The Boeing Company

Scott James Rau

Kitchener Clark Wilson

Karl C Oittinen

A system for tracking a structure relative to the sun using an azimuth motor and an elevation motor, the system including an ephemeris calculator configured to output an anticipated azimuth angle and an anticipated zenith angle of the sun relative to the structure geographic location at a given time, a command calculator configured to generate an azimuth motor shaft position command corresponding to the anticipated azimuth angle and an elevation motor shaft position command corresponding to the anticipated zenith angle, an azimuth control loop configured to minimize a difference between the azimuth motor shaft position command and the actual azimuth motor shaft position, and an elevation control loop configured to minimize a difference between the elevation motor shaft position command and the actual elevation motor shaft position.

Solar tracking system

Concepts and technologies described herein provide for an accurate and cost-effective method for rotating a solar array disk for tracking the movement of the sun. According to various aspects, a motor includes a fixed caliper and a translating caliper positioned adjacent to one another. Electromagnetically controlled brakes on the translating caliper grip the solar array disk while adjacent, but spaced apart, electromagnets on the fixed caliper and the translating caliper are energized to create an attractive force that pulls the translating caliper with the solar array disk toward the fixed caliper. After reaching the fixed caliper, brakes on the fixed caliper are engaged with the disk, brakes on the translating caliper are released from the disk, and the translating caliper is pushed back to the starting location where the process repeats until the desired rotation is completed.

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Murrieta, CA, United States of America

Scott James Rau