You have to determine the Solar Declination and Sun Angle.
Since you're at 46°N latitude, the sun will be lower in the sky during winter and higher during summer. The minimum solar altitude at solar noon (winter solstice, December 21) will be:
Altitude=90∘−latitude−solar declination
For December 21, solar declination is about -23.5
°:
Altitude=90∘−46∘−(−23.5∘)=67.5∘
The maximum altitude at the summer solstice (June 21, solar declination +23.5°) will be:
Altitude=90∘−46∘+23.5∘=67.5∘
The lowest angle at sunrise/sunset during the day determines how much shadow is cast.
To avoid shading, the distance between trackers should be at least 1.3 to 1.5 times the shadow length. In this case:
Spacing=1.5×15.4feet≈23.1feet
For upstate New York, space the trackers at least 23-25 feet (7-8 meters) apart (measured from the center of one tracker to the center of the next) to avoid shading in the winter. You can see the following links for more info:
The elevation angle is sun’s angular height in the sky measured from the horizontal plane and its important for design of photovoltaic systems
sinovoltaics.com
Gives a vertical object shadow length for given coordinates and time. Also calculates shadow growth during whole day.
planetcalc.com
In case you want to make an Arduino-based Solar tracker, you can see here:
1 IntroductionsThe project aims to develop an active-based azimuth-altitude dual axis solar tracker using Arduino UNO and Python .This is also part of my diploma final year project when I study in Sou...
www.pcbway.com