Ecological and environmental technologies have seen their share of advances in recent years. As governments and businesses cast their eye over the possibility of 'going green' they're both going to want to save on costs. Linear actuators have proven to be a popular and efficient motive force for a variety of ecological projects, driving many solar panel installations specifically.

Linear Actuators and Solar Panels

The biggest problem with solar panels (aka photovoltaic panels) is that to get the highest efficiency out of them, they need to be constantly moving to track the sun as it travels across the sky. Luckily they don't have to move very far (depending on the size of the panel and its latitude), which means linear actuators are an ideal solution. There are several reasons for this:

• Precision: Linear actuators are very precise by design, especially when compared to pneumatic and hydraulic solutions. Screw based mechanical linear actuators allow you to advance or retreat the motive rod by very small increments, which is required for the exact positioning of sonar panels.
• Power Efficiency: Electric linear actuators consume relatively little electricity, and are available in both 24V and 12V varieties which means they can usually be powered by the solar panel itself, by a a battery, or even off wall current (with an adaptor or control box.).
• Easy to Control: Depending on how accurate you want to be with your solar panel application you can set up a simple timer switch or go all the way to a fully software controlled solution.
• Size: Linear actuators can be very small, especially when considering the range of motion required to move the solar panels.

Actuators have also had a more indirect role in environmental technologies for decades. Actuators inside motors, pipes, and other devices have improved energy efficiency in cars, pipelines, and many other applications. As actuators see more use in environmentally sensitive industries like aerospace, energy generation, and robotics we'll be running into even more ecological advances.