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Design and Implementation of The Dual-Axis Solar Tracking System

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36 views2 pages

Design and Implementation of The Dual-Axis Solar Tracking System

sun

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abbasmiry83
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© © All Rights Reserved
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2013 IEEE 37th Annual Computer Software and Applications Conference

Design and Implementation of the Dual-axis Solar Tracking System

Tung-Sheng Zhan Whei-Min Lin Ming-Huang Tsai Guo-Shiang Wang


Department of Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering
Kao Yuan University National Sun Yat-Sen University Kao Yuan University
Kaohsiung, R.O.C. Kaohsiung, R.O.C. Kaohsiung, R.O.C.
e-mail: t21016@cc.kyu.edu.tw

Abstract The capability of photovoltaic (PV) panel to generate energy about 17%~25% more than the fix-angle PV system in
approximately follows the intensity of the sunlight on the panel. A dual-
axis solar programmable logical controller (PLC) based automatic tracking
sunny days, and about 8%~11% in cloudy days.
system and its supervisory and control system was designed and
implemented in this paper. The proposed automatic tracking system II. SYSTEM OPERATION PRINCIPLE
controls elevation and orientation angles of solar panels such that the For tracking position of the sun rapidly, the supervisory
panels always maintain perpendicular to the sunlight. The measured
variables of our automatic solar tracking system were compared with those
and control program should firstly calculate the theoretical
of a fixed-angle PV system. The results indicated that the automatic solar altitude angle and azimuth angle as coarse adjustment of the
tracking system is low-cost, reliable and efficient. As a result of the automatic tracking mechanism through following equations
experiment, the electricity generated by the proposed tracking system has [1]-[3]
an overall increase of about 8%~25% more than the fix-angle PV system.

Keywords- Photovoltaic (PV) panel, Dual-Axis Solar Tracking System,


Programmable logical controller (PLC) , Elevation angle, Orientation
angle.

I. INTRODUCTION
To prevent the effects related to global warming caused
by green house gases emission, the renewable energy has
been the best substitution strategy. About 40 minutes of
total solar radiation on earth could provide enough power to
meet the energy demands of all human beings for
Figure 1. Illustration of Azimuth and Altitude angle of the Sun
approximately one year. The generation capability of PV
panel follows the intensity of the sunlight. The position of (1)
the sun with respect to any location of the earth changes in a
(2)
cyclic track during the course of a calendar year. Tracking
the position of the sun in order to expose a PV panel to (3)
maximum radiation at any given time and any location is the
where
aim of an automatic solar tracking system.
A prototype of the automatic dual-axis solar tracking z : incidence angle declination
system with a new designed sun-position tracker mechanism  : altitude angle  : local latitude
and wireless supervisory and control system was designed  : hour angle A: azimuth angle
and implemented in this paper. The sun-position tracker The theoretical value of altitude angle and azimuth angle
mechanism was composed of the PLC, DC motors, worm- were translated into command string for driving DC motors
gears, photo-sensors, encoders and power relays. According rotate to the corresponding position. Then, the system
to feedback signal of encoders and sensors, the PLC automatically trimming the altitude and azimuth angle of the
command DC motors to controls elevation and orientation PV panel according to feedback signal of the proposed
angles of solar panels the such that the panels always sunlight sensor module. The sunlight sensor module is
maintain perpendicular to the sunlight. The worm-gear consist of eight photo-sensors, glass filters and opaque
connected with DC motors and the strong point of the partitions.
worm-gear is keeping present mechanical angle of elevation
III. SYSTEM REALIZATION AND EXPERIMENTATION
and orientation without any power consumption. Each
parameter of the system was collected by the PLC and its Dual-axis means that the automatic system can be able to
external module will be transmitting to the supervisory and tracking sun follow two axes simultaneously, Left-Right
control program on PCs through the wireless network. (azimuth angle) and Up-Down (altitude angle) direction.
As a result of the experiment, the electricity generated by The mechanism was consist of aluminum frame and steel
the proposed tracking system has an overall increase of pedestal as shown in Figure 2(a). The azimuth and altitude

0730-3157/13 $26.00 2013 IEEE 276


DOI 10.1109/COMPSAC.2013.46
angle adjusting mechanism was made up of the DC motor, is maintain higher than the fix-angle system during daily
worm-gear, rotating encoder, limit switches and shaft time as shown in Figure 5. The specification data of PV
coupling as demonstrated in Figire 2(b) and (c). panel is with 20.5 V rated voltage and 0.93 A rated current.

(b)

Figure 5. Comparison of PV panel voltage generation between dual-axis


tracking system and fix-angle system

(a) (c) IV. DISCUSSION


Figure 2. (a)The proposed prototype of the automatic dual-axis solar
tracking mechanism. (b)Azimuth angle adjusting mechanism. (c) Altitude
A dual-axis automatic solar tracking system and its
angle adjusting mechanism. supervisory and control system was proposed and
implemented in this paper. It is low-cost, reliable and
Figure 3 and 4 demonstrated actual mechanical daliy efficient. According to the experimental result, the proposed
variation of the altitude and azimuth angle which compared automatic solar tracking system has an overall energy
with theoetical value calculated from (1)-(3). increase of about 17%~25% more than the fix-angle PV
system in sunny days, and about 8%~11% in cloudy days.
Then, a supervisory and control system was developed to
pre-calculate the theoretical altitude angle and azimuth angle
of the sun as coarse adjustment command for automatic
mechanism, and storage all electrical and mechanical
parameters into database.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank Financial support given to
this work by the National Science Council of R.O.C. under
contract number NSC 102-3113-P-194 -002 is appreciated.

Figure 3. Daliy variation of altitude angle


REFERENCES

[1] Tsung-Yu Tsai, Study the Difference of Solar Electricity Generation


between the Fixed-Angle and Dual-Axis Tracker Systems, Master
Thesis, Southern Taiwan University of Sc. and Tech., Tainan City,
Taiwan, R.O.C., 2006.
[2] Viet Hung Pham, Design and Investigation of a Two-Axis
Automatic Solar Tracking System, Master Thesis, Southern Taiwan
University of Sc. and Tech., Tainan City, Taiwan, R.O.C., 2007.
[3] Jong-Jinn Lay, Development of a Sun Track Solar Energy System
with Artificial Intelligence, Master Thesis, National Sun Yat-Sen
University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, R.O.C., 2007.
[4] Ming-Huang Tsai, Design and Implementation of a Wireless
Monitoring/Control System fot the Dual-axis Solar Tracking
System, Master Thesis, Kao Yuan University, Kaohsiung City,
Figure 4. Daliy variation of azimuth angle Taiwan, R.O.C., 2012.

The proposed tracking system could automatically trace


position of sun, therefore, the output voltage of the PV panel

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