A pier for a solar tracking system includes a bearing housing assembly, a frame, the frame defining an A-profile having a pair of legs and a crown at a center portion thereof, and a mounting bracket, the mounting bracket coupled to a portion of the crown of the frame at a first portion thereof and coupled to a portion of the bearing housing assembly at a second portion thereof.

A crimper for joining truss leg components to form a unitary truss foundation with the ground without needing mechanical fasteners. A crimping tool has upper and lower crimp guides that register the position of jaws on the crimping tool with respect to grooves formed in a connecting portion of a truss cap and in a driving coupler of a driven screw anchor. Registering the position of the jaws ensures that blind crimps between the upper leg and screw anchor and upper leg and truss cap are performed consistently each time.

The invention relates to a heliostat sub-assembly and to a method of forming such a sub-assembly. The method of mounting a concave mirror to a supporting structure of a heliostat includes the steps of bonding a plurality of risers at predetermined spaced intervals to a rear face of the mirror, each riser having a bonding pad and a stem extending from the bonding pad, and applying a predetermined concave curvature to the mirror by conforming the front face of the mirror with a convex forming jig or die. The supporting structure and curved mirror are then aligned, and the supporting structure is clinched to the stems of the risers when the curved mirror is conformed with the forming die. The riser stems may be coupled to the bonding pads via multi-axial joint assemblies to enable limited multi-pivotal movement of the stems relative to the bonding pads to facilitate alignment of faces of the stems with the faces of the ribs defined by webs, and relative expansion and contraction of the mirror and supporting structure, the overlap between the riser stems and the webs being sufficient to accommodate clinching with variations in curvature of the glass sheet.

A crimper for joining truss leg components to form a unitary truss foundation with the ground without needing mechanical fasteners. A crimping tool has upper and lower crimp guides that register the position of jaws on the crimping tool with respect to grooves formed in a connecting portion of a truss cap and in a driving coupler of a driven screw anchor. Registering the position of the jaws ensures that blind crimps between the upper leg and screw anchor and upper leg and truss cap are performed consistently each time.

A truss foundation for single-axis trackers that are installed in climates that experience significant frost heave. In some cases, truss legs are oriented plumb, to eliminate adfreeze moment on below-ground components in the frost zone. Different truss caps may be used depending on the type of single-axis tracker and/or tracker component is supported. In some cases, truss legs may curve just before entering the ground. In others, below-ground and above-ground components may extend along the same axis and remain plump with the truss cap providing additional elevation to for the tracker to clear the wider truss legs.

Fixed-tilt solar arrays constructed from screw anchors. A row of truss foundation is installed, with each foundation consisting of a pair of adjacent angled truss legs. A truss cap or adapter joins the legs and provides a support structure to support a rail that in turn supports purlins extending between adjacent, spaced apart truss foundations. Solar panels are attached directly to the purlins using clamps or other conventional mounting systems.