Tracker efficiencies - generalized [RE-wrenches]

[Joel Davidson]

One of my customers at Golden, CO (cold and cloudy winters), goes out in the
evening to look at the sky and pee. He has a string on his Zomeworks trackers to
pull them around to the east. In the morning before he goes to work, he releases
the string.

jeff.oldham at realgoods.com wrote:

> Hi Windy,
> Yes, I am including passive trackers. Although I think the design of these
> things is one of the most elegant of mans mechanical creation. I just can't
> get past the "psychological wrenching" of seeing the sun on the backside of
> the array for at least an hour in the morning! I replaced my two about 8-9
> years ago w/a Wattsun and have been a lot happier. I work on the Wattsun
> about once a year and as you said the Zomeworks rarely ever need work.
> However, I, and maybe folks I know, pull them over in the morning and tie
> them off 'til the sun comes on 'round. This is a lot like work. In my larger
> installs w/multiple trackers they sure look stupid pointing all over the
> place and these are commercial customers that care a lot what the install
> looks like! I agree with you in that the best application (and probably the
> only one) is for water pumping. I agree with Ian in that over the life of
> the array tracking is not as economical as a fixed array. In my over 20
> years in this field I'I've only had two clients pissed off at my designs
> (knock on wood!) and both cases it was over trackers that I could not
> satisfy them with. I'm "fixed" in my ways for good now!
>
> Have a good weekend all.
>
> -jeff
>
> >       From the Solar, Wind & Hydro Powered office of:
> >       Jeff Oldham
> >       Gaiam- Real Goods & Jade Mountain
> >       Design & Consulting Group
> >       11755 Mid. Mtn. Rd.
> >       Potter Valley, CA 95469  USA
> >
> >       Ph: 303.222.3814
> >       Fax: 707.743.1820
> >
> >       www.solardevelopment.com
> >
> >       "When you turn to face the Sun all shadows fall behind you"
> >       - Old African Proverb
> >
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Windy Dankoff, Dankoff Solar [mailto:windy at dankoffsolar.com]
> Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 5:03 PM
> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> Subject: RE: Tracker efficiencies - generalized [RE-wrenches]
>
> >.... Personally, I've about
> >had it w/trackers. I'm willing to work on mine all of the time but my
> >clients are at their wits end.
> >
> >Jeff Oldham
>
> Jeff,
>
> Are you including Zomeworks passive trackers in the above statement?
> That would be very surprising. They are extremely durable in my
> experience. You replace a shock absorber or two every 5 years or so.
> Leakage of the working fluid is pretty rare and can be fixed by
> replacing the cannister assembly.
>
> UNIRack now has a passive tracker on the same principle.
>
> To estimate the gain from passive tracking, you need to take the
> theoretical data you might get from NREL, and subtract a factor for
> less accuracy, less range of motion, morning wake-up delay, and
> occasional wind-shift. I would guess it's about 15% less gain.
>
> We sell lots of passive trackers for water pumping systems, only
> discouraging their use in extreme wind areas or extremely turbulent
> sites.
>
> Windy
>
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