Monitoring dampers – protecting solar trackers intelligently Smart solutions for solar dampers
How do you know if the solar tracker dampers installed in huge photovoltaic power stations are providing lasting protection?
Stabilus offers even more than just damping technology – now also available is a smart solution for monitoring the dampers’ operating cycles. This precludes long downtimes for testing.
How it used to be: are they damping or not – that is the question
A bit of background: Solar trackers guide solar panels to follow the position of the sun in order to increase the system’s efficiency. And when it’s windy, trackers protect these valuable components against damage.
WindTamer dampers will provide an important service here (currently in development). Once dampers have been installed for some time, it can’t be said for certain whether they still have enough hydraulic oil for damping. Until now, this meant that you had to weigh or visually inspect each individual damper – that adds up to several weeks of downtime for a large solar farm.
With smart solutions: clear indication of status – safe operation – greater return
When a solar farm’s weather monitoring station detects strong incoming winds, the each individual trackers gets parked in a safe position to prevent damage. At least until now.
The new patent-pending process from Stabilus retrieves the status of the dampers from the “black box.” It helps smart solar dampers “know” when they need to be replaced so a notification can be sent accordingly.
What this means for the solar farm operator: The trackers can keep on running, thus helping generate clean energy with a high degree of efficiency. They also reduce effort and downtime considerably by eliminating visual and manual damper inspection processes.