JP2008066632A - Mechanism for tracking elevation angle for solar panel - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem, wherein although solar panels which are fixed and turn in the horizontal direction for tracking the sun have been available in conventional structures, the mechanism for tracking the sun in correspondence with the height position of the sun and automatically changing the elevation angle does not exist in the conventional types. <P>SOLUTION: An elevation angle tracking mechanism of a solar panel fixes the solar panel to be rotated in the horizontal direction, while tracking the position of the sun to a part of a support pole, the solar panel is pivotally fixed to a bracket by one pivotal shaft through a holder, a rotor is arranged on the lower surface of a frame on which the holder is fixed via a fixing member, and the rotor is pivotally contacted with the upper surface of a ring-like rail with an inclination that follows the angle of the sun. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention automatically adjusts the inclination angle of the solar panel by tracking the altitude position of the solar panel to the solar panel mounting structure provided with a solar panel elevation angle tracking mechanism, specifically a mechanism for tracking the sun in the horizontal direction. The present invention relates to a solar panel elevation tracking mechanism that can be changed.

  Conventionally, a solar panel using sunlight as a power storage and power generation device using natural energy is regarded as the most popular, and its utilization rate is also large. The most efficient use of this solar panel is to set the solar panel at a right angle to the sunlight.

Here, conventionally, the sun position in the sky is tracked from sunrise to sunset, and several solar tracking structures that rotate horizontally are disclosed. It has become common to set the elevation angle of the panel and fix it artificially.
Regarding the present invention, the applicant investigated prior technical documents, but could not find any documents that seem to be related to the present invention.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is that, with respect to the installation of the solar panel, there is a structure that tracks the sun by rotating in the horizontal direction, but this is tracked corresponding to the height position of the sun. However, there is no mechanism for automatically changing the elevation angle.

  In order to solve this problem, the elevation angle tracking mechanism of the solar panel according to the present invention is provided with a solar panel that tracks the position of the sun and rotates horizontally in a part of the support pole, and the solar panel is attached to the bracket. The frame is provided with a rotating body on the lower surface of the frame on which the holder is provided, and the rotating body is inclined to follow the angle of the sun. It is characterized in that it is in rolling contact with the upper surface of the attached ring-shaped rail, the aforementioned rotating body is a waterproof, rust-proof type roller, and the aforementioned ring-shaped rail is made of a rust-proof material such as stainless steel. It is formed and twisted in accordance with the locus of the rotating body described above.

  Further, the elevation angle tracking mechanism of the solar panel according to the present invention is characterized in that a stopper for preventing the solar panel from being reversed by wind pressure from below is provided below the ring-shaped rail.

  The elevation angle tracking mechanism of the solar panel according to the present invention is configured as described above. For this reason, the sun's trajectory is tracked and rotated in the horizontal direction, and from the start point to the end point of the rotation in the horizontal direction, this rotational motion is converted into a vertical motion, and the elevation angle from the start point is a positive angle. The elevation angle changes with a smooth movement that increases and decreases in the negative direction from the southern sky (maximum point). Therefore, the solar panel is always held close to the right angle with respect to sunlight, and an effect close to the maximum can be obtained.

  This is realized by configuring as in the embodiment shown in the drawings.

  Next, an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a view showing an elevation angle tracking mechanism of a solar panel embodying the present invention, showing a state at a south sky position, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the ring-shaped rail, and FIG. 3 is also a position at sunrise and sunset of the solar panel. FIG. 4 is a view showing the horizontal rotation mechanism of the solar panel, FIG. 5 is a view showing the main part, and FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the arrangement of the rotation arm and limit switch of the control system. FIG.

  With reference to these drawings, first, a horizontal rotation mechanism of a solar panel which is a premise of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In these drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes a hollow support pole. This support pole 1 hits a concrete foundation on an outdoor ground surface, and is anchored through a bolt hole of a flange formed at the lower end on the foundation. It is fixedly installed by bolts.

  Further, it is possible to add a wind turbine device for wind power generation to the upper end of the support pole 1 described above, and in combination with a solar panel described later, it is possible to obtain electric power using natural energy. .

  In the middle of the support pole 1, an elbow mounting arm 2 is integrally projected. An annular flange 3 is formed at a portion of the mounting arm 2 attached to the support pole 1, and ribs 4, 4... That reinforce the base end of the mounting arm 2 are radially provided outside the flange 3. Yes. The flange 3 is in surface contact with a receiving flange 5 provided on the outer peripheral wall surface of the support pole 1 and is fixed by a fixing means such as a bolt. The receiving flange 5 is also provided with ribs 4, 4... For reinforcing the support with the support pole 1.

  Further, a seat plate 6 is integrally provided at the tip portion bent upward at a right angle of the mounting arm 2 via reinforcing ribs 4, 4... 7 is fixed with screws via a packing. The cover 7 is provided with a through hole formed in the center of the top surface, and a cylindrical casing 8 is inserted into the through hole. An annular locking step portion 8a is integrally formed near the upper periphery of the casing 8, and is engaged with the locking step portion 8a, and the fixing flange 9 is screwed to the cover 7 via a packing from above. By doing so, the casing 8 is positioned. Reference numeral 10 denotes a window lid for opening and closing an inspection window hole in the cover 7.

  A rotating shaft 11 is inserted through the center of the casing 8 with the upper and lower ends protruding from the center. S-shaped oil seals 12, 12 are attached to the outer periphery of the upper and lower protruding portions of the rotating shaft 11, and the bearings 13, 13 are slidably contacted by bearing retainers 14, 4 at the upper and lower positions in the casing 8 to reinforce rotation. ing.

  A rotary table 15 is mounted on the upper projecting end of the rotary shaft 11 in a crowned state by a cylindrical portion below the rotary table 11, and is fixed to the cylindrical portion by a screw 15 a from the side surface of the rotary shaft 11. 15 is configured to rotate in synchronization with the rotating shaft 11.

  Further, a cap cover 16 is attached to the upper surface of the cover 7 so as to correspond to the through hole and protect the mechanic from wind and rain and dust. The top surface of the cap cover 16 has a mounting flange at the lower end. The bracket 17 is fixed by inserting a screw through the mounting flange and fastening it. The bracket 17 is formed with a taper portion of approximately 45 degrees at the upper end, and the holder 19 of the solar panel 18 can be pivoted by a single pivot (panel rotational movement fulcrum) 17a at a substantially upper center position. It is supported by. A flange 19a is provided on the upper side of the holder 19, and a frame 20 to which the solar panel 18 is attached is fixed via the flange 19a.

  A roller holder 40 is attached to the lower surface of the tapered portion of the top surface of the bracket 17 on the lower surface of the frame 20, and a waterproof and rust-proof roller 41 is rotatably provided at the lower end of the roller holder 40. ing. On the other hand, 42 in the figure is a ring-shaped rail (elevation angle detection trajectory plate) provided on the upper surface of the cover 7 so as to surround the cap cover 16, and this ring-shaped rail 42 is aligned with the highest sun position in the southern sky of each region. And has an inclined shape. Further, the ring-shaped rail 42 is twisted because the roller 41 is brought into rolling contact with the inclined upper surface, so that the ring-shaped rail 42 is not a complete circular track and may be decentered and misaligned. .

  In the figure, reference numeral 43 denotes a stopper provided between the lower surface of the ring-shaped rail 42 and the upper surface of the cover 7. The stopper 43 is pivotally supported by the solar panel 18 with a single support shaft 17a, and freely pivoted in the elevation direction. Therefore, it is prevented from being blown by wind from below and rotating upward.

  On the other hand, the central portion of the large gear 21 is fitted to the lower end of the rotating shaft 11. Reference numeral 22 denotes a pressing plate for the large gear 21. The large gear 21 is meshed with a small gear 24 provided on the motor shaft of the motor 23, rotates the rotating shaft 11 while rotating at a reduced speed, transmits the rotational force, and finally rotates the solar panel 18. It becomes. Reference numeral 23 a denotes a mounting base for the motor 23.

  The rotating mechanism is provided with an encoder 25 for detecting a rotation angle attached to a small gear 24, and 26 is a high-frequency sensor corresponding to the encoder 25. The high-frequency sensor 26 is attached by a metal fitting provided on the attachment base 23a of the motor 23. In this embodiment, the metal fitting 26a is a spacer for always maintaining an appropriate distance between the attachment base 23a and the high-frequency sensor 26. It has come to be effective as well.

  Further, a brake holder 27 is fixed on the seat plate 6 described above, and a coil spring 28 is accommodated in the brake holder 27 so that the tip of the coil spring 28 is in sliding contact with the bottom surface of the large gear 21. A brake shoe 29 to be pressed is attached. Since the rotation is controlled by the brake mechanism with the large gear 21 as a disk, the accuracy as the rotation mechanism is further improved. In order to prevent rust, at least the bottom surface of the large gear 21 is subjected to a rust-proofing process or the large gear 21 itself is formed of a rust-proof metal.

  In the figure, reference numeral 30 denotes an attachment fitting fixed near the peripheral edge of the seat plate 6, and a limit switch 31 is attached to the upper surface of the attachment fitting 30. On the other hand, the base end of the rotary arm 32 is fixed to the lower surface of the presser plate 22, and a bent plate or an operating element 33 for operating the limit switch 31 is provided at the tip of the rotary arm 32. ing. That is, the rotation arm 32 rotates in synchronization with the large gear 21, and when the rotation arm 32 rotates by a certain angle, the rotation can be controlled by operating the limit switch 31.

  Further, in this embodiment, the limit switch 31 is arranged at three positions, that is, a rotation origin (0 degree) position and an end point (157.5 degrees) position of the rotation mechanism, and an origin plus 15 degrees position for emergency stop. Therefore, the malfunction is prevented and corrected when it does not operate normally.

  Here, the control system of the solar panel rotating device in the present embodiment will be described. Both the electric power by the solar panel 18 and the electric power by the wind power generation of the windmill are input to the controller, converted by the inverter, and attached to the support pole 1. It is used for the operation of the message display and other LED light emission for pilots. In addition, a part of the electric power input from the controller is secured by charging the sealed lead-acid battery, and the controller, the inverter, the lead-acid battery, etc. are grounded in the vicinity of the support pole 1 Housed in a control box.

  As for the rotation angle control of the solar panel 18, the encoder 25 is rotationally driven by the motor 23, but an origin sensor is provided on the right side and an end point sensor is provided on the left side with respect to the mounting arm 2. The time is from 6 am to 6 pm as the temporal driving range, but it is possible to make corrections in summer and winter.

  When the origin sensor and end point sensor described above are input and activated, the signals are input to the origin sensor signal generator and the angle pulse generator of the angle detection sensor (high frequency sensor 26) to generate a predetermined voltage pulse. . The rotation of the encoder 25 is sequentially detected by an angle detection sensor and input to an angle pulse generator, and the pulse signal is measured by an angle detection counter. The output from the lead storage battery is converted by an inverter and applied to the motor 23.

  The initial setting of the solar panel 18 is made by calculating the solar position at that time in latitude and longitude, and is set in accordance with the time, and the setting of time and position is completed using the time setting switch and the correction switch. The time monitoring timer is excited by a crystal oscillator. The AND of the hourly pulse signal and the hourly timer is theoretically used as a flip-flop set signal. Since the angle detection counter does not generate a pulse signal until it reaches 15 degrees that is an angle obtained by dividing 360 degrees by 24 hours, the motor 23 is driven as a normal rotation signal.

  With this normal rotation signal, the motor 23 rotates 15 degrees (one hour) and stops. At this time, power is saved without using power except for the time monitoring timer. When a signal indicating that one hour has elapsed is input from the time monitoring timer, the stepping timer becomes a set signal by AND with a time signal obtained by adding one hour to the immediately preceding time, and again rotates 15 degrees and stops.

  The above-described operation is sequentially repeated, so that the solar panel 18 rotates to the 6 o'clock position, that is, the position of the end point sensor. This end point sensor inputs the signal from the end point signal generator to the preceding AND circuit of the flip-flop as a preparation for reverse rotation, starts reverse rotation as a set signal from the stepping timer, restores to the initial origin sensor position and stops To do. At this point, the next day's sunrise will be on standby.

  Here, when the rotation arm 32 (position of the solar panel 18) cannot capture the signal at the origin (0 degree: position at 6 am), the rotation arm 32 rotates past the origin position. However, as a backup, the limit switch 31 is also provided at an angular position with 15 degrees added to the origin position, so that this can be corrected and returned to the normal position. It is possible to prevent malfunction.

  In addition, when some external force is applied to the solar panel 18 during normal operation and moved to the home side, the absolute time and the clock (time) inside the apparatus are delayed. Then, when the signal moves further and no signal is output at the 6:00 pm end point position, the operation returns to the origin at 7:00 pm in absolute time, and the origin signal is confirmed and stopped. After that, the absolute time priority processing for holding the stop until 6 am in the standby state, that is, the time difference is corrected to match the absolute time and normal operation is performed.

  The above control is also dealt with when the solar panel 18 is moved to the end point side. In this case, the internal clock progresses for one hour, but if it moves and confirms the end point signal, the operation returns to the origin point. Check the signal and stop. Then, the stop state is held until 6:00 am in absolute time, the time difference is corrected, and the system is started again.

  Further, when the operation of the solar panel 18 stops between the origin and the end point, it immediately returns to the origin at 7:00 pm in absolute time to enter a standby state, and the stopped state is maintained.

  When the solar panel 18 does not capture the end point signal and the end point has been passed, the limit switch 31 at 7:30 pm (157.5 degrees) is input, the origin is returned, and the absolute time 7 pm After that time, it waits until 6 am the next morning, and starts normal rotation at 7 am.

  The elevation angle tracking device for a solar panel according to the present embodiment is configured as described above. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the support pole 1 is fixedly erected on the ground surface, and the solar panel 18 is horizontally rotated. However, the support pole 1 is installed in the horizontal direction and the mounting arm is not limited to this. Design changes such as standing or hanging can be made.

It is a figure which shows the elevation angle tracking mechanism of the solar panel which implemented this invention, and shows the state of a southern sky position. It is a top view which shows a ring-shaped rail. It is a figure which shows the state of the solar panel at the time of sunrise and sunset. It is a figure which shows the horizontal direction rotation mechanism of a solar panel. It is a figure which shows the principal part. It is a top view which shows arrangement | positioning of the rotation arm and limit switch of a control system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Support pole 2 Mounting arm 3 Flange 4 Reinforcement rib 5 Receiving flange 6 Seat plate 7 Cover 8 Casing 9 Fixing flange 10 Window lid 11 Rotating shaft 12 Oil seal 13 Bearing 14 Bearing retainer 15 Rotary table 16 Cap cover 17 Bracket 18 Solar panel 19 Holder 20 Frame 21 Large gear 22 Presser plate 23 Motor 24 Small gear 25 Encoder 26 High frequency sensor 27 Brake holder 28 Coil spring 29 Brake shoe 30 Mounting bracket 31 Limit switch 32 Rotating arm 33 Operating element 40 Roller holder 41 Roller 42 Ring-shaped rail 43 Stopper

Claims (4)

  A solar panel that tracks the position of the sun and rotates horizontally in a part of the support pole is provided, and the solar panel is pivotally attached to the bracket via a holder with a single pivot axis, and the holder The solar panel is characterized in that a rotating body is provided on the lower surface of a frame provided with a rotating member via an attachment member, and the rotating body is brought into rolling contact with the upper surface of a ring-shaped rail having an inclination that follows the angle of the sun. Elevation angle tracking mechanism.   2. The solar panel elevation angle tracking mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the rotating body is a waterproof and rust-proof roller.   3. The solar panel elevation angle tracking according to claim 1, wherein the ring-shaped rail is formed of a rust preventive material such as stainless steel, and is twisted in accordance with the locus of the rotating body. mechanism.   4. The solar panel elevation angle tracking according to claim 1, wherein a stopper for preventing the solar panel from being reversed by wind pressure from below is provided below the ring-shaped rail. mechanism.

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