SunOyster Systems GmbH (SOS) products

To follow the sun all day from East to West, the SunOyster is based on a slew ring made out of the light railway profile S 7. This can be fixed on ground anchors or placed on a roof.

In order to concentrate the solar radiation on the receiver, the SunOyster needs a precise vertical tracking. This is ensured by powerful slew drives. They are connected to the sturdy torque tubes of the SunOyster which are forming the basis of the mirrors. Moreover, the slew drives bring the SunOyster mirrors in a secure position (“Oystering”) to protect the mirrors from stormy winds and the reflectors and the receiver from hail or dirt.

The SunOyster uses standard thick glass mirrors from solar thermal power plants (CSP) which are readily available worldwide. However, SunOyster Systems also has an own concept for a support structure consisting of extruded polymers which would be very light, stiff and in particular cheap.

The innovative control system of the SunOyster is an own development and based on the Raspberry Pi micro-controller. A PV sensor tells the SunOyster when it is sunny enough to open. An anemometer warns of wind speeds exceeding 50 km/h to close the mirrors. The control system is the `brain` of the SunOyster: It tells the drives the position of the sun, opens and closes the mirrors and ensures at all times a safe operation of the SunOyster. It is equipped with a safety battery so that the mirrors can also be closed if there should be a black-out of the electricity grid.

The 4 m length long "heart“ of the SunOyster. SunOyster Systems has receiver patents in US, Europe, India and China pending. The receiver converts the concentrated radiation from the mirror into both electricity and heat (solar co-generation, CPVT): Well protected within a hermetically closed glass tube, glass lenses concentrate the radiation a second time in order to reach a total concentration of 1250x.

The SunOyster uses standard products to invert the generated direct current (DC) into alternating current (AC) electricity. It can be installed directly on the SunOyster or, if available, indoors in the technical room. The inverters can be single phase or three-phase.

SunOyster Systems can supply different measurement devices e.g. for the measurement of the direct normal irradiation (DNI) – e.g. from Delta T (picture) – including data loggers and system integration. Moreover, we can supply control systems to operate your solar cycle with storages, pumps and auxiliary equipment.

SunOyster cooling (SOcool) is proposed because sunny countries are often very warm, and buildings there need cooling more than they need heating. Thermal chillers are machines that use heat to generate cold, and are readily available on the market. There is nothing more logical than using these machines to convert the heat produced by the SunOyster into cooling. This cooling can be directly used for the air-conditioning of buildings, or used for cool stores or other industrial purposes.

The PVmover® provides approximately 30% more electricity yield than optimally south-facing fixed-mounted PV modules and nearly 50% more than PV modules in an east-west arrangement. In Germany the PVmover can usually be installed without a building permit and is a highly economical alternative to a PV system on the roof. Short delivery time - currently around three months from order placement.