A Silicon Valley startup has designed an innovative new monorail system of robots for tilting solar panels toward the sun, increasing the amount of electricity produced by up to 15 percent and changing the game for the future management of solar-energy systems.
People already can use motor-powered trackers to tilt solar panels toward the sun as it moves throughout the day to optimize energy output. However, these systems are often complex and expensive to install and maintain. The QBotix Tracking System (QTS) by Menlo Park, Calif.-based QBotix, however, is the first comprehensive and intelligent system to use robots to automate this task, reducing the amount of energy it takes to tilt the panels while optimizing energy production, according to the company.
The QBotix Tracking System uses a monorail system of robots to tilt solar panels toward the sun as it moves throughout the day, replacing tracking systems that are complex and expensive to install and maintain. (Source: QBotix)
QTS also includes intelligent sensors that collect data on the health of the system and transmit data about the system’s energy production, health, and other information back to the owner of the panels for real-time monitoring.
QBotix -- founded by a team of solar industry and robotics experts from Silicon Valley, MIT, Caltech, and Stanford -- so far has secured $7.4 million in venture capital funding for its solar-panel robotics system, generating significant buzz for its innovation and potential ability to revolutionize the solar-power industry.
“QBotix Tracking System is a game changer in the area of solar balance-of-systems,” said Peter Shannon, managing director of the Firelake Capital Management -- one of QBotix’s VC backers -- in a press release. “There is no system that provides such a dramatic value proposition in the market.”
The primary reason for Shannon and the solar power industry’s enthusiasm for the system is its intelligent and efficient design, allowing QTS to work at a lower cost with more accurate positioning capability than existing motor-powered trackers. Typical trackers can either be single-axis or dual-axis, with the latter a more expensive option because it makes more precise adjustments for the movements of the sun and thus requires more motors for power.
QTS also leverages dual-axis tracking, with two autonomous battery-driven robots -- one serving as primary controller and one as back-up -- to manage 300 kilowatts of solar panels, moving them once every 40 minutes. Those panels are installed on mounting systems designed by the company and don’t need their own individual motors, traveling on a monorail to adjust the mounting system for optimal solar positioning, according to QBotix.
The result is a robotic-powered tracking system that requires up to 20 percent less electricity to run while increasing the output of the panels by up to 15 percent. The system also is compatible with all standard solar modules, inverters, and foundation types used in ground-mounted installations, making it versatile and practical, according to QBotix.
QTS has already been successfully deployed in a testing environment and will soon be used in its first commercial deployment in San Francisco, according to the company.
Looks like a pretty compelling use case, particularly for large-scale, commercial implementations where there are hundreds of solar panels. Not sure the cost incurred with a robotic-based system can hold up to smaller or even residential installations, though.
I would think this would be most cost effective on newly installed systems. I would be interested to know how this would work retrofitting existing installations. A 15% increase in output of panels would add a substantial amount of power to even residential systems. To reduce the number of panels needed by 15% may make, even residential systems, more viable. I would be concerned with the security of this system in adverse weather conditions, like how much wind could this system handle?
I would be interested in seeing a comparison of the costs of a robotic system vs. the cost of individual panels. Since regardless of the type of installation you implement, you still need space, I'm wondering if as the panels become a commodity it would be cheaper to jsut add additional panels rather than trying to relocate them over a robotic track?
I think the point here is to not have motors on each pan/tilt axis of the panels. You drive the robot to the panel and make the adjustment, so there are no motors on the panels. This reduces the number of motors and drives in the system to no more than 3 - one to move the robot from panel to panel, and two to adjust the pan/tilt axes. A clever mechical design could probably get it done with a single motor and some clutches.
The robot moves the motors to the solar panels, makes the adjustment(s) on that panel, moves to the next panel, makes the adjustments, etc. That is why it takes 40 minutes to do the adjustments on a 300kw installation - it is a round-robin affair. It can only get to each panel so often.
Thanks, ttemple. I was unsure why this was better than existing tracking systems until I read your explanation. I'd really like to see a comparison, in terms of power consumed and cost, of this system versus conventional tracking.
PROCAD, a leader in 3D and 2D piping design software, released its newest product PapriCAD 3D. Built on a scalable data-centric platform, PapriCAD® 3D offers a comprehensive solution that delivers 3D modeling, component design, material reports plus AutoCAD. Quickly transform ideas into data rich 3D piping installations with minimal training, accelerated productivity and lowered costs.http://bit.ly/NmdQGu
Elizabeth, I had seen a similar system in a solar farm. Al the panel structure is attached to a small motor, which will rotate the entire panel structure in synchronize with the position of sun. This will help to fall the sun rays directly over the panel and hence a better efficiency.
Ttemple, instead of doing the rotation to individual panel, I would like to suggest another method. Fix all the solar panel in a single structure and by using a powerful motor they can rotate the entire structure in a single move. The power for motor rotation can be generated from solar panel itself.
I presume that a 300kw "farm" would cover possibly acres of area, which would make a single movement impractical. If there were both pan and tilt adjustments it would be more impractical.
This picture may not represent the article well. Look at where the shadows are vs. the direction of the panels. I am all for Solar but there are too many magical mirrors and fuzzy government math claims to convince me it is even close to being economical. Why doesn't someone print the actual facts and figures?
New disc magnet motors fit into the design trend of stepping up to closed loop performance while maintaining the cost advantage of stepper motor technology.
At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
The push to achieving more intelligent, integrated manufacturing is putting a strong focus on networking and connectivity as key enabling technologies.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
0 
