Super Cool Phase Change Solar Tracker - No Power Needed!!
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
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Are solar trackers coming back?!? The cost of solar trackers has turned me away in the past, but this solar tracker by Pursuit Solar caught my attention at SPI last year and I just had to try it out. I was especially intrigued as a mechanical engineer because this is a fully mechanical, self-powered solar tracker that requires no electricity! In this video I share my experience with this tracker and weigh the pros and cons of using trackers.
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Pretty clever. My system uses a dog pen surrounding the tracker. In the pen I have a strong pitbull that prefers to rest in the shade of the solar panel. When the sun moves, the pitbull moves to the new shadow position and in moving he pulls a short cable attached to the tracker. At dusk the automatic feeder drops food in his bucket and when he moves to the feed bucket he pulls the tracker back to the morning position. One problem is that everything goes haywire when the mailman arrives. Another problem is my system only works in the hot summer, so we move to Brazil in late October.
🤣
Good one 😂
bruh :D
@@halkopop Maybe you could find a cooperative mailman to inspire your Chihuahua.
😂
I like the thinking behind this solar tracker. Great to see people exploring alternatives :)
My cousin put a similar tracker together back in the early 80's based on a project in Popular Mechanics magazine from the 70's.. used Freon, two copper pipes one on each side with shades piped to gas shocks that pushed and pulled the cells. Still working to this day. Actually made a mistake on filling the gas amounts and got the unit to re-position itself back eastward and ready for the next day during the night.. But with the gas tubes on each side there is no chance that the sun coming out later will miss the western tube. Very cool to see a new take on this type of setup. Thank you!
Thank you for your comment. I saw one of these in central Australia and have been trying to find info on it for the past 9 months. This sounds exactly like what I saw. Very interesating and seems more resilient than the design in the video.
Can you tell me in detail about how the mechanisms works and the setup, please
The Demolitia is calling for your services over at Offtheranch for the Abandoned Mansion project. Matt needs you!
didnt he sell the mansion
Nope. They decided to keep it. Full renovation and moving Demo Ranch to the mansion. Building garage for Demo Wrench. Several UA-camrs collaborating with him. Said he's looking for our recommendations for solar and rain water collection, countless of us have called out Engineer775 for this mission.
Haha
I really didn’t understand how this worked, sorry. I can understand a wax being heated and expanding a piston, but I didn’t follow how that allows this to track the sun, or where the blocks come into it. You said the blocks were to demonstrate the strength of the system, but then at another point implied the blocks were needed to move the panel. Just didn’t make any sense to me!
Agreed
He didn't give an explanation. Very disappointing.
maybe we need take a 3 day class to understand this kind of technology 🧓
Not being an engineer but using my eyeballs I think I figured it out. That cable from the blocks is wrapped around the pole. When the wax heats up and builds pressure it rotates the device, which lifts the blocks. Now my assumption is since this is one panel and not 18 as he claims it can handle, this is demonstrating that it can in fact move 18 panels.
Basically its useing thermo expanding fluid to move a piston. When the fluid gets hot/cold it expands or contracts. How the sun hits the mirror is where it tracks to/from.
In Syria, we made 6 330 w panel base tracker in less than $100. The shape looks beautiful but it costs too much. I can share the forms if you want.
Would be very interested in your design concept
Hi I'm interested in your idea. Please can you share it with us?
It’s great job thank you interesting to share your idea with me
هلا وغلا فيك
Sharker , you claimed you were able to make a six panel tracker for under $100 and that you would be willing to share how you did this. There has been no shortage of interest in your idea. So please, share a link or post on your channel how you went about this.
Literally just searched 'phase change hydraulic' thinking of this exact idea, boom, someone made it. Very nice.
I now realize after you were talking about weather conditions that, duh, of course the parabolic would be heavily dependent with a large delta of making the correct temp vs not in most any phase change, purely by light intensity and ignoring seasonal temp drift. Looks like zombie power would be most feasible and realistic. Thanks
That's brilliant! The day you don't have enough sun, it works even less efficiently. Bri-freaking-lliant.
Installed a freon powered tracker on a bunch of ARCO panels back in 1985. Times (and PV) sure have changed!
Thanks for the honesty !! One of the many reasons we love this channel!!
I've been using zomework trackers for past 15 years and they are 99% reliable off grid. My electronic tracker has had complete failures due to corrosion or moisture. Pole mounting and tracking extract and give me the longest power cycle.
with engineer in the channel name I would have liked any detail at all on this!!!!!
I remember first seeing heliotropic arrays when I was a little kid in the 70's in the SouthWest.
A way to tweak this would be to hybrid it. Set up some kind of trip switch/clock that if the shaft does on rotate a certain amount by a given time you could bump it with a stepper motor so it could catch up with the sun.
Thanks for a quick & dirty estimate of a tracker:s advantage. I look forward to seeing more on this.
This is cool, I always have overcast morings so while this is cool I will be rustrating myself. Gets a lot easier as I get older thanks for sharing
Easy enough to DIY. This tech has been around for several decades in automatic greenhouse vents, and automatic AC vents. You can pick up these heat activated pistons from large hardware stores.
The idea is interesting, but the fact that it can't catch up when it fails in the morning is a bit of a problem. It fails 10-15% of the time, so it negates your 20% power production improvements. (because at the end of a day you will have lower power than with fixed installation).
Also trackers are not always the best when you don't have enough space. As they require all panels to be unshaded whole day, even as they rotate. That requires bigger spacing between rows or columns. I would say tracking is useful if you have small installation in one row, no trees, and small amount of space. Or if you have a lot of space. In the middle ground, often the fixed installation will be better.
Maybe the profit of the 20% is lost when yo have to reemplace or manintenance electronics and servos.
@@rogerfederer4386 this tracker doesn't use light sensors, clocks, electronics or servos. It is purely mechanical system.
Zero of your vids I do not like- like before I even see them - Know they are top !!!!
I love thing's that are mechanical and simple, great video!
As another mechanical engineer I also think this is really cool. I do Automation though so I would have to use a PLC lol
I understand.
Hii
Can you please explain me the working of above please
An explanation of how melting wax causes the piston to move would have been nice.
look up greenhouse roof venting. they use an oil filled piston that expands the oil when temp goes up and that extends piston.
Wax is contained in a piston capsule. Heating the wax causes it to expand and drive the center rod out. Returning when cool. Used in automobile thermostats and many other devices.
@@joeKisonue
I did know when watching the video but until the first time such devised was explained to me I didn't and I remember the frustration of not understanding and the anger in finding out it could be explained in ten seconds but wasn't.
raspberry pi, 3d printed plastic 4-split cover, 4 photo-diodes, 2 motors on worm gears, gears/rods/basic construction, probably less than $200 of DIY solar tracker. Most of it can fit on the corner of the panels, and yeah it might not be purely mechanical, but it's more cost effective, takes up far less space, easily scaled, and a lot less chance of degradation from weather and pressure gradients.
Hi, yeah I agtee. Do u have an instruction video for that and link for the diodes and motors? Thanks
Lots of people are suggesting in the comments of Dr. Matt Carricker of Off the Ranch channel that you would be great to work with for his off the grid building solar needs...
Being an engineer, if you explained the purpose of the 1-ton block I might have been impressed.
I presume its use the reset the the tracker to the east after the sun goes down. When the sun goes down there is no more energy input to reset it back. So the blocks provide a source of potential energy,.
gravitational energy storage
He said the reason was to demonstrate the power of the Piston that if he wanted to instead of the blocks he could be lifting an entire wing of panels
The blocks are to used to simulate the amount of tension the cable of the tracker can handle. Just imagine that instead of lifting blocks, it's moving panels through tension.
I have two towers with 12 panels each. I am working on a tracking system that uses a timer and simple mechanical gearing attached to a tractor trailer windshield wiper motor. I can have both of my towers move as many times as I like per a day and reset in the evening with just using the timer. Jim
Hola James; no necesitas el timer para retornar tus paneles al este al final del día. Puedes usar relés. Te recomiendo el proyecto de Jesse Tarin en esta plataforma. Sin Arduino ni componentes electrónicos complicados. Saludos.
@@carlosalejos Sí, estoy en el proceso de hacer que mis torres sigan el sol yo mismo. Acabo de poner un video sobre este tema. Para mí, debo volver a la posición "Amanecer", ya que es posible que no tenga energía en la mañana y tenga que restablecer manualmente la torre. Me estoy inclinando hacia un rastreador mecánico en lugar de eléctrico. ¡Revisaré a Jesse Tarin!
Ven a vernos a Chile. Jim
Very neat. How about leaving the Solar panel fixed. Then, positioning a fixed, but adjustable, band of reflective material to mimic the trajectory of the sun. This way throughout the day its always getting additional sunlight. You could even get a table to show you the sun's trajectory on any given day, and periodical...every couple of weeks....tweak the reflective band to that trajectory. Just a thought.
Hi Scot, I really liked this design, just wondered how the panel will hold in high winds and storms? I'm not worried if the tracker works during such weather, but if the next day I have to go out, buy new solar panels and trackers because all lost to the wind.
Very cool shirt. Yes, please keep going on trackers especially ones that are affordable.
*Due to the extreme drop in the price of solar panels trackers are now superfluous. It is much cheaper and much more reliable to simply install more panels!* Trackers are mechanics and need maintenance. And they are very susceptible to wind. For this reason and because of the mechanics, most of them only last a 1-10 years. If you want more constant yields throughout the day, you simply have to set up the panels in an S-E and S-W orientation.
Cool idea.Thats the way to think outside the box.
7 minutes of talking, and you still didn't explain how it actually works, apart from that it has a piston and some wax! Disappointed...
Wax comes in a huge variety of temperature characteristics. Wax is not compressible. Wax expands when it melts and shrinks again when it cools. Expanding wax pushes against the piston.
Similar actuators have been in use for decades in greenhouses to open vents. This is a very beefy version.
I understand that. But how does it translate this into motion, controlled by the position of the sun? How does the weight come into play?
@@ScottsSynthStuff as he explained in the video, the weight is just to show what it can move, not part of a normal installation. Expanding wax pushes a piston, creating linear motion, (my educated guess starts here) pushing on an arm or frame out toward the edge of the panels, which rotate on a central hinge. that mechanical linkage converts linear to rotation just like any rotator or scissor lift for any large object like a big satelite dish, or hydraulic floor jack, swinging gates, etc. even the anti-slam cylinder linkage on a door works the same way (but on compression stroke not expansion). and of course the greenhouse vent acuators I previously mentioned are the same but smaller.
@@Sylvan_dB You're on it. The expanding wax pushes a piston that probably activates a screw drive that turns the unit. I wish he'd given us specifics. I mean, he is an engineer...
Ok BUT HOW DOES IT WORK ??????
You know what would be cool? If we can have solar panels mounted with full rotation, so that we can point them down when there is hail or heavy weather, so that they last longer. Is anyone doing that? :)
I think that maybe the re-surge in trackers is because we have pretty much topped out in efficiency of solar panels and the only way to get more power in a smaller space would be tracking.
I wouldn't count out improvements in efficiency just yet. I think we're on the verge of seeing additional efficiency boosts with the introduction of graphene; now that it's becoming economically viable to produce on large scale. If not for the cells themselves, then at the very least the battery banks those cells feed. Personally I want to install solar, but I'm taking a wait-and-see approach with new graphene developments in the works.
That is very cool.
This has the same concept as an old carburetor choke that used wax. As it heated up, it softened the wax and the small spring opened up the choke. I've been experimenting with a small hydraulic cylinder and container that has propane in it, as it heats up, it displaces propane into the cylinder and moves the panel. Solar is supposed to affordable if you are going to use it in a remote place. Store bought trackers puts it thru the roof.
Thanks sweet videos I'm close to Pickens in landrum sc
Pursuit Solar is based in Denver, NC!
That is VERY cool!
The third factor is the amount of moving parts. Use the K.I.S.S. principle.
Love the KISS principle. The Pursuit Solar Tracker has 1 moving part!
Wax motors have been used in car thermostats for decades and are quite strong..... This seems like an excellent purpose for a scaled up one.
Until you don't bleed the system properly and a tiny amount of air gets in the way. lol
I saw a video using just photoelectric panels to track the sun, it seems like a excellent solution.
ua-cam.com/video/Oj1E7o7J3qc/v-deo.html
The issue is that probably not idea for regions with a lot of cloud cover as the clouds will probably mess up the timing since it using solar energy to heat up wax. Not sure how well it would work in cold windy climate as I suspect the temperature is going to interfere with timing.
My thought would be a panels mounted on a teeter totter mount with a motorized screw drive mechanism. This way you can mount a lot of panels using just one mount with one motor that does not need to be excessively powerful. You wouldn't get the same range of motion (perhaps +30 to -30 degrees delta 60 degrees) so it would be a compromise between a fix and full tracker mount. With the panels balanced like a teeter totter and a screw drive you won't need a large motor & the screw drive would prevent the wind or other dymamic forces from changing the position. You might be able to just use a commercial linear drive.
Awesome. Now to strengthen my house to enable a 2000lb block to sit on my roof.
I like these mechanical trackers
I like the idea of not having actuators that are connected through a sun tracker or a computer program; however, as you stated, if you have some cloudy intervals where the parabolic mirrors cannot be utilized, then you have missed your window of opportunity to catch up. Not so efficient.
Another valid point you bring up is space. In my case, I don't have a lot of it and would greatly benefit from a tracker. Sometimes you have to spend extra to gain something positive, and in this case more efficiency out of your solar array is worth it.
How big & expensive is the steel pole and concrete pier that is needed to support 18 Solar Panels ?
There's a solar powdered system, that would beat that. It was filmed on This Old House Generation Next. It's called The Smartflower System. It opens and closes automatically, it tracks the sun, but the biggest downfall is the price!!! IT Cost 30,000. You can watch a UA-cam video of it, just type in The Smartflower System.
The smart flower is rated at 2.5kw. So it is more of a promotional item than a electric bill relief. I looked at them and talked with their rep and that is what he said actually. There is a smart flower at a local car wash near me. Awesome design, but not a big power generator. Compare a smart flower at 2.5kw to a 12 panel@400w=4.8kw system like this for close to the same price and almost double the output.
@@stevenporter7969 I didn't know the specifications on it. Thanks.
for 30k I can by a mount that would hold 300kW of solar. Thats almost 1000 panels on a fixed mount.
@@engineer775 I understand that but not everyone has the space for that much on the ground either. I tried to get a ground mount but the location to put the ground mount for my property was not ideal so I am going to the roof.
*At the end of 2023 everything speaks AGAINST PV tracking:* 1) Because of price decline 430W modules cost today already under 100$! Better to buy more modules, but in S-E (for morning sun) and S-W direction separately upright. Even in cloudy conditions, base load is then generated.
2) Tracking solar tables are exposed to much stronger gusts of wind.
3) Any mechanical system has a shorter lifetime. On the other hand, elevated modules work for about 25 years.
I wish a much more detailed explanation would have been forthcoming. I like to really see the details close up
M
With a larger system it might be useful to split it in two or three. One fixed, one electric tracker and this non electric tracker.
realy cool respect from austria
Look at them cows go. Bring one to the racetrack!
1. Adding 20% more panels will cost an average 14 to 20 panel setup about $2000 for two to four more panels and mounts. Much better and simpler.
2. If you must track, then any clock geared to one rotation per 24 hours will point an array mounted at the right latitude in the direction of the sun regardless of clouds. Just needs a couple of microswitches, a few linkages, counterweights and a dc motor. Pretty trivial.
Very cool
And how the hell it works?
You just talk endlessly without proper explanation...
The whole video is a waste of time.
Not here to point fingers but to leave a tactical dot.
He does. Rest position with cold wax is sunrise position. As wax heats and moves piston it slowly rotates to its full range. After sunset and wax cools it rotates back to sunrise position. It's not 100% accurate but close enough. Watch the whole vid. Doesnt get into it until halfway.
That's an impressive amount of lifting for a single piston; I'd say that technology, providing the motive power in conjunction with a small bit of electronics to provide the timing, and the electronics doesn't have to use the array's power. A dedicated 100w mini-panel would suffice for keeping the 6V battery charged that would provide the timing and signaling. Not sure how to tie together that signaling with the motive power, but, I'm sure a smart-fella could figure it out. Cheers!
Two smaller panels, no battery, let them fight to cancel each other out, but offset anglewise, they will run a small motor torquey enough to turn the panel slowly.
that Sulas is neat as heck, but when a solar panel set lasts 20+ years will it still be working correctly. or like you said just a couple more panels and all done. with no moving parts and i do know many wires dont like to be moved constantly. so what is sulas doing to reduce wire fatigue from constant movement at such a arc.
Hi Joshua. Pursuit Solar works with our customers to insure panel wire management restricts cable movement during operation. It's not that hard. Nothing special for panel lead wires, just the home run. And, there's no external power required to turn the Tracker!
yes, despite they arn't as interesting now, but they are cool
i think trackers for small installations, can be cheap, or if you're using some concentrated solar photovoltaic or thermal panels
I have to wonder how this would perform in an environment where it can be well below 0 in the winter and well over 100 in the summer
Artic Solar...that will answer your question.
Alternatif design👍
For fixed setups - how about adding mirrors to get 20% more out of the day.
I'm addicted to reality: unless other constraints exist on array size, trackers make no financial sense
"Store bought" trackers are expensive, if get a cheap welder, a drill and an angle grinder, you can make your own with old bicycle parts... then get more beer with the rest of the money.
Just add an extra panel or two and punt the tracker..the more complicated than you make the plumbing the easier it is to stop up the pipes
Great idea and project genius like. thanks for posting..
Have they even tested it long enough to determine the life of the seals? At some point I would expect seal wear to allow wax leakage.
Great question, Arthur. We have installations that have been operating for over 6 years. And, hopefully we will begin performance/reliability/durability testing later this year.
Eddie Bugg ... Decades of working with prototype equipment has always made me a little curious. Knowing the predictable lifespan of every component is a plus. It’s amazing how many companies can’t even tell you even though their product has been in production for decades.
Very interesting...👍👍
Yes, it is pretty cool... but I think I will prefer adding extra panels to achieve that +20% ending with a cleaner installation and no hazel.
What about adding fresnel lenses to focus the solar gain on the tracker
Love the idea, you didn’t talk cost. If I can buy 20% more panels for less?
Thanks 👍
At about $1/Watt DIY installed, it is hard to beat just adding more panels. That said, if your off-grid, then you know its not all about maximizing the power, its also about stretching your solar day and extending the life of your batteries. If you compare a tracker to dedicated East or West facing panels the savings will be more than 20%. Still I have to say that for me, I would not go with a tracker. Thanks!
what do you think about slightly off-of-south orientation? (my recommendation is 40/40/20 % with orientations of SE/SW/due-south) - I don't have enough real world data to estimate. curious if you thing it would "close the gap" in terms of being worth it. Cheers!
Totally new to me! Thanks!
Sir can you give me the information about this tracker and how to construct it
IMO major part of the tracker price is in the frame, post and base.
materials are expensive nowadays.
electronic is pretty cheap.
for example, my trackers are controlled by $3 arduino nano clones.
Love the technology. I wish solar was more practical where I live. In the winter months I get about 0.8 times capacity per day on average. Trackers don't makes sense for me.
How does it work.....
Whats the mechanism?
buy a 40 dollar high intensity flashlight to urge the panel to move on a cloudy day or hook up 10 dollar solar powered security light that has a remote. turn it on and the panel will respond.
Silly. It's supposed to be maintenance free.
What about high wind environments such as in Kansas where winds can easily become in excess of 20-50 mph ?
Love it thank you!
Super interested in tracking, due to space limits & cost of panels. Hate the ones that require energy use from the system. I could remove 2-3 panels out of my system, worry about it tracing when it gets cold out tho " northern climate".
One guy posted a reply comment saying he'd contacted them for a quote. A tracker for an 18 panel system is more than $10,000.
Michael, for pricing, please contact me at eddie.bugg@pursuitsolar.com The HelioDrive tracking operation is not really affected by ambient temperature. We do engineer the wax for climate. But, it's direct sunlight (solar thermal) that does all the work. Check this out... ua-cam.com/video/m7tvms5rgo8/v-deo.html All of our initial pilot projects were installed outside Denver, CO.
Isn't this going to be VERY temperature dependent? Meaning the tracker will not move when the temperature is too low for the expansion medium to heat sufficiently to move the piston. It doesn't take much to heat the medium when it is 70 degrees, versus when it is -20 degrees.
I'm ok with 5 days out of a month it doesn't track. IF, there is a way for me to manually put it on track when the sun comes back out.
Aaron, The optics of the HelioDrive permit a 2.5 hour "window" of opportunity to catch the sun. In other words, if direct sunlight is lost during the day for less than 2.5 hours, the Tracker will pause but catch up to track the sun for the rest of the day. This video definitely illustrates this... ua-cam.com/video/pLOPgyvpklA/v-deo.html
What would be cool is a mechanical time tracker. Maybe weights and pendulum system huh?
that’s very cool, impressive concept for sure. The question is of course it it better to buy these or buy more panels for a cost standpoint.
He said a couple of times that 20% more panels would be cheaper.
I think it's too niche, man. A tiny motor is all that's really needed with neglible power. The advantage with that normal kind of system is you can then go bigger and make it a smart system so that you can integrate weather and avoid dangers like wind and hail and even make it so they can shed snow automatically. This also looks a lot more expensive comparatively. It just doesn't make sense to me. Am I missing something like a special use case?
ps...in 1988 I went around the world and because of that Bill Mollison brought Permaculture to New Mexico in 1988. It is s fffuning a great story, I found a tracer. I have a place in Taos. PKM
A time laps recording would have been nice.
Yes, it is COMPLETELY unclear how this tracks the sun. I get that wax moves things when warming, but HOW do you sync the position of the sun, does it just move the panel across the sky slowly and vaguely related to when the sun came up? How is it effected by cold weather?
Your link to their website above is dead
I still don't understand how it works. There's a piston and a heavy counterweight, and a parabolic collector on top, but what actually MOVES the piston up and down, and based on what criteria?
Ah, the piston moves out. The top half fixed to panel, bottom to base. There is a helical groove along the inside of the base tube and a dowel sliding in it attached to the piston. Think a long spiral staircase. By forcing the dowel plate through a spiral it causes rotation
Wonder how it works in winter? Looks cool though
The sunlight is focuses through and evacuated tube so there in not an issue in melting the wax in Antarctica. That being said there are different wax formulas for different climates.
@@engineer775 its a cool idea. I get feet of snow here. I could see it being a problem with 12-18 panels. Let me know if you ever want to test it out in a real winter setup.
The HelioDrive tracking operation is not really affected by ambient temperature. We do engineer the wax for climate. But, it's direct sunlight (solar thermal) that does all the work. Check this out... ua-cam.com/video/m7tvms5rgo8/v-deo.html All of our initial pilot projects were installed outside Denver, CO.
I’ve often thought that the easiest way to make a tracker would be to use a mechanical clock timer.. or is that too easy?
Many trackers are made that way.
Cool concept. You've always suggested having 2 arrays point one SSE and the other SSW to maximize the daily solar production.
That strategy is not to maximize daily production. The benefit is when charging batteries that it extends full batteries later into the day.
What ever happened to the tracker using freon made by the guys at The Mother Earth News?
Could something like that be made in the diy setting?
How well do they work in winter weather? Northeast
The HelioDrive tracking operation is not really affected by ambient temperature. We do engineer the wax for climate. But, it's direct sunlight (solar thermal) that does all the work. Check this out... ua-cam.com/video/m7tvms5rgo8/v-deo.html All of our initial pilot projects were installed outside Denver, CO.
i would love to have solar power i,m not able as even the least expensive model of solar is way out of my disabilty budget ,,,, this has the double cool and also a WOW factor,, i just wish i could afford solar
Howdy, yooper! would your housing budget allow for a smallish project to be built? Getting a little further from town, and a smaller foot print may get the price of building down. If so, look into "passive solar design," and other things that are low-cost construction steps that can save a boatload of energy costs. (solar hot water, cold roof, air sealing, south-facing windows with overhangs, sola-tubes, north-side skylights, etc) if that's not in the cards (lottery winnings notwithstanding), you may be able to do some small benefit things like creative sunrooms, "window gardens" (hydroponic systems), small PV panels for just charging phones, laptops, re-charge batteries, etc. start pulling small loads off your grid-connected system, and see what you can build up piece at a time. In general, you're better with a single, bigger panel than multiple small ones, so it may be worth saving up for a decent sized system, rather than spending more on smaller systems that won't produce as much electricity. Hope you get to do this! Cheers.
Well done Cody........ ohh shit i mean Scott :)~ lol i like these mechnical trackers..... is every part made in america thou?? u never mention that.
how dare you sir! lol And yes it is all US made.
Maybe the late sun tracking problem could be fixed with the parabolic mirror hinged wide open and then begin to close as the sun comes out using the heated wax to control it.
Or a mini unit angled to move the big one! Ha. This whole unit is best used in a desert region.
Have an idea, how about it locks the sun, like Top Gun movie where it locks the target in this case the sun.
WHAT?
I'm impressed with the idea here but lack of being able to follow if the day starts cloudy is a problem. Might be better to use a system with morning, noon, and afternoon positions and call it close enough. A small motor and a logic circuit powered by a small battery should do it... and that battery can be float charged on solar. Unless the panels get loaded with ice / snow a center mounted pivot should take almost nothing to move the assembly.
Wind Loading must be considered ...
@@vtorsi610 ... wind, ice and snow need to be considered no matter what system is used. The fact that anything with tracking must pivot just makes it more complex, which means more prone to failure.
@@rupe53 This device can moved 18 X 72 Cell (large) Solar Panels without using any electricity, the exact opposite of "... a small electric motor and small battery ..." You will soon discover/learn how short-lived your idea is ...
@@vtorsi610 ... they have been using the heated wax idea in plumbing for years. It works well but doesn't last forever. BTW, we still have the issue of how to follow the sun on a cloudy day when it's most important.
@@rupe53 I never said, this device was the perfect solution. But we do know that ",.. small electric motor and small battery ..." is a worse solution.
Thats a pretty cool idea. I wanted to see if there has been any updates but I see that you use a fixed solar panel system now. Did you just need to expand on the number of panels? Do you still use this one? Any update would be great. Thanks
Wow. Love it