Abstract
The work shows the optimization of the control system for the single-axis solar tracker that equips a solar panel, with the aim to increase the energetic efficiency of the system by maximizing the quantity of incident solar radiation that is captured - absorbed by the panel. The single-axis solar tracker is driven by a linear actuator, the optimization study intending to determine the optimal configuration (in terms of tuning factors) of the controller, which is a PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) device, in order to accurately achieve the motion (tracking) law imposed on the solar panel. The solar tracker was approached as a mechatronic system, the mechanical device (developed in ADAMS - Automatic Dynamic Analysis of Mechanical Systems) and the control system (developed in EASY5 - Engineering Analysis System) being integrated at the level of virtual prototype, in the concurrent engineering concept.
Highlights
Virtual prototyping is a modern modeling, simulation and optimization technique, which is based on conception of complex virtual models, close to the real ones [1,2,3,4]
The present work is focused on the optimization of the control system for a single-axis solar tracker, whose dynamic virtual model was developed in mechatronic concept by using a virtual prototyping platform that integrates three types of software solutions CATIA - to create the 3D-solid model of the mechanism, ADAMS to design and simulate the multi-body system (MBS) model, EASY5 - to design the control system block diagram
A mono-objective optimization problem is configured with the aim to seek the optimal values of the three tuning factors of the PID controller in order to achieve the objective pursued by minimizing the tracking error, increasing the energetic efficiency of the tracking system
Summary
Virtual prototyping is a modern modeling, simulation and optimization technique, which is based on conception of complex virtual models, close to the real ones [1,2,3,4].
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