This is a video of the panels I will be using at the UF biodiesel plant. The solar panel arrays in the Solar Energy Park use a passive tracking system which allows for the panels to increase efficiency about 20%.
This is a video of the panels I will be using at the UF biodiesel plant. The solar panel arrays in the Solar Energy Park use a passive tracking system which allows for the panels to increase efficiency about 20%.
tracker do not use allot of power mine uses 12 watt hours per day for a 10′x 10 tracker and increases the power a panel out put bu 40%. how does this system work on a cloudy day?
The main problem with this system is that on a cloudy day it will not work. This is the one major flaw of the passive tracking system. The sun is required to make the passive tracking system work.
do you know of any wind-up solar trackers? it seems like one could be built that could be reset daily, maybe out of a one hour kitchen timer or something
One bad thing is the fact that on a windy day the panel can get damaged. Active tracker are run on a gear and keep the panel from moving freely.
@1234Doc4321 Agreed. I have seen on a windy day the panels being blown in the wrong direction. The cheaper passive solar systems are easily blown in the wrong direction by the wind. Active tracking does require some energy produced by the solar panels and are more expensive.
Nice, it might have better to show one that worked?
@DD826 This one did work after I fixed it. I had to re-grease the swivel joint, and clean the piston. The panel needed to be reset. This video was designed to show how the mechanics worked.
@nuclearboy2003 perhaps using springs to keep it in tension could solve this problem? depends on the amount of force the hydraulic cylinder can generate. Very interested in your passive system, do you have more details on it? Combining this with an timed active system to solve the problem of cloudy days could be an idea to…