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The open-source solar panel that passively tracks the sun using nothing but water & gravity: (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I thought this ingenious invention might interest some folk on here:

The SunSaluter is a solar panel rotator designed for the developing world. Using only the power of gravity with a water clock, the SunSaluter enables a solar panel to passively follow the sun throughout the day, boosting energy output by 30% and producing four liters of clean drinking water.

https://www.sunsaluter.org/

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Principle: water clock, see-saw balance. Water drips from a bottle through a mechanical filter, reducing its weight and continuously swaying the solar panel. Needs to be refilled in the morning of course.

By the way, the thumbnail pic shows a misadjusted one, that solar panel is very much not facing the sun.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

If only we managed to put some electricity generator there somewhere, we could avoid the trouble of having to fill that water bottle every day...

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Only one axis. So only really useful near the equator?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

You only need one axis for the daily movement (it's not horizontal except for the rare few days between the tropics but you can modify the design to use a slanted one). A manual yearly movement can be done by having the user move a lever to the next date mark when refilling the bottle every day.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I beg to differ. But one axis is definitely better than zero axes.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Earth rotation is, by definition, about a single axis. Therefore you only need one to track it. You are neglecting the possibility of an array normal that isn't perpendicular to the axis of rotation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Sorry, you're actually right!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Cheer up bud.