Renewable Energy Research Group, Soós Ernő Research and Development Center, University Center for Circular Economy, University of Pannonia Nagykanizsa, 8800 Nagykanizsa, Hungary.
Sensors (Basel). 2022 Mar 27;22(7):2564. doi: 10.3390/s22072564.
What basically determines how much energy is generated by a photovoltaic (PV) system is the amount of solar irradiation that is absorbed by its PV modules. One of the technical solutions to boost this quantity, and thusly also maximize the return on PV investments, is solar tracking, which makes the following of the sun on its daily and annual journey in the sky possible and also takes changes in cloud conditions into consideration. The solar-tracking solutions that PV systems are most frequently equipped with deploy active sensor technologies, while passive ones are less common in present-day practice. However, even the popular solutions of today have their limitations. Their active sensor-tracking algorithms leave room for improvement for at least three major reasons, as they do not prevent the unnecessary operation of the motors in cloudy weather, they do not make the modules assume an appropriate position after nightfall, and they do not make sure that the structure and the electronics of the PV systems are protected from rain and the strong winds in the event of storms. This paper introduces a new active sensor-tracking algorithm, which has not only been tested but it is also in the process of patenting (patent ID: p2100209). By their contribution, the authors endeavor to propose a solution that can solve all three of the issues mentioned above. The concept is based on two fundamental findings. According to the first one, periodic movement can not only considerably decrease motor movement but also increase system lifetime, while the second one simply suggests that moving the modules into an almost horizontal position facing the equator at low light levels is conducive to the prevention of damages caused by storms and fast reaction to the increase in the amount of light at daybreak. A positive feature of the new system for PV power plant operators is that it performs the tracking of the sun practically without any decrease in power compared to the focal point position, since it works with an average inaccuracy of 1.9°.
基本上，决定光伏（PV）系统产生多少能量的是其光伏组件吸收的太阳辐照量。提高这一数量的技术解决方案之一，也是最大限度地提高光伏投资回报的方法，是太阳能跟踪，它使得太阳在天空中的日常和年度运行成为可能，并考虑到云况的变化。PV 系统最常配备的太阳能跟踪解决方案采用主动传感器技术，而被动传感器在当今实践中则不太常见。然而，即使是当今流行的解决方案也有其局限性。它们的主动传感器跟踪算法至少有三个主要原因需要改进，因为它们不能防止在多云天气下不必要地操作电机，不能在日落后使模块处于适当的位置，也不能确保光伏系统的结构和电子设备免受暴风雨天气中的降雨和强风的影响。本文介绍了一种新的主动传感器跟踪算法，该算法不仅经过了测试，而且正在申请专利（专利 ID：p2100209）。作者通过他们的贡献，努力提出一个可以解决上述三个问题的解决方案。该概念基于两个基本发现。根据第一个发现，周期性运动不仅可以大大减少电机运动，而且可以延长系统寿命，而第二个发现则简单地建议，在低光照水平下将模块移动到面向赤道的几乎水平位置，有利于防止风暴造成的损坏，并在黎明时分快速响应光照量的增加。对于光伏电站运营商来说，新系统的一个积极特点是，与焦点位置相比，它在实际跟踪太阳时几乎不会降低功率，因为它的平均误差为 1.9°。
