Solar Tracker Technologies: Market Trends and Field Applications

2007 ◽  
Vol 18-19 ◽  
pp. 339-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Agee ◽  
Andrew Obok Opok ◽  
Marie de Lazzer
Keyword(s):  
Polar Axis ◽  
Tracking Systems ◽  
Significant Component ◽  
Maintenance Costs ◽  
Energy Profiles ◽  
Solar Tracking ◽  
Solar Tracker ◽  
Market Trends ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Low Pay

Solar energy is increasingly becoming a significant component in the energy profiles of several tropical nations. This paper discusses trends in solar tracking technologies: analyzing the cost of acquisition, domains of application, maintenance costs and efficiency improvements. The paper concludes that hydraulic-based tracking systems are suitable for low capacity installations with low pay loads while polar axis tracking systems offer a performance nearly equal to that of two-axis tracking systems, at the cost of single axis trackers.

scholarly journals PVsyst Software for Better Energy Efficiency of a Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Power Station

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-93
Keyword(s):  
Weather Station ◽  
Tracking Systems ◽  
Power Station ◽  
Solar Insolation ◽  
Power Stations ◽  
Photovoltaic Power ◽  
Solar Tracking ◽  
Orenburg Oblast ◽  
Solar Tracker

The paper presents a classification of solar tracking systems used in photovoltaic power stations (PVS) and their operating principles. A simulation model of a grid-connected 5-kW PVS has been developed in PVsyst, to which end the researchers selected PVS equipment and optimized the PV cell tilt angles. The paper further analyzes a grid-connected PVS in Orenburg Oblast in PVsyst under the following configurations: static PV cells, not tilted vs seasonally varied tilts; single-axis solar trackers with vertical and horizontal axes of rotation vs a dual-axis solar tracker. The analysis is based on solar insolation data for 2019 obtained from the research team’s HP-2000 weather station. Dual-axis solar tracker and single-axis vertical trackers are shown to have the best year-round generation, providing an increase of 13.2% and 11.5%, respectively, against the static PV cells (no change in tilt).

scholarly journals A Review of Daylighting System: For Prototype Systems Performance and Development

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen Jong-Woei Whang ◽  
Tsai-Hsien Yang ◽  
Zhong-Hao Deng ◽  
Yi-Yung Chen ◽  
Wei-Chieh Tseng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optical Design ◽  
Controversial Issue ◽  
Tracking Systems ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Active Systems ◽  
Solar Tracking ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Daylight Performance ◽  
The Cost

Daylighting systems make daylight illuminance possible, and the development of prototype daylighting systems can provide more efficient daylight illuminance. The purpose of this article is to review the development and performance of prototype daylighting systems in the last decade. The passive and active daylighting systems are listed separately and divided into the four categories by the presence and absence of hybrid. Each prototype daylighting system was evaluated in terms of cost and daylight performance and as well as their novel optical design. We evaluated the architecture and daylighting principles of each system by reviewing individual prototype daylighting systems. The cost of prototype systems still poses a challenge to development. How to use passive or active systems in different environments and whether or not electrical lighting assistance is needed is a controversial issue. However, active daylighting systems equipped with solar tracking systems are still mainstream. This research is a valuable resource for daylight researchers and newcomers. It is helpful to understand the advantages of various prototype daylighting systems and commercial daylighting systems that have been developed for many years; moreover, it is also possible to know the research directions suggested by the prototype daylighting systems. These will be of further use in developing innovative and better daylighting systems and designs.

scholarly journals Dual Axis Tracker for Photovoltaic Panel

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11S) ◽  
pp. 906-910
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Tracking Systems ◽  
Servo Motor ◽  
Control Module ◽  
Photovoltaic Panel ◽  
Hardware Development ◽  
Analog Signals ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Solar Tracking ◽  
Solar Tracker

Main challenge of solar-tracking systems are the sunlight detection, providing position and delay of PV movement, designing control module for low consumption dc servo motor(s). Objective of this paper is designing and implementing automatic control for detecting maximum solar light to a solar panel. The two-axis solar tracker is used for optimizing conversion of solar energy into electrical energy, at cost of the mechanical and the maintenance need, for the best efficiency. The hardware development, two dc servomotors are adjusted which is controlled by drive module moving panel by using four Light-Dependent Resistor (LDR) to provide the analog signals; the signals are processed by ATMEGA328P micro-controller with Arduino.

scholarly journals THE ADVANTAGES OF SOLAR TRACKER

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiano Fernando Lewandoski ◽  
Reginaldo Ferreira Santos ◽  
Augustine Ikpehai
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Photovoltaic System ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Tracking Systems ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Solar Tracking ◽  
Solar Tracker ◽  
Photovoltaic Plant ◽  
Power Generation Systems

Solar tracking systems allow greater efficiency of a photovoltaic system by continuously adjusting its position in relation to the sun, thus increasing the generation of electrical energy. The integration of photovoltaic solar tracking systems in a photovoltaic plant allows the energy needs of users to be met more widely in a smaller area. This integration is facilitated by the existence of technologies such as access to the Internet via Wi-Fi, which allows the development of systems to be included in the domain of “Cloud” and Automation 4.0. In this study, an "open circuit" solar tracker, the first of its kind designed in Brazil on a plant scale, was designed and developed, which runs the tracking algorithm in the service programmed in a PLC, which has a Wi-Fi module integrated. This study opens the possibility of integrating power generation systems in the Cloud domain, which among other things, allows constant monitoring of the system's behavior with Solar tracking

Frictional Effects in a Low Speed Polar-Axis Solar Tracker

2011 ◽  
Vol 367 ◽  
pp. 487-494
Author(s):  
John T. Agee ◽  
Adisa A. Jimoh
Keyword(s):  
Transfer Functions ◽  
Tracking Error ◽  
Polar Axis ◽  
Positional Error ◽  
Positive Real ◽  
Low Speed ◽  
Solar Tracking ◽  
Electromechanical Drive ◽  
Solar Tracker ◽  
Frictional Effects

Sensorless solar tracking involves the low speed tracking of the direction of sunrays across the sky. At such low speeds, frictional effects in the electromechanical drive system of the tracker become amplified, and can significantly affect the accuracy of tracking. This paper models the frictional effects in low speed solar tracking and shows that the frictional effects lead to significant positional error during tracking. Further results show that, a class of controllers derived from strictly positive real (SPR) transfer functions, could be used to eliminate the positional tracking error due to frictional effects.

scholarly journals Dual axis solar tracker with IoT monitoring system using arduino

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 451
Author(s):  
Siti Amely Jumaat ◽  
Mohamad Nur Aiman Mohd Said ◽  
Clarence Rimong Anak Jawa
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
Monitoring System ◽  
Tracking System ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Solar Tracking ◽  
Effective Technology ◽  
Solar Tracker ◽  
Traditional Technologies ◽  
The Cost

This project aims to develop dual axis solar tracker with IOT monitoring system using Arduino. Generally, solar energy is the technology to get useful energy from sunlight. Solar energy has been used in many traditional technologies over the centuries and has been widely used in the absence of other energy supplies. Its usefulness is widespread when awareness of the cost of the environment and the supply is limited by other energy sources such as fuel. The solar tracking system is the most effective technology to improve the efficiency of solar panels by tracking and following the sun's movement. With the help of this system, solar panels can improve the way of sunlight detection so that more electricity can be collected as solar panels can maintain a sunny position. Thus the project discusses the development of two-axis solar-tracking developers using Arduino Uno as main controller the system. For develops this project, four light-dependent resistors (LDRs) have been used for sunlight detection and a maximum light intensity. Two servo motors have been used to rotate the solar panel according to the sun's light source detected by the LDR. Next a WIFI ESP8266 device is used as an intermediary between device and IOT monitoring system. The IOT monitoring system is a website that functions to store data. The efficiency of this system has been tested and compared with a single axial solar tracker. As a result, the two-axis solar tracking system generates more power, voltage and current.

scholarly journals Development and Testing of a Single-Axis Photovoltaic Sun Tracker through the Internet of Things

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Gutierrez ◽  
Pedro M. Rodrigo ◽  
Jeronimo Alvarez ◽  
Arturo Acero ◽  
Alejandro Montoya
Keyword(s):  
Internet Of Things ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Open Loop ◽  
Photovoltaic System ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Tracking Systems ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Solar Tracking ◽  
Solar Tracker ◽  
The Internet Of Things

Solar tracking systems enable increased efficiency of a photovoltaic system through a continuous adjustment of its position with respect to the sun, thus increasing the generation of electrical energy. The integration of photovoltaic solar tracking systems in buildings and houses enables the energy needs of users in a broader way to be covered. This integration is facilitated through the existence of technologies such as access to the Internet through Wi-Fi, which allows developing systems to be encompassed within the domain of the “Internet of Things” (IoT). In this study, a first-of-its-kind “open-loop” solar tracker was designed and developed, which executes the tracking algorithm in the Firebase web service and allows the exchange of data with said service through a NodeMCU development board, which has an integrated Wi-Fi module. After an experimental campaign in Aguascalientes, central Mexico, gains in terms of collected energy on average were measured at 29.9% in May compared to an optimally tilted fixed photovoltaic system. This study opens the possibility of integrating power generation systems into the IoT domain, which, among other things, allows for constant monitoring of the behavior of the system.

scholarly journals Photovoltaic Prediction Software: Evaluation with Real Data from Northern Spain

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 5025
Author(s):  
David González-Peña ◽  
Ignacio García-Ruiz ◽  
Montserrat Díez-Mediavilla ◽  
Mª. Isabel Dieste-Velasco ◽  
Cristina Alonso-Tristán
Keyword(s):  
Energy Production ◽  
Field Data ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Software Tools ◽  
Horizontal Axis ◽  
Real Field ◽  
Tracking Systems ◽  
Northern Spain ◽  
Commercial Software ◽  
Solar Tracking

Prediction of energy production is crucial for the design and installation of PV plants. In this study, five free and commercial software tools to predict photovoltaic energy production are evaluated: RETScreen, Solar Advisor Model (SAM), PVGIS, PVSyst, and PV*SOL. The evaluation involves a comparison of monthly and annually predicted data on energy supplied to the national grid with real field data collected from three real PV plants. All the systems, located in Castile and Leon (Spain), have three different tilting systems: fixed mounting, horizontal-axis tracking, and dual-axis tracking. The last 12 years of operating data, from 2008 to 2020, are used in the evaluation. Although the commercial software tools were easier to use and their installations could be described in detail, their results were not appreciably superior. In annual global terms, the results hid poor estimations throughout the year, where overestimations were compensated by underestimated results. This fact was reflected in the monthly results: the software yielded overestimates during the colder months, while the models showed better estimates during the warmer months. In most studies, the deviation was below 10% when the annual results were analyzed. The accuracy of the software was also reduced when the complexity of the dual-axis solar tracking systems replaced the fixed installation.

scholarly journals Fault Coverage-Aware Metrics for Evaluating the Reliability Factor of Solar Tracking Systems

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1074
Author(s):  
Raul Rotar ◽  
Sorin Liviu Jurj ◽  
Flavius Opritoiu ◽  
Mircea Vladutiu
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Computation Time ◽  
Fault Coverage ◽  
Programming Environment ◽  
Tracking Systems ◽  
Circuit Testing ◽  
Reliability Factor ◽  
Solar Tracking ◽  
Mathcad Software ◽  
Python Programming

This paper presents a mathematical approach for determining the reliability of solar tracking systems based on three fault coverage-aware metrics which use system error data from hardware, software as well as in-circuit testing (ICT) techniques, to calculate a solar test factor (STF). Using Euler’s named constant, the solar reliability factor (SRF) is computed to define the robustness and availability of modern, high-performance solar tracking systems. The experimental cases which were run in the Mathcad software suite and the Python programming environment show that the fault coverage-aware metrics greatly change the test and reliability factor curve of solar tracking systems, achieving significantly reduced calculation steps and computation time.

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