Design and Analysis

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS

As solar panels have continued to decrease in price, less emphasis has been given to ascertaining higher efficiencies through means of tracking the sun as it traverses the sky throughout the day. Part of the reason for this is because it has become more expensive to buy and implement solar tracking systems than it is to just install a couple extra panels as a means of compensating for the losses in production. However, there is no reason that further advances in both the solar panel tracking system, as well as the cost or simplicity of such a unit, can’t continue to progress in a similar manner. The point of this design is to further increase production capability, while maintaining profitable margins; all while using a system that is simple enough that it can be installed by a non-professional.

​

​

The image in Figure 1 shows how the decrease in panel costs has outstripped the increases in efficiencies:

            This trend has resulted in an emphasis towards adding more panels to a solar power generating site rather than increases the efficiency of those panels themselves. The old argument for not using solar trackers has been that they use up most of the electrical energy they gain by tracking the sun. However, this does not have to be the case in modern systems. With the use of stepper motors, which are more efficient than linear actuators, and with proper programming to prevent the tracking system from being active the entire time, much better performance characteristics for the system can be achieved. If the system is not continuously operating, and the motors are not continuously energized, then the system does not require nearly as much electrical energy to track the sun as older systems used to. At the rate at which the planet rotates, there is a shift in the sun’s position in the sky relative to the surface of the planet of only 0.25 degrees per minute. A shift of less than a few degrees, relative to the surface of the solar panels, is not likely to cause a discernible decrease in the maximum performance of the panels. For this reason, a control system that only augments it’s position every several minutes would still generate an effective maximum amount of electrical energy, while preventing losses in the system due to continual checking and energization of the controls of the system overall.

​

​

The trend shown in Figure 2 lends itself to another trend where innovation and technological advancement will stall out as shown in the graph.

            As can be seen in Figure 2, the curves for solar and wind follow a similar initial trend as what has already occurred with Nuclear power production. With Nuclear, the production flatlined once the cost of production began to outstrip the amount of money the plant would bring in by producing that energy. One way to mitigate this trend, however, is to continue to innovate and develop better methods for generating energy via the source. If scientists and engineers continue to develop more efficient ways of producing electricity from solar energy, and innovate these technologies in a systemic manner, the trendline for solar can become more of a step-wise function instead of stalling out as it did for Nuclear. This is the purpose of this dual-axis solar tracker, and the reason it was conceived.

            The simplicity of the design of this solar tracking system is of paramount importance as well. It may be possible to add on to the system systematically, as funding becomes available, helps to mitigate high start-up costs and make these systems more available to the general public. By creating a price breakdown and engineering cost analysis, it would be possible to create payment plans and allow for projections to be made as to how long it will take to have a complete return on investment and continue to purchase further panels. This is something that can be done further on down the road, once an effective proof of concept is achieved, and sufficient testing has been done.