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US 8,710,352 B2Granted
Concentrating photovoltaic system module with actuator control
AssigneeSuncore Photovoltaics, Inc.
InventorsDan McDermott, Richard L. Johnson, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An arrangement for use in a concentrating photovoltaic system including a module having plurality of solar cells are mounted on a first side, and a plurality of lenses are mounted on a second side. Drive motors are coupled to the module to enable it to track the sun during the course of the day. A sun sensor is attached to the housing to detect a predetermined timed pattern of light blocking to the sensor and for generating a control signal to the drive motors in response to such detection for moving the module to a predetermined fixed position.
Claims18
A solar array arrangement for use in a concentrating photovoltaic system comprising:
- a support;
- a housing mounted on the support and pivoted for tracking the sun during the course of the day;
- a plurality of solar cells mounted on a first side of the housing;
- a plurality of lenses mounted on a second side of the housing opposite the first side for concentrating and focusing the incident sunlight onto respective solar cells;
- drive motors coupled to the housing for pivotably moving the housing to track the sun during the course of the day;
- a first sun sensor attached to the housing;
- and
- a controller coupled to the first sun sensor and to the drive motors, wherein the controller is programmed to:
- receive an output signal from the first sun sensor,
- generate, based on at least the output signal from the first sun sensor, a first control signal and provide the first control signal to the drive motors to position the housing so that the plane of the lenses is substantially orthogonal to the incident sunlight as the housing tracks the sun during the course of the day,
- detect, within the output signal, an operator blocking the first sun sensor for a predetermined timed pattern of light blocking that is sufficiently complex such that it would not occur naturally due to environmental ambient light conditions, and
- generate, in response to detection of the predetermined timed pattern of light blocking, a second control signal and provide the second control signal to the drive motors to move the housing to a predetermined fixed position.
9 more elements
A solar array arrangement for use in a concentrating photovoltaic system comprising:
- a support;
- a housing mounted on the support and pivoted for tracking the sun during the course of the day;
- a plurality of solar cells mounted on a first side of the housing;
- a plurality of lenses mounted on a second side of the housing opposite the first side for concentrating and focusing the incident sunlight onto respective solar cells;
- drive motors coupled to the housing for pivotably moving the housing to track the sun during the course of the day;
- a sun sensor attached to the housing;
- and
- a controller coupled to the sun sensor and to the drive motors, wherein the controller is programmed to:
- receive an output signal from the sun sensor,
- generate, based on at least the output signal, a first control signal and provide the first control signal to the drive motors to position the housing so that the plane of the lenses is substantially orthogonal to the incident sunlight as the housing tracks the sun during the course of the day,
- detect, within the output signal, an operator blocking the sun sensor for a predetermined timed pattern of light blocking that is sufficiently complex such that it would not occur naturally due to environmental ambient light conditions, and
- generate, in response to detection of the predetermined timed pattern of light blocking, a second control signal to communicate a status signal to a remote monitoring station.
9 more elements
A solar array arrangement for use in a photovoltaic system comprising:
- a support;
- one or more solar cell modules pivotally mounted to the support and configured to track the sun;
- at least one drive motor coupled to the one or more solar cell modules for pivoting the one or more solar cell modules to track the sun;
- at least one sun sensor coupled to the one or more solar cell modules, wherein the at least one sun sensor is configured to generate an output signal representative of an amount of light received by the at least one sun sensor;
- and
- a controller coupled to the at least one sun sensor and the at least one drive motor, wherein the controller is programmed to:
- receive an output signal from the at least one sun sensor,
- generate, based on the output signal from the at least one sun sensor, a first control signal and provide the first control signal to the at least one drive motor to position the housing to track the sun during the course of the day,
- detect, within the output signal, an operator blocking the at least one sun sensor for a first predetermined timed pattern of light blocking that is sufficiently complex such that it would not occur naturally due to environmental ambient light conditions, and
- trigger a first operation in response to detection of the first predetermined timed pattern of light blocking.
7 more elements
A solar array arrangement for use in a photovoltaic system comprising:
- a support;
- one or more solar cell modules pivotally mounted to the support and configured to track the sun;
- at least one drive motor coupled to the one or more solar cell modules for pivoting the one or more solar cell modules to track the sun;
- at least one sun sensor coupled to the one or more solar cell modules, wherein the at least one sun sensor is configured to generate an output signal representative of an amount of light received by the at least one sun sensor;
- and
- a controller coupled to the at least one sun sensor to receive an output signal from the at least one sun sensor and coupled to the at least one drive motor, wherein the controller is programmed to:
- generate, based on at least the output signal from the at least one sun sensor, a first control signal and provide the first control signal to the at least one drive motor to position the housing to track the sun during the course of the day,
- detect a first predetermined timed pattern of total light blocking to the at least one sun sensor during daylight operation, and
- trigger at least one operation in response to detection of the first predetermined timed pattern of light total blocking.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.