Sensing and feedback for row on sun tracking method and system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11280522-B2
Application number	US-202117393395-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2021
Priority date	Jul 11, 2016
Publication date	Mar 22, 2022
Grant date	Mar 22, 2022

Abstract

A solar tracker system comprising a plurality of on sun trackers and a plurality of off sun tracker. Each tracker is selectively adjusted to achieve a desired power output of the solar power plant system in an example.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A solar power plant comprising:
a solar tracker supporting a plurality of solar modules;
a drive device coupled to the solar tracker and configured to rotate the solar tracker about an axis;
a charging panel supported by the solar tracker and configured to power the drive device and to charge a battery supported by the solar tracker; and
a controller in communication with a memory, the memory storing thereon instructions that when executed by the controller cause the controller to:
receive forecast data for the solar power plant;
determine, based on forecast data, a diffuse angle adjustment; and
output a signal to the drive device to rotate the solar tracker to a desired angle based on the diffuse angle adjustment.

2. The solar power plant of claim 1 , wherein the diffuse angle adjustment modifies a solar tracker target angle based on a sun position angle.

3. The solar power plant of claim 2 , wherein the diffuse angle adjustment is a gain factor applied to the solar tracker target angle.

4. The solar power plant of claim 2 , wherein the controller further executes an instruction to determine whether the solar tracker is in a backtracking mode.

5. The solar power plant of claim 4 , wherein when in a backtracking mode, the diffuse angle adjustment is a diffuse backtracking angle adjustment.

6. The solar power plant of claim 1 , wherein the forecast data is received periodically.

7. The solar power plant of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores a topography of the solar power plant.

8. The solar power plant of claim 7 , further comprising a solar tracker target angle, wherein the solar tracker target angle is determined based on the topography of the solar power plant.

9. The solar power plant of claim 1 , further comprising a diffuse fraction index, wherein the diffuse fraction index correlates the forecast data with a diffuse angle adjustment.

10. The solar power plant of claim 9 , wherein the controller applies the diffuse angle adjustment to modify a solar tracker target angle for the solar tracker.

11. The solar power plant of claim 10 , wherein the solar tracker target angle is based on a sun position angle and a topography of the solar power plant.

12. The solar power plant of claim 11 , wherein the sun position angle is calculated from a latitude and longitude of the solar tracker and a time of day.

13. The solar power plant of claim 1 , further comprising a local solar measurement device.

14. The solar power plant of claim 13 , wherein the local solar measurement device is selected from the group consisting of a solar panel, optical sensor, thermal sensor, radiation sensor and combinations thereof.

15. The solar power plant of claim 13 , wherein the local solar measurement device is a photovoltaic reference cell.

16. The solar power plant of claim 13 , wherein the local solar measurement device is a weather station configured to measure weather within the solar power plant and generate local weather data.

17. The solar power plant of claim 13 , wherein the controller further executes an instruction to transmit local weather data to an external weather forecasting service.

18. The solar power plant of claim 17 , wherein the received forecast data is from the external weather forecasting service.

19. The solar power plant of claim 18 , wherein the controller further executes an instruction to query the external weather forecasting service to periodically receive the forecast data.

Assignees

• Nextracker Inc

Inventors

• Ma Yu Dong
• Liu Yang
• Borrelli Francesco
• Daly Allan
• Delgado-Nanez Ricardo
• Au Alexander W

Classifications

• F24S2030/19

  Movement dampening means; Braking means · CPC title

• F24S50/20 Primary

  for tracking · CPC title

• H02S10/00

  PV power plants; Combinations of PV energy systems with other systems for the generation of electric power · CPC title

• F24S30/425

  Horizontal axis · CPC title

• F24S2020/16

  Preventing shading effects · CPC title