Sun tracker

Abstract

The basic idea of this invention is to use many small solar energy transfer units like solar cells, each of them is of the same size and installed on the surface of a spherical structure and toward a certain direction in a 3-D space, the position of each unit is saved in a database, by using a comparison unit to compare the output of these solar energy transfer units, the optimized sun direction can be determined; a compass maybe used to install the said sun tracker in a fixed place.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This patent filing claims the benefit of earlier filed provisional applications: Application No. 60/861,212, filing date Nov. 27, 2006, Conformation No. 3829, filing receipt *OC000000021502638*, Title, Sun tracker.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

[0002] Not applicable.

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING

[0003] Not applicable.

COMPACT DISC APPENDIX

[0004] Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Solar energy becomes more and more efficient, with its low pollution and the unlimited renewable energy resources; it has a bright future for the future. In order to make good use of the solar energy, a simple and high precise sun tracker is necessary. Most of the existing sun tracker is either less precise or more complicated; the invention of this sun tracker is to propose another kind of simple sun tracker with high precision.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] This invention is a device which is able to tell the direction of the sun, it is simple and also could be of high precision; by using this device, the positions of some the solar energy devices driven by hydraulic systems or a electromechanical systems could be modified to work toward the sun direction, this way, the utilization of the sun energy can be increased to a higher level.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0007] Not applicable.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] Solar energy has a broad application as a main source of low pollution and renewable energy resources. sun-tracker which is able to determine the optimal direction for a solar energy device to work toward, some solar energy transfer unit is fixed on a basic spherical structure and each of them towards a certain direction, the direction of all said solar energy transfer units around said basic spherical structure represent almost all the directions in a 3-D space, except a small surface area will be used to fix the sun tracker; If sun tracker is fixed, then the working direction of each solar energy transfer unit is certain and by comparing the output from each solar energy transfer unit, the optimal direction for other solar energy devices located at the same area can be determined; said sun tracker comprising,

Claims

1. what is claimed is a sun-tracker which is able to determine the optimal direction for a solar energy device to work toward, some solar energy transfer unit is fixed on a basic spherical structure and each of them towards a certain direction, the direction of all said solar energy transfer units around said basic spherical structure represent almost all the directions in a 3-D space, except a small surface area will be used to fix the sun tracker; if sun tracker is fixed, then the working direction of each solar energy transfer unit is certain and by comparing the output from each solar energy transfer unit, the optimal direction for other solar energy devices located at the same location can be determined.

2. said sun tracker comprising a basic spherical structure, said basic spherical structure could be a spherical or a spherical based polyhedron structure, optionally the polyhedron are a regular polyhedron.

3. said sun tracker comprising polygon solar-energy transfer unit, said polygon solar-energy transfer units are attached to said basic spherical structure or the surface of said polyhedron structure; optionally each of the said polygons are regular polygons; all of said polygon solar-energy transfer units are of the same working area, the same photo to electricity, photo to thermo or photo to other kind of energy transfer efficiency; each of said polygon solar-energy transfer units is fixed on said basic spherical structure surface toward a certain direction, optionally each said polygon solar-energy transfer unit is tangential to said basic spherical structure surface at the attach point or attach surface of said polygon solar-energy transfer unit to said basic spherical structure.

4. said solar-energy transfer unit is able to transfer the solar energy it received to certain output signals like electrical voltage, electrical current, temperature, pressure, stress, strain etc; said solar-energy transfer unit could be but not limited to photovoltaic cell etc; optionally electrical resistances or other elements are used to help obtain said output signals from said solar energy transfer units; optionally a database could be built to store the information such as number, relative location and working direction of each solar energy transfer units; a compare circuit is used to calculate out the one with the maximum output and the one with the minimum output, optionally a small controller with some or all of these functionalities are included, like comparison functions, memory functions ets.