JP2001007374A - Tracking apparatus for solar unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the weight of a solar unit through a simple structure by support the back face of a support plate using a movable support mechanism and positioning the support plate and a solar unit fixed thereto at a specified angle. SOLUTION: A sleeve 3a screwed over a feed rod 3b moves in the axial direction within the range of the length of the feed rod 3b as the feed rod 3b telescopes in the lengthwise direction to vary the angle of a support post 2d connected through a connecting part 2f by an amount corresponding to the backward and forward moving motion. Consequently, the angle of a support plate 2a secured perpendicularly to the support post 2d and a solar unit 1 secured horizontally to the support plate 2a is varied in accordance with the movement of a circular pivot supporter 2b. An excellent tracking solar unit can thereby be realized by previously adapting the displacement of the light receiving surface to track the solar light optimally.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a solar unit tracking apparatus utilizing sunlight, and more particularly, to a tracking function when a plate-shaped solar unit is arranged on a roof or the like. It relates to the mounting structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a solar unit formed in a plate shape is fixedly used on an inclined surface of a south-facing roof which is susceptible to sunlight. Not only does the efficiency change, but there is a drawback that the weather is dependent on the weather, for example, when the sun is at a mid-south altitude only in cloudy weather and when other time zones are sunny, it cannot be used effectively. On the other hand, a special tracking solar unit that moves the light receiving surface in accordance with a change in the position of the sun has been developed.

[0003]

However, the conventional tracking type solar unit has drawbacks in that the apparatus itself is complicated and expensive, and the accuracy is poor. Further, the complexity of the mechanism increases the weight of the device itself, causing problems in safety and stability when the device is installed on an existing roof or the like.

Incidentally, a tracking type solar unit requires a slow and stable movement in order to track the light receiving surface in accordance with the movement of the sun. In addition, sufficient weather resistance is required for external use, and there is a demand for a device having a configuration that satisfies these conditions. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide a solar unit tracking device that solves these problems.

[0005]

In view of the above problems, the present invention has solved the conventional problems by the following means.

That is, the structure of the solar unit and the tracking device of the present invention includes a plate-shaped solar unit,
A support plate fixed to the back of the solar unit, a load-bearing column having the back of the support plate rotatably supported at an upper end and a lower end standing on a base plate, and a support plate And a movable support mechanism for supporting the back surface of the device and positioning the support plate and the solar unit attached to the support plate at a predetermined angle.

The movable support mechanism has a support column having a substantially Y-shaped upper support portion for fixedly supporting the support plate and a lower end connection portion, and an inner support fixed to the support column connection portion. A feed sleeve having a thread groove on its peripheral surface, a feed rod screwed into the feed sleeve, an electric drive device for rotating the feed rod via a gear transmission means, and a state in which the electric drive device and the worm gear allow play. , And consisted of a substantially U-shaped auxiliary column supported on a load-bearing column.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a solar unit tracking apparatus having high weather resistance and high stability as well as realizing a light weight of the apparatus with the simple configuration described above.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 show an example of an embodiment of the present invention. In the drawings, portions denoted by the same reference numerals as those in the drawings represent the same items.

The details of the structure of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the present invention uses a solar unit 1 in which a plurality of solar cells are arranged on a plate-like panel, and furthermore, a plurality of the solar units 1 are arranged continuously in a row. By doing so, the roof of the existing building constitutes a series of light receiving surfaces, and accordingly, the tracking device of the solar unit 1 of the present invention, of course, can be used alone,
For example, a plurality of sets are arranged and the control unit is synchronized.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a solar unit tracking apparatus. In this tracking device, as shown in FIG. 1, a base plate 9 serving as a base to be attached to an installation surface such as a roof is provided at the bottom, and a load-bearing column 8 is erected vertically at the center of the upper surface of the base plate.

At the upper end of the load-bearing column 8, a pivot bearing 2 for pivoting the support plate 2a in the direction of the arrow using a spherical shaft head.
b is provided, and a solar unit 1 having a plate-shaped light receiving surface on the upper surface is provided on the support plate 2a. This installation mode is a so-called 0G balance system, and makes the solar unit 1 flexible.

On one side of the load-carrying column 8, two auxiliary columns 4a. 4a for supporting the worm gear 5, the motor 7 and the like are provided. 4b is disposed obliquely on the upper side and the lower side, and is provided with a substantially V-shaped appearance as a whole. This auxiliary support 4a. At the crossing end of 4b, an electric drive device comprising a columnar motor 7 which has been subjected to a special waterproof process is movably mounted, and a rotating shaft of the motor 7 is provided as a part of a gear transmission mechanism. Worm gear 5 and a gear 6 described later are connected.

On the other hand, as a movable support mechanism of the solar unit 1, a support column 2d vertically hanging from the left end of the support plate 2a, a support portion 2c hanging obliquely from the left end, and the support column 2d A feeding sleeve 3a having a thread groove on an inner peripheral surface rotatably fixed to the connecting portion 2e below the support column 2d;
A feed rod 3b having a thread groove on a columnar outer periphery screwed into the feed sleeve 3a is provided.

Among them, the auxiliary column 4 of the feed rod 3b
a. A gear 6 is attached to the thread groove at the end on the 4b side, and the movement of the rotation shaft of the motor 7 is transmitted by the feed rod 3b.
It is configured so that it can be converted into a telescopic movement.

Next, the operation of the illustrated embodiment will be described. The present invention uses the timer control (not shown) inserted in the power supply circuit to more reliably use the solar unit 1.
Can be moved according to the movement of the sun.

First, the motor 7 as an electric driving device is continuously driven by a suitably set command from the timer control unit.

Next, the power generated by the motor 7 converts the movement of the rotating shaft to the rotation of the worm gear 5 and the gear 6 and transmits the rotation. The feed rod 3 b provided with a thread is rotated in accordance with the movement of the gear 6. Driven and the feed rod 3
b is moved along the length direction.

At this time, the feed sleeve 3a screwed to the feed rod 3b moves coaxially within the range of the length of the feed rod 3b by the expansion and contraction movement in the length direction of the feed rod 3b. Although the angle of the support column 2d connected via 2f is changed by the amount of the front and rear movement, the circular column support portion 2b causes the support column 2d to move with respect to the support column 2d. The angle of the support plate 2a fixed at a right angle and the solar unit 1 fixed horizontally to the support plate 2a changes.

The feed rod 3b, the feed sleeve 3
a, in transmitting the power to the connecting portion 2f and the supporting column 2d, by providing the torsion eliminating portion 2e between the connecting portion 2f and the supporting column 2d in order to cope with the right and left twist, It is also made to be able to correspond.

The solar unit 1 itself is always stably supported by the load-bearing columns 8 fixed to the base plate 9, and also provides a flexible angle change with a minimum amount of energy used. By setting the displacement of the light receiving surface of the apparatus of the present invention configured as described above in advance so as to be optimally adapted to the trajectory of sunlight, an excellent tracking solar unit can be configured.

It should be noted that the solar unit tracking apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the illustrated example described above, and it is needless to say that various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0023]

As described above, the solar unit tracking apparatus of the present invention can be used as a device that can withstand various weather conditions by selecting and using weather-resistant parts such as a motor having a watertight structure. Not only can this be provided, but the motor can be driven with energy saving by a simple configuration in which the rotation of the motor shaft is made to correspond to the moving speed of the sun by mechanical conversion. Further, the simplicity of the structure means that it is possible to easily cope with a design change such as extending the support plate, so that the maintenance is easy and the adjustment of the increase or decrease of the power generation amount is easy. It has.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a solar unit tracking device.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a tracking device of the solar unit.

FIG. 3 is a structural diagram showing an embodiment of a solar unit tracking device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Solar unit 2a Support plate 2b Pivot support part 2c Support part 2d Support support 2e Twist eliminating part 2f Connection part 3a Feed sleeve 3b Feed rod 4a Auxiliary support 4b Auxiliary support 5 Worm gear 6 Gear 7 Motor 8 Load-bearing support 9 Base plate

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A solar unit formed in a plate shape,
A support plate fixed to the back surface of the solar unit, a load-bearing column that rotatably supports the back surface of the support plate at an upper end and has a lower end standing on a base plate, A solar unit tracking device, comprising: a movable support mechanism that supports a back surface of the support plate and positions the support plate and a solar unit attached to the support plate at a predetermined angle. 2. A movable support mechanism comprising: a support column having an upper portion having a substantially Y-shaped support portion for fixing and supporting a support plate; and a connection portion at a lower end, and fixed to the connection portion of the support column. A feed sleeve having a thread groove on an inner peripheral surface thereof, a feed rod screwed to the feed sleeve, an electric drive device for rotating the feed rod via a gear transmission means, and an electric drive device and a gear transmission means. 2. The tracking device for a solar unit according to claim 1, further comprising a substantially U-shaped auxiliary support supported on the load-bearing support in a state in which play is allowed.