SOLAR TRACKER PROJECT

INTRODUCTION:Solar tracker is a system that is used to track sun light to increase the efficiency of electricity gained from solar cells.The advantages of solar trackers are;

1) The efficiency is increase by using solar tracker2) The space requirement for a solar park is reduced, and system kept the same amount of output 3) The return of the investment timeline is reduced

Types of Solar Trackers

MECHATRONICS COMPONENTS PART OF A SOLAR TRACKER

MECHANICAL COMPONENTS

BODY

SHAFT AND TUBE

GEARS

ELECTRONICAL COMPONENTS

• ACTUATORS ( MOTORS)

Mechatronics Components available when the project was introduced to us:

Mechanical component:√ Body Frame√ Shaft and Tube √ Gear

• Electrical component: Sensors Motors Solar Panel

Missing Components and items

- Controller- Battery Charger- Effective Power to run the system

Components and parts we Removed:12v relay: because arduino can only

supply 5v output 12v Stepper motor: A stepper motor

needs to have an external controller to feed its coils (3,4,... coils) one at a time or using a special sequence. It moves in steps. Instead of using Stepper motor it is more effective to use DC motor and relay. A DC motor can be operated by just supplying a DC voltage to it. 

Components and things we added:Controller (arduino)5v RelayWe built a Battery ChargerBody Cover12v DC motor

EXPLAINATION OF COMPONENTS THEIR FUNCTION AND HOW THEY WORK

Mechanical component:

Body: This gives shape to the System, and hold other components such as the actuators, solar panel and tube in place

SHAFT AND TUBE Tube: is the apparatus that delivers the horizontal rotation

to the solar panel. Shaft: is the apparatus that delivers the vertical rotation

to the solar panel

GEARS:THE GEAR IS CONNECTED TO THE SHAFT WHICH IS CONNECTED TO THE 24V MOTOR.THIS GEAR MOVES THE SOLAR PANEL IN VERTICAL ROTATION.

ELECTRONICAL COMPONENT

• LDR sensors (light dependent resistor)

◦ Its resistance decreases when light impinges on it.

◦ There are 4 LDR sensors on solar cell. 2 of them are at the cross-corners, one is at the bottom and last one is at the top of solar cell.

An Arduino board consists of an Atmel 8-bit AVR microcontroller with complementary components that facilitate programming and incorporation into other circuits

CONTROLLER

Arduino Uno

Arduino Uno

Sensor

If ( Upper sensor value is lower then the down sensor value )

Motor 1 moves Solar Panel Down

If ( Down sensor value is lower

then the Upper sensor value )

If ( Left sensor value is lower then the Right sensor value )

If ( Left sensor value is lower then the Right sensor value )

Motor 1 moves Solar Panel down

Motor 2 moves Solar Panel Right

Motor 2 moves Solar

Panel Left

Arduino Software Codes

ACTUATOR ( MOTORS )

Motors are used to rotate the panel on two axes and keep the solar panel on position, this solar tracker uses two DC motors. One is 12v the other is 24v

12v 24v

NO MOVEMENT

MOVES THE MOTOR IN CCW DIRECTION

0v5v 5v0v

MOVES THE MOTOR IN CW DIRECTION

Conclusion and future advancement:The project is used to track maximum sun

power, we used to DC motor and an arduino controller.

In the future this project can be improved by installing an LCD display to display the light photon and it can also be used to record to daily photon value which can be used for research purposes.