Patent ID: 7793654

Claim:
A solar tracking system comprising: a) a solar panel having; i) a front surface region; ii) a panel alignment plane; iii) tilt angle alignment axis; iv) a lateral angle alignment axis; and v) a solar alignment axis which is perpendicular to and extends forwardly from said panel alignment plane; b) a support base; c) a panel mounting section mounted to said support base at a mounting location for rotation about a generally vertical main axis of rotation, said panel being mounted to said panel mounting section to be able to rotate about a generally horizontal secondary panel axis of rotation, so as to be moveable along a path of travel from a morning location through a morning transition path portion to a mid-day location, and from the mid-day location through an afternoon transition path location to an end location; d) a panel positioning section comprising: i) a base positioning section having a forwardly extending base connecting region located generally forwardly of said main axis of rotation; ii) an intermediate rigid linking section having a rear connecting positioning portion to pivotally connect at a rear connecting positioning location at the base connecting region of the base positioning section and having a forward connecting positioning location to connect to said panel at a forward panel connecting positioning location to provide a position linking connection between said positioning base section and said panel along a linking axis extending between said rear connecting positioning location and said forward panel connecting positioning location, said intermediate linking section being structurally rigid between said rear and forward connecting positioning locations to maintain said front and rear connecting positioning locations at a constant distance from one another and to resist both extension and compression forces along the linking axis; iii) wherein the rear connecting positioning location is fixed relative to the support base as the panel mounting portion rotates in a vertical and a horizontal plane from the morning location through the morning transition path portion to a mid-day location, and from the mid-day location through the afternoon transition path location to an end location; and e) said system being characterized in that with said system being in an operating mode to move said panel, which is connected to said forward panel connecting location, through said path of travel, the panel travels around said vertical axis of rotation, through the morning transition path portion, through the midday location and through the afternoon transition path portion to the end location, with the forward panel connection of the intermediate positioning linking section operating in a manner to rotate the panel about the horizontal axis of rotation so that the panel alignment plane is tilted so that the solar alignment axis is directed toward the sun.