Disclosed are methods and functional elements for enhanced thermal management of predominantly enclosed spaces. In particular, the invention enables the construction of buildings with reduced power requirements for heating and/or air-conditioning systems since under certain conditions less energy for heating or cooling is required to maintain, within certain boundaries, desirable temperatures inside such buildings, habitats, or other enclosed spaces.

In some instances the invention is in part based on dynamically changing functional elements with variable properties, or effective properties, in terms of their electromagnetic radiative behavior and/or their thermal energy storage properties, or the spatial distribution of the stored thermal energy, which permits the application of methods and algorithms to control the overall thermal behavior of the entire structure in such a way that desired levels of inside temperature can be reached with reduced consumption of external energy (typically electricity, gas, oil, or coal).

In some instances no conventional heating of cooling is required at all, whereas in other instances the expenditure of external energy for conventional heating or cooling is reduced. In some instances the invention enables the reduction of the time to reach desired temperatures inside such buildings, habitats, or other predominantly enclosed spaces.

In some instances the obtained sensor data may be used to detect the occurrence or imminently predicted occurrence of a catastrophic event, including but not limited to fire or flooding, internal or external to the predominantly enclosed space.

In some embodiments this information may support any single or any combination of locally or remotely alerting humans, alerting rescue units, activating countermeasures, uploading at least partially said sensor data to off-site computers, determining the cause(s) of said catastrophic event, determining liability, determining insure payments, determining insurance premiums.

Provided is a sun tracking solar system, comprising a light focusing device and a solar energy utilization device. The system further comprises a drive mechanism (130), or further comprises a light guide device (240) and a drive mechanism (230). The drive mechanism is configured to drive a light-receiving surface to move with the sun. The light-receiving surface receives sunlight after convergence thereof by the light focusing device, and the driven light-receiving surface may be a light-receiving surface of the light energy utilization device (120), and may further be a light-receiving surface of the light guide device (240) located between the light focusing device (210) and the light energy utilization device (220). Since the driven surface is the light-receiving surface after light convergence, an area of the driven surface is usually less than an area of an original light-receiving surface. This simplifies a structure of the drive mechanism, reduces difficulty in sun tracking, energy consumption, and costs, and expands the application scope of a sun tracking solar system, or enhances the production efficiency of a sun tracking solar system.

Prior art solar energy arrangements are typically structurally complex, have a limited concentration factor and temperature, and their dimensions are large. There is provided a solar energy arrangement and corresponding method for utilizing solar energy by directing sunrays or sunbeams with at least one solar concentrator towards at least one application, device or equipment utilizing solar energy, and a corresponding method, system and computer program product for implementing an arrangement for utilizing solar energy.

Disclosed is a solar panel arrangement. The solar panel arrangement comprises a plurality of solar panels operable to be stacked vertically. Each solar panel of the plurality of solar panels is vertically spaced apart from each adjacent solar panel by a predetermined distance. The predetermined distance is based on a solar elevation angle to be incident on the plurality of solar panels and lengths of each solar panel of the plurality of solar panels. The solar panel arrangement further comprises a coupling mechanism operable to support the plurality of solar panels in a vertically stacked position.

A grid assembly intelligent photovoltaic power generation system includes a supporting unit, a separated composite stand secured on the supporting unit, a shaft with a square cross-section shape arranged on the separated composite stand and capable of rotating on the separated composite stand and a plurality of photovoltaic panels secured onto the shaft with a square cross-section shape and forming a single-row of photovoltaic panel grid; wherein in a condition that a plurality of the photovoltaic panel grids form a photovoltaic array, a certain distance is formed between each row of the photovoltaic panel grid. The present invention overcomes the problem of sunlight blind spots of traditional photovoltaic array power stations, and the present invention can be installed on top of fishponds and agricultural lands such that the top of the structure utilizes the photovoltaic panels for power generation and the bottom thereof can be used for growth of agricultural corps in order to achieve diverse utilization of land.

Methods and systems are disclosed that automatically determine solar access values. In one implementation, a 3D geo-referenced model of a structure is retrieved in which geographic location on the earth of points in the 3D geo-referenced model are stored or associated with points in the 3D geo-referenced model. Object point cloud data indicative of object(s) that cast shade on the structure is retrieved. The object point cloud data may be generated from one or more georeferenced images and the object point cloud data is indicative of an actual size, shape, and location of the object(s) on the earth. The structure in the 3D geo-referenced model is divided into one or more sections, which are divided into one or more areas, each area having at least three vertices. Then, a solar access value for the particular vertex is determined.

A sun tracking plant growing system includes a body having a first face, a second face opposed to the first face and a peripheral connecting edge which is relatively small, as compared to the size of the first face and the second face. A mounting enables the body to pivot about a pivot axis. Plant supports, which receive plants, are supported by the body. A sun tracking mechanism is provided which senses or calculates the position of the sun and adjusts the orientation of the body about the pivot axis to maintain a selected portion of the peripheral connecting edge of the body facing the sun so as to provide desirable and naturally attenuated sunlight exposure according to plants' needs on both faces throughout a day. This system allows that multiple rows or single row of the plural bodies are arrayed closely together without creating shadows to each other.

The present invention includes a heat exchanger reactive to external and internal temperatures for carrying a working fluid, including two pairs of nested pipes; each pair including one pipe with a channel portion and a stress relief portion and a second pipe with just a channel portion, one of said pipes enclosing the other with an interference fit and both pipes having different coefficients of thermal expansion. The first pair of pipes positioned co-axially with and encompassing the second pair. A fluid is positioned in the space defined by the inner surface of outer pair of pipes and the outer surface of inner pair of pipes. The two pipe pairs have positions responsive to the internal and external temperatures in which the space defined by pipe pairs is either minimized or maximized by expansion and contraction of the pipe pairs caused by differences in coefficients of thermal expansion.

A calibration process of a solar panel installation measures current from a plurality of tracker tables, and based upon the time of day of the detected shade transitions, day of the year and the location of the solar panel installation, the time difference of the detected shade transition for each tracker panel can be used to determine the relative elevation of adjacent tracker tables. The calculation is performed using the known angle of the tracker and the elevation of the sun when the transition occurred to calculate the height offset of the tables. This transition of charging current marks the point where shading ended and the sun elevation is used to calculate the height offset of adjacent tables. This calculation uses the known angle of the tracker and the elevation of the sun when shading ended to calculate the height offset of the tables.

A support structure for solar panels is comprised of two or more circular and concentric tracks or rails on which a plurality of pylons are mounted. The pylons are parallel and equipped with support wheels so as to support, through respective frames, a plurality of solar panels. The pylons rotate with respect to the common center of the concentric tracks so as to carry out a rotational movement for the azimuthal tracking (RA) of the sun (from east to west), while a plurality of actuators, which are mounted within each pylon, move one or more panels in order to obtain a rotational movement for the zenithal tracking (RZ). The combination of the two rotations is controlled by an electronic control unit, so as to follow at every moment of the day the sun's position. The support structure may be mounted on poles and can be isolated or can be installed on coverings, building roofs or generic flat surfaces.