Solar Tracker with Acrylic Concentrator

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A solar tracker is a device directing the solar panel or solar concentrator to the sunbeams, allowing to produce more energy during the day. Calculations showed that without tracker solar panel loses about 40% of electric power during the day. The main part of the installation is the control board. It controls the rotation of solar panels better compared to analogs and also regulates the time range of operation. That leads to power consumption decrease. The tracker under consideration also has some our know-how connected with control system and mechanical part. Therefore the proposed tracker is 2-3 times cheaper than analogs. Moreover it increases solar panels energy output almost by 35% and does not require frequent service.

Acrylic concentrator is a device that allows to collect solar energy from a larger area and direct it to a smaller one. The concentrator developed allows to collect solar energy from entire surface and direct it to the side parts where the photocells are placed. Now solar concentrators are mainly represented by parabolic mirrors and Fresnel lenses. Our concentrator has a small weight and size, does not require precise directing on sun and powerful cooling systems, allowing to use only passive radiators. That is why our concentrator is better than others known concentrators.

The analogs of the proposed system have the following drawbacks. Parabolic mirrors are very large and heavy because of their design, which does not allow to make them smaller. Hence the system is subjected to an increased risk of breakage. The mirrors also require very precise orientation to the sun and powerful cooling systems, otherwise their efficiency is extremely reduced. Fresnel lenses have a smaller, but still substantial thickness, and also require more precise orientation and more powerful cooling. Moreover they are quite expensive.

Our system with tracker and concentrator can reduce the cost of solar panels by almost 5 times.

We hope that our devices for solar installations will help to achieve high energy efficiency and to reduce the costs of solar power plants. The proposed systems can be used as power sources for houses, enterprises and entire cities.

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Aleksandr Petrusev
  • Type of entry:
    team
    Team members:
    Aleksandr S. Petrusev,
    Yermek Zh. Sarsikeev,
    Danil Yu. Lyapunov
  • Profession:
    Student
  • Aleksandr is inspired by:
    Interest in solar power engineering and wish to make it more competitive
  • Software used for this entry:
    MathCAD, Matlab
  • Patent status:
    pending