SOLAR TRACKING MECHANISM FOR HEAT COLLECTOR

PURPOSE:To make an effective utilization of an amount of solar heat of a day by a method wherein a north-south tracking of the sun is carried out by utilizing a difference of thermal expansions of component elements, a rotational movement of a motor is changed into a reciprocating movement, and an east-west tracking of the sun is performed by moving up and down the end on the side of a heat collector. CONSTITUTION:A bearing 15 is installed at an extremity end of a shaft 8 and a universal joint 16 is arranged at a root part of the shaft 8. A curvature of an angle guide plate 9 is varied in response to a location where a heat collector is to be placed. In case of performing an east-west tracking, when the two heat collectors 5 are simultaneously moved, the shaft 8 is fixed to their central position, the shaft 8 is passed through a central part of a bearing 7 fixed to a block of the heat collector. The heat collector can be moved in a rotational direction of the shaft 8. With this arrangement, it is possible to change an angle of a surface of the heat collector by using a slight force and so an east-west tracking for the sun can be carried out. That is, the shaft 18 is moved up or down by a motor 3, a position of the surface of the heat collector is moved to enable the east-west tracking for the sun to be performed. Since the angle of the shaft 8 is varied during a north-south tracking, a universal joint 19 is employed at a junction part with the block 6 of the heat collector even in the east-west tracking mechanism. With this arrangement, the east-west tracking and the north- south tracking for the sun can be performed, an amount of solar heat can effectively utilized and an amount of accumulated heat is increased.