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Forum Index : Solar : General Solar Question
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| neil0mac Senior Member  Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210 |
I found an easy one to use at Mapmaker.com, called 'Sun Clock'. Change the date in your computer to any day of the year and you can adjust the sun's position on a 'slider' and find the angles at any time of the day. (Also shows moon rises/sets, times for countries around the world.) Mac, Short of using light sensors to trace the bright spot in the sky, almost any other timing system and azimuth adjuster is a trade off between cost and efficiency. I think you will find that ideally, moves should be 3 degrees or less for 99.9% collection (80 adjustments at summer solstice at 30 Deg latitude over 14 hours of daylight), 10 Deg or less for 99% collection. More than 10 degrees off and collection drops very appreciably. |
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| brucedownunder2 Guru  Joined: 14/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1548 |
Hi Crew ,,, I live around the gold coast .. Do you think there is any advantage in a dual tracker ? I've a horizontal tracker at present with asmuth adjustment for seasonal adjustment . A horizontal tracker is probably easier and a bit more stable . Thanks ,Oh ,,,my little system is 300watts and the gridtie is 1Kw which I'm taking off my roof ,,they wouldn't let me put it on a tracker without jumping through lots of red tape.. Cheers Bruce Bushboy |
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MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
Tinker Boy, this is starting to appear complicated. It seems to me, for my particular situation, namely this being a daily "hands-on" endeavor, that I am willing to adjust the panel tilt angle every day or two if necessary. Since the earth rotates about an axis, my assumption is its motion relative to other heavenly bodies like the sun, should be a circular path. To that end, it seems to me mounting the panel on an axis, which can be adjusted with season and where the panel is allowed to rotate 180* from far left to far right, it should be right on the money as far as lining up perpendicular to the sun's changing position in the sky. Am I missing something obvious here? Wouldn't be the first time for that for sure, so don't be shy! As for the mirror bisecting the angle of the sun and the target, the more I look at it, the more it seems a waste of time. When I did this before (using my friend's fancy positioner thing), it was to place a plane of sunlight on a stationary focusing mirror so I could heat up a chamber and make ethanol. The idea was to keep the focus steady and move the incoming light source; it worked. By the way, the focusing mirror was a frustum. I drew some quick 'notes on a napkin' with an array of 5 vertical collectors each about 2 feet tall and a foot wide, each placed back-to-back at the inside apex of two flat-plate mirrors set at 90* to each other. I drew 5 such sets, which gives me 10 collectors and all in a low profile. The plan here is to build a device, which merely aims the whole thing at the sun and keeps it there all day long. Being low profile as well as lying back at about 34* would help keep it out of the wind some too. Having no shop (temporarily) is no fun, although my notes-on-a-napkin production figures are quite high!  Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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| MacGyver Guru Joined: 12/05/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 1329 |
neilomac Is this it? Sun Clock Just ran across this: Pretty Snazy! I want some! . . . . . Mac Nothing difficult is ever easy! Perhaps better stated in the words of Morgan Freeman, "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress!" Copeville, Texas |
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Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904 |
Mac, this is the calculator I'm using:sun position BTW, the tracker I built is similar to what you describe above. N/S axis shaft carrying the solar panels. Mk I version rotates from panels facing 45 deg East (panel angle) to facing 45 deg West, moving 15 degrees at hourly intervals. I know, its a compromise but there were timer limitations. Mk II is at planning stage, it will go from facing 60 deg East to 60 Deg West. Any more angle will make the wind loading too much of a problem. I think a manual adjustment for sun elevation is good enough, I did the automatic daily adjustment for a challenge - and it was  .
Catching 99% of the sun light or better with a tracker makes the thing, IMO, way to complicated. Good on ya to those who are game to tackle these extra few percent. Klaus |
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| neil0mac Senior Member Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210 |
Yes. |
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