{"schema_version":"1.0","canonical_url":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9689957","patent":{"patent_number":"US-9689957","title":"Solar tracking system using periodic scan patterns with a shielding tube","assignee":null,"inventors":[],"filing_date":"2014-10-03T00:00:00.000Z","publication_date":"2017-06-27T00:00:00.000Z","cpc_codes":["G01S","G01S"],"num_claims":22,"abstract":"A solar tracking system and method that use a tube that admits solar radiation and one or more photodetectors for generating a signal related to an intensity of solar radiation at a distal end of the tube. The system has a scan unit for periodically executing a certain scan pattern in an elevation angle El and in an azimuth angle Az of the shielding tube. A processing unit in communication with the photodetector determines an on-sun orientation of the shielding tube based on a convolution of the signal obtained while executing the scan pattern with a trained convolution kernel. The on-sun orientation thus found can be used to update the orientation of one or more solar surfaces, e.g., reflective or photovoltaic surfaces."},"analysis":{"summary":null,"layman_explanation":null,"technical_analysis":null,"business_analysis":null,"faqs":null,"topics":[],"tech_cluster":null},"seo":{"title":"Solar tracking system using periodic scan patterns with a shielding tube","description":"A solar tracking system and method that use a tube that admits solar radiation and one or more photodetectors for generating a signal related to an intensity of solar radiation at a distal end of the ","keywords":[]},"attribution":{"source":"Patentable","source_url":"https://patentable.app","canonical_url":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9689957","license":"CC-BY-4.0-like","license_terms":"AI-generated analysis on this page (summary, layman_explanation, technical_analysis, business_analysis, faqs) may be reused with attribution and a visible link back to the canonical URL above. Patent abstracts, claims, and bibliographic data are USPTO public domain.","required_link":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9689957","citation_suggestion":"Patentable. \"Solar tracking system using periodic scan patterns with a shielding tube\" (US-9689957). https://patentable.app/patents/US-9689957","copyright_holder":"Nomic Interactive Technology LLC"},"links":{"html":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9689957","json":"https://patentable.app/api/llm-context/US-9689957","site":"https://patentable.app","llms_txt":"https://patentable.app/llms.txt"},"generated_at":"2026-06-06T09:17:28.870Z"}