Solar Tracking Mechanism Research Articles

An Experimental Investigation on Thermal Efficiency of Flat Plate Tube Solar Collector using Nanofluid with Solar Tracking Mechanism

In the present work, flat-plate solar collector (FPSC) in terms of various parameters as well as in respect of lower (Area of FPSC, volume fraction concentration of nanofluids, and mass flow rate) has been studied in this work. The FPSC has been fabricated with 0.192 m2, Dioxide silicon SiO2 (40nm) with the volume fraction of SiO2+Distilled water (0.05, 0.075, and 0.1%) and varying of flow rate (10, 15, 20L/h). These technological devices operate under forced circulation mode of fluid under varying climate conditions. The tracking mechanism has been used in the experiment of FPSC for tracking the sun position during the daytime. As per the ASHRAE standard. The results showed that at volume fraction 0.10 % and flow rate of 20 L/h, the highest increase in the absorbed energy parameter FR(τα) was 7.3 %, and the removed energy parameter FRUL was 11.9 % compared with distilled water. The changes in absorbed energy parameter FR(τα) they vary from 4.4% to 7.3% while in removed energy parameter FRUL, the vary from 1.3% to 11.9% as compared with the distilled water case. The maximum efficiency was about 70 % as the decreased temperature parameter [(Ti–Ta)/GT] is equal to zero at a volume fraction of 0.10 % and flow rate of 20 L/h

An Overview of Configuration Strategies and Control Techniques for Solar Water Pumps

In view of dwindling scenario of conventional energy sources, governments, scientists and researchers worldwide are engaged tirelessly to explore the renewable energy sources in every walk of life. Most of the developing countries like India, heavily depends upon the agriculture for their survival. Irrigation is an essential task to be performed for better agriculture output. Due to global warming and ecological issues, the cost-effective irrigation harnessing cleanest form of energy such as solar energy is preferable. The main purpose of this paper is to develop an overview of efficient solar based water pumping systems for irrigation in India by using different configuration strategies of converter/inverter and Maximum Peak Power Tracking (MPPT) techniques. In addition, it also discusses the scope and constraints of photo-voltaic based solar water pumping system. Conventional irrigation systems harnessing the fossil fuels emits large amount of greenhouse gases which causes global warming. In order to make the irrigation system cost effective, prodigious and sophisticated irrigation techniques using an optimal solar tracking mechanism have been highlighted.

Solar Powered Robotic Vehicle for Optimal Battery Charging Using PIC Microcontroller

This paper focuses on the design and construction of an optimization charging system for Li–Po batteries by means of tracked solar panels. Thus, the implementation of a complete energy management system applied to a robotic exploration vehicle is put forward. The proposed system was tested on the VANTER robotic platform — an autonomous unmanned exploration vehicle specialized in recognition. The interest of this robotic system lies in the design concept, based on a smart host microcontroller. On this basis, our proposal makes a twofold significant contribution. On the one hand, it presents the construction of a solar tracking mechanism aimed at increasing the rover’s power regardless of its mobility. On the other hand, it proposes an alternative design of power system performance based on a pack of two batteries. The aim is completing the process of charging a battery independently while the other battery provides all the energy consumed by the robotic vehicle.

Assessment of cost-competitiveness and profitability of fixed and tracking photovoltaic systems: The case of five specific sites

Solutions that maximize the profitability and cost-competitiveness of photovoltaic projects are still necessary. Adding solar tracking mechanisms increase the energy production although it represent a cost reduction barrier. Therefore, the challenge is to balance the additional costs of trackers with yield increases. Due to the lack of studies that analyse when a tracker installation is more profitable than a fixed one, the calculation of the Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), among other most common economic assessment criteria, is proposed for several locations and different configurations, i.e. fixed, horizontal one-axis and two-axis tracking, where local technical and economic parameters were used. The first result shows that fixed and one-axis systems are cost-competitive respect to electricity tariffs, whereas two-axis ones are discouraged. LCOE differences up to 213%, 240% and 262% for fixed, one and two axis systems were detected among the locations analysed, however, a better scenario in LCOE terms does not mean better profitability results. Under certain circumstances, with the same LCOE results, one-axis photovoltaic systems are preferred over fixed ones. Therefore it is essential to identify optimization strategies according to technical, economic and financial parameters, as well as to include the electricity tariffs as a strategic variable in the analysis.

Thermal Performance Analysis of a CCP Collector Design Through the Parabolic Construction Geometry

Among alternative and sustainable energies, with high use of renewable resource, the solar-thermal energy can be found. Collector devices of solar radiation are fundamental for the energy capture; due to its great generation potential, CCP systems are highly studied and developed, trying to improve their efficiency and their solar tracking mechanisms. Therefore, this paper presents the results obtained during the analysis of the thermal performance of a parabolic trough concentrator (CCP), based on a mathematical modeling, and their respective simulations on ray optics and heat transfer. For the concentrator structure mechanical design, the parabolic geometry is proposed where the maximum concentration factor is used to calculate the receiver diameter, the focal distance and the solar collector system overall dimensioning: afterwards an heat transfer analysis is proposed through the efficiency factor, heat removal factor and losses. With a maximum concentration of 67.5477 the receiver diameter obtained has been 0.0071 [m], which has been modeled and simulated obtaining a useful energy of 1259.44 W and a fluid outlet temperature of 89.88°C. The contribution of this work is the presentation of a design methodology for parabolic cylindrical concentrators using mathematical development, theoretical modeling and simulation as a validation tool for the last two.

Experimental and simulation studies on a novel gravity based passive tracking system for a linear solar concentrating collector

A novel gravity based passive solar tracking mechanism; suitable to a linear solar concentrating collector has been conceptualized, developed, simulated, analyzed and tested experimentally. Attempt has been made to minimize the tracking load and error by controlling in dripping rate or filling rate of liquid in the gravity system. The identified key influencing design parameters in the proposed mechanism are sprocket wheel radius, spring stiffness and tracking radius. Large sprocket wheel, low stiff spring and small tracking radius minimizes the tracking loads. The recommended sprocket wheel radius and tracking wheel radius are 125 mm and 60 mm respectively. The simulation studies are validated with the experimental results. Practically obtained collector’s incidence angle is compared with the minimum required (theoretical) incidence and found a satisfactory match. The improvement in thermal efficiency of the collector with the proposed tracking mechanism has been highlighted by comparing the efficiency of intermittent tracking collector.

Power Saving Microcontroller based Robotic Solar Tracking Mechanism

Power Saving Microcontroller based Robotic Solar Tracking Mechanism

Solar.q_1: A new solar-tracking mechanism based on four-bar linkages

This paper describes the early stages of the design process of a 2-DOF parallel mechanism, based on the use of four-bar linkages and intended to move photovoltaic panels in order to perform sun tracking. Primary importance is given to the search for a way to compensate sun–earth’s relative motions with two decoupled rotations of the panel. This leads to devise a kinematic structure characterized by a particular arrangement of the revolute axes. At the same time, the structure itself is designed in order to be slender. Subsequently, the fact that during a day the earth’s revolution around the sun has negligible effects on the apparent trajectory of the sun, if compared to the rotation around the polar axis, leads to choose a control strategy which, also thanks to the said arrangement of axes, employs only 1-DOF for most of the daytime. The tracker which employs this strategy has, theoretically, an energy consumption similar to that of 1-DOF solar trackers but a precision similar to that of 2-DOF ones.

Design and analysis of a gravity-based passive tracking mechanism to a linear solar concentrating collector

A novel gravity-based power-free solar tracking mechanism has been developed to track a linear solar concentrating collector. Multireflector compound parabolic collectors having three parabolic segments and two flat surfaces is chosen due to its high intercept factor and suitability to the current tracking. The working of tracking mechanism is studied to find the tracking loads in the east and the west sides of collector. A generalized mathematical model is derived to simulate the tracking motion from the sunrise to sunset. The identified design variants are sprocket wheel diameter, spring stiffness, solar collector’s weight, counter balance, and tracking wheel radius. The spring length is derived from the constraints. To make a compact product, the tracking load has been minimized at large sprocket wheel, low stiff spring, lighter collector weight, and small radius of tracking. For a typical collector load of 50 kg, the designed tracking load is 50 kg with 620 mm spring length, 250 mm of sprocket wheel diameter and 60 mm tracking radius.

Design and Development of a Solar Thermal Collector with Single Axis Solar Tracking Mechanism

The solar energy is a source of energy that is abundant in Malaysia and can be easily harvested. However, because of the rotation of the Earth about its axis, it is impossible to harvest the solar energy to the maximum capacity if the solar thermal collector is placed fix to a certain angle. In this research, a solar thermal dish with single axis solar tracking mechanism that will rotate the dish according to the position of the sun in the sky is designed and developed, so that more solar rays can be reflected to a focal point and solar thermal energy can be harvested from the focal point. Data were collected for different weather conditions and performance of the solar thermal collector with a solar tracker were studied and compared with stationary solar thermal collector.

Direct tracking error characterization on a single-axis solar tracker

The solar trackers are devices used to orientate solar concentrating systems in order to increase the focusing of the solar radiation on a receiver. A solar concentrator with a medium or high concentration ratio needs to be orientated correctly by an accurate solar tracking mechanism to avoid losing the sunrays out from the receiver. Hence, to obtain an appropriate operation, it is important to know the accuracy of a solar tracker in regard to the required precision of the concentrator in order to maximize the collector optical efficiency. A procedure for the characterization of the accuracy of a solar tracker is presented for a single-axis solar tracker. More precisely, this study focuses on the estimation of the positioning angle error of a parabolic trough collector using a direct procedure. A testing procedure, adapted from the International standard IEC 62817 for photovoltaic trackers, was defined. The results show that the angular tracking error was within ±0.4° for this tracker. The optical losses due to the tracking were calculated using the longitudinal incidence angle modifier obtained by ray-tracing simulation. The acceptance angles for various transversal angles were analyzed, and the average optical loss, due to the tracking, was 0.317% during the whole testing campaign. The procedure presented in this work showed that the tracker precision was adequate for the requirements of the analyzed optical system.

Astronomy Algorithm Simulation for Two Degrees of Freedom of Solar Tracking Mechanism Using Clanguage

Abstract This paper describes the use of an astronomical algorithm for two degrees of freedom of solar tracking mechanism with the result that the expected solar thermal collector panels always leads to the sun and solar energy is absorbed optimally. The movement triggers of the sun tracking mechanism is an astronomical algorithm that generates the azimuth and altitude values based on latitude, longitude, and time. This system does not use any sensor so that is more economical and can be applied anywhere. Simulations have been made using the C programming language with Dev-C + + IDE to test the accuracy of the azimuth and elevation values generated by astronomical algorithm used, and compared with the value produced by the U.S. Naval Observatory and Geoscience Australia. The location used is LIPI Bandung with latitude 10736′E and longitude 652′S at every hour from 06:00 to 18:00 on the first date of each month of 2013. Simulation results show that the value of the azimuth and elevation resulting approached two other reference values with maximum azimuth difference 0.51 degrees and the maximum altitude difference 0.49 degrees to data the U.S. Naval Observatory, and the maximum azimuth difference 0.52 degrees and the maximum altitude difference 0.50 degrees to the data Australia Geoscience. Based on this research, it is known that the azimuth and elevation values was generated by these algorithms can be applied to two degrees of freedom of solar tracking mechanism because its accuracy is close to two other reference values.

Energy Efficient Hybrid Dual Axis Solar Tracking System

This paper describes the design and implementation of an energy efficient solar tracking system from a normal mechanical single axis to a hybrid dual axis. For optimizing the solar tracking mechanism electromechanical systems were evolved through implementation of different evolutional algorithms and methodologies. To present the tracker, a hybrid dual-axis solar tracking system is designed, built, and tested based on both the solar map and light sensor based continuous tracking mechanism. These light sensors also compare the darkness and cloudy and sunny conditions assisting daily tracking. The designed tracker can track sun’s apparent position at different months and seasons; thereby the electrical controlling device requires a real time clock device for guiding the tracking system in seeking solar position for the seasonal motion. So the combination of both of these tracking mechanisms made the designed tracker a hybrid one. The power gain and system power consumption are compared with a static and continuous dual axis solar tracking system. It is found that power gain of hybrid dual axis solar tracking system is almost equal to continuous dual axis solar tracking system, whereas the power saved in system operation by the hybrid tracker is 44.44% compared to the continuous tracking system.

An EfficientLow Cost Solar Tracker Using Microcontroller

Solar energy is gaining importance day by day as an energy resource. Efficiency of solar panel systems must be maximized to make solar energy more usable. By sun tracking we can increase the efficiency of solar panel. When the solar panel is perpendicular to the sun's rays it receives more sunlight. This paper is about follow the sunlight direction across the sky by using a DC gear motor, the AT89S52 microcontroller control the movement of gear motor by this the solar panel will change their position, solar panel detects the sunlight using photocells. The objective is to design and implement an automatic solar-tracking mechanism using embedded system design with minimum cost and reliable structure. Keywords: AT89S52 microcontroller, photocell, solar panel, solar energy, dc motor.

A Research on the Positioning and Tracking Technology of the Mobile Device for Testing the Thermal Performance of Solar Collector

A moving platform and a solar tracking mechanism of a system for testing the thermal performance of solar collector have been researched and designed, worm gear and servo system are used in as well, which improve the precision of the control and the reliability of the movement. The control program based on standard state machine model is designed in the development platform of virtual instrument, and it achieves the precise control of the moving platform and the solar tracking mechanism, which guarantees to test the thermal performance of solar collector.

Smart Host Microcontroller for Optimal Battery Charging in a Solar-Powered Robotic Vehicle

This paper focuses on the design and construction of an optimization charging system for Li-Po batteries by means of tracked solar panels. Thus, the implementation of a complete energy management system applied to a robotic exploration vehicle is put forward. The proposed system was tested on the VANTER robotic platform-an autonomous unmanned exploration vehicle specialized in recognition. The interest of this robotic system lies in the design concept, based on a smart host microcontroller. On this basis, our proposal makes a twofold significant contribution. On the one hand, it presents the construction of a solar tracking mechanism aimed at increasing the rover's power regardless of its mobility. On the other hand, it proposes an alternative design of power system performance based on a pack of two batteries. The aim is completing the process of charging a battery independently while the other battery provides all the energy consumed by the robotic vehicle.

Solar Tracker Mounted Battery Electric Vehicle

Solar photovoltaic energy conversion is a one-step conversion process which generates electrical energy from light energy. The explanation relies on ideas from quantum theory. Light is made up of packets of energy, called photons, whose energy depends only upon the frequency or color of the light. The energy of visible photons is sufficient to excite electrons, bound into solids, up to higher energy levels where they are freer to move. In a photovoltaic device, there is some built-in asymmetry which pulls the excited electrons away before they can relax, and feeds them to an external circuit. The extra energy of the excited electrons generates a potential difference, or electromotive force (e.m.f). This force drives the electrons through a load in the external circuit to do electrical work. A solar tracker is a device for orienting a solar photovoltaic panel or concentrating solar reflector or lens toward the sun. Solar cells on automobiles are mounted usually in a stationary manner where there is no degree of freedom and the angle of incidence keeps varying due to which maximum output cannot be extracted. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate the flexibility of this system by introducing the solar tracking mechanism onboard a vehicle so as to achieve maximum efficiency of photovoltaic conversion. The sun's position in the sky varies both with the seasons (elevation) and time of day as the sun moves across the sky. Along with these parameters, our application, being for non-stationary solar panels, will have to include orientations which would vary depending on the direction of motion of the vehicle, direction in which it is parked, etc. Solar powered equipment works best when pointed at or near the sun, so a solar tracker can increase the effectiveness of such equipment over any fixed position, at the cost of additional system complexity.

Linear Fresnel Mirror Solar Concentrator with Tracking

Solar energy is the most abundant, widely distributed and clean renewable energy resource. Since the insolation intensity is only in the range of 0.5 - 1.0 kW/m2, solar concentrators are required for attaining temperatures appropriate for medium and high temperature applications. The concentrated energy is transferred through an absorber to a thermal fluid such as air, water or other fluids for various uses. This paper describes design and development of a 'Linear Fresnel Mirror Solar Concentrator' (LFMSC) using long thin strips of mirrors to focus sunlight on to a fixed receiver located at a common focal line. Our LFMSC system comprises a reflector (concentrator), receiver (target) and an innovative solar tracking mechanism. Reflectors are mirror strips, mounted on tubes which are fixed to a base frame. The tubes can be rotated to align the strips to focus solar radiation on the receiver (target). The latter comprises a coated tube carrying water and covered by a glass plate. This is mounted at an elevation of few meters above the horizontal, parallel to the plane of the mirrors. The reflector is oriented along north-south axis. The most difficult task is tracking. This is achieved by single axis tracking using a four bar link mechanism. Thus tracking has been made simple and easy to operate. The LFMSC setup is used for generating steam for a variety of applications.

A LOW COST SINGLE-AXIS SUN TRACKER SYSTEM USING PIC MICROCONTROLLER

Solar energy is rapidly gaining importance as an energy resource. To make solar energy more viable, efficiency of solar panel systems must be maximized. A feasible approach to maximize the efficiency of solar panel systems is sun tracking. A solar panel receives the most sunlight when it is perpendicular to the sun’s rays. This paper is about moving a solar panel along with the direction of sunlight; it uses a geared motor to change the position of the solar panel, the motor is controlled by the PIC16F84A microcontroller, which detects the sunlight using photocells. The objective is to design and implement an automated, one-axis solar-tracking mechanism using embedded system design with minimum cost and reliable structure

Application of optical film with micro-lens array on a solar concentrator

Abstract A plastic solar concentrating optical film with horizontal cylinder micro-lens array (HCMA) is presented in this study. The solar concentrator (SC) is in the form of optical film with HCMA and it is attached on the surface of a solar cell. This film is a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)-based optical layer. Compared with a plain solar collecting optical film without HCMA, the solar collecting optical film with HCMA can reduce the opportunity of reflection as light arrives at the surface and therefore can increase the refraction coefficient. As a result, the gain of photovoltaic power can be improved with the SC. Light is efficiently refracted by the HCMA and absorbed by the solar cell without the need of a solar tracking mechanism. Optimization of geometrical parameters of HCMA such as contact angle and gap (interspace) between each horizontal cylinder micro-lens is designed by simulation. The procedures of fabrication include reflow process, nickel–cobalt (Ni–Co) electroplating, and molding process. The measurement equipment of NEWPORT Oriel 91160+MODEL 6285 is utilized to measure the parameters such as open-circuit voltage V oc , short-circuit current I sc , and fill factor F . F ., relating to the efficiency of the complete system. The experimental results show that a gain of photovoltaic power of about 3.30% is obtained with a contact angle of 62° and a gap of 15 μm.