JPS62123307A - Solar ray tracking sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the detection of an angle of solar rays for receiving light simply, by detecting the light receiving element just detecting the maximum quantity of light among all light receiving elements. CONSTITUTION:There are arranged a small hemispherical surface 16 with a relatively small diameter and a large hemispherical surface 17 which shares the same center point O with another hemispherical surface 16 with a relatively large diameter. On the hemispherical surface 17, light receiving cells 14 are closely arranged so that lenses 11 are arrayed close to forme a shell. The cell 14 is so arranged that the optical axes of the lenses 11 in the cells 14 thus arranged will al pass through the center point O. A solar position computing section 20 is connected to a signal line cable 19 led outside the shell by bundling signal lines from a number of cells 14. Then, in two concentric hemispheres different in the radius, a plurality of focusing lenses are arranged on the external hemispherical surface 17 while light receiving element 12 are arranged on the internal hemispherical surface 16 corresponding to the focusing lenses. The computing section 20 is used to determine which light receiving elements receive light among those 12 arranged to detect the analog solar beam.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a control device for changing the angle of a condensing mirror and a solar panel for power generation in a solar power generation device so as to maximize the amount of light received. The present invention relates to a sunlight tracking sensor that detects the direction of sunlight for reception.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in order to obtain the maximum amount of light received by the mirror for concentrating the light and the solar panel for power generation, the angle of the mirror or solar panel was adjusted according to the position of the sun, that is, the direction of the sun's rays. As an example of changing the angle, a method has been found in which a computer calculates the direction of the sunlight edge for light reception from the current time of year, month, and day at the place of departure 1, and then determines the above-mentioned angle from the calculation result.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a solar power generation device that tracks sunlight and performs solar advance t in a conventional manner. In the figure, 1 is a reference clock generation unit, 2 is a clock, 3 is a sun position calculation unit consisting of a computer etc. that calculates the current position of the sun, and 4 is an output unit that outputs the current position information of the sun, that is, the direction of the sun's rays for reception. This is a sun position setting unit, and consists of the components shown by the above-mentioned symbols 1 to 3. 5 is a solar panel; 6 is a light-receiving movement mechanism that changes the direction of the solar cell panel; and 7 is a light-receiving surface control device that controls the light-receiving movement mechanism based on sun position information.

Next, the operation will be explained. The clock 2 inputs the clock from the reference clock generator 1 and counts the clock.

The current year, month, day, and time information is output to the sun position calculation section 3.

The solar position calculation unit 3 calculates the current position of the sun, that is, the direction of the sun's rays (two types of angles θ and ψ in spherical coordinates) based on the date and time information. Calculate and output as sun position information. The light-receiving surface control device 7 drives and controls the light-receiving movement mechanism 6 in accordance with the sun position information from the sun position setting section 4 so that the surface of the solar panel 5 faces the sun and receives maximum sunlight s2.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Conventional sun position setting units are configured as described above, so it is necessary to accurately set the year, month, day and time using a reference clock, and to calculate sun position information over a long period of time using this year, month, day and time. There were six problems, including the need to develop a reference clock generator, a sun position calculation unit that performs complex calculations, and a calculation program to enable calculation of the sun position for each location where the system is installed. .

This invention was made to solve all of the above-mentioned problems, and it can be easily used for light reception without using advanced calculation processing by a highly accurate reference clock generation section or a sun position calculation section that calculates the position of the sun. Can we get a solar tracking sensor that can detect the direction of the sun's rays? purpose.

[Means to solve all problems]

The sunlight tracking sensor according to the present invention has two concentric hemispheres with different radii, in which a large number of condensing lenses are arranged on the outer hemisphere, and a light receiving element is arranged corresponding to the condensing lenses on the inner hemisphere. are arranged, and the direction of the sun's rays is detected by detecting which light-receiving element among the arranged light-receiving elements is receiving light by a solar position calculating section.

[For production]

The sunlight tracking sensor according to the present invention uniquely detects the direction of sunlight by having the solar position calculation section detect the light receiving element that has detected the maximum amount of light among the nine light receiving elements.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Second
The figure shows a light-receiving cell used in the present invention to detect sunlight. In the figure, 11 is a condensing lens for concentrating sunlight, and 12 is a light-receiving cell arranged at the condensing position (focal position) of the lens 11. The light receiving element 13 is a cell body that holds the lens 11 and the light receiving element 12. The area of the upper surface supporting the lens 11''Ik is wider than the area of the lower surface supporting the light receiving element 12t. 14 is a light receiving cell, which is composed of the components indicated by the above-mentioned symbols 11 to 13. be done.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a signal line connected to the light receiving element 12 for extracting a signal.

FIG. 3 shows the positional relationship between the light receiving cell shown in FIG. 2 and the sun. In the figure, 5L is the optical axis of the lens 11,
1 focal length, A is the sun in the first position, B is the sun in the second position. The sunlight from the sun A that enters the lens 11 is approximately parallel to the optical axis, and the lens 1
The sunlight that has passed through the lens 1 is focused at approximately the focal point A1 and is received by the light receiving element 12. However, lens 11
The sunlight from the sun B that enters the lens is parallel light that forms an angle θ with the optical axis, and the sunlight that passes through the lens 11 reaches a position B in the direction that makes an angle θ with the optical axis at the lens 71.
The light is focused on the light receiving element 12 and is not received by the light receiving element 12.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a sunlight overtaking sensor according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 16 is a small hemispherical surface with a relatively small diameter;
7 is a large hemisphere that has a relatively large diameter and shares the same center point Ot with the small hemisphere 16; 18 is the small hemisphere 16 and the large hemisphere 1;
7 This is the ground below.

Lenses 11 are densely arranged on these large hemisphere surfaces 17,
On the small hemispherical surface 16, the light receiving cells 14 are closely arranged to form a shell so that the light receiving elements 12 are densely arranged. The light receiving cells 14 are arranged so that the optical axes of the lenses 11 of the arranged light receiving cells 14 all pass through the center point 0 (or any one point) y&:. Centering on the center point 0, the coordinate axes in the horizontal direction are the Y-axis, and the coordinate axes in the vertical direction are the two axes. Here, if we consider an arbitrary line that passes through the center point 0, let ψ be the angle between the projection line projected on the plane formed by the Y-axis and the Y-axis, and the projection line If the angle between the line and the above arbitrary line is θ, then
The spherical coordinate of that arbitrary line is (θ.

ψ). Here, the angles θ of the optical axis of the lenses 11 within one annular zone arranged in an annular shape on the large hemisphere surface 17 are all constant. 19 is a signal line 1 from a large number of light receiving cells 14
5 is bundled and led out from the shell, and 20 is a solar position calculation section.

It is connected to the signal line 19 and outputs information on the direction of the solar rays from the sun based on the detection signal from the light receiving cell 14. Here, the position of the light receiving cell 14 is indicated by the spherical coordinates (θn, ψm) of the optical axis of the light receiving cell 14.

FIG. 4 shows the contents of the sun position calculating section 2o in FIG.
An arithmetic processing section takes the outputs of the shift register group 1i...21N, 22U shift registers 211...21i...21N, and outputs sun position information indicating the direction of the sun's rays. Each shift register 211...2
1i...21N are provided for each ring zone of the light receiving cell 14 located on the large hemisphere surface 17. For example, if the angle θ is θ
i is constant, and the angle ψ is the angle ψ4. ψ2. ...ψ
The signals [15] of the light-receiving cells 14 arranged at positions , respectively, are branched from the signal line cable 19 and connected to the input side of the i-th shift register 21i in the angular order of ψ. There are N ring zones, and the constant angle of each ring zone is 01..., θi80
．． θ, and the angle of ψ with respect to each angle θ is ψ7.
ψ2゜..., 9M. That is, one ring zone 1c
M light receiving cells 14 are arranged. The connection relationship between the shift registers 211...21N other than the i-th shift register x 21i and the light receiving cell 14 is also the same as the i-th shift register 2.
Same as 1i. A detection signal of sunlight at the light receiving element 12 of the light receiving cell 14 is applied to a signal line 15 and is applied to a shift register group 21 of a sun position calculating section 20 via a signal line cape 19.

The arithmetic processing unit 22 includes shift registers 211...21i.
...Extract all signals from 21N in the prescribed order.

Now, from the principle described in Figure 3, the spherical coordinates (θi,
ψj−+ ) −(θ1.ψj), (θi, ψi+,)
Only the light-receiving element A-14 at the position is the solar light-receiving element 12.
Suppose that light is being received at The nine serial signals taken out by the arithmetic processing section 22 are as shown in FIG. That is, (θj
, ψi −+ ), (θi, ψ1), and (θi, ψto, ), it can be seen that each light receiving element 12 of each light receiving cell 14 detects all of the sunlight. That is, the direction of the sunlight rays for light reception is in the direction of (θJ, ψ1). That is, the arithmetic processing unit 22 operates as the first shift register 27.
When scanning i, detect angle information θi of angle θ,
Scan i-1,i just in case.

Angle information ψ of angle ψ since a pulse is obtained at i+1th
Obtain i-1, ψi, ψi+1. Here, the central part ψi is taken and combined with θi, the direction of the sun's rays is (θi, ψi
) is calculated by the calculation processing unit 22. Therefore, the arithmetic processing unit 22 outputs sun position information corresponding to (θi, ψi). This output signal is used for controlling the position of the above-mentioned light collecting mirror and solar panel.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the shell was formed by arranging the ore and the light-receiving cells in a ring shape, but the shell was formed instead of in the form of five rings. Of course, any arrangement may be used. For example, one light receiving cell having substantially the same shape may be provided on a vertical line, and the light receiving cells may be arranged in an annular shape around the light receiving cell. In this case, as the angle θ becomes shallower, the number of light receiving cells in the annular zone increases.

Further, without using a light receiving cell, a large hemisphere may be used as a shell and a large number of lenses may be arranged, and a small hemisphere may be used as a shell and light receiving elements may be arranged in correspondence with the lenses.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since the direction of the sunlight to be used is detected using a light receiving cell module and a simple arithmetic circuit, the device is inexpensive and can be programmed even if the installation location changes. Eliminates the need for adjustments such as rearranging,
Moreover, there is an effect that a highly accurate product can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially omitted configuration diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a light receiving cell, and FIG.
The figure is a principle diagram showing the principle of light reception by the light receiving cell.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the solar position calculation unit shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing position information signals, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional solar power generation system ft. In the figure, 114 lenses, 12 a light receiving element, 13 a light receiving cell body, 14 a light receiving cell, 15 a signal edge, 16 a small hemisphere, 17 a large hemisphere, 19 a signal edge cable, 20
21 is a shift register group; and 22 is a calculation processing section. Note that in Figure 5, the same reference numerals indicate the same or equivalent parts. Patent Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (2 others) -1- Figure 1 zu 77' 20: 人 Yang position 1 tiger catch] Whip OU
T Figure 2 Figure 3 15: Imiya = To Yokura and Figure 4 tJT 21: Shift Resistor Kunite Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] A large number of the condensing lenses arranged on the hemispherical surface having a relatively large diameter among concentric hemispherical surfaces separated in the radial direction by a distance approximately equal to the focal length of the condensing lenses; Each light-receiving element is arranged at each focal point corresponding to each of the arranged condensing lenses on the hemispherical surface having a relatively small diameter, and a signal is derived from each light-receiving element to currently receive sunlight. A sunlight tracking sensor comprising: a solar position calculation section that detects the direction of the sunlight by detecting a corresponding light receiving element.