The job
Ground frame design for solar: the truss to the DBN
A truss for solar panels has to pass the snow and wind check for its own city, not «like the neighbour’s». Solispec designs it to the DBN, draws it and gives the cutting list in minutes, for free.
In the browser, nothing to install, no card: the Start plan is free.
Ground frame designer
Design the ground frame for your solar plant
Solispec picks the profiles and posts, checks the frame against snow and wind to the DBN and prices it down to the last bolt.
The job
The customer gives a site and a panel count. You need to choose the tilt and the row spacing, pick the C profiles for the purlin, the brace and the posts, check them for snow and wind to DBN V.1.2-2:2006 for that city, place the M10 bolted joints so that no profile runs through another, and hand the crew the drawings and the supplier the bill of materials.
How it is done in Solispec
- 01
«Designer»: point to the place on the map or pick the oblast — snow and wind come from DBN V.1.2-2 for that city; set the panels and their count.
- 02
«Auto»: the optimiser picks the tilt, the profiles and the support spacing so that every critical check passes at the lowest cost; any parameter can be locked by hand.
- 03
«Checks»: the utilisation of the purlin, the brace, the posts and the joints in percent, the weakest point and how to fix it, on every plan.
- 04
«Side view», «Plan», «Isometric», «Joints», «Pile plan»: dimensioned drawings for the crew; «Cutting», «Parts» and «Bill of materials» for the supplier.
- 05
«Estimate» and the PDF: steel, fixings and equipment; on Pro at your prices and without the watermark.
What exactly Solispec gives
Safety checks
Frame, supports and fixings against snow and wind under the Ukrainian DBN — free on every plan.
Learn moreAll drawings
Side view, plan, isometric, joints, cutting list and parts list — for the crew and the supplier.
Learn moreClean PDF
A report without the «Solispec · Start» mark — ready to hand to the customer.
Learn more
The calculators that feed it
The norms it is calculated to
Questions and answers
Which loads does the calculation take?
The characteristic snow and wind loads of DBN V.1.2-2:2006 for the chosen city or oblast, with the factors for the tilt and the height. The «Snow and wind» pages show the values for 22 cities.
Which profiles is the truss made of?
Cold-formed galvanised C profiles to DSTU-N B EN 1993-1-3; the sections and thicknesses from the Solispec catalogue or your own. The joints are M10 bolts in drilled holes or in the perforation slots.
Can I design a truss without signing up?
Yes: the «Truss for solar panels» calculator and a guest project in the designer work without an account. An account is needed to keep the project in the cabinet.
Is this calculation enough for installation?
It is a preliminary calculation to the DBN. Before installation a qualified engineer has to check it; on the Business plan the project version goes to an engineer for review and the signature goes into the report.
What about the supports in the ground?
Solispec gives the pile plan and the support spacing for the chosen scheme. The soil capacity and the driving or concreting depth come from the site’s geology, outside the frame calculation.
Does this work for Poland or Germany?
The structure and the drawings, yes. The loads are still taken from the DBN; for a site in the EU they have to be checked against the national annex to EN 1991-1-3 and EN 1991-1-4.