NEW SOLAR TRACKING SYSTEM BASED ON ROD-CRANK MECHANISM.

Abstract

In the last few years, photovoltaic solar energy has become one of the most popular renewable energies in Spain. However, one of the main drawbacks of this source of energy is the high cost of photovoltaic solar panels in relation with the amount of energy that can be produced. This issue can question the profitability of this particular type of facilities. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown that an optimized mechanical design together with a robust and reliable electronic tracker system makes possible to achieve a mean increase of the solar radiation capture up to 30% compared with fixed facilities. In addition, this improvement in the produced energy can be achieved with a small cost increase respect the total cost of the facilities. In this paper, a prototype of a new solar tracker system is presented. The system is based on a novel cinematic mechanism moved using a set of hydraulic actuators. The new design has made possible to optimize aspects such as the simplicity, the mechanical strength, the performance reliability or the system maintenance. Results are quite promising and highlighting.