Abstract
This chapter explains the functional requirements of a concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) sun tracker. It derives the design specifications of a CPV tracker. The chapter presents taxonomy of trackers describing the most common tracking architectures, based on the number of axes, their relative position, and the foundation and placing of tracking drives. It deals with the structural issues related to tracker design, mainly related to structural flexure and its impact on the system's acceptance angle. The chapter analyzes the auto-calibrated sun tracking control, by describing the state of the art and its development background. It explores the sun tracking accuracy measurement with a practical example. The chapter discusses tracker manufacturing and tracker field works. It reviews survey of different types of tracker designs obtained from different manufacturers. Finally, the chapter deals with IEC62817, the technical standard developed for CPV sun trackers.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Handbook of Concentrator Photovoltaic Technology |
| Editors | C. Algora, I. Rey-Stolle |
| Publisher | wiley |
| Pages | 293-338 |
| Number of pages | 46 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781118755655 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781118472965 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2016 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved.
NREL Publication Number
- NREL/CH-5J00-63365
Keywords
- Concentrator photovoltaic sun tracker
- Sun tracker field works
- Sun tracking control unit
- Tracking architectures
- Tracking structure design