Home »Industry News» Energy Efficiency »Long-life polymer bearings overcome the problems of solar power generation

The introduction of polymer bearings solves a key failure point of solar panels, which can significantly increase the service life of components and eliminate the need for maintenance.

Solar panels need to track the sun for maximum efficiency, while the bearings that promote movement are usually hit and require regular maintenance to operate any time in the harsh, arid and dusty climate where solar farms are traditionally located.

Therefore, polymer bearing manufacturer igus South Africa has worked with some of the country's top design engineers to solve this problem and introduced maintenance-free long-life pillow block bearings.

According to Gerrit-Jan Cronselaar, the design engineer of Super Armature Winding Africa, and the designer and manufacturer of the SolTrac series of solar trackers, the pillow block design simplifies the installation of the system because the slight misalignment of the piles driven into the ground can be accommodated in the bearings Itself rather than in the pile/installation hardware. This allows faster and easier installation, saving energy and money in the process.

"Igus bearings have a long product warranty and service life, are maintenance-free, and can handle the dust and typical harsh conditions faced by African solar applications. No other "traditional" bearings can achieve similar performance. If you need to consider bushings and For the hem design, the design must be more," Gerrit said.

Ian Hewat, managing director of igus South Africa, said that the bearings used to align the panel with the sun are usually the only moving parts, so you need to be careful when specifying these key parts.

"Our bearing is a lubrication-free solution, and its durability has been laboratory tested and guaranteed for 25 years. Tests conducted in our 3,800 square meter test laboratory in Germany show that under actual load in daily motion sequences , The service life, wear resistance and load capacity were checked by time-lapse simulation.

"The number of movements achieved under a load of 1.5 tons corresponds to a 72-year service life. This is why igus guarantees a 25-year operating time, which is equivalent to the standard service life of solar modules," Ian said.