A new multilevel solar panel system for urban areas

Abstract

A new multilevel solar panel system is proposed for its use in urban residential solar home systems. The proposed system consists of three panels mounted in a rack one above another at a fixed distance from each other to minimize the floor area while shifted horizontally from each other by half the panel width to avoid shading of the lower panels. In the proposed system, the panels will be fitted with a tracking system to track the sun to maximize the energy collection. Further, a gliding mechanism is perceived for the panels that will enable the panels glide both ways and realign as the sun moves from east to west to avoid shading. Initial calculation, done for March 21st, shows that the proposed multilevel three panel system can harness 18.6% more energy than the three conventional fixed panel systems with 33% less area. The proposed system will be useful for large urban city dwellers, especially in third world countries, where not only electricity is in short supply, availability of roof top space to install solar panels is also very limited.