Sun Tracking Solar Panels: The Most Advanced Solar Trackers

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.