Sensing and feedback for row on sun tracking method and system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11739986-B2
Application number	US-202117185916-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2021
Priority date	Jul 11, 2016
Publication date	Aug 29, 2023
Grant date	Aug 29, 2023

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 solar modules;
a drive motor coupled to the solar tracker and configured to rotate the solar tracker about an axis;
a power strip supported by the solar tracker and configured to power the drive motor and to charge a battery supported by the solar tracker;
a processor; and
a memory having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
receive forecast data for the solar power plant;
determine, based on the forecast data, a diffuse angle adjustment;
modify a target angle according to the diffuse angle adjustment by applying a gain factor to the target angle, yielding a modified target angle; and
output a signal to the drive motor to rotate the solar tracker to the modified target angle.

2. The solar power plant of claim 1 , wherein the forecast data includes a sun position angle.

3. The solar power plant of claim 2 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to determine whether the solar tracker is in a backtracking mode.

4. The solar power plant of claim 3 , wherein when in a backtracking mode, the diffuse angle adjustment is a diffuse backtracking angle adjustment.

5. The solar power plant of claim 2 , wherein the sun position angle is calculated from a latitude and longitude of the solar tracker and a time of day.

6. The solar power plant of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to receive the forecast data periodically.

7. The solar power plant of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to correlate the forecast data with the diffuse angle adjustment based on a diffuse fraction index.

8. The solar power plant of claim 1 , further comprising a local photovoltaic reference cell.

9. The solar power plant of claim 1 , further comprising a local solar panel, a local optical sensor, a local thermal sensor, a local radiation sensor, or a combination thereof.

10. The solar power plant of claim 1 , further comprising a weather station configured to measure weather within the solar power plant and generate local weather data.

11. The solar power plant of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to transmit local weather data to an external weather forecasting service.

12. The solar power plant of claim 11 , wherein the forecast data is received from the external weather forecasting service.

13. The solar power plant of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to query the external weather forecasting service to receive the forecast data periodically.

14. A solar power plant comprising:
a solar tracker supporting solar modules;
a drive motor coupled to the solar tracker and configured to rotate the solar tracker about an axis;
a power strip supported by the solar tracker and configured to power the drive motor and to charge a battery electrically coupled to the solar tracker;
a processor; and
a memory having stored thereon information on a topography of the solar power plant and instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
determine a solar tracker target angle based on the information on the topography of the solar power plant;
receive forecast data for the solar power plant;
determine, based on the forecast data, a diffuse angle adjustment;
determine a modified solar tracker target angle by applying the diffuse angle adjustment to the solar tracker target angle; and
output a signal to the drive motor to rotate the solar tracker to the modified solar tracker target angle.

15. The solar power plant of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to determine the solar tracker target angle based on a sun position angle.

16. The solar power plant of claim 15 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to calculate the sun position angle from a latitude and longitude of the solar power plant and a time of day.

Assignees

• Nextracker Llc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• F24S30/422 Primary

  Vertical axis · CPC title

• F24S25/10

  extending in directions away from a supporting surface · CPC title

• F24S30/425

  Horizontal axis · CPC title

• F24S2020/16

  Preventing shading effects · CPC title

• F24S2030/136

  for moving several solar collectors by common transmission elements · CPC title