Solar Applications

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A photovoltaic tracker is a solar tracker that uses photovoltaic panels to harness the energy from the sun. Photovoltaic trackers minimize the angle of incidence between the incoming light and a photovoltaic panel which increases the amount of energy produced from a fixed amount of installed power generating capacity. Slewing drives enable photovoltaic trackers to track the light from the sun by rotating to follow the rotation of the earth relative to the sun.

A heliostat is a device that includes a plane mirror to track the movements of the sun; constantly reflecting sunlight toward a set target. Heliostats are computer-controlled and regularly run a latitude-longitude sequence to keep the plane mirrors properly oriented toward the sun. The slewing drive used in heliostats is a dual axis drive that moves like an eyeball, keeping constant focus to the sun.

A solar or parabolic trough is a large curved mirror that follows the movement of the sun. The slewing drive is mounted vertically on each row to rotate the trough and hold its weight. The mirror's distinctive parabolic shape allows it to gather an enormous amount of sunlight and reflect it onto a single point; concentrating the solar power.

Concentrated Photovoltaics (CPVs) - concentrate sunlight through a lens onto high efficiency solar cells which increases the amount of electricity that is generated. The concentration decreases the required cell area while at the same time increasing cell efficiency. It’s important to use an extremely high accurate slewing drive for focusing the CPV. Kinematics manufactures both zero backlash drives and adjustable drives to less than 0.5mRad accuracy.

The Stirling engine is an external combustion engine that uses heat from things like gasoline, solar energy or even decaying plants. The Stirling engine is known for its high efficiency, quiet operation and ability to utilize almost any heat source. This engine is being used in the solar energy sector to efficiently power solar tracking equipment. Slewing drives enable solar trackers to move with the sun as they offer both load-holding and rotational torque from the same gearbox.