Featured in Suntech's darkest hour – 05-2013

Let robots do the job

Tracking systems: QBotix robots glide along a monorail connecting an array of PV panels and aligning them with the sun’s position every 40 minutes. This way, two robots can replace two hundred pairs of traditional tracker system motors.
By
Charles W. Thurston

The value proposition of the robotically-managed tracker system developed by QBotix, of Menlo Park, California, seems difficult to ignore. By substantially reducing the amount of steel and number of motors in a traditional tracker design, their two-axis system produces 30-40% more energy compared to a fixed mount system. Two robots replace 200 pairs of traditional …

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