Featured in Awarding impactful innovators – 01-2020

Stiff competition on the track

Stiffness – a lot more of it – could be the answer to single-axis tracker windy problems. The first batch of pioneering manufacturers have put forward revised designs that rely on stiffness more than on damping. Doing so has allowed them to create stable 2P designs, a configuration in which there is considerable interest as bifacial arrays proliferate.

By

Marian Willuhn

13 Jan 2020

Image: Ideematec

In 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in the United States infamously collapsed. While under construction, the suspension bridge was seen dancing in the wind. The engineers tried to add damping, but it didn’t help. The bridge collapsed six months after its inauguration. The replacement bridge featured a significantly strengthened truss design, adding considerable stiffness to …

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