US 12,345,613 B2
System and method for flexible solar tracker and testing
Christopher Thomas Needham, Mountain View, HI (US); and Frank Carl Oudheusden, Mont Vernon, NH (US)
Assigned to FCX SOLAR LLC, Mont Vernon, NH (US)
Filed by FCX Solar LLC, Mont Vernon, NH (US)
Filed on Aug. 21, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/452,590.
Application 18/452,590 is a continuation of application No. 17/810,972, filed on Jul. 6, 2022, granted, now 11,774,321.
Application 17/810,972 is a continuation of application No. 17/455,407, filed on Nov. 17, 2021, granted, now 11,402,294, issued on Aug. 2, 2022.
Application 17/455,407 is a continuation of application No. 17/365,986, filed on Jul. 1, 2021, granted, now 11,209,337, issued on Dec. 28, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2024/0060850 A1, Feb. 22, 2024
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01M 9/06 (2006.01); G01M 9/04 (2006.01)
CPC G01M 9/06 (2013.01) [G01M 9/04 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of prototyping a solar tracker in a wind tunnel comprising:
configuring a scale model of a flexible solar tracker system in a wind tunnel in a low angle stow position, the scale model including a damper assembly that passively shift between multiple damping ratio stages based on damper speed, wherein a first damping ratio stage corresponding to slower damper speeds has a lesser total system damping ratio than a second damping ratio stage corresponding to faster damper speeds;
in response to said configuring, executing a dynamic loading wind tunnel test on the flexible solar tracker system that causes the damper assembly to passively shift between the multiple damping ratio stages; and
generating multiple total system damping measurements based on the dynamic wind loading test.