Two-axis Solar Tracking System Research Articles

TWO-AXIS SOLAR PANEL TRACKING DEVICE PROTOTYPE WITH IOT-BASED MONITORING

The aim of this project is to develop a dual-axis solar tracker equipped with an IoT monitoring system with the BLYNK platform using Arduino. Overall, solar energy refers to technologies that generate power from sunlight. The utilization of solar energy has been around for centuries and has been widely used without relying on other energy supplies. However, its importance is increasing as environmental awareness grows and the availability of other energy sources, such as fuel, becomes limited. Sun tracking systems are an effective technology that can improve the efficiency of solar panels by following the movement of the sun. With the help of this system, solar panels can automatically orient themselves to sunlight, improve sunlight detection, and increase electricity collection because solar panels can always be in a bright position. This project focuses on developing a two-axis sun tracker using Arduino Uno as the main controller. For its implementation, four light-sensitive resistors (LDRs) are used to detect sunlight and maximum light intensity. Two servo motors are used to move the solar panel according to the direction of sunlight detected by the LDRs. Furthermore, an ESP8266 WIFI device is used as an intermediary between the device and the IoT monitoring system. The IoT monitoring system is a website that serves to store data. The efficiency of this system is tested and compared with single axial sun tracking. The results show that the two-axis solar tracking system generates more power, voltage, and current compared to the single axial solar tracker.

Performance Evaluation of the Designed Two-Axis Solar Tracking System for Trabzon

In this paper, a photovoltaic system, which can move both east–west directions horizontally and in a north–south vertically, is designed according to the sun’s angle of incidence. Experimental studies have been carried out on this system, which can follow the change of the sun’s daily angle depending on the local time throughout the day. This study was evaluated for one of the cloudy provinces of Turkey: Trabzon. Optimum motor steps of the two-axis solar tracking system were determined, according to the open-loop control system in order that solar rays reach a perpendicular (90°) to the system. The power generation performance of the two-axis solar tracking system prototype was compared with that of a PV panel, which has a fixed position facing the south. Experimental studies were carried out for three cloudy days. The average power obtained from the fixed system is 12.5, 11.15, and 12.77 W, and the designed system generated 15.67, 14.05, and 15.79 W power, respectively. The results show that the designed system generates approximately 24.7% more power than the 45° fixed-tilted system with the proposed method. In Trabzon, that the number of sunny days is low encourages the widespread use of the two-axis solar tracking system design. The prototype will be an inspiration for researchers who want to generate maximum energy from solar tracking systems in cloudy places or any locations.

Numerical investigation of the energy performance of a solar micro-CHP unit

This article presents the development of a numerical model of a micro-CHP prototype fueled by concentrated solar power. This micro-CHP unit converts concentrated solar energy into electricity and heat by coupling an assembled parabolic trough collector with an oil-free single-cylinder steam engine operating according to the Rankine cycle. The main originality of this study is the modeling of a large solar heating system (46.5 m2 aperture area), including a two-axis solar tracking system, and its integration into a dynamic thermal simulation code in order to evaluate its potential for building application, which is the objective of this work. The quasi-static modelling of the elements forming the primary conversion loop, allowing the integration of the system into a dynamic thermal simulation code, is also an innovation. In addition to limitations such as payback period, system effectiveness, technological issues (e.g. high pressure, hot steam water) and the availability of solar energy resources, the deployment of this technology suffered from the lack of a reliable model to predict both performance and energy production. In order to evaluate its potential, an experimental facility was modeled using Trnsys© and Matlab© software. Analytical models were developed for each element of the thermodynamic cycle. The numerical results obtained from these models were compared with experimental results. For a full day of operation, electricity and heat production at nominal conditions (1.2 kW and 15 kW, respectively) were satisfactorily estimated by the model. Once validated, the complete model was used to estimate the production potential of a solar micro-CHP unit located in La Rochelle, France (latitude 46°2′ North, longitude 1°1′ West). For an annual direct solar irradiance of 1241 kWh/m2, a yearly production of 11 671 kWh of heat and 1110 kWh of electricity was predicted. A parametric study then highlighted the impact of location and flow rate on the micro-CHP unit performance. Moreover, the two-axis solar tracking system appears to constitute an important advantage when the performance is measured over an entire year.

Computer vision and photosensor based hybrid control strategy for a two-axis solar tracker - Daylighting application

This paper deals with a computer vision and photosensor based two-axis solar tracking system for an active daylighting system. The real-time image processing was performed by using a Raspberry Pi 4 controller, and processed data were used as an input of an ATmega128 microcontroller to track the sun’s path. An active daylighting system requires a higher concentration of sunlight with an acceptable accuracy in different weather conditions. Alone, an image based or photosensor based control strategy cannot fulfill both requirements. Successful integration of two different feedback mechanisms could overcome the tracking difficulties. The system was composed of Raspberry Pi 4 and ATmega128 controllers, a camera, electronic circuits, and stepper motors. The proposed control system could distinguish the objects (e.g., sun or clouds) in front of the camera, and process the data required to run the solar tracker. The integration of extra photosensors and the camera was able to avoid the cloud disturbance. To investigate the efficacy of the solar tracker, it was integrated with the optical fiber cable to transmit harvested daylight for an indoor illumination.

Performance improvement of two-axis solar tracking system by using flat-mirror reflectors

This work studied the performance improvement of a two-axis solar tracking system by using flat-mirror reflectors. The two- and four-sided flat-mirror reflectors were set on the solar panel with angles of 90°, 120°, and 150° between the panel and flat-mirror reflectors. The highest efficiency, electrical power, and current were observed for four-sided flat mirrors at the angle of 120°, followed by two-sided flat mirrors at the angle of 120°, two-sided flat mirrors at the angle of 150°, two-sided flat mirrors at the angle of 90°, four-sided flat mirrors at the angle of 150°, and four-sided flat mirrors at the angle of 90°, respectively, because when the four-sided flat mirrors were mounted at a suitable degree of 120°, this improved the collected irradiance. At 90°, the four-sided flat mirrors blocked more solar rays than the two-sided ones. At 150°, the angle was too big for the solar ray to be reflected to the solar panel. The results indicated that the performance of the solar tracking system (efficiency, electrical power, and current) was affected by the number and angle of flat mirrors. The results of this study can be applied for the efficient performance of a novel solar tracking system design. This will be beneficial for the use of solar energy.

Dual axis solar tracker with IoT monitoring system using arduino

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.

Performance Comparison of the Single Axis and Two-Axis Solar System using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System Controls

Solar energy is one of the renewable energy that gets more attention from many countries. Solar photo voltaic (PV) takes the right position to get the maximum energy yield. The study was conducted by comparison of performance with two methods of tracking the sun with one axis and two axes by using ANFIS control (Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System). The solar tracking system is a system that operates on the sun by using a light sensor and controls the photovoltaic to always perpendicular to the sun by changing the pitch and yaw axis of the sun tracing properties. LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) is one of the light sensors whose resistance changes depending on the intensity of incoming light. Direct current (DC )motor is used as a PV drive panel in a solar tracking system. A two-axis solar tracking system has a greater power output than a tracking system with a single photovoltaic panel that does not use a tracking system (fixed).

Fuzzy Logic Controller Application for an Active Two-Axis Solar Tracking System

The changes in the intensity of solar radiation cause the electrical power produced by solar panels to be not optimal. The solar panel position control system to the position of the solar is an effort to overcome this problem. There are four Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) sensors placed on the sides of the four cardinal directions. The difference in the intensity of solar radiation received by each sensor causes the position of the solar panel to turn perpendicular to the position of the solar. The control method used is fuzzy logic control with three membership functions. The controlled variables are pitch angle and yaw angle in an active two-axis solar tracking system. Input fuzzy logic control is an error, and output is PWM. The results of the performance of the pitch angle control system produce settling time for 10 s and error steady-state obtained by 0.080 %, while for the yaw angle control system produces settling time for 13 s and steady-state error is obtained at 0.038 %. The existence of a control system resulted in an increase in the percentage of power above 30 % with a power difference of 7.49 W to a fixed panel.

Design and Implementation of Mobile Active Two-Axis Solar Tracker with Reflector Based on Particle Swarm Fuzzy Controller

Sun tracking system, or solar tracker, is an electronic device consisting of several electrical and mechanical elements, which serves to guide the solar panels in order to make them follow the sun position accurately and to generate the maximum solar energy reception. Sun tracking system is a solution offered in order to use solar energy optimally. The two-axis solar tracking system can absorb solar energy better than a single axis solar tracking or PV fixed system. The two-axis active sun tracking system uses an LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) sensor in order to capture the powerful solar lighting to be received by PV (photovoltaic). Four LDR sensors are used to represent the position of the sun that is north, south, west, and east. This research applies a modified particle swarm fuzzy-based control to be used in the system so that the solar panel system is more effective and responsive to sunlight position changes. The results show that the control method is capable of applying well with a 70-degree reflector. This can be noticed from the results of the steady-state error performance index in the pitch and the yaw tests that are 0.638% and 0.312%, whereas for the other performance indexes including rise time, settling time and Maximum Overshoot (MOV) for both tests are 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 0% and 4 seconds, 6 seconds and 0% respectively. The mobile active solar tracker built can increase energy gain of 43.01% compared to fixed system.

THERMAL ENERGY GENERATION FROM A SOLAR COLLECTOR PARABOLIC DISH REFLECTOR

A prototype of a small modularity parabolic dish reflector or PDR solar collector with two-axis solar tracking system was designed and built at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) in MA©xico. The purpose is to generate high temperature thermal energy for application in services of small and medium industry as well as domestic uses. The solar tracking in two-axis was developed based on angular relationships and a control system with proportional-integral action so that even when there is an obstruction of solar radiation either by cloud cover, buildings, trees or any other object that generates shade, the collector remains oriented towards the Sun. For operating and monitoring the prototype, a flow control module and a human machine interface or HMI were developed and implemented, allowing by means of a computer interface, the monitoring of solar radiation, temperature for thermal evaluation. The experimental data obtained indicated that the prototype can generate 30 kg of steam saturated starting from water at an ambient temperature of 298 K.

Design and Implementation of an Automatic Control for Two Axis Tracking System for Applications of Concentrated Solar Thermal Power

The present work presents design and implementation of an automated two-axis solar tracking system using local materials with minimum cost, light weight and reliable structure. The tracking system consists of two parts, mechanical units (fixed and moving parts) and control units (four LDR sensors and Arduino UNO microcontroller to control two DC servomotors). The tracking system was fitted and assembled together with a parabolic trough solar concentrator (PTSC) system to move it according to information come from the sensors so as to keep the PTSC always perpendicular to sun rays. The experimental tests have been done on the PTSC system to investigate its thermal performance in two cases, with tracking system (case 1) and without tracking system (case 2). The experimental results showed that the average solar radiation falling on the PTSC prototype in the two cases during the same time was 854 and 701 watt/m2, respectively, which means an increase in the solar radiation about 21.8 % when using tracking system. It was found that the average useful heat gain output of solar collector was equal to (376.2, 252.6 watt) for the two cases, respectively, so there was an increase of about 48.9 % when using the tracking system. Also, the average thermal efficiency of the PTSC was found to be (20.7, 26.5 %) for the two cases, respectively, which means an increase in the average efficiency by 28% with use of tracking system compared to the fixed case.

Development of Intelligent Fuzzy Controller for a Two-Axis Solar Tracking System

This paper proposes the development of a two-axis sun tracking solar energy system using fuzzy logic as intelligent quality policy. To achieve maximum efficiency for solar panels, it is necessary to follow the sun’s path in the sky. Therefore, the architecture for the two-axis sun tracking solar energy system uses software to control the hardware. The hardware comprises (i) solar cells; (ii) lead-acid batteries; (iii) a gear box; (iv) a stepping motor; and (v) a light detection circuit, while the software comprises (i) a detection system; (ii) a fuzzy tracking controller; and (iii) a database system. A fuzzy logic controller is designed as the software architecture of the system to decide the timing for tracking the sun. The nearest position that results in receiving direct sunlight is obtained from the database. Our system is fully automatic in a changing environment and takes into account meteorological changes and the effects of the external environment arising from a malfunction. This approach reduces the number of starting motors and results in smaller energy loss in cloudy, cloud mask, or unstable weather conditions.

An optimal design analysis of a novel parabolic trough lighting and thermal system

In order to reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of daylighting, an innovative parabolic trough solar lighting and thermal (PTL/T) system is designed and analyzed in this paper. Parabolic trough solar lighting and thermal system uses parabolic trough collector (PTC) controlled by two-axis solar tracking system as solar collector. The collected sunlight is split by a cold mirror into visible light and infrared. The visible light is reflected by cold mirror, re-concentrated by a second-stage Fresnel lens, and then delivered by plastic optical fiber to the buildings for daylighting. The infrared goes through cold mirror, reaches thermal system, and is used for heating generation. The basic structure of PTL/T was outlined and described. The dimension of fiber bundle and parabolic trough was chosen after an optimal analysis. The cost of illuminating unit area was expressed as a function of illumination space dimensions and critical components efficiency. A case study was conducted to get a specific optimized illumination area and PTC area for the first time. The optimized result is to use 8-m2 PTC as collector to illuminate 500-m2 office space. The total solar energy utilization efficiency is 39.4%, with the lighting efficiency of 16.3% and thermal efficiency of 23.1%. The maximum energy savings and simple payback period were calculated for 10 typical cities when applied in residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. The amounts of greenhouse gas-emission reductions were also calculated. The payback period in Sunbelt region is as low as less than 10 years like in Los Angeles. The results show the proposed PTL/T system is competitive compared with traditional solar energy systems. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Study on a Two-Axis Solar Tracking System Based on Fuzzy Logic Control

In order to maximize power output from the solar panels, one needs to keep the panels aligned with the sun. So solar tracker having high reliability must be designed. This paper cares about the design and evaluation of a two-axis solar tracker system based on fuzzy logic control with LabVIEW. The research focus on planning mechanical parts, making an intelligent controller which controls and monitors all parameters via user interface implemented of a fuzzy decision support system for control of photovoltaic panel movement. We also develop a real solar tracker system and analyze the influence indexes such as environment, weather, season, and light condition. The solar tracker is tested in real condition and all parameters related to the system operation are recorded and analyzed. The developed solar tracking system got a much higher efficiency about 38 % compare to fixed solar panel although the weather condition is affected a lot to the solar panel. So we confirmed the our auto tracking system is more effective and can allow more energy to be produced.

Development and performance analysis of a two-axis solar tracker for concentrated photovoltaics

Summary This study presents a two-axis solar tracking system equipped with a small concentrator module for electricity generation through a multijunction solar cell. The system can accurately track the sun without the need of calibration for an extended period and operate as a stand-alone system. High-precision solar tracking was achieved by a combination of open-loop and closed-loop controls. A camera tracking sensor was introduced as a feedback device in closed-loop control. Two different types of solar concentrator modules were designed and fabricated. Their concentration ratios were analyzed against solar tracking errors by means of ray tracing software. One is made up of a paraboloidal primary concentrator and a paraboloidal secondary reflector, whereas the other has a paraboloidal primary concentrator and a hyperboloidal secondary reflector. Both modules showed an almost identical concentration ratio of 610 provided that the solar tracker is pointing perfectly at the sun. However, their performance differs considerably when tracking error is present. The maximum power output was obtained near solar noon with multijunction cells, whose average solar conversion efficiency was 21%, much higher than that of conventional photovoltaic systems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Increasing of Electrical Energy with Solar Tracking System at the Region which Has Turkey’s Most Solar Energy Potential

 Abstract—In this study, we investigated the efficiency of our own two-axis solar tracking photovoltaic system which designed by us according to a fixed system. The system's energy consumption was minimized by using tipper motor in the two-axis solar tracking system. Both systems were mounted in the same place to compare two-axis tracking system's efficiency with fixed system's efficiency fully and used the same breed panels, charge regulator, measurement device and battery. It was observed that Two-axis motion system efficiency was more than fixed system 31.67% over an annual average. This efficiency was measured on some days up to 70% during the winter months and up to 11% during the summer months.

Optimization Controller for Mechatronic Sun Tracking System to Improve Performance

An embedded system that contains hardware and software was developed for two-axis solar tracking system to improve photovoltaic panel utilization. The hardware section of the embedded system consists of a 32-bit ARM core microcontroller, motor driver circuits, a motion control unit, pyranometer, GPS receiver, and an anemometer. The real-time control algorithm enables the solar tracker to operate automatically without external control as a stand-alone system, combining the advantages of the open-loop and the closed-loop control methods. The pyranometer is employed to continuously send radiation data to the controller if the measured radiation is above the lower radiation limit the photovoltaic panel can generate power, guaranteeing the solar tracking process to be highly efficient. The anemometer is utilized in the system to ensure that the solar tracking procedure halts under high wind speed conditions to protect the entire system. Latitude, longitude, altitude, date, and real-time clock data are provided by GPS receiver. The algorithm calculates solar time using astronomical equations with GPS data and converts it to pulse-width modulated motor control signal. The overall objective of this study is to develop a control algorithm that improves performance and reliability of the two-axis solar tracker, focusing on optimization of the controller board, drive hardware, and software.

Design and Implementation of Hybrid Automatic Solar-Tracking System

A solar tracker is a system for orienting solar photovoltaic modules and solar thermal collectors toward the sun. This paper presents a microcontroller based energy efficient hybrid automatic solar-tracking system with a view to assess the improvement in solar conversion efficiency. The two-axis solar-tracking system is constructed with both hardware and software implementations. The proposed tracking system uses a new solar position sensor with adaptive features. A comparative analysis was performed using four systems, i.e., hybrid tracking, dual-axis, single-axis, and stationary module. The results showed that the use of the dual-axis tracking system produced 18% gain of power output, compared with a single-axis tracking system. The gain of output power with the hybrid tracking system was much higher (54%) when compared with a stationary system inclined at 23.5 deg to the horizontal. Considering the state of the art of the technology, successful strategy, robust control philosophy, and the potential added benefit of this research work can be employed on a large scale in sustainable manner.

AVR 마이크로 컨트롤러 기반의 태양추적 장치 개발

본 연구에서는 AVR 마이크로 컨트롤러를 사용하여 임베디드 태양추적장치를 개발하였다. 본 시스템은 Atmega128 마이크로 컨트롤러, 스텝 모터, 스텝 드라이브 모듈, CdS 센서 그리고 GPS 모듈 및 기타 부품들로 구성되어 있다. 태양추적장치는 광학적 방법과 천문학적인 방법에 의해 작동된다. 최초 태양추적은 천문학적인 계산방법에 의해 얻어진 결과에 따라 이루어지고 CdS에 의해 미세 조정이 이루어진다. 태양추적장치가 설치된 지점에서 GPS는 UTC(Universal Time Coordinated)와 위도 및 경도 데이터를 마이크로 컨트롤러에 전송한다. 전송되어진 데이터에 의해 실시간으로 태양위치, 일출 및 일몰시간이 계산되어 진다. 태양 추적에 필요한 데이터들은 범용 비동기화 송수신기(UART)를 통하여 컴퓨터로 전송 받을 수 있다. An embedded two-axis solar tracking system was developed by using AVR micro controller for enhancing solar energy utilization. The system consists of an Atmega128 micro controller, two step motors, two step drive modules, CdS sensors, GPS module and other accessories needed for functional stability. This system is controlled by both an astronomical method and an optical method. Initial operation is performed by the result from the astronomical method, which is followed by the fine controlled operation using the signals from Cds sensors. The GPS sensor generates UTC, longitude and latitude data where the solar tracker is installed. A database of solar altitude, azimuth, and sunrise and sunset times is provided by UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter).

Development of an embedded solar tracker for the enhancement of solar energy utilization

SUMMARY An embedded two-axis solar tracking system using Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench to write the operation and control algorithms was developed for enhancing solar energy utilization. The system consists of a real-time processor, two motion-control modules, two step drives, two step motors, feedback devices, and other accessories needed for functional stability. The real-time processor allows the solar tracker to be used as a stand-alone, real-time system that can operate automatically without any external control. The system combines two different solar tracking methods: the optical method and the astronomical method. Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) sensors are employed to continuously generate feedback signals to the controller, ensuring high-precision solar tracking even under adverse conditions. The CdS sensor is a resistor whose electric resistance decreases with increasing incident light intensity. A database of solar altitude, azimuth, and sunrise and sunset times is provided by this solar tracking system. Other solar trackers operating in an astronomical method may access and use this database over the Internet. Solar position and sunrise and sunset times in the database were compared with those of the Astronomical Applications Department of the U.S. Naval Observatory. The differences were found to be negligible. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.