Sun Seeker Project 2

7/29/2019 Sun Seeker Project 2

1/58

circuit board and sensor assembly of the Chace tracker.

The circuit is not water proof so a protective plastic dome is needed. I have used 2

liter clear plastic soda bottles. They last a long time, at least 5 years for one I have

used, probably a lot more. This circuit will fit into the 20 Oz. size. The plastic bottle

chosen needs to have a round bottom, the type that comes with the black plasticbottom which is removed. The type with the molded in feet don't work very well as

they diffract the light too much.

Glass jars are even worse optically if looking through the bottom.

Any one out there with a good idea for a better weather dome?

In Minnesota I have snow that builds up on the top of the dome. This snow is quite

reflective and can confuse the sensors as to the correct direction for the brightest

portion of the sky when in the sky is overcast. It's easy to just brush the snow of butthis is not always timely. I have experimented with putting black opaque paper inside

the dome to eliminate the light from the snow. Another paper light blocker can be put

under the sensors to stop the reflected light from the snow on the ground.

dome

Dome on Chace tacker

This weather dome is made from a 2 liter pop bottle.

jiff

I have tried and like using plastic Jiff Peanut butter

jars
http://www.redrok.com/images/chace3.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/chace3.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/chace4.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/chace4.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/chace4.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/chace4.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/chace4.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/chace3.jpg


2/58

Jiff peanut butter jar.

Jiff peanut butter jar with only the lid.

dcb

DCB's implementation of the LED3 tracker with Pyrex

Weather Dome.This dome is made from an unusual deep style Petri dish.

East View West View

Assembled
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Top View Without Dome View From Below

Long View

The Base

doc

Doc's implementation of the LED3 tracker with a Fruit Jar

Weather Dome.

Doc emailed this to me:

The power produced from the system is run to the main house. In the house, the 120

volt service is connected to its own fuse box to run all of my 120 volt stuff. The LED3

increased the output of the 4 panel array by 50%, as compared to the output of an

identical 4 panel array mounted on the roof.

During mid-day, the power output of my system bulk charges the batteries and the

C40 disconnects the solar panels to keep from over-charging the batteries. This never

occurred before I installed the LED3. This is great!!

PV Panel
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4/58

LED3 in Fruit Jar

PV Panel

Panel with LED3 Back of Mount

Power Controller

Battery Pack

danbennet

Dan Bennet's Dish.

12 foot parabolic dish with 10,300 1" pieces of mirrors on it. It weighs around 1,200

lbs with the boiler .

LED3 in Fruit Jar

wolfendale

Martin Wolfendale's implementation of the LED3 tracker

with a machined plastic Weather Dome.

Martins PV panel mount is homemade and looks very nice. He is in Austrailia sothings might seem a bit reversed to us northerners.
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5/58

Overall View Closer

Mount and Connections

Wearher Dome in Upper Corner Closeup of Weather Dome

LED3

garyGary has suggested making the dome from Lexan. He

wrote:

It's fairly easy to make a perfect dome out of Lexan.

Make a 2 piece mould out of whatever you can find that's the right size.

Heat up a piece of Lexan in your oven at about 200F for about 5 min.

Put it on the mould and press and release.

Trim off the excess after it cools.

If you want really good optics leave room in the mould for a piece of flannel on each

side.

Scratches are polished out with toothpaste.

I Got this from EAA Sport Aviation to make nice wing tip strobe light covers.

mrea2001

Demo of my tracker at the 2001 Midwest Renewable Energy

Fair
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6/58

Look at all the people

Having fun igniting sticks of

wood at the prime focus of the

dish. That flash of white is smokeafter about a second. It also

melts holes in aluminum cans in

about 1 second.

A small Stirling engine

mounted where theelectronics used to be on

the small PrimeStar dish.

Reflective Mylar wasglued to the surface.

The north view

View from the SE. This mount is

similar to that of a Poulek Traxle.

This mount is very sturdycompared to the conventional

Daisy mount.

mrea2002Demo of my trackers at the 2002 Midwest Renewable

Energy Fair
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7/58

Solar trackers

led5dlighting

Lighting "Receiver

Axis" heliostat with

dual axis LED5D5Vsolar tracker.

led5spv

Small PV Panel with

LED5S5V solar

tracker. This one is

powered from the PVpanel it controls.

Two "Receiver Axis"

heliostats

Back of large

"Receiver Axis"

heliostat.

bisectordrive

Bisector Drive on large

"Receiver Axis"

heliostat.

led5ddome

Dual axis LED5D5V

solar tracker on large

"Receiver Axis"heliostat.

mrea2003

Demo of my trackers at the 2003 Midwest Renewable

Energy Fairmrea2003trackers

mrea2003ledtv1&dome mrea2003ledtv1b mrea2003ledtv1c
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A bevy of 4 solar

trackers and mounts.

Prototype LEDTV1

solar tracker. Theweather dome is a

Lexan canister I got at

Wall-Mart. The tracker

is based on aMicroChip PIC12F675

8 pin microprocessor.

Prototype LEDTV1

solar tracker. In this

case it drives anAlliance U-100

Tenna Rotor TV

antenna rotator. Thissetup charged 2 junk

car batteries to operate

both this and the dish

trackers.

Prototype LEDTV1solar tracker. In this

case it drives a Cornell

Dubillar ham radio

antenna rotator. It wasgreat fun cooking mini

killbasas on the

Primestar dish.

mrea2003smallpv

Small PV Panel with

LED5S12V solartracker. This one is

powered from the small

PV panel it tracks and

supplies power to it and

the LED5D12Vheliostat tracker.

mrea2003heliostat

Lighting "ReceiverAxis" heliostat with

dual axis LED5D12V

solar tracker. Thisheliostat continuously

illuminated my Red

Rock sign.

The Red Rock Energysign. I apologise for not

taking the picture

earlier because my tent

was blocking the light.
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ledshex3

LED3 Schematicledshex3layout
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Layoutledshex3molex

Molex Connector

The tracker consists of pairs of LED photo sensors. Each pair controls the voltage

applied to one terminal of the actuator motor.led3operationWhen the easterly pair says go west the minus terminal is grounded. When the

westerly pair says go west the positive terminal is connected to plus and we get

westerly movement. Or vise versa for easterly movement

When they disagree then either both motor terminals are grounded or have plus on

them, and we get no movement. There are four operational states for the sensors to be

in.

Each LED pair tends to move the tracker East or West.

An LED pair tends to move to the West orAn LED pair tends to move to the East.

Each of the LED pairs controls one side of the H-bridge.

LED Pair 1-3LED Pair 2-4H-bridge LeftH-bridge RightMovement

West West Low High Move West

West East Low Low Stopped

East West High High Stopped

East East High Low Move East

Note! Unlike most H-Bridge drivers where both sides are always driving the load this

circuit has independent drives for each side. This allows the motor to stop when both

sides are high or low. The motor moves when they are different.
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In addition, both sides have the top MOSFETs turned off most of the time until the

clock enables movement by periodically pulling R9 and R11 low.

Q3 and Q4 form a gated level shifter. To see how this driver works think of the

bottom end of R9 and R11 being grounded when the top transistor is to be enabled.

Also the driver for the left side are inverted from the driver on the right side. This is a

method for returning the tracker to the east, for parking, if R2 and R3 are used. This

way Q1A will be enabled and Q2B will be on when in the dark.

parkingIn cloudy or overcast weather the tracker seeks the brightest part of the sky. At night it

moves to the easterly parking position. The parking position puts the panel at a steep

angle so night time snow doesn't accumulate as much in the winter. A westerly

parking position is obtained by mounting the tracker upside down and reversing the

leads to the actuator motor.

led3x

LED3X LED Sensor Electronic Tracker with H-Bridge

Drive.


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LED3X Solar TrackerThe LED3 using surface technics was just to hard to assemble in a timly manor as

sales were increasing. I needed a circuit that could be built with mostly through hole

components. At the same time, there were other features and enhansments that I

thought were needed. This was the impetus for the LED3X series of solar trackers.

This circuit uses power MOSFET drivers and is designed to operate satellite dish

linear actuators, however most any DC motor can be used. The power drivers are

capable of delivering about 50 amps of peak current, maybe more. When better

transistors become available this current can be increased. The large power

MOSFETS, 72A, when operated at low duty cycle or low currents eliminates the

needed for a heat sink on the transistors. Neat huh!

The duty cycle is adjustable from 0% to nearly 100%. Idealy tracking from stop to

stop should be 10 to 30 minutes. The duty cycle helps to slow down the motor drive

speed. Less duty cycle will make the tracking slower but, we don't need speedanyway. Slow tracking speed helps in partly cloudy condition. This prevents the

tracker from making unnecessary movements when clouds move by.

led3xshadowTo improve accuracy, ie. with concentrators such as troughs or dishes, a shadow

blocker can be placed in front. Similar to the shadow blocker on theChace Trackeror

like this:
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OK, this is an example of a dual axis version.

The single axis version uses a strip of metal.

Cool weather dome!! As I recall the dome is polycarbonate and from the oil or

water traps on air lines and regulators.

I have used a band of metal about .5" in width at about 2" from the LED3X sensor. If

the LED3X is used for E-W tracking the band is oriented N-S. Conversely, if the

LED3X is used for N-S tracking the band is oriented E-W. The shadow device is not

particularly critical. For instance, I have used black electrical tape on the weather

dome and it worked well.

led3xremotesensor

LED3X Remote Sensor

The remote sensor comes can be configured in several flavors.

1. Single axis

2. Dual axis

And parking or no-parking on either axes.

The PC board is configured in 2 halves. Each half is an individual single axis sensor.

For single axis use the board is cut in half or dual axis if left whole. Depending on

which components, positions, and jumpers installed all the configurations can be

obtained.
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led3xremotesensorschematic

Dual Remote Sensor Schematic

led3xs24vspecifications

LED3X Specifications

For a more detailed set of specifications, options, and pictures see the web page

devoted to assembling the kit. And a lot more pictures and application

information.

Power Supply Voltage 10.5 Volts to an absolute maximum of 44 Volts inclusive.

The 10.5V minimum is specified as the under voltage point. Less

voltage protects the power mosfet in the H-bridge driver

circuitry.

The 44 volt maximum is defined by the voltage tolerance of the

51V protection zener. This zener protects the power MOSFETs

from seeing damaging breakdown voltages.

The 51V zener has an initial tolerance of 5%. So the maximum

continuous voltage that can be applied before conduction can

occur is 48V or so.

Most PV panels don't output more than 44V in open circuit.

You should check for sure. If they do go too high in voltage a

simple power regulator should be added to limit the maximum

voltage.

Load Current Continuous 9 Amp resistive.

The power MOSFETs are rated at over 70A at 25F. A
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conservative derating of 50% is prudent especially in hot

weather conditions.

Load Current Intermitant20 Amp intermitant at 1S width once per timing cycle of 60S.

The Power MOSFETs have an absolute maximum current

rating of 72A, but this is with ideal conditions where the

temperature is 25F and very fast gate rise times. The LED3x

has a relatively slow gate rise time and may be operated at quite

high temperatures due to the weather. I think 20A at about 1S

is adequate for normal tracking applications.

If higher current motors are required a power amplifier may be

needed. See:

http://www.redrok.com/electron.htm#power

I should note that the satellite dish actuator I use normally

consumes about 290mA of current at 13.8VDC. This actuator is

capable of driving a 15' dish with 1500lb of force. You don'tneed a high powered drive, just a slow forceful one.

Think slow!

Operating Temperature -40F to 185F or -40C to 85C

led3xforsale

LED3XS24Vc3 For Sale

Please go to this page:

http://www.redrok.com/led3xassm.htm#led3xforsale

powerSome have expressed an interest in driving high powered loads beyond the

capabilities of the H-Bridge driver transistors. To this end I developed several
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high powered driver circuits, (actually their almost the same circuit as in the

relay trackers).

relaydc1

RelayDC1

Relay circuit that uses DC relays with 12VDC coils. The DC motor in this case is

a permanent magnet type that is reversible.

relayac1

RelayAC1

Relay circuit that uses AC relays with 12VDC coils. The AC motor in this case is

a capacitor run type.
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relayac2

RelayAC2

Relay circuit that uses AC Solid State relays with 3 to 32 VDC control inputs.

The AC motor in this case is a capacitor run type.

manualopsled3manualled3xmanual
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LED3XManual
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Some have expressed an interest in adding a switch to manually move the array

for test purposes. One of these circuits, when added between the tracker and

actuator, will allow manual movement. The first circuit has a fast and slow

position. The second circuit is slow only but simpler. The first circuit is the

nicest.

Since I do the assembling variations can be easily made for such things as a

change in the timing of the oscillator for other duty cycles or to disable the

parking feature. I am currently selling the assembled units without the parking

feature.

assemblyled3x

Assembly & Opperating Instructions for the LED3X series. Plus a lotof pictures and examples.

led3xenergyThe circuit draws about 15mA when idling. It can operate at temperatures to -

40F or up to 158F. Its designed to operate from a 12V or 24V lead acid power

source. I generally recommend using a 36V actuator on 12V.

The daily energy consumed is quite small. My actuator draws about 290mA and

can go from stop to stop and back in about 5 minutes. So:

((.015A * 24hr/day) + (.290A * 5min/day / 60min/hr)) * 13.8V = 5.3Whr/day

Or about 5Whr/day, which is pretty small.trickleA very small 5W or even a 2W PV panel and small wet cell lead acid battery is a

good combination for the power source to run the system. Wet cell

manufacturers say you can "trickle charge" them continuously at 1% to 2% of

the amp hour capacity. A trickle charger has no voltage regulation.

A 12V 5W panel can deliver about 400mA of current. So the smallest lead acid

battery can be about 20Ahr of capacity.

A 12V 2W panel can deliver about 170mA of current. So the smallest lead acid

battery can be about 8Ahr of capacity.Periodically these batteries need to be watered with distilled water.

Note! I used to say it was OK to use gel cell lead acid batteries. This was a

mistake on my part. Trickle charging by definition is over charging and gel cells

are damaged when over charged wet cells are not.
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While trickle chargers are simple it is often better to use a small solar charge

controller such as theMorningstar SunGuard SG-4or others. Make sure you

select one that has Temperature compensation. This solution will greatly reduce

the watering requirements of wet cell batteries or use of gel cells.

I intend that this circuit will supplant the Chace tracker as its simpler to buildand adjust.

For two axis tracking two circuits are needed. However, for PV panels the second

axis only adds about 5% on the average and may not warrant the added expense.

economicsMany have said that it makes no sense to use a solar tracker with PV systems as

it is cheaper to just add an extra panel for every three. To this I say bunk.

Using the NREL data:My link.

http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/pubs/redbook/redbook_index.html

I find that in Minnesota a single axis tracking PV panel will have a 40% increase

in output in December and a 100% increase in June.

In Minnesota:

A PV panel with 15% efficiency

in December tilted to your latitude plus 15s.

http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/redbook/atlas/

2 to 3 kWhr/m2/day lets say 2.5 solar

2.5 kWhr/m2

/day * 15% = .375kWhr/m2

/day electricOr a single axis north-south tracking panel at lat. +15.

3 to 4 kWh/m2/day lets say 3.5 solar

3.5 kWhr/m2/day * 15% = .525kWhr/m2/day electric

.525 / .375 = 140%

This shows 40% improvement with a tracker in December.

Lets do it in June:

4 to 5 kWhr/m2/day lets say 4.5 solar

4.5 kWhr/m2

/day * 15% = .675kWhr/m2

2/day electricOr a single axis north-south tracking panel at lat. -15.

8 to 10 kWhr/m2/day lets say 9 solar

9 kWhr/m2/day * 15% = 1.35kWhr/m2/day electric

That's a 100% improvement with a tracker in June.
http://www.morningstarcorp.com/en/sun-guardhttp://www.morningstarcorp.com/en/sun-guardhttp://www.morningstarcorp.com/en/sun-guardhttp://www.redrok.com/main.htm#nrelhttp://www.redrok.com/main.htm#nrelhttp://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/pubs/redbook/redbook_index.htmlhttp://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/pubs/redbook/redbook_index.htmlhttp://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/redbook/atlas/http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/redbook/atlas/http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/old_data/nsrdb/redbook/atlas/http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/pubs/redbook/redbook_index.htmlhttp://www.redrok.com/main.htm#nrelhttp://www.morningstarcorp.com/en/sun-guard


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Of course your location will have different results. For instance I just did it for

San Jose, CA and got an increase of only 14% in both June and December.

Clearly this is not the best place to do solar tracking.

Here are the 4 maps that I used.nrelmaps

Click the map!

The full set of maps from NREL are here.

I don't have a cost for the tracking mount but the actuator I'm using costs about

$140us and my tracker is $35us. PV panels now are about $5us/W so a 100 watt

panel costs $500us. Using a system of 3 panels this is $1500us.

Since the tracker delivers at least 40% more output, in December, it would be

fair to say that the tracker has an equivalent value of $600us in a 3 panel 300W

system. I can't see the tracking mount would cost $600-$140-$35=$425 more than

the equivalent stationary mount that has to hold at least 4 PV panels. Of course,

the comparison is even better in June with the 100% increase.

Today there are many obsolete C-band satellite dishes. These have polar axis

mounts which are almost ideal for use with arrays of PV panels. Remove the dish

and install racks to support the panels. They are well designed and very strong.

They have all the needed hardware including the motor actuator. Besides they

are often free for the asking.

tripod

TriPod Mounts

I am convinced that the best and strongest mount for PVs at ground level is one

based on the design example of:

poulektraxle
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* TraxlePoulek Solar

by Martin Poulek

Gary A. Werner, President GWM Corporation

Polar mount with tracker.

The tripod support arrangement is very strong with light weight construction.

aps

* APS Solar's "Tilt Tracker".Similar to Poulek Solar's Traxle, with a clockwork tracker. The second axis, the

tilt axis, is adjustable for a few percent improvement in total output. The

actuators are hydraulic.

powerlight

PowerLight

A bigger version, similar to Poulek Solar's Traxle

sunpower

* SunPowerSunPower purchased PowerLight

szymanski

* Martin Szymanski's variation of a Tripod Tracking Mount

pvc

PVC plastic TriPod Mount
http://www.solar-trackers.com/http://www.solar-trackers.com/http://www.solar-trackers.com/http://www.solar-trackers.com/http://www.solar-trackers.com/http://www.solar-trackers.com/http://www.solar-trackers.com/http://www.aps.com/my_community/StarTour/default.html?seq=9http://www.aps.com/my_community/StarTour/default.html?seq=9http://www.aps.com/my_community/StarTour/default.html?seq=9http://www.aps.com/my_community/StarTour/default.html?seq=9http://www.aps.com/my_community/StarTour/default.html?seq=9http://www.aps.com/my_community/StarTour/default.html?seq=9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellis_Solar_Power_Planthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellis_Solar_Power_Planthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellis_Solar_Power_Planthttp://www.redrok.com/electron.htm#martinshttp://www.redrok.com/electron.htm#martinshttp://www.redrok.com/electron.htm#martinshttp://www.redrok.com/images/martinstrack1.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/sunpower2.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/powerlight.gifhttp://www.redrok.com/images/apstilt1.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/poulek2.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/poulek.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/martinstrack1.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/sunpower2.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/powerlight.gifhttp://www.redrok.com/images/apstilt1.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/poulek2.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/poulek.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/martinstrack1.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/sunpower2.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/powerlight.gifhttp://www.redrok.com/images/apstilt1.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/poulek2.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/poulek.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/martinstrack1.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/sunpower2.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/powerlight.gifhttp://www.redrok.com/images/apstilt1.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/poulek2.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/poulek.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/martinstrack1.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/sunpower2.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/powerlight.gifhttp://www.redrok.com/images/apstilt1.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/poulek2.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/poulek.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/martinstrack1.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/sunpower2.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/powerlight.gifhttp://www.redrok.com/images/apstilt1.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/poulek2.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/images/poulek.jpghttp://www.redrok.com/electron.htm#martinshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellis_Solar_Power_Planthttp://www.aps.com/my_community/StarTour/default.html?seq=9http://www.aps.com/my_community/StarTour/default.html?seq=9http://www.aps.com/my_community/StarTour/default.html?seq=9http://www.aps.com/my_community/StarTour/default.html?seq=9http://www.solar-trackers.com/http://www.solar-trackers.com/http://www.solar-trackers.com/http://www.solar-trackers.com/http://www.solar-trackers.com/


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This is my version of Poulek's mount. I call it the TriPod Mount. This mount is

cheap and crude but easy to make,especially for demonstrations. It's easy to build and knock down. Its quite

portable.

A proposed Stationary Receiver Dish on a Tripod Mount.

A proposed Stationary Fresnel Lens on a Tripod Mount.

It's made from PV plastic sewer pipe.

1. The legs are fitted with end caps.

2. The foot caps are drilled and have long bolts protruding through to be pushed

into the ground.

3. The support legs have "I" bolts fitted to the top caps.4. The main polar axis leg has a large bolt that is fitted through the "I" bolts of

the support legs.

(The Primestar mount doesn't allow the pipe to go all the way through so I made

a compromise and have this large top bolt mounted to the dish support.

Although the Primestar mount has a method to manually adjust for declination.)

5. The polar leg needs to rotate. To do this side pipes are glued on to the polar
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and one of the support legs.

6. The satellite dish linear actuator is fitted to the side pipes.

7. To set it up just adjust the support legs until the polar tube is aimed at the pole

star. This is due north and angled at exactly your latitude.

8. To make sure the thing doesn't blow away I have a heavy nylon cord, ( not in

the pictures ), tied from the top of the polar leg down to the earth. I used a screw

into the ground dog leash stake.

9. Don't bolt the dish and PV panel to tightly. This will allow some manual

adjusting.

There are some compromises to this example.

1. The actuator can only rotate the polar leg about 150. A better way would be

to have a pulley and cable to get the rotation to 270 or so. 2. The Primestar

mount is not ideal. A better mount would allow the polar leg to protrude fully.

3. A longer polar leg would allow more rotation without interfering with the

supporting legs.

Improvements

1. For larger equipment one should make the tripod from steel cold water pipe.

This would make things much sturdier.

2. Make the polar rotating device using a large pulley and cable to allow more

rotation.

led4

LED4 LED Sensor Electronic Tracker with Simple SolarCharge Controller.


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LED4

The "LED3" light sensor works very well. It is sensitive, accurate, and cheap. A

couple of years ago I had devised a simple solar charge controller I called "Shunt

2". I thought it would be a good idea to combine them into a single PC board

called the LED4.

Note! I no longer sell the LED4 as it was replaced by the much more

capableLED3X. Ok, the LED3X doesn't have a charge controller but this isn't

really required to run the tracker.

The design philosophy for this tracker was to make it more robust and self

contained. I included a charge controller for rechargeable batteries intending

them to be NiCds to run the actuators. Since the charger is there it might as well

be capable of running a large PV panel with lead acid batteries.

Note! this charger is not intended to charge the expensive system batteries. Leave

that job to the high end smart charger such as those by Trace, Outback, and

others.

It can also run a very small PV panel to charge the local NiCds or NiMH

batteries. These batteries work well over a wide temperature range.
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I will test the ability of the sensors to be at the end of a long cable. I will test this

using 1000' of 4 wire telephone cable. 8 wire Cat5 cable should also work with

the extra wires driving the actuators.

With the use of long Cat5 cable the main board can be inside a heated battery

room. Of course you still have to run the heavy gauge main charging wire pair tothe battery room. The advantage of having the batteries in a heated room is

temperature compensation won't be needed.

ledshex4

LED4 Schematic

LED4 Layout

led4connections

LED4 Pinout

ledsensor01

Alternate LED4 Sensor Schematic
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led4featuresLED4 Features

Separate LED

Light Sensors

The signal sent back from the sensor can be sent a considerable distance

since the current flow is minimal. However, static electric discharge could

be a problem if the sensor is more than about 6 feet or so from the mainboard. If long distances are needed please Email me for advice.

Under voltage

Shutdown

Protection

Shuts down the actuator motor drive when the battery voltage drops

below about 10 volts.

Built In Charge

Controller

Designed for use with nominal 13.8 volt battery systems. The charger is

designed for controlling 13.8 volt 125 watt PV panels. There is no

provision for either temperature compensation or

multiple charging strategies.

Larger PowerTransistors

The power MOSFET transistors are much more robust than in the

LED3. It usesIRF5305andIRLZ44Ntransistors fromInternational Rectifier. TheIRF5305P-channel MOSFET has an on

resistance of about 60m and theIRLZ44NN-channel MOSFET has an

on resistance of about 20m.

No need for a

heat sink

A 125 watt PV panel can deliver about 9 amps of current. The maximum

wattage dissipated by the IRLZ44N shunt transistor under these

conditions is about 1.6 watts continuously. The Schottky Barrier series

protection diode is rated for about 9 amps.

The H-bridge transistors are pulsed at about a 10% duty cycle. I'm rating

the actuator maximum pulsed current at about 16 amps. If you want to

continuously drive the actuator keep it below 5 amps.

TheIRF5305has a maximum current rating of 110 amps andtheIRLZ44Nhas a maximum current rating of 160 amps so if the

currents are kept to below my system rating no heat sinks will be needed.

Built with

Through Hole

Components

Through hole construction allows the average home brew guy the ability

to easily put the LED4 tracker together either as a kit or scratch built.

I can supply the PC boards separatly for $9.00us.

Operating

Temperature

Range-40F to 185F or -40C to 85C

vdish1

Virgil Vinz's faceted dish with LED4 tracker in a

plastic Peanut Butter Jar Weather Dome.
http://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRF5305_-55V_-31A_6mO_Vth-4.0_TO-220.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRF5305_-55V_-31A_6mO_Vth-4.0_TO-220.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRF5305_-55V_-31A_6mO_Vth-4.0_TO-220.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRLZ44N_55V_47A_22mO_Vth2.5.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRLZ44N_55V_47A_22mO_Vth2.5.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRLZ44N_55V_47A_22mO_Vth2.5.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRF5305_-55V_-31A_6mO_Vth-4.0_TO-220.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRF5305_-55V_-31A_6mO_Vth-4.0_TO-220.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRF5305_-55V_-31A_6mO_Vth-4.0_TO-220.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRLZ44N_55V_47A_22mO_Vth2.5.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRLZ44N_55V_47A_22mO_Vth2.5.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRLZ44N_55V_47A_22mO_Vth2.5.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRF5305_-55V_-31A_6mO_Vth-4.0_TO-220.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRF5305_-55V_-31A_6mO_Vth-4.0_TO-220.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRF5305_-55V_-31A_6mO_Vth-4.0_TO-220.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRLZ44N_55V_47A_22mO_Vth2.5.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRLZ44N_55V_47A_22mO_Vth2.5.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRLZ44N_55V_47A_22mO_Vth2.5.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRLZ44N_55V_47A_22mO_Vth2.5.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRF5305_-55V_-31A_6mO_Vth-4.0_TO-220.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRLZ44N_55V_47A_22mO_Vth2.5.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRF5305_-55V_-31A_6mO_Vth-4.0_TO-220.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRLZ44N_55V_47A_22mO_Vth2.5.pdfhttp://www.redrok.com/MOSFET_IRF5305_-55V_-31A_6mO_Vth-4.0_TO-220.pdf


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This dish is to be used to run a small steam engine. The mirrors are 6" Lucite

squares. The ribs are cut from parabolic sections.

The receiver is a flash tube type. The spiral copper tubing is cast into an

aluminum block. The Pyrex cooking dish is the transparent insulating cover. The

backside is insulated with fiberglass. The indicated temperature is about 1100F.The concentration ratio is about 20X or so given the receiver is larger than the

mirror tiles.

vdish1overall

Faceted Dish

vdish1mount

Steam Generator Mount

vdish1steamgenerator

Steam Generator

vdish1melting

Melting aluminum cans

with a propane powered

vdish1flashtube

Spiral copper flash tubes

imbeded in the aluminum.

vdish1receiver
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"weed burner" blow torch.The angle iron and steelplate mold is heated and

the cans poured in.

The tubing is 3/8th inchtubing and about 4' inlength. Be careful not to

over heat the aluminum as

it is possible to melt the

copper. Filling the tubingwith sand helps to prevent

melting by absorbing some

heat when cooling.

Front side of receiverpainted flat black.

vdish1ribs

Parabolic Ribs and Polar

Tripod Mount

vdish1drive

Belt Drive

vdish1led4

LED4 in plastic Peanut

Butter Jar

concentratortemperature

Calculations of Concentrator Temperature Rise.

A number of people have asked the question:

"How hot will my concentrator get?"
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or:

"How much concentration will I need to get to a certain temperature?"

Let's use this example:

"A twelve foot dish focused to a 6 in., 3 in., or one 1 in., diameter receiver.

How can you estimate the temperature of the various smaller diameters?"

Lets review:

X factor is the ratio of the captured sunlight area divided by the radiating

surface area of the receiver. Assuming the back side is well insulated.

12' foot C-band satellite dishes have a focal length of about 10'. At least mine

does.

The sun has an image diameter of about 1/2 of arc. At 10' this perfectly focused

diameter would be:

( 2 * tan( .5 / 2 ) * 10' = .087' * 12"/1' = 1.04"

That's for a perfect parabola. C-band dishes aren't nearly that accurate. So

maybe the diameter is about 3".

So firstly, you can't get to a 1" diameter.

3" is about (144"/3")2 = 2304X6" is about (144"/6")2 = 576X

"How can you estimate the temperature of the various smaller diameters?"

The simple answer is you can't. Temperature of a receiver is only loosely related

to X. The more important factors are:

1. Rate of heat removal.For instance if the heat removal is infinite thenthe temperature would be the same as ambient.

2. The selectivity of the surface of the receiver.Good selective surfaces such as black nickel oxideare pretty good and will attain a higher temperaturedue to not radiating as much heat back to space.

3. A limiting factor is the surface temperature of the sun.Generally considered to be about 10000F or about 5600C.

4. The quality of the reflectivity of the mirror.I usually assume this at 80% to 85% regardless of whatthe manufacturer of the Mylar films say.

Another way to help in the understanding of receiver temperature is it is a kind

of balance. The receiver, insulated on the back side, radiates into a hemisphere.


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The dish appears to cover a portion of the hemisphere.

The ratio:

(dish angular surface area) / (a hemisphere) * 10000F = Temp

This implies that a receiver temperature is independent of X.

And this is true. However larger receivers have other losses such as:

1. Convection loss2. Process heat removal

What are you trying to do?

Generate steam?

Steam receivers don't have to be particularly small as the temperatures are

limited by the steam system.

See our experimental receiver above.

This dish has a no thermal output temperature rise of about 1100F with aconcentration of about 20X. We estimate this is about correct for the dish

angular area.

sphericalcollectormath

* Here is an Excel spreadsheet to do the math.http://www.redrok.com/sphericalcollectormath.xls

Another way to use this information on our system.

1100F = 0% efficiency. ( No output of steam.)50F = 100% efficiency ( Perfect cooling of the

receiver.)

Other efficiencies are approximately linear between these.837F = 25%575F = 50%312F = 75%

Actually the lower temperatures will have higher efficiencies because convection

losses are reduced.

Does this make sense?

martins


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* Welcomb to CopperopolisMartin's web page.

View from the south.Martin lives in southern

California

about 100 miles from theocean.

This is why the array has a

severe tilt back.

Weather dome using a glass

lamp

fixture obtained at Home

Depot.

That's an older LED3 inside.

LED4 under test.

Note! The LED sensors are

directlymounted on the main board and

the

remote sensor board wasn't

used.

Pre Construction

Base hole ready for concrete.
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assemblyled4

Assembly Instructions for the LED4.opperatingled4

Operating Instructions for the LED4.

Actuator.I have more circuits here along with a bunch of data about Satellite dish linear

actuators. The circuits on this page are not finished nor fully tested.

chace1

Jeremiah Chace's Analog Solar TrackerSchematic.

Chace1

Tracker Schematic.

Some guys on the net have expressed a desire for a simple analog solar tracker to

operate their concentrator projects. Jeremiah Chace sent me a schematic for

such a tracker. His circuit was based on a Cadmium Sulfide, CdS, photo cell with

a relay output. There were a couple of problems with the circuit. After some

discussions with him I made some improvements and here are the results.

The basic operation is essentially that of 2 separate photo sensor circuits in pairs.

Each separate sensor circuit has a control pot to set it's sensitivity for bright

sunlight.
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It is important to have a thorough understanding of the operation of the circuit

in order to be successful in making the correct adjustments for acceptable

operation. One must do the adjustments on a clear cloudless day. At the very

least wait until the sun is between clouds.

CdS cells have a wide variance in the resistance they exhibit in bright sunlight.Generally the resistance is too low for this type of circuit. I have found that the

CdS cells can be modified to have higher resistance by painting the cells with a

black marker. I use a Sharpie black permanent marker. I paint this on all sides

and edges. If you get too much on it can be removed with fingernail polish

remover or acetone.

The correct amount of blackening is when the adjustment pot is approximately

at mid setting when the circuit is tilted so about half of the cell is illuminated by

sunlight and half covered by the light blocker. Repeat this painting of the cells

until all 4 CdS cells are adjusted.

I have found a helpful tool to make the adjustment easier. Just use a small

mirror to reflect sunlight onto the CdS cell. By covering one cell with the finger

and reflecting light onto the other cell the tracker can be moved at will. This

allows the cell sensitivity adjustments to be easily made.

The painting procedure would not be very easy to get accurate were it not for the

pot. The settings seem stable but I haven't had very much time on the circuit. I

suspect that the most problem would be the fading of the black marker. If this

happens I suppose a different more permanent light filter coating could bedevised. Possibly Parsons Black which is carbon lampblack in spar varnish.

P.S. I have had about 4 months of operation on the tracker and have not seen

any problems.

There have been days where no bright solar radiation falls on the sensors the

tracker just stays in the last position that movement occurred. The panel is not at

the optimum orientation to gather the maximum amount of energy from this

diffuse radiation during these times.

In the long run this is not a problem. Of course the amount of energy is less than

optimum during cloudy times. The gain due to tracking greatly exceeds the dim

time loss.


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chaceshadow

Sensor and shadow light blocker.

Each CdS cell of a pair is on each side of a central light divider with a top light

blocker. The light blocker is just wide enough to block both CdS cells when the

sun is dead on center. In this example the light divider is made of rubber and the

light blocker is an old aluminized 5.25" floppy disk write protector. The

materials used are not critical. They need only be light opaque. The light divider

should be black and non reflective. The blocker could be made from reflective

aluminum foil to prevent heat buildup.

Note! The CdS cells are highly angled in such a way that they are generallyaimed at a portion of the sky that is away from the sun. This helps to get the

platform moving in the right direction when far off track.

If either CdS cell is uncovered by the light blocker it will conduct heavily and the

associated power driver will move the actuator in such a way that the CdS cell is

again covered.

When neither CdS cell is exposed to bright light the actuator is prevented from

moving. This leaves the tracker at the last moved to position. Little power is

expended searching for a new position when in dim light.

The light blocker is supposed to never let both CdS cell be exposed to bright

light. However it could happen. If this condition occurs the actuator is prevented

from moving or hunting. This saves power by moving only when necessary.

This schematic is for one axis. The second axis is the same as the first and uses

the other half of theLM339comparator.

When the sun is behind clouds the actuator is prevented from moving or

hunting. When the sun comes back out the tracker will move toward it again.

When the sun sets the platform remains aimed to the west. In the morning the

easterly aimed CdS cell becomes active and the platform positions itself back to

the east.

In my example I have the light dividers about 2 inches long. If a tighter angular

tolerance is desired the light dividers can be made longer.
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Overall Layout.

The layout of the circuit has the CdS cells mounted on the eastern side of the

board. The east/west, right ascension, pair is on the left. The north/south,

declination, pair is on the right. The output power drivers are in the foreground.

I have mounted the power MOSFETs in such a way that they form the output

terminals. Another example is pictured in my heliostat I/O board shown

here:Terminals.

The PC board is all single sided using mostly 1/4 Watt resistors and capacitors

mounted in surface mount fashion. This prototype construction technique is fastand easy to build. If the board is to be built in larger quantities a through hole

board could be build with the parts in exactly the same location as the surface

mount version.

(Any one want one? Email me at: )

Here is my 1998 US cost breakdown in single quantities.IRF9Z34 $1.82 * 4 = $7.28Digi-KeyIRFZ34 $1.25 * 4 = $5.00Digi-KeyLM339 $ .49 * 1 = $0.49Digi-Key

resistors $ .02 * 20 = $ .47Digi-KeyPot D4AA15 $ .22 * 4 = $ .88Digi-KeyCdS Cell $ .35 * 4 = $1.40JamecoTotal $15.42

A true surface mount board using conventional, tiny, surface mount parts would

make the board about 1/2 the present size. All the components are available in

surface mount form except the CdS cells. Even the power transistors can be had

in surface mount.

Documents

Sun Seeker Project 2