I have two solar panel arrays that are on a square frame that is hinged on the bottom front side and held up at the appropriate angle by two adjustable supports from the top corners to the base. Very simple, like a door laid on its side hinge on the bottom. I want to convert to a mechanism to remotely raise and lower the panels. We occasionally have high wind and like to have the panels down flat when this happens. I'd like to use a simple linear actuator but when I try to design this I run into a mechanical leverage problem. At the beginning of the lift from horizontal the angle of the lift causes the forces to mostly be in the horizontal direction which tends to rip things apart. The problem is that the base frame is only 10 inches off the roof so there no room to mount the actuator vertically so it would push up and down. The actuator needs a stroke of about 24 inches so it is a long one. How do you push upward with no room underneath for the retracted actuator. I've tried to think of all sorts of bell cranks, pullies, folded levers, etc and they all suffer from the problem of starting the motion with a unacceptable mechanical disadvantage which would break the framework.
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