DUAL AXIS SOLAR RADIATION TRACKER

Proponents: Espedillon, Marigold May L. Estrella, Recuerdo C. Jr. Grageda, Glenda Mae V. Herrera, Erika Claudine G. Lalo, Erika Gayle E. BSECE 5-1

INTRODUCTION
We uses electric energy to power up the appliances which emit greenhouse gases which causes global warming they are also expensive making other people unable to afford this

These factors have led the proponents to come up with a project that can make use of the abundant commodity available at present (The Sun), harness it and make use of it to power up a household who cannot afford to buy and were not privileged enough to be included in the electric distribution by power companies

INTRODUCTION
The sun is an unlimited commodity that can be adequately sourced from many locations avoids the price manipulations politics that have more than doubled the price of many fossil fuels

Although an immense amount of energy is constantly coming from the sun to the earth, all that energy is spread out over a very large area. Solar energy also does not work at night. The sun moves both throughout the day as well as throughout the year

INTRODUCTION
A solar panel must be able to follow the suns movement to produce the maximum possible power

The goal of this project was to design an active, dual axis solar tracker that will have a minimum allowable error of tracking to get the maximum solar energy possible and also be economically feasible to market towards people living in the rural locations to be used as their power generator in their household

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

A Solar tracker is a device for orienting a solar photovoltaic panel or concentrating solar reflector or lens toward the sun. A solar electric module (also known as a panel) is made up of many PV cells that are wired together in a series to achieve the desired voltage. The thin wires on the front of the module pick up the free electrons from the PV cell.

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. The sun's position in the sky varies both with the seasons and time of day as the sun moves across the sky.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

If we could configure a solar cell so that it faces the sun continually as it moves across the sky from east to west, we could get the most electrical energy possible The use of a tracking system greatly improves the power gain from solar radiation One way to do this is with a use of a light sensor. A light sensor is employed to control the solar cell tracking system. If the light sensor is not aligned with sun rays, then it could turn on the motor until it is once again aligned. If the motor is attached to the frame holding the solar cell, then the solar cell could be moved to face the sun

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Build an automated system of our own, using a motor and is capable of recharging on its own when the battery level is running low without compromising the amount of solar energy we are harnessing

THE SOLAR TRACKER electrical system contains the sensor and the comparator circuit which give the tracker the capability to compare the amount of solar radiation that is being directed towards the panel mechanical system is responsible for the rotation and the tilting of the solar panel as it tracks the best angle that will provide the highest possible amount of solar radiation.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The sun is an unlimited commodity that can be adequately sourced from many locations, meaning solar avoids the price manipulations and politics that have more than doubled the price of many fossil fuels in the past decade Although an immense amount of energy is constantly coming from the sun to the earth, all that energy is spread out over a very large area. And also solar energy is directly dependent with the light intensity that the sun gives and as we all know the Sun moves constantly in bell shape throughout the day. Solar panels are also bulky and the main hindrance to solar energy going widespread is the cost of installing solar panels. Capital costs for installing a home solar system are high.

The proponents will use a tracking device to be mounted in the solar panel to be able to follow the Sun to attain the maximum amount of energy that can be harness to supply the household.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

In lieu of the gradual increase in the risks of Global Warming, this study is timely enough to push through. In recent years, our country have launched many studies in the aspect of aiding rapid increase of the risks of Global Warming and made a lot of achievements. Many organizations around the globe are prioritizing the movement towards green technology and this study is our contribution. The project is free from harmful emissions and it is also less expensive than those that are present in the market today, for the project harnesses and produces low-cost and renewable energy.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The amount of solar energy available on the earth depends on the geographical latitude and the time of day and year at a given location, and this source of energy is abundant in nature, so nobody is going to take advantage and monopolize the supply of this.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The use of solar tracking system would greatly improve the power gain from the solar radiation compare to the fixed or immobile solar panel. And also the project would not only focus on making the project more efficient than what is available in market but also make it economically feasible to market so that underprivileged people can also afford it.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Immobile Versus Mobile Panel Different power applications require different tracking systems. For certain applications a tracking system is too costly and will decrease the max power that is gained from the solar panel. Due to the fact that the earth rotates on its axis and orbits around the sun, if a PV cell/panel is immobile, the absorption efficiency will be significantly less at certain times of the day and year. The use of a tracking system to keep the PV cell/panel perpendicular to the sun can boost the collected energy by 10 - 100% depending on the circumstances. If a tracking system is not used, the solar panel should still be oriented in the optimum position. The panel needs to be placed where no shadow will fall on it at any time of the day. Additionally, the best tilt angle should be determined based on the geographical location of the panel. As a general guideline for the northern hemisphere, the PV panel should be placed at a tilt angle equal to the latitude of the site and facing south. However, for a more accurate position and tilt angel a theoretical model of the suns iridescence for the duration of a year is created and the angel and position is matched to the model.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Overview of Current Tracker Drive Types After classifying the solar panel into mobile or immobile we had determine that it is best to use a tracker or mobile panel to be able to follow the sun throughout the day to capture the maximum solar energy.

Solar trackers can be divided into three main types depending on the type of drive and sensing or positioning system that they incorporate. Passive trackers use the suns radiation to heat gases that move the tracker across the sky. Active trackers use electric or hydraulic drives and some type of gearing or actuator to move the tracker. Open loop trackers use no sensing but instead determine the position of the sun through pre-recorded data for a particular site.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Gas Trackers (Passive Trackers) - Passive trackers use a compressed gas fluid as a means of tilting the panel. A canister on the sun side of the tracker is heated causing gas pressure to increase and liquid to be pushed from one side of the tracker to the other. This affects the balance of the tracker and caused it to tilt. Active Trackers - Active trackers measure the light intensity from the sun to determine where the solar modules should be pointing. Light sensors are positioned on the tracker at various locations or in specially shaped holders. If the sun is not facing the tracker directly there will be a difference in light intensity on one light sensor compared to another and this 11 difference can be used to determine in which direction the tracker has to tilt in order to be facing the sun.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Open Loop Trackers Open loop trackers determine the position of the sun using computer controlled algorithms or simple timing systems.

Timed Trackers These use a timer to move the tracker across the sky. Incremental movement throughout the day keeps the solar modules facing the general direction of the sun. Trackers of this type can utilize one or two axes depending on their application. The main disadvantage of timed systems is that their movement does not take into account the seasonal variation in sun position. Unless measures are taken to adjust the tracker position seasonally, there will be a noticeable difference in efficiency depending on the season.

Altitude / Azimuth Trackers Uses astronomical data or sun position algorithms to determine the position of the sun for any given time and location. Tracker location, date and time are used by a micro controller to fix the position of the sun. Once the position has been calculated, the modules are moved using servo motors and there position measured by encoders built into the tracker frame.

METHODOLOGY

To be able to meet the goal of the proponents to build an active, dual axis solar tracking device that will increase the efficiency of the fixed solar panel, to attain the maximum energy that could be harness from the sun, for the purpose of supplying household of under-privileged people in rural areas

METHODOLOGY

The tracking system is the one responsible for determining and moving which position or tilting of the panel would capture the highest amount of solar energy

The harvesting system is the one responsible for the distribution of the captured energy to the household

METHODOLOGY
Tracking System
Mounted PV sensors around the Solar Panel receiving the intensity of light at the same time 4 sensors would be place at top, bottom, left side and right side of the panel respectively to be able to determine the position of the sun As the sensors receive intensity of light, the comparator circuit which consists of a differential amplifier will identify which of the 4 sensors is receiving the highest amount of light Comparator circuit as the brain of our tracking system which is responsible for the decision making of the movement of the tracker

When the comparator circuit has determine which sensor is receiving the highest amount of light this will drive the motor to start moving the gears/arm to move the panel to the position of the sun

METHODOLOGY
Harvesting System
By integrating the panel with the tracking device, the amount of solar energy that panel would capture will increase thus making the panel more efficient as a source of electricity for the rural areas out of reach of the distribution grid of the electric companies.

Charge controller will be inserted to the system to regulate the excessive voltage that solar cells would produce and maintain the proper charging voltage on the batteries Battery bank would be included in the system to be able to store some amount of solar energy at day time to be use at night time The switch will act as a light sensing circuit, it will determine what would be the power source that the household will use

METHODOLOGY
System Design of the Tracker
The purpose of the solar tracker is to accurately determine the position of the sun. This enables solar panels interfaced to the tracker to obtain the maximum solar radiation. With this particular solar tracker a closed-loop system was made consisting of an electrical system and a mechanical system.

METHODOLOGY
System Design of the Tracker

Mechanical System Uses 2 DC motors for the tilting of the panel one is for the vertical axis tilting(top and bottom) and the other is for the horizontal tilting(left and right). And a worm gear is chosen because it is capable of high speedreduction ratios as well as ensuring that there is no inertial backlash to the driving source. This is ideal for a solar tracking system as the tracker needed to move both slowly and with minimal influence from inertia.

METHODOLOGY
System Design of the Tracker

Electrical System To produce a useful solar tracker the electrical system needs to give accurate control signals to the mechanical system, be reliable, and have low power consumption. The electrical system will consists of solar sensors, a comparator circuit and an H-bridge.

METHODOLOGY
System Design of the Tracker

A battery to power the tracking system. Taking into consideration that the tracker would be operating in remote parts of the world and the battery would have to be replaced eventually. The proponents would put a battery recharging circuit that would recharged by the solar panel mounted on the tracker so that the system would be self-sufficient.

METHODOLOGY
System Design of the Tracker

As described previously, the motor chosen was a DC motor. This motor can rotate in both directions by reversing the direction of the current supplied. Because the power supply on the tracking system has only one pole, a circuit was needed to switch the direction of the current to the motor. The most power efficient way to accomplish this is with a circuit known as an H-bridge.

METHODOLOGY
System Design of the Tracker
MOSFETs were chosen for their high power efficiency compared to other transistor technologies like the BJT which actively draws current in addition to the current flowing through the device. Within the range of MOSFETs there are also power MOSFETs with a different internal construction that give them high current and/or high voltage capabilities. These power MOSFETs generally have a much lower onresistance than standard MOSFETs and therefor have a lower power dissipation and higher efficiency.

METHODOLOGY
System Design of the Tracker

To provide an interface from the PV sensors to the H-bridge, a circuit that compares the voltage of 4 sensors and outputs a control signal to each of the four MOSFET inputs of the Hbridge had to be designed. This circuit design needed to accurately sense the voltage difference between the sensors and provide reliable inputs to the H-bridge

METHODOLOGY
System Design of the Tracker
Photovoltaic sensors are chosen because it is more sensitive or responsive to the change in intensity of light it receive. The sensor tilt angle was chosen that obtained the highest angular response. The LM741 is chosen as the comparator because it is a common operational amplifier with a power dissipation of low power dissipation of only 500 mW. Two LM741 were connected to the two sensor voltage dividers and configured in the nofeedback, comparator setup. This comparator setup has an overall power dissipation of 1 W.