New Hydraulic Pivot<br><br>

<a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?InternationalAutomat/53481cc31d/de1a428f6f/d102166ca9">Here's a video</a> of IAUS' new proprietary hydraulic pivot. This unique hydraulic pivot was developed for the purpose of replacing the gear IAUS has been using on the east/west pivot of its dual-axis solar tracking system.<br><br>

Due to the wingspan and size of the solar panel truss assembly the IAUS' gear system presented potential pitfalls that the company desired to avoid in the future. IAUS' new hydraulic drive reduces the pivot mechanism's cost, increases accuracy, avoids a potential large-scale mass-production manufacturing bottleneck, and allows for both ultra-slow (tracking) as well as high-speed (resetting or turning out of the wind) movement.<br><br>

<a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?InternationalAutomat/53481cc31d/de1a428f6f/d102166ca9">The first video</a> is a short animated feature of the preliminary design prior to the actual fabrication of the components. The video starts out with a top down view and finishes with a view from the side.<br><br>

<a href="http://cts.vresp.com/c/?InternationalAutomat/53481cc31d/de1a428f6f/18c60699dd">The second video</a> shows a test run of the actual manufactured and installed drive. Some adjustments were made from the original design during fabrication and installation such as lengthening the ram drives and reducing the number of rings and hydraulic rams by nearly half.<br><br>

This gear replacement is a unique landmark pivot design for dual-axis tracking that, to our knowledge, has never been done. The new component took longer to refine than expected but has not disappointed. <br><br>

Dual-axis tracking produces an increased number of solar hours per year. An IAUS solar power plant can produce up to 30%+ more annual energy than a fixed plate PV solar power plant of the same size.<br><br>