8 . Wire management system components made up of a plurality of base supports, an elongated tray and an elongated cover piece, wherein
 each of said base supports comprises a planar base and vertical side panels extending in a first direction from said planar base to a free edge, each side panel defining an opening and including a ledge above said opening extending laterally from each said side panel, said free edge of each of said vertical side panels defining an interlock, and each side panel including a wing member extending from the side panel above said opening and downwardly and angularly in a direction toward the planar base;   said elongated tray comprising a planar tray base, upright tray side panels extending from the tray base in a first direction, and a pair of vertical support legs extending from said tray base in the opposite direction, said planar tray base sized to be received within the side panels of said base supports, wherein said vertical support legs are supportable by the ledges within said plural base supports; and   an elongated cover piece having a top member and side walls extending from the top member, each side wall having a free edge defining a cover piece interlock which is interlockable with the base support interlocks to secure the cover piece to the base supports with the tray supportable within the base supports.   
   
   
       9 . The wire management system components of  claim 8 , that include only a single elongated tray and only a single cover piece. 
   
   
       10 . A method for installing a wire management system on a roof containing photovoltaic panels, said wire management system including a plurality of base supports, a tray, and a cover piece, each of said base supports including a planar base for attachment to the roof adjacent a photovoltaic panel, and including an opening for receiving wires from the photovoltaic panel, and further including a wing portion to overly a portion of the photovoltaic panel to cover the wires extending from the photovoltaic panel, said method comprising the steps of,
 (a) positioning and affixing each of the base supports to the roof adjacent a photovoltaic panel and at a location where the opening within the base supports can receive the wires leading out from the photovoltaic panel;   (b) threading the wires through the opening into the interior of the base supports;   (c) aligning an elongated tray having a planar tray base and vertical side walls with said base supports and marking the location on the planar tray base where the wires will enter the tray base;   (d) cutting openings in the marked areas of the planar tray base;   (e) repositioning the tray on the base support and threading the wires within the base support through the cut openings of the planar tray base; and   (f) positioning the cover piece over the tray and locking the cover piece to the base supports.