Review Trackers

This task allows you to view the tracker behaviour at different days and times. You can see the tilt of the trackers throughout the day and see the effect of turning backtracking on or off. It obviously only has effect for single-axis tracker layouts. No effect is seen for fixed-tilt rack layouts.

Note

This task is only available (visible) when the currently selected site layout is showing single-axis trackers. It is hidden if the currently selected site layout is for racks.

Change the map to 3D mode. Then modify the date and time using the controls on the left:

Review Trackers (click to enlarge)

The sun position is calculated and the tracker algorithm is run to calculate the rotation angle of each of the trackers in the layout. These are then displayed in real-time in the 3D view. The tilt angles of the trackers depend on the angle of the sun, the pitch (distance between the rows of trackers) and whether backtracking is turned on or not (in the tracker system specification).

For a single day, click and hold your mouse cursor above (or below) the time slider control. This has the effect of moving the time by 10 minutes to give a simple animation throughout the day.

There are options (checkboxes in the bottom left) to display:

  • Sun direction arrows (can be useful - especially when the trackers are backtracking)
  • Row-to-row shadows (shadows caused by other trackers)
  • Shadows on the ground caused by the trackers