Patent ID: 8710352

Claim:
A solar array arrangement for use in a concentrating photovoltaic system comprising: a support; a housing mounted on the support and pivoted for tracking the sun during the course of the day; a plurality of solar cells mounted on a first side of the housing; a plurality of lenses mounted on a second side of the housing opposite the first side for concentrating and focusing the incident sunlight onto respective solar cells; drive motors coupled to the housing for pivotably moving the housing to track the sun during the course of the day; a first sun sensor attached to the housing; and a controller coupled to the first sun sensor and to the drive motors, wherein the controller is programmed to: receive an output signal from the first sun sensor, generate, based on at least the output signal from the first sun sensor, a first control signal and provide the first control signal to the drive motors to position the housing so that the plane of the lenses is substantially orthogonal to the incident sunlight as the housing tracks the sun during the course of the day, detect, within the output signal, an operator blocking the first sun sensor for a predetermined timed pattern of light blocking that is sufficiently complex such that it would not occur naturally due to environmental ambient light conditions, and generate, in response to detection of the predetermined timed pattern of light blocking, a second control signal and provide the second control signal to the drive motors to move the housing to a predetermined fixed position.