Tracking the Sun with Actuators
A solar tracker is a device that tracks the sun as it moves on its path through the sky, exposing your PV cells to an increased amount of sunlight and hence producing more electricity.
Compared to stationary solar panels, a solar tracking system can increase the efficiency of solar panels by 25% to 40% using solar panel linear actuator or gear motor.
Besides from increasing your return on investment, Firgelli linear actuators can
support you with features:
- Maintenance: A minimum level of maintenance is an important request.
- Power consumption: Low power consumption demand are always required for a electricity generation plant.
- Stable performance: by doing various tests, we can ensure the stable quality of our linear actuator.
Typically you would use 2 Linear Actuators for Each Solar tracking system. One Actuator controls the X-axis and the other Actuators for the Y-axis. You will also need a controller to tell the Actuators what to do and where to move to. A simple Arduino Uno will do this. We sell a range of Arduino boards here
Some Solar tracking system such as Row Trackers just use One linear Actuator and simply rotate an entire Row of Solar panels. Again the controls is pretty simple, you only need a few LDR's (Light dependent resistor). These LDR's simply hunt for the most sun and wherever that point is then that's where to solar panels need to be moved to.
Weather Proofing
As solar panel systems are located outside its best to use our higher IP rating water resistant Linear actuators. But typically the Actuators are hidden under the solar panels so full water protection may not be required.
