Applicable to SunDAT Pro, Standard, & Essential
Overview
Create a 1P single axis tracker (1 solar panel wide) table.
Step by Step
- In Choose 'New' or an existing Tracker Table select New in the drop-down menu
- In Table name, give the table a name
- For the Orientation toggle, keep the default Portrait
- Choose a module to be used in the table Choose a module from the library
- Under String Size type in the modules per string.
- Next, go to Rows per tracker and type in 1 for the input to specify this is a 1P tracker
- In the Strings per table input, input the number of strings that will be in the table.
- For Module spacing, specify the gap between modules. This input can be specified in multiple units you want to use by click unit and selecting in the drop down which unit to use. Typically this will be in inches or millimeters.
- Leave the Additional E-W Module spacing blank.
- In Tracker Height, specify the height of the table when it is flat (0 degrees rotation) and from the ground to the bottom of the module.
- (Optional) If PVbid is going to be used for cost estimation, you can choose a racking type that is available in PVBid
- Select the Additional tracker configuration toggle to expand the box to specify additional gaps for allow for driveline or motor and bearing cap gap if they necessary.
- Under Driveline gap, go to the After x Columns. This is input will specify where the gap should be for either a driveline or motor by counting the number of modules form one end of the table.
- Example 1: if a tracker table has (2) strings of 28 modules with (2) strings on each side of the motor, the input would be 28.
- Example 1: if a tracker table has (3) strings of 28 modules with the motor at the center of the tracker row (balanced number of modules), the input would be 42.
- Next, choose Columns in the Type dropdown.
- For the Gap specify the length of the driveline gap.
- If bearing gaps are used in your tracker follow these steps. Otherwise in the Type dropdown select None and skip to step 20.
- For the Before x Columns input, specify after how many modules should a module gap be placed. Note the counting of the bearing gap stars from the middle of the tracker table.
- Next, choose Columns in the Type dropdown.
- Specify the gap length for the bearing cap gaps.
- Press the Create button to create the tracker table and you will be taken to a view of the tracker table. Press OK in the dialog box to come back to SunDAT.
Example of the basic inputs for a 1P tracker