Dear Ella (and thanks Luther) – I have not made a motorized tracker, but I have learned from solar water pump experience that the PV-motor solution is delightfully simple. Classic (brush-type) DC motors work fine powered PV-direct. No controller necessary, just two wires. Your only "control" is the shades you place around the PV to make your structure orient to the sun. You can find little DC motors on eBay or other surplus sources. Any brush-type motor will run at any voltage less than its rating, at a proportionally lower speed. And you don't need much speed. Just avoid over-power or over-speed. And that is very easy.
Example: A "12V" rated PV module will put out 15-17V when a battery or controller is not in the circuit. So use a 24V motor. Or, a 6V module with a 12V motor, same idea. This method has worked for thousands of commercially produced solar water pumps. If motion is blocked and the motor can't turn, the worst that happens is that the motor gets warm. There is not enough power there to overheat the motor (or even to blow a fuse).
I hope this is empowering!
------------------------------
Windy Dankoff
Author, Solar Water Pumping Specialist
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 09-19-2023 09:30 AM
From: Luther Krueger
Subject: Solar Oven Sun Tracker Question
I'm aware of at least one dual-axis tracker, i.e., he set up a platform with two gears run by mini-solar-panels (recycled from toys, solar lights etc.), to tilt a cooker to face the sun and turn wheels to follow it through the day. Stan Wells is the designer, I interviewed him in my first solar cooking video road trip: https://youtu.be/sDpc3HRVtn0 You can find a lot of his work on and contact him through his Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/stan.wells.526
------------------------------
Luther Krueger
Curator Maximo
Big Blue Sun Museum of Solar Cooking, Minneapolis
Minneapolis MN
[EmailAddress]
Original Message:
Sent: 09-18-2023 04:27 PM
From: Ella Nielsen
Subject: Solar Oven Sun Tracker Question
Hi all, An ASES member reached out to me and asked the following question: "Has anyone submitted a solar oven sun tracker in the past? I am developing one that will track the sun's movement on the x axis and Y axis. If it's already been done, I would be interested to talk to the person that developed it. With mine, the Sun Oven would be perfectly oriented to catch the full sun. There are no batteries or electricity involved. The solar panels are directly connected to two small DC motors." Does anyone have any insight or information I can share with them? Thank you!
Ella |
|
|
------------------------------
Ella Nielsen
Membership & Engagement Director
American Solar Energy Society
Boulder CO
------------------------------