Seven-Point Solar Tracking Control for a Fiber-Optic Daylighting System

2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahate Ahmed ◽  
Yeongmin Kim ◽  
Zeeshan ◽  
Muhammad Uzair Mehmood ◽  
Hyun Joo Han ◽  
...  

Abstract A strategy for precise solar tracking has been developed using feedback signals from seven photosensors in conjunction with the operation of an active daylighting system. The tracking system was composed of a microcontroller, two stepper motors, photosensors, a grooves-in Fresnel lens concentrator, and a glass optical fiber cable. A robust control was implemented using cadmium sulfide (CdS) sensors to track the sun’s path precisely from sunrise to sunset. To avoid the cloud effect, two separate sensors were installed apart from the main tracking sensors. The control system was allowed to track the sun’s position if clouds covered the sky continuously for less than approximately 70 min. To analyze the performance of the solar tracker for daylighting applications, a series of experiments were performed in different weather conditions where the accuracy and effectiveness of the present solar tracking control were confirmed.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2S11) ◽  
pp. 3308-3311

This paper presents the outline and execution of simple, easy and cheaper automatic dual axis solar tracking system using Arduino UNO as the control element and light detecting sensors (LDRS) as the sensing element. This project involves advanced level of technology to capture maximum amount of energy using sun’s radiations. The main purpose is to increase the efficiency of tracking system which can rotate in all four directions continuously according to intensity of radiations and for energy conversion. In this, the voltage from panel is calculated from time to time in an interval of 1hr and this voltage is used to sense the weather conditions and display the climatic temperatures


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 5226
Author(s):  
Nurzhigit Kuttybay ◽  
Ahmet Saymbetov ◽  
Saad Mekhilef ◽  
Madiyar Nurgaliyev ◽  
Didar Tukymbekov ◽  
...  

Improving the efficiency of solar panels is the main task of solar energy generation. One of the methods is a solar tracking system. One of the most important parameters of tracking systems is a precise orientation to the Sun. In this paper, the performance of single-axis solar trackers based on schedule and light dependent resistor (LDR) photosensors, as well as a stationary photovoltaic installation in various weather conditions, were compared. A comparative analysis of the operation of a manufactured schedule solar tracker and an LDR solar tracker in different weather conditions was performed; in addition, a simple method for determining the rotation angle of a solar tracker based on the encoder was proposed. Finally, the performance of the manufactured solar trackers was calculated, taking into account various weather conditions for one year. The proposed single-axis solar tracker based on schedule showed better results in cloudy and rainy weather conditions. The obtained results can be used for designing solar trackers in areas with a variable climate.


Author(s):  
Kanhaiya Kumar ◽  
Lokesh Varshney ◽  
A. Ambikapathy ◽  
Vrinda Mittal ◽  
Sachin Prakash ◽  
...  

<p>The significance of the solar energy is to intensify the effectiveness of the Solar Panel with the use of a primordial solar tracking system. Here we propounded a solar positioning system with the use of the global positioning system (GPS) , artificial neural network (ANN) and image processing (IP) . The azimuth angle of the sun is evaluated using GPS which provide latitude, date, longitude and time. The image processing used to find sun image through which centroid of sun is calculated and finally by comparing the centroid of sun with GPS quadrate to achieve optimum tracking point. Weather conditions and situation observed through AI decision making with the help of IP algorithms. The presented advance adaptation is analyzed and established via experimental effects which might be made available on the memory of the cloud carrier for systematization. The proposed system improve power gain by 59.21% and 10.32% compare to stable system (SS) and two-axis solar following system (TASF) respectively. The reduced tracking error of IoT based Two-axis solar following system (IoT-TASF) reduces their azimuth angle error by 0.20 degree.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel J. Ontiveros ◽  
Carlos D. Ávalos ◽  
Faustino Loza ◽  
Néstor D. Galán ◽  
Guillermo J. Rubio

Solar trackers represent an essential tool to increase the energy production of photovoltaic modules compared to fixed systems. Unlike previous technologies where the aim is to keep the solar rays perpendicular to the surface of the module and obtain a constant output power, this paper proposes the design and evaluation of two controllers for a two-axis solar tracker, which maintains the power that is produced by photovoltaic modules at their nominal value. To achieve this, mathematical models of the dynamics of the sun, the solar energy obtained on the Earth’s surface, the two-axis tracking system in its electrical and mechanical parts, and the solar cell are developed and simulated. Two controllers are designed to be evaluated in the solar tracking system, one Proportional-Integral-Derivative and the other by Fuzzy Logic. The evaluation of the simulations shows a better performance of the controller by Fuzzy Logic; this is because it presents a shorter stabilization time, a transient of smaller amplitude, and a lower percentage of error in steady-state. The principle of operation of the solar tracking system is to promote the orientation conditions of the photovoltaic module to generate the maximum available power until reaching the nominal one. This is possible because it has a gyroscope on the surface of the module that determines its position with respect to the hour angle and altitude of the sun; a data acquisition card is developed to implement voltage and current sensors, which measure the output power it produces from the photovoltaic module throughout the day and under any weather conditions. The results of the implementation demonstrate that a Fuzzy Logic control for a two-axis solar tracker maintains the output power of the photovoltaic module at its nominal parameters during peak sun hours.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2107 (1) ◽  
pp. 012024
Author(s):  
Lim Xin You ◽  
Nordiana Shariffudin ◽  
Mohd Zamri Hasan

Abstract Nowadays, solar energy’s popularity is growing consistently every year, along with the growth of amazing solar technologies, which is considered to be one of the most popular. Non-renewable energy like petrol and gasoline is being replaced with solar energy, which is renewable energy. The main objective of this project is to design and simulate a robot solar system. The robot is developed using Arduino Mega 2560 as the main brain of the system. This system is equipped with a solar tracking system to track the movement of the sun and LDR is used to detect the presence of sunlight. The solar tracker is used to get the maximum efficiency of solar energy and reduce power losses. In addition, the solar tracker can rotate from 0° - 180°, which is the best angle for the solar panel to reach the sunlight. This robot will be attached to the sprinkler system to perform the watering process. This robot is developed for use in the agriculture field to reduce the manpower and cost of the watering process. Three analyses will be conducted in this project such as solar panel analysis, Wi-Fi connectivity analysis and sprinkler system analysis. The result shows the solar panel will gain the highest intensity of the sunlight at 12.00 pm and a sunny day compared to the other time and a cloudy day. The maximum range of Wi-Fi connectivity and the water pump, time used to finish the watering process and watering area will be discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 02003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilson E. Sánchez ◽  
Mario P. Jiménez ◽  
Carlos A. Mantilla ◽  
José M. Toro ◽  
Miguel A. Villa ◽  
...  

This investigation describes the design and implementation of a parabolic trough solar collector (PCC) with solar tracking to obtain hot water. The solar radiation available at the installation site is analyzed, followed by the design and construction of the mechanical system, making a series of calculations for the dimensioning of the reflective base, and a stress and deflection analysis of the structure is performed to verify the feasibility of the design in the ANSYS software. An analysis of the solar tracking system is performed, which is dimensioned from the PCC structure to determine the type of solar tracker to implement; The charging system, consisting of a solar panel and a battery, is dimensioned for the power supply of the tracking system; as a last point, for the heating system is determined the amount of water that is able to heat the system from the energy analysis at the installation site, the heating system is based on placing a Heat Pipe, in the focus of the parabola to receive the solar rays reflected by the collector and heat exchange to the water from a thermowell where the heat pipe condenser enters, finally tests are carried out in the PCC implemented obtaining a global efficiency of 16.37%.


Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1278
Author(s):  
Henrik Zsiborács ◽  
Nóra Baranyai ◽  
András Vincze ◽  
Philipp Weihs ◽  
Stefan Schreier ◽  
...  

The accuracy and reliability of solar tracking greatly impacts the performance of concentrator photovoltaic modules (CPV). Thus, it is of utmost significance to know how deviations in tracking influence CPV module power. In this work, the positioning characteristics of CPV modules compared to the focus points were investigated. The performance of CPV modules mounted on a dual-axis tracking system was analysed as a function of their orientation and inclination. The actual experiment was carried out with CPV cells of 3 mm in diameter. By using a dual tracking system under real weather conditions, the module’s position was gradually modified until the inclination differed by 5° relative to the optimal position of the focus point of the CPV module. The difference in inclination was established by the perfect perpendicularity to the Sun’s rays. The results obtained specifically for CPV technology help determine the level of accuracy that solar tracking photovoltaic systems are required to have to keep the loss in power yield under a certain level. Moreover, this power yield loss also demonstrated that the performance insensitivity thresholds of the CPV modules did not depend on the directions of the alterations in azimuthal alignment. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that earlier, no information had been found regarding the tracking insensitivity point in CPV technologies. A further analysis was carried out to compare the yield of CPV to other, conventional photovoltaic technologies under real Central European climate conditions. It was shown that CPV needs a sun tracking accuracy of at least 0.5° in order to surpass the yield of other PV technologies. Besides providing an insight into the tracking error values of solar tracking sensors, it is believed that the results might facilitate the planning of solar tracking sensor investments as well as the economic calculations related to 3 mm cell diameter CPV system investments.


2015 ◽  
Vol 793 ◽  
pp. 353-357
Author(s):  
F.S. Abdullah ◽  
H.M. Nuhafiz ◽  
O. Mardianaliza ◽  
A. Yusof ◽  
Noor Anida

Solar tracker is a device that detects the movement of the sun. Solar tracker receive maximum sun ray in order to produce the maximum power supply by the photovoltaic (PV) panels system. It also depends on the environment factor such as solar irradiation and temperature of the panels. This paper presents the development of the automatic solar tracking system, the construction of the sensor circuit, programming of the control system and also its performance analysis. This automatic solar tracking system is designed with an electronic circuit control using PIC that can trigger the dc motors when the LDR sensors detect sunlight. DC motor will move vertical and 360 ̊ horizontal to increase efficiency of sunlight to the solar panel. Solar panel for the project gets power supply from the battery. The battery will be charged using power from the solar panel.


2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Mohammad ◽  
Tarequl Karim

A solar tracker is a system for orienting solar photovoltaic modules and solar thermal collectors toward the sun. This paper presents a microcontroller based energy efficient hybrid automatic solar-tracking system with a view to assess the improvement in solar conversion efficiency. The two-axis solar-tracking system is constructed with both hardware and software implementations. The proposed tracking system uses a new solar position sensor with adaptive features. A comparative analysis was performed using four systems, i.e., hybrid tracking, dual-axis, single-axis, and stationary module. The results showed that the use of the dual-axis tracking system produced 18% gain of power output, compared with a single-axis tracking system. The gain of output power with the hybrid tracking system was much higher (54%) when compared with a stationary system inclined at 23.5 deg to the horizontal. Considering the state of the art of the technology, successful strategy, robust control philosophy, and the potential added benefit of this research work can be employed on a large scale in sustainable manner.


Author(s):  
Yasir Hashim Naif

Green and clean energy depends meanly on the Solar energy, especially at urban area. This paper presents the Arduino-based new design of dual-axis solar tracking system with high-efficiency using through the use of five-point sunlight sensors. The main objective of this research is to convert the maximum sunlight to electrical power by auto movement of the solar panel. This research is divided into two stages, first stage related to hardware design and the second related to software development. In hardware design, five light dependent resistors (LDR) have been used for tracking light direction source. Two linear actuators have been used to move the solar panel towards the maximum light intensity direction by using LDR sensors. Moreover, the software is constructed using C++ programming language and uploaded to the Arduino UNO platform. The efficiency of the designed tracking system has been examined and compared with fixed and single axis solar tracker and results shows that the new system has better efficiency than the fixed or single axis  system.


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