Tracking system on PVsol

[Maha Dardir]

Hello,

Can you please explain the difference between the rotational axis incline and rotational angle opening?

 

[developer_mh]

Dear Maha Dardir,

please have a look at our help pages where we try to explain all the tracking options and parameters:

https://help.valentin-software.com/pvsol/2018/pages/pv-modules/#tracking

Also, please refer to this forum thread:

And finally this one here:

 

Hope that helps, kind regards,

Martin

[Maha Dardir]

Dear Martin,

Thank you for you for your reply.

However it is still not clear to me the difference between the 2 inputs.

When I set Rotational Axis Incline to 90 (horizontal plane) the result gives a minimum output during summer  and maximum output in winter , which is still confusing because horizontal plane means ~0 tilt angle to south and that should maximize the summer.

 

Please if you have a video or drawing that could explain this better I would really appreciate it

 

Regards,

[developer_mh]

Hi Maha Dardir,

the rotational axis incline is measured from the hoizontal, so 0° means horizontal and 90° means vertical. The Rotational angle of opening can be interpreted as follows: If entered 160°, the module can rotate by 80° to each side around the rotation axis.

Perhaps the following comparison makes it clearer. Take a PV plant without tracking, set it inclination 30° and orientation 180° (in Berlin) and simulate and remember the energy yield. Now choose Single Axis Tracking with North-South axis, set the inclincation of the rotation axis to 30° and limit the rotational angle to 0° (which means that the modules can't rotate). The energy yield will be very nearly the same.

A video would surely be a good thing, I will ask our designer and our 3D team if they can do something like that.

Hope that helps. kind regards,

Martin

[Maha Dardir]

Hello Martin,

Thanks for the explanation, I think it is a bit clearer

 

However there is still something I am confused about, is the tracker rotates from east to west , and the axis is north south, shouldnt the axis be parallel to the land (ie no inclination)?

[developer_mh]

Hello Maha Dardir,

yes, you are right, if you choose a single axis tracker with north-south axis, then the module rotates from east to west. The axis is parallel to the land (horizontal) if you set the rotation axis incline to 0°. However, depending on where you are on our planet, you can yield more energy, if you incline the rotation axis towards the equator.

I also asked our 3D team to come up with some short videos to demonstrate the different tracking options. In the meanwhile I found this image here:

from http://www.wulfdach.de/photovoltaik/nachfuhrsysteme/

The rotation axis (black rod) is inclined here by lets say 25 to 30°. To lower point (where it is mounted, in the lower right corner of the picture) is facing south, and the upper point (not visible in this picture) is facing north. So the axis is still in the North-South plane, but the rotation axis is inclined.

Kind regards,

Martin

[Maha Dardir]

Hello Martin,

ok understood. It is very clear now.

Thanks

[developer_mh]

Hi Maha,

our 3D team just finished the tracking videos, and I really like what came out, please have a look.

This is 1-axis East-West, with red being the Rotation Axis Incline axis (20°) and blue being the Rotational Angle of Opening. This is plus/minus 50° here, so in PV*SOL you enter 100°.

 

This is 1-axis North-South, with red being the Rotation Axis Incline of the (30°) and blue being the Rotational Angle of Opening. This is plus/minus 60° here, so in PV*SOL you enter 120°.

 

This is 1-axis vertical, with red being the inclination of the modules (40°) and blue being the Azimuth Angle of Opening. This is plus/minus 60° here, so in PV*SOL you enter 120°.

 

And then there is 2-axis tracking, I think this is clear to everybody. There is the inclination of the module (red) and the azimuth angle (blue), which you can limit by the Maximum Inclination and Azimuth Angle of Opening.

 

I hope this clarifies the tracking options a bit further, kind regards,

Martin

 

[Aneta]

Hi,

where I can find the option "Sun tracking system" in program PV Sol 2021?

[developer_mh]

Hi Aneta,

you can find the tracking system on the page "PV modules" that is visible if you uncheck the option "Use 3D design" on the page "System Type, Climate and Grid".

Hope that helps, kind regards and a good start into 2021,

Martin

[robin]

Hi,

I have a question.

Is there a way to define the best row distance for a 1 axis vertical tracking system in PVSOl.

 

The mounting angle would be around 17°, panel size 1x2M, portrait mounted. 

 

 

 

 

[developer_fw]

Hi robin,

at the moment this functionality is missing for tracking, since there are no geometrical time-dependent informations about the modules tracked. The interesting situations appear while sunrise and sunset. According to your low inclination angle of 17° I assume you are planning more equator-nearish, so the self shadow losses of the columns that might appear should be minimal (fast change of sun elevation). Is that correct?

I'm afraid you should estimate this geometrically outside of PV*SOL.

Best regards,
Frederik

[saad]

On 1/4/2021 at 1:54 PM, developer_mh said:

Hi Aneta,

you can find the tracking system on the page "PV modules" that is visible if you uncheck the option "Use 3D design" on the page "System Type, Climate and Grid".

Hope that helps, kind regards and a good start into 2021,

Martin

So, this means that if I want to design my system based on sun tracking then it can not be done on 3D? 
Also, does 2D report will generate a 2D layout of the system, If yes then where can i find it?

 

Thanks

[developer_fw]

Hi saad,

this is correct.

The layout of the tracking is not put into the project report. The tracking configuration per module area is part of the project report:

Best regards,
Frederik