In 2026, ACE Stoßdämpfer GmbH is once again inviting students to take part in the Innovace student competition. ACE has been promoting innovative ideas from students of technical disciplines for years. This time, an innovative and cost-efficient PV tracker is to be developed specifically for use in balcony power plants with the aim of increasing the efficiency and power yield of such systems without exceeding the structural and financial limits of private households. The PV tracker is designed to automatically align one or more solar modules in such a way that an optimum angle of incidence of the sun is always ensured. In order to achieve maximum efficiency, a dual-axis design must be constructed to track the sun. The size of a commercially available solar module of 1.2 m x 1.8 m with a mass of 22 kg must be assumed and the design must be light and compact. At the same time, it must be robust and resistant to all weather conditions such as heavy rain, temperature fluctuations and gusts of wind. The latter can reach wind speeds of 150 km/h in extreme cases and depending on the installation height of the system. Dampers or other safety solutions must be provided to ensure that the system remains undamaged even during heavy gusts of wind.
Competition conditions, deadlines and prices
The PV tracker must be able to be integrated into a typical residential environment. In the course of this, the system should be suitable for mounting on a railing, e.g. balconies, a flat roof as well as for wall mounting. The students also have the task of drawing up a business case to assess the economic viability of the system over its entire service life. All relevant investment costs, including those for materials, production and installation, must be compared with the expected savings resulting from the increase in efficiency due to the two-axis tracking system. In addition, the amortization period must be calculated from these findings. Innovace 2026 therefore requires a combination of constructive creativity with engineering depth and economic consideration, requirements that the industry places on graduates after their studies. In addition to practical experience thanks to dealing with real engineering issues, ACE offers very good references for CVs and applications as well as contacts to an internationally active group of companies. Experts from the Stabilus Group, to which ACE has belonged since 2016, will form an expert jury that will rate the concept and functionality of the design with 40 points each and the plausible cost breakdown and calculation of the amortization period with 20 points.
Innovace 2026 begins on April 13 and ends on September 30. ACE will answer any questions during a web conference on April 23, for which interested parties can register by emailing Niklas Backhausen at n-backhausen@ace-int.eu by April 21. May 25, 2026 has been set as the deadline for entering the competition, which will award the winning team or individual with prize money of 5,000 euros. In addition, the chair accompanying the winner will receive 2,000 euros in support. The complete call for entries can be found on the ACE homepage: www.ace-ace.de/de/news-presse/ace-awards/innovace-2026.html
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Further links
👉 www.ace-ace.de
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