The invention is an electrical and mechanical roof underlayment which provides electrical and mechanical connection of solar shingles to a roof. The underlayment simplifies the installation of solar shingles allowing the shingles to be installed and connected together in the same step. The underlayment includes a membrane which has embedded electrical conductors and electrical connectors that provides an electrical connecting system extending to an electrical circuit. The membrane further has embedded mechanical members with mechanical connectors that secure the shingles to the membrane. The membrane is structurally attached to a roof surface. The structural attachment may be an adhesive attachment. Solar shingles are connected to the membrane by an integral clasping mechanism that mechanically and electrically connects the shingles to the membrane. No external wiring, connectors or devices are required to make the electrical connection between the shingles and the membrane. Contacts are integral and embedded into each individual shingle.

Disclosed is a roofing underlayment providing mechanical and electrical connection for solar shingles that includes a water-impervious membrane adapted to be attached to a roof. The underlayment also includes a mechanical attachment member configured to mechanically attach a solar shingle to the roof, as well as an electrical conductor having an electrical first portion of which is embedded within the membrane, having an electrical second portion which is configured to electrically connect to a solar shingle, and having an electrical third portion which is configured to electrically connect to an electrical circuit. An air gap is provided that allows for air flow below the solar shingles. The air gap comprises a space between a bottom surface of the solar shingles and a bottom surface of the membrane.

The present disclosure relates to a technical filed of mounting a tile, and discloses a tile fixing device and a method for disassembling the tile fixed by the same. The tile fixing device includes: a slider, at least a portion of the slider being disposed below the tile; a connector, at least a portion of the connector being disposed above the tile and the connector being coupled to the slider so as to hold the tile between the at least a portion of the connector and the at least a portion of the slider; and a fixing beam configured to be fixed on the building, and the slider being hung on the fixing beam so as to fix the tile on the building. In the tile fixing device, the fixing beam comprises a sliding groove extending in a direction at a certain angle to a longitudinal direction of the fixing beam and running through the fixing beam, the certain angle is greater than 0 degree and less than 180 degrees, the longitudinal direction of the fixing beam extends in a horizontal direction, and the slider is configured to be rotated such that the slider can slide along the sliding groove and slide out of the sliding groove so as to detach the slider from the fixing beam and remove the tile. The present disclosure has the advantages of easy disassembly and easy maintenance.

A lighter, more cost-effective roofing system and method, which includes a rain diverting feature for directing rainwater and snowmelt away from an underlying sheet material and roof deck, is provided. The invention includes a sheet material having an upper surface and a lower surface. The upper surface includes one of a hook and loop fastener and the lower surface is configured to be attached to the roof deck. The present invention further includes a plurality of roofing tiles, each tile having hook and loop fasteners adhered to a back face which extend along the width of the tile at or near the uppermost and lowermost edges. Each rain diverting feature, which is a strip-like device with one surface made up of a plurality of hook portions and an opposing surface made up of a plurality of portions complementary to the hook portions, is positioned between and releasably attached to the hook and loop fasteners located on a side-edge portion of two adjacent tiles and the underlying sheet material, thereby releasably attaching the tiles to each other and to the upper surface of the underlying sheet material. The use of rain diverting devices to direct rainwater and snowmelt away from the underlying sheet material and roof deck allows for single lap tiling and thus less weight on the roof deck. It also allows for shorter tiles to be used, thus saving material cost.

Building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems provide for solar panel arrays with improved aesthetics and efficiency that can replace conventional roof structures. BIPV mounting systems described herein allow for improved versatility and ease of installation as compared to conventional approaches. Such BIPV mounting systems can include photovoltaic (PV) roof tiles with separate mechanical coupling features and electrical contact portions for use with tile connectors having both mechanical and electrical coupling features. Such PV tiles can be mechanically and electrically coupled in series through the tile connectors without requiring wire bussing between adjacent PV roof tiles and the tile connectors can be slidable within a batten bracket to easily accommodate PV roof tiles of differing dimensions.

A roofing system features a plurality of roofing sheets each having an outer perimeter of which two opposing perimeter edges respectively define a fastening edge and a hooking edge. One or more fastening holes penetrate the sheet near the fastening edge. At the hooking edge, the sheet is bent under itself to form a hooking portion reaching back toward the fastening edge. A plurality of hold-downs are placed atop a first row of roofing sheets near the fastening edges thereof, and have apertures aligned with the fastening holes of the roofing sheets, through which the hold-downs are fastened to the a roof deck. The hooking edges of a next row of roofing sheets hook to the affixed hold-downs of the first row, thus coupling the two rows of sheets together and concealing the first row's fastened connection to the roof deck beneath the second row.

The invention concerns a rail system for mounting facing elements on a facade, wherein the rail system includes an elongated rail with a longitudinal direction, the rail including means for direct or indirect mounting on a faade, the rail further including means for fixing facing elements to the rail, and wherein the rail system further includes at least one fixing unit for each facing element, the means for direct or indirect mounting on a facade being constituted by at least one flange member, and wherein the means for fixing facing elements to the rail includes a body part with a contact face for a back side of a facing element. The new feature of a rail system according to the invention is that the body part includes at least a first set of fixing means and at least a second set of fixing means, each set of fixing means being adapted to an individual type of fixing units. In a rail according to the invention there is thus provided at last two different types of fixing means.

Building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems provide for solar panel arrays with improved aesthetics and efficiency that can replace conventional roof structures. BIPV mounting systems described herein allow for improved versatility and ease of installation as compared to conventional approaches. Such BIPV mounting systems can include photovoltaic (PV) roof tiles with separate mechanical coupling features and electrical contact portions for use with tile connectors having both mechanical and electrical coupling features. Such PV tiles can be mechanically and electrically coupled in series through the tile connectors without requiring wire bussing between adjacent PV roof tiles and the tile connectors can be slidable within a batten bracket to easily accommodate PV roof tiles of differing dimensions.

A system and method of roofing. The present invention includes a fabric sheet having an upper surface and a lower surface. The upper surface includes one of a hook and loop fastener and the lower surface is configured to be attached to a roof decking. The present invention further includes a plurality of tiles each having an upper edge, a lower edge, a top surface, and a bottom surface. The other of the hook and loop fastener is attached to the bottom surface. The plurality of tiles are releasably attached to the upper surface of the fabric sheet via the hook and loop fasteners.

The invention concerns a rail system for mounting facing elements on a facade, wherein the rail system includes an elongated rail with a longitudinal direction, the rail including means for direct or indirect mounting on a faade, the rail further including means for fixing facing elements to the rail, and wherein the rail system further includes at least one fixing unit for each facing element, the means for direct or indirect mounting on a facade being constituted by at least one flange member, and wherein the means for fixing facing elements to the rail includes a body part with a contact face for a back side of a facing element. The new feature of a rail system according to the invention is that the body part includes at least a first set of fixing means and at least a second set of fixing means, each set of fixing means being adapted to an individual type of fixing units. In a rail according to the invention there is thus provided at last two different types of fixing means.