A low-cost dual-axis solar tracking system based on digital logic design: Design and implementation

Abstract

Nowadays, photovoltaic (PV) systems have been being installed rapidly all over the world. However, the installations typically employ a fixed flat-plate system, using pre-specified angles acquired by geographical positioning. Hence, the power generated by PV systems decreases significantly, according to the variation of solar irradiation in the progress of a day and the seasons in a year. In order to increase the solar power generation, this paper proposes the design and implementation of a low-cost automatic dual-axis solar tracker system. The tracking system is designed as a closed-loop control based active tracking system, employing Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) sensors as the inputs of the system. The tracking strategy utilizes a digital logic design of the sensors’ participation implemented in a pseudo-azimuthal system to simply rotate around the primary (north-south) axis and the secondary (east-west) axis. In the experiment, the proposed tracking system and the fixed flat-plate system were evaluated for the comparative study. The experimental results show that the proposed tracking system increased the efficiency of electrical energy by averagely 44.89%, using the proposed system compared with the fixed flat-plate system. Finally, the cost analysis is provided for the proposed tracking system.