Modular removable building integrated thermal electric roofing system

Abstract

An improved modular, removable system of building-integrated solar panel photovoltaics for easy residential and commercial roof installation for generating electrical and thermal energy.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A modular, removable roofing installation system for optimally capturing solar thermal energy, the modular, removable roofing installation system comprising:
 a plurality of removable solar panel modules, each solar panel module comprising a plurality of slate modules mounted on a plurality of battens, a plurality of inverters for converting DC electricity fed from the plurality of slate modules to AC electricity, a thermal tubing containing liquid mounted beneath the plurality of slate modules on the plurality of battens, wherein the plurality of battens are mounted on a plurality of horizontal battens that are mounted onto a plurality of vertical battens, wherein each solar panel module comprises a roof-attaching latch mounted to a backing of the plurality of vertical battens, wherein the roof-attaching latch couples to a corresponding roof surface latch mounted to a roof to removably attach each solar panel module to the roof;   a pump and thermal control unit comprising a circulation pump that is operatively connected to the thermal tubing for circulating the liquid through the thermal tubing;   a heat exchanger that is operatively connected to the thermal tubing for extracting the thermal energy, the heat exchanger being housed in a storage tank;   a heat pump connected to the heat exchanger for maintaining the temperature of the liquid in the storage tank to a certain threshold temperature;   whereby the plurality of slate modules and the thermal tubing operate simultaneously to generate electricity and domestic hot water respectively; and   wherein the system may be removed and re-installed on a second roof by disconnecting the pump and thermal control unit, disconnecting the thermal tubing from the heat exchanger and the circulation pump, and removing the plurality of removable solar panel modules.   
     
     
         2 . The modular, removable roofing installation system of  claim 1  wherein each of the plurality of slate modules includes at least one photovoltaic cell. 
     
     
         3 . The modular, removable roofing installation system of  claim 1  wherein each of the plurality of slate modules is electrically connected in series to form a string. 
     
     
         4 . The modular, removable roofing installation system of  claim 3  wherein the plurality of inverters feed AC electricity to a utility grid. 
     
     
         5 . The modular, removable roofing installation system of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of battens collects the solar energy, converts into thermal energy and delivers to the liquid running in the thermal tubing. 
     
     
         6 . The modular, removable roofing installation system of  claim 1  wherein the circulation pump is powered by a separate photovoltaic panel. 
     
     
         7 . The modular, removable roofing installation system of  claim 1  wherein the heat exchanger extracts the thermal energy from the liquid in the thermal tubing resulting in heating up the domestic water supply and providing domestic hot water. 
     
     
         8 . The modular, removable roofing installation system of  claim 1  wherein the thermal tubing may be made of material selected from a group consisting of: copper, aluminum or cross-linked polyethylene (PEX). 
     
     
         9 . The modular, removable roofing installation system of  claim 1  wherein the liquid in the thermal tubing may be selected from a group consisting of: water and glycol. 
     
     
         10 . The modular, removable roofing installation system of  claim 1  wherein the heat pump maintains the temperature of the liquid in the storage tank when the temperature goes below/above a certain level. 
     
     
         11 . The modular, removable roofing installation system of  claim 1  wherein the horizontal and vertical battens may be composed from a material selected from a group consisting of: wood and fiberglass. 
     
     
         12 . The roofing installation system of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of slate modules is cooled as the thermal energy is extracted by the heat exchanger, thereby making the plurality of slate modules operate at high efficiency in converting the solar energy to DC electricity. 
     
     
         13 . A method of installing a modular, removable roofing installation system comprising:
 removably mounting a plurality of removable solar panel modules on a roof, each solar panel module comprising a plurality of slate modules mounted on a plurality of battens, a plurality of inverters for converting DC electricity fed from the plurality of slate modules to AC electricity, a thermal tubing containing liquid mounted beneath the plurality of slate modules on the plurality of battens, wherein the plurality of battens are mounted on a plurality of horizontal battens that are mounted onto a plurality of vertical battens, wherein each solar panel module comprises a roof-attaching latch mounted to a backing of the plurality of vertical battens, wherein the roof-attaching latch couples to a corresponding roof surface latch mounted to roof to removably attach each solar panel module to the roof;   mounting a pump and thermal control unit comprising a circulation pump proximate to the solar panel modules;   connecting the circulation pump to the thermal tubing for circulating the liquid through the thermal tubing;   connecting a heat exchanger to the thermal tubing for extracting the thermal energy, the heat exchanger being housed in a storage tank;   connecting a heat pump to the heat exchanger for maintaining the temperature of the liquid in the storage tank to a certain threshold temperature;   electrically connecting each of the plurality of slate modules in series to form a string; and   connecting the plurality of inverters to each string for converting the DC electricity from the plurality of slate modules to AC electricity.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein each of the plurality of slate modules includes at least one photovoltaic cell. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the method of installing the roofing installation system is initiated at the bottom of the slope roof. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the plurality of battens collects the solar energy and converts into thermal energy by running the liquid in the thermal tubing throughout the roof. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the thermal energy is extracted by the heat exchanger resulting in heating up the domestic water supply and providing domestic hot water. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the plurality of slate modules is cooled as the thermal energy is extracted by the heat exchanger, thereby making the plurality of slate modules operate at high efficiency in converting the solar energy to DC electricity. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the heat pump maintains the temperature of the liquid in the storage tank when the temperature goes below/above a certain level.