Design and Simulation of Solar Photovoltaic Directional Tracking Device

Abstract

With the rapid development of solar photovoltaic systems, the application and demand for solar tracking systems are growing accordingly. This paper, from an astronomical point of view, analyses movement of the sun and designs an integrated device for solar photovoltaic directional tracking based on the general formulas of solar declination, time angle, azimuth, and elevation angle. To improve tracking accuracy and efficiency, the device is designed by using a double-degree-of-freedom tracking system, so that it can track the sun in both horizontal and vertical directions. Besides, a hybrid tracking mode is applied to achieve accurate tracking of the sun movement, in which the solar trajectory tracking is used as the primary mode, while the photoelectric monitoring is taken as a supplementary, to improve the accuracy and stability of the algorithm. The results from the simulation carried out by Proteus software reveals that the device as well as the control system both operate in a stable and reliable manner, during which, the solar panel is perpendicular to the sun's direct rays within an acceptable range of deviation, realizing the automatic tracking of the sun's rays all the time, which significantly improves the receiving efficiency of solar energy.