Solar tracker system
AssigneeFCX Solar LLC
InventorsChristopher Thomas Needham, Frank Carl Oudheusden
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A photovoltaic system includes a collection of photovoltaic modules, a base supporting the collection of photovoltaic modules, and a damper coupled between the collection of photovoltaic modules and the base. The damper resists movement of the photovoltaic modules relative to the base. The damper has a first damping ratio when the collection of photovoltaic modules moves at a first rate relative to the base and a second damping ratio when the collection of photovoltaic modules moves at a second rate relative to the base, and the damper passively transitions from the first damping ratio to the second damping ratio.
Claims9
A system comprising:
- an actuator configured to position at least one photovoltaic module;
- and
- a linear damper configured to damp force applied to the at least one photovoltaic module, the linear damper including a variable damping ratio that varies passively as a function of a current loading force on the at least one photovoltaic module, wherein the variable damping ratio is provided via a closed fluidic system, and wherein the at least one photovoltaic module experiences loading forces in response to environmental stress and in response to positional adjustment via the actuator, and wherein the variable damping ratio of the linear damper is a first damping ratio in response to the environmental stress over a predetermined threshold and a second damping ratio in response to stress under the predetermined threshold including the positional adjustment via the actuator, the first damping ratio being higher than the second damping ratio and a transition between the first damping ratio and the second damping ratio is performed passively.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.