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Comment by weinzierl

We researched this thoroughly in the early 2000s and came to pretty much the same conclusion even back then.

For us the main problem was the reliability of the mover. If enough panels face the wrong direction for long enough it is worse than facing the sun in a good enough fixed position all the time.

Our angle was to use a simple motor that runs with constant speed and use a special patented gear (called VIAX) to turn that simple movement into a sun following motion. The bet was that a still simple mechanical gear would be more reliable than complicated electronics.

In the end none of our simulations made us confident any moving solution wouldn't eat the profits.

EDIT: For anyone interested, here is the patent. I think it is a really nice idea. https://patents.google.com/patent/EP0114240A1/en

parent weinzierl 1 year ago

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