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US 8,772,689 B2Granted
Omnidirectional sun position sensing device with a plurality of optical sensors
AssigneeInstitute of Nuclear Energy Research, Atomic Energy Council
InventorsHong-Yih Yeh, Yen-Wei Huang, Cheng-Dar Lee
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Abstract
A method is provided to track the sun. An omnidirectional sensor is used for acquiring sun's position. The sensor can track sun's position in an omnidirectional way. A controller is also provided to control the tracking. When the sun shines strongly, the sensor is controlled to track the sun's position. When the sun does not shine strongly, the tracking is stopped. Thus, the cost for tracking the sun's position is reduced and accuracy of the tracking is enhanced.
Claims4
An omnidirectional sun position sensing method,
- wherein said method uses an omnidirectional sensing device to sense sunlight luminance and track the sun;
- said sensing device is coordinated with a controller;
- and said controller is connected with a solar tracker;
- and
- wherein said method comprises steps of:
- (a) according to a difference between sunlight luminance at a first direction and sunlight luminance at a second direction opposite to said first direction, tracking at said first direction and said second direction to make said sensing device focus on the sun;
- and
- (b) according to a difference between sunlight luminance at a third direction perpendicular to said first direction and sunlight luminance at a fourth direction opposite to said third direction, tracking at said third direction and said fourth direction to make said sensing device focus on the sun,
- wherein said omnidirectional sensing device comprises:
- a framework, said framework having five square plates and a rectangle plate, said five square plates and said rectangle plate being combined to obtain a cube, said five square plates comprising a square plate at said first direction, a square plate at said second direction, a square plate at said third direction, a square plate at said fourth direction and a square plate at a fifth direction, said rectangle plate being located at a sixth direction, said fifth direction being perpendicular to said first direction and said third direction, said sixth direction being opposite to said fifth direction, said five square plates having the same size, said rectangle plate and said square plates at said first, said second, said third and said fifth directions being butted against said square plate at said fourth direction, said rectangle plate having a size twice as big as said square plate, a hole being obtained at a center position of each square plate and a center position of a region of said rectangle plate corresponding to said square plates, another region of said rectangle plate not corresponding to said square plates having at least two fixing holes, a through hole being obtained at a position adhering to said rectangle plate on said square plate at said third direction;
- and
- a plurality of optical sensors, each optical sensor having two pins with each pin connected with a wire to obtain a set of wires, said sets of wires of said optical sensors separately penetrating through said holes of said square plates and said hole of said rectangle plate, said hole having an indent to hold said optical sensor, said optical sensors thus being placed on said square plates and said rectangle plate, said sets of wires being guided to penetrate through said through hole to be connected with joint,
- wherein said indent of said hole holding said optical sensor is filled with a water-proof sealing glue.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.