Design of a Remotely Monitored and Controlled Dual Axis Solar Tracker

Abstract

Solar Energy is the most essential and prerequisite resource of sustainable energy due to its abundance and sustainability. One of the ways to convert this energy into electricity is Photovoltage cells PV. The main factor in this conversion is the angle of sunlight that faces the PV cells and due to the movement of the sun; the output of the system varies through the day and the solution will be tracking the sun through the day. The Solar tracking mobility platform plays a crucial role in the development of solar energy applications in order to maintain high levels of power output. In this project an automated solar tracker has been designed to keep the PV panels perpendicular to the incoming sunlight through the day according to the user choice (Dual-Axis, One-Axis, Annual). The system was simulated using Proteus program, the PV panel was fabricated as a way to measure the solar radiation, (the photovoltaic panel output power, voltage and current). The surrounding temperature was also measured to find the effect of the local environment temperature on the PV performance and efficiency.In order to achieve the tracking fourlight dependent resistors LDR was implemented to determine the sun position and using Atmega32 microprocessor to drive two stepper motors as the movement object. A simple GUI windows was designed using Matlab to visualize the measured and to control the operation in the proteus as well as making the user experiment easier and joyful.