Robotic heliostat calibration system and method
AssigneeSolarCity Corporation
InventorsDaniel Fukuba, Jos Goble, Salomon Trujillo, Thomas Joseph Currier, Wasiq Bokhari
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A robotic controller for autonomous calibration and inspection of two or more solar surfaces wherein the robotic controller includes a drive system to position itself near a solar surface such that onboard sensors may be utilized to gather information about the solar surface. An onboard communication unit relays information to a central processing network, this processor combines new information with stored historical data to calibrate a solar surface and/or to determine its instantaneous health.
Claims18
A robot, comprising:
- a flight system configured to maneuver the robot above ground-based obstacles and characterize an unstructured environment suitable for supporting an array of photovoltaic modules, the robot being configured to:
- map terrain in the unstructured environment with a 3-D vision system;
- compute safe and unsafe areas on the terrain in the unstructured environment;
- identify known obstacles within the terrain in the unstructured environment, and
- determine a current position, orientation and non-perpendicularity of one or more solar surfaces distributed across the terrain;
- and
- compare the current position, orientation and non-perpendicularity of the one or more solar surfaces to a historical position, orientation and non-perpendicularity of the one or more solar surfaces to determine one or more of field installation tolerances, manufacturing errors and ground settling.
A method for mapping terrain in an unstructured environment suitable for supporting a field of solar surfaces, the method comprising:
- maneuvering a robot having a flight control system and a 3-D vision system above ground-based obstacles to characterize the unstructured environment;
- mapping terrain in the unstructured environment using the 3-D vision system;
- computing safe and unsafe areas on the terrain in the unstructured environment;
- identifying known obstacles within the terrain in the unstructured environment;
- and
- determining a current position, orientation and non-perpendicularity of one or more solar surfaces distributed across the terrain;
- and
- comparing the current position, orientation and non-perpendicularity of the one or more solar surfaces to a historical position, orientation and non-perpendicularity of the one or more solar surfaces to determine one or more of field installation tolerances, manufacturing errors and ground settling.
A robot, comprising:
- a flight system configured to maneuver the robot through the air above ground-based obstacles and characterize an unstructured environment suitable for supporting an array of photovoltaic modules, the robot being configured to:
- map terrain in the unstructured environment with a 3-D vision system,
- compute safe and unsafe areas on the terrain in the unstructured environment,
- identify known obstacles within the terrain in the unstructured environment, and
- determine a current position, orientation and non-perpendicularity of one or more solar surfaces distributed across the terrain;
- and
- compare the current position, orientation and non-perpendicularity of the one or more solar surfaces to a historical position, orientation and non-perpendicularity of the one or more solar surfaces to determine one or more of field installation tolerances, manufacturing errors and ground settling;
- and
- a transmitter configured to transmit the safe and unsafe areas as well as the identified obstacles to a receiver external to the robot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.