I am building a solar car for the energy wiz competition and I was wondering how I could possibly get my solar panel to shift sideways
having solar panels move like that on a mobile platform is inadvisable -- especially if there is a dynamic wind load resulting from the motion of the mobile platform. Even having a tilt mechanism is dubious at best. think of what limited marginal gain would be gained by mounting a small solar panel on the moon roof of a car. (ultimately, the best answer is to turn the car so that it's angle to the sun is optimal -- but the road/travel direction constraints are what ultimately prohibit that.) while there are ways to build sliding panels, the weight constraints would interfere with your weight/thrust ratios to the point of futility. if you really need that panel somewhere else, don't slide it out of the way, just buy another panel and mount it there. it's more expensive, but it's actually the cheapest solution in terms of design on a mobile platform.
