Solar Trackers 1) What are they 2) How do they work 3) What are the benefits 4) Who makes them

What is a Tracker The best irridation angle, however, is when the sun is perpendicular to the solar cells, a fixed system doesn ’ t allow for this. Much better results could be achieved if the sun would be perpendicular to the solar cells all day long. A Tracker follows the sun ’ s path all day to maintain a perpendicular angle between the sun and the solar panels.

Two Kinds of Trackers Active VS. Passive An active tracker uses a closed loop, optical sensing system to sense the sun's position and track it. The controller circuitry automatically adjusts the tracker sensitivity, increasing the sensitivity with increased direct sunlight; and decreasing it with scattered or diffused light as in cloudy conditions. This enables the tracker to eliminate undue hunting in cloudy or overcast conditions when the sunlight is scattered.

Passive Trackers: Elegant Balancing System Passive trackers use no motors, and therefore use none of the power being produced by your solar panels to follow the sun. There is a tank of freon on either end of the array. As the sun moves across the sky, the tanks heat up unevenly, gradually forcing some fluid from one tank to the other. It is only when the array is pointed directly at the sun that the two tanks are in balance, so as a result, the array always faces the sun.

Who Makes Trackers? Wattsun Solar Trackers is the prominent producer of active trackers. Wattsun dealers are located on the west coast and in the mid west. Zomeworks is a leader in passive tracker manufacturing, and because shipping is easier for passive models they do ordering online.

Benefits of a Tracker Providing power early in the morning when batteries are at their lowest, late in the afternoon and whenever the sun peeks through the clouds on low power producing days. By tracking the sun and capturing all the power accessible, whenever it's available, at any time of the day, backup generator run time is minimized. For power critical applications such as solar powered water pumping, a tracker provides the extra power needed to start the pump early in the morning and keep it pumping to nearly sunset

The energy received by the pump from the PV array is more evenly matched to the pump throughout the entire day. This is why a tracking increases the amount of water pumped dramatically. It can double the amount of water produced in the summer, when it is typically needed the most.