A multipurpose dual-axis solar tracker with two tracking strategies

This paper deals with a multipurpose dual-axis solar tracker that can be applied to solar power systems. This tracker employs a declination-clock mounting system that locates the primary axis in east-west direction. Based on this mounting system, normal tracking strategy and daily adjustment strategy are developed for flat Photovoltaic (PV) systems and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems respectively. While the former strategy keeps the tracking errors smaller than the pre-specified values, the latter one simplifies the tracking process by adjusting the primary axis once a day and driving the secondary axis to rotate at a constant speed of 15 degrees/h. Results of the accuracy test indicate that the tracking error of the normal tracking strategy is within 0.15 degrees. The other strategy may have greater tracking errors, but its annual average cosine loss for flat PV systems is estimated to be below 13%. Furthermore, in the test on the output of the PV modules, it is found that the average energy efficiency of the normal tracking PV, compared with the fixed PV, is more than 23.6%. And the average energy efficiency of the daily adjusted PV is more than 31.8%. Results of the experiment show that the two tracking strategies are both feasible for the developed tracker. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.