Sun
tracking systems, fixed with PV panels, enable the panels to precisely track
the solar path across the sky and can enhance the solar power installations’
output by up to 40% in comparison with the stationary panels. Since 1980, the
sun tracking devices are in the market; however, their advanced use in both
domestic and commercial solar power projects has proved their enhanced capacity
of capturing sunray. This advancement, although highly driven by commercial-scale
solar installations, has transformed into reduced expenses and more genuine sun tracking solar panels for both
householders and small businesses.
Stationary
PV panels are mounted, either by the householder or the installer, at the
ultimate angle for sun-based exposure. At southern regions, the sun declines
from 78.5-degree in the summer to 31.5-degree in the winter; however, many rooftop
systems depend on an around 52.3-degree
declination, enabling for a 22.6-degree
roof tilt angle. Sadly, in the northern regions, sunrays’ angle in summer
differs from winter by over 60 degree, which implies focusing summer sunray
makes winter solar power production slightly uncertain.
Sun-tracking solar panels solve this issue. A
single-axis horizontal tracker follows the sunray from morning to evening,
enhancing solar functionality amid the days of summer and spring when the sun
is higher in the sky. However, this doesn’t work well in the northern regions,
and so every setting along the horizontal declines the functionality the other
60% of the year.
Vertical
axis trackers work well at higher climes, allowing solar arrays to track the
sunray both at winter and summer declinations. Dual-axis trackers solve both
the issues at a time, yet can be very costly including $3,500-$6,500 to the
solar installation cost, with the smaller amount adaptable about 125 sq. ft. panels and the bigger helping 225 sq. ft.
Some
dual-axis trackers depend on both vertical and horizontal pivots followed by a
solar controller, same as that utilized for solar telescopes. These are so
costly that they are basically used for commercial solar power systems which
depend on a parabolic dish with a Stirling engine which generates power onsite,
instead of being grid-tied. This exact tracking is also utilized in
concentrated solar applications which need perfections for being efficient, in
that the focal point on which sunray is controlled in near the reflector’s
centre.
Solar Trackers can also be classified into
active and passive solar trackers. The active
one is operated by an electric motor that
is activated by a solar controller and the passive one uses compressed gas
which creates an imbalance in a chamber
while heated by sunray and leads the tracker to tilt.
Previously,
advancing technology was more important than prolonging outputs. However, now
solar installations are profitable in growing the number of KWH supplied to the
utility grid. But the advantages result in enhanced technologies in just
cost-effectiveness.
The
requirement of enhanced solar output has driven the solar tracking market from
nearly 2%-25% in. In fact, the projections suggest installing more Solar tracking
solar panels.
This
growing dependence on sun tracking solar panels will also cause in advanced
tracking technology, as the developers are still trying to get better ways of
improvement.