Focal point tracking system for concentration solar power collection

This paper proposes a novel concentration solar collector. Instead of rotating a heavy concentrating lens, the proposed system moves the photo transducer. The design requires no exposed moving parts that are difficult to maintain, it also consumes less power to move the light weight solar transducer. The design is also suitable for vertical applications like building walls. With the fixed concentration lens, the focal point moves along a strange curve. This paper reports the procedure to calculate the trajectory. This research then builds an experimental setup to verify the concept. The experimental results show that the proposed focal tracking system achieves comparable solar energy conversion efficiency to the conventional systems.