Tracing the Sun: Dual Axis Solar Tracker System
Solar energy is coming up as a major source of energy. The need of the hour is renewable energy resources with cheap running costs. With the current systems for solar energy harvesting, we have high production only at fixed times mostly noon. This project proposes a dual axis solar tracker system that increases the productivity by a significant margin.
The angle of inclination ranges between.90 ° after sun rise and 90° before sunset passing with 0° at noon. This makes the collected solar radiation to be 0% at sunrise and sunset and 100% at noon. This variation of solar radiations collection leads the photovoltaic panel to lose more than 40% of the collected energy. In this project, we take you through designing a Solar tracker so that you maximise on the solar energy collection.
Designing the Dual Axis Solar Tracker system
This system requires involvement of a wide range of engineering including mechanical electrical and electronics. The system can be broken down into these three domains as well.
The mechanical part would involve designing a smooth gear system to move as per requirement. The electrical part would be the working of solar panel and battery requirement. The electronics would involve designing the sensor system that would generate commands for the gear system to act accordingly.
Electronics component list:
The system employs spur gear for the implementation of the dual axis solar tracker.
A spur gear is a simplest type of gear and can be seen a lot of applications including clocks and escalators. It consists of teeth protruding perpendicular to the circumference of the wheel.
For the dual axis rotation we propose the arrangement mentioned in the diagram below.
The system is implemented using Atmel IC AT89C51. The circuit design for the system would be:
Final Results
Dual Axis Solar Tracker project is to provide an efficient solar distributed generation system. At maximum, the solar tracker is perpendicular to the light source. The built system has a calculated annual energy gain of 48.982% compared to an immobile solar panel. Compared to a single axis tracker, the dual-axis tracker has an annual energy gain of 36.504%. The purpose of a 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 with the help of electronics.
Feel interested? Check out other electronics projects.
Introduction
A light tracker tracks the direction of the incoming light. It can be used along with solar panels which are programmed to move in the direction of the sun to receive the maximum amount of incident light. Solar trackers are built on the same principle to capture maximum sunlight.
In this project, we will be building a light tracker using light dependent resistors to detect the direction of incoming light from the torch of your Smartphone and two servo motors to align in that direction. Ready. Set. Go!
Assembly
The assembled robot is shown in the following figure:
- Attach 30 mm standoffs to the chassis at the positions shown. Fasten using M3 bolts of 8mm length.
- Insert a servo motor in the base servo holder and fasten it to the holder using M2 bolts of 12mm length and M2 nuts.
- Fasten the motor holder at the top of standoffs using M3 bolts of 8mm length.
- Our light tracker requires two servos, one for rotation about each axis. This is one of the two. Also, to produce combined rotation, both the motors should be connected. Insert the second motor in the servo motor holder. The same assembly shall carry the micro horn which fits into the first motor. Fasten the horn to the servo motor holder using self-threading M2 screws, as shown in the corresponding image.
- Fix the motor holder to the base through the rectangular slots available.
- Insert the second servo in the slot on the holder and fasten using M2 bolts and nuts.
We have assembled the individual motors. Now, we will assemble our 4 LDR sensors which will detect incoming light from the four directions.
- Arrange the light tracker plates 1 and 2 provided with the kit as shown in the image below.
- You can see how the surface has been divided into 4 sections. One LDR will be inserted in each hole. This, along with the LDRs will be attached to the servo. Through the combined rotations of the 2 servos, this assembly will be able to receive light from all possible directions. Fasten a servo horn to it using M2 screws, as shown.
- Make a sunflower-shaped cutout using a hard paper as shown below and paint it with your favorite color. You need to make a shaped cut at the center and four small holes in each section of the cutout. Then place it on the top of the light tracker plate assembly by matching the slots, as shown.
- Insert LDRs (light dependent resistors) into the holes made.
- There is a free horn on our sunflower like assembly. We will lock our second servo motor to the horn through the screw provided with servo accessories. Using evive controls menu, set the servo angle to about 90°.
- There is a free horn at the bottom of this assembly which we will connect to the remaining servo. Now you can see how each servo’s individual rotation will provide an all-around rotation of the sunflower-like structure on top hence ensuring that it is able to detect the light falling on different sections.
Add-Ons
Here, the most popular use of the Sun Tracker is when we attach Solar Panel. In Solar Panel, if the Photoresistors are, then the solar panel will then check which part of it is receiving more light. Thus, adjusting the position accordingly. Which results in increased efficiency.
We have then placed this Sun Tracker in our home.
How to make a Solar Tracker using Arduino, Arduino solar Tracker system its circuit and programming
Arduino Solar Tracker- In this tutorial, you will learn how to make your own Arduino based solar tracking system. This solar tracker project is based on Arduino, LDR, and H-bridges. The LDR’s will be used for sunlight sensing. In this tutorial, I will discuss everything
- Arduino Solar Tracker Complete circuit diagram
- Step by Step soldering
- Complete interfacing
- step by step Arduino Solar Tracker program explanation
- Finally testing.
Today the solar trackers are used throughout the world, the solar tracker that we are going to make today is best as it’s cheap and is able to rotate heavy panels as we will be using the relays, and as you know relays can bear larger currents. We will be making our own H-bridge to control the direction of the dc gear motor.
Arduino Solar Tracker Circuit Diagram:
In the above circuit, the LM741 Operational Amplifier is used as the voltage comparator. The LDR “Light Dependent Resistor” is connected in series with a 10 kilo Ohm resistor. The LDR and 10k resistor makes a voltage divider circuit. As the amount of light falling on the LDR changes so the resistance changes due to which we get variable voltage. The resistance of the LDR changes with the amount of light falling on the LDR. As you can wire from the middle of the LDR and 10k resistor is connected with the Inverting input pin of the LM741 Op-Amp IC.
The voltage which is fed to the Inverting input of the LM741 IC is compared with the voltage which is coming from the R3 which is a 100K variable resistor. This variable resistor is used to set the reference voltage on the Non-inverting input of the LM741 Op-Amp IC. Two 470 Ohm resistors are connected in series with the 100k variable resistor, which protects the circuit from the short circuit.
We have to voltages to compare, one voltage is coming to form the LDR and the other is the reference voltage set by the potentiometer or variable resistor.
V1 = Reference voltage which is coming from the Variable resistor.
V2 = the voltage coming from the LDR.
V1 and V2 will be compared using the LM741. The output of the LM741 will be High if
V1 V2 and the output will be low if V1 V2.
The V2 varies as the amount of light varies so when there is light it will have one state and when there is no light then it will have another state. This way we can know if the light from the Sun is falling on the LDR.
When V1 V2 the output get High, and at the output, we get voltage which is approximately equal to the input supply voltage which in our case is 12 volts. The output voltage of the LM741 IC is not exactly 12 volts it can be around 10 to 11 volts. So when the output is high we get around 12 volts.
At this point, we are able to differentiate between the “two states, Light is falling on the LDR or not” and accordingly we get 0 volts and 11 volts approximately. Now the next step is to use this output voltage to control a Relay which can be used to give signals to the controller. But if you look at the datasheet you will find that the output current of the LM741 IC is 25milliamps which is not enough to turn on a 12v relay. The relay I have used in this circuit needs around 32milliamps. So it means we will need some kind of driver to control the relay.
We can use a transistor with the LM741 IC. As you can see in the circuit diagram I have used a 2n2222 NPN transistor. Now if you look at the datasheet of the 2n2222 NPN transistor you will find the 2n2222 base voltage should not exceed 6 volts. If you apply voltage greater than 6 volts it will damage the 2n2222 NPN transistor.
As we know the output voltage of the LM741 IC is around 12 volts when in ON state so if this voltage is directly connected with the base of the 2n2222 NPN transistor it will completely damage the transistor. Now to solve this problem we will need to use a voltage divider to reduce the voltage. so that’s the reason I used 10k and 1k resistors in series. This the base voltage never exceeds 6 volts. Now we can turn ON and Turn OFF the 2n2222 NPN transistor without any problem. The transistor will be used to control the 12v relay. This relay is of the type SPDT “Single Pole Double Throw”.
In the circuit diagram above you can see, I have used two LM741 Op-Amp ICs. These two circuits are used together to decide, in which direction the solar Panel needs to be rotated. The outputs from the relays are connected with the i/o pins of the controller Atmega328. You can also use the Arduino board if you don’t want to make your own board.
On the left side you can see a motor which is controlled using an H-bridge. The H-bridge itself is a whole new topic and i have a very detailed tutorial on the H-bridge designing.
Relay H-Bridge PCB board file: relay bridge
These PCB “Printed Circuit Board” files can be opened in Cadesoft Eagle 9.1.0 Version.
Step 2: Code
There are tons of solar tracking Arduino programs out there and you should pick the one best suited to your project. I am only creating a one-axis tracker, but there are lots of online projects that explain the process for two-axis trackers.
The code for this project was taken from this guide for a two-axis solar tracker, so that if you add another axis later on, the code should still work fine. Download the code here.
Upload the code to your Arduino and bring the breadboard outside or to a lamp.
Step 3: Test
Time to see what your solar tracker is made of. Power the Arduino and bring the whole system over to your lamp. When you move the lamp towards either side of the solar tracker, you should notice the servo pointing towards the direction of the sunlight.
However you mount the servo, panel, and LDRs, make sure the panel is facing the same direction as the light sensors.
Above, if I had pointed the light sensors horizontally and the panel vertically, there would be at all times a perfect maximized sunbeam just out of reach of the solar panel!
Thoughts
Solar tracking usually only makes sense for small projects and special cases. The sun-concentrating mirror farms are much cheaper than both traditional solar and motorized solar tracker farms. On the small scale, I would love to create some animatronic flowers that follow the sun!
What would you do with a solar tracker? Let us know in the Комментарии и мнения владельцев below or in the forum. As always, feel free to message me personally with any questions.
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