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Sun-relative pointing for dual-axis solar trackers employing azimuth and elevation rotations

Riley, Daniel R.; Hansen, Clifford H.

We present an algorithm to calculate the azimuth and elevation angles for a dual axis tracker to be pointed away from the sun with a desired orientation between the sun and the tracker face. Desired tracker positions are specified in terms of angle of incidence (AOI) and AOI direction, i.e., the direction of the projection of the sun beam onto the plane of the tracker face. This algorithm was developed to enable characterization of the electro-optical response of photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating PV (CPV) modules with anisotropic response to AOI.