Solar Panel with Sun Position Tracking

Abstract:
Sunlight has two components, the "direct beam" that carries about 90% of the solar energy,
and the "diffuse sunlight" that carries the remainder - the diffuse portion is the blue sky on a
clear day and increases proportionately on cloudy days. As the majority of the energy is in the
direct beam, maximizing collection requires the Sun to be visible to the panels as long as
possible.The energy contributed by the direct beam drops off with the cosine of the angle
between the incoming light and the panel. In addition, the reflectance(averaged across all
polarizations) is approximately constant for angles of incidence up to around 50, beyond
which reflectance degrades rapidly.

Description:

Concentrated applications like concentrated photovoltaic panels (CPV) or concentrated solar

power (CSP) require a high degree of accuracy to ensure the sunlight is directed precisely at
the focal point of the reflector or lens. Non-concentrating applications dont require tracking
but using a tracker can improve the total power produced by the system. Photovoltaic systems
using high efficiency panels with trackers can be very effective.
There are many types of solar trackers, of varying costs, sophistication, and performance. The
two basic categories of trackers are single axis and dual axis.

Single axis:
Solar trackers can either have a horizontal or a vertical axis. The horizontal type is used in
tropical regions where the sun gets very high at noon, but the days are short. The vertical type
is used in high latitudes where the sun does not get very high, but summer days can be very
long. In concentrated solar power applications, single axis trackers are used with parabolic
and linear Fresnel mirror designs.

Dual axis:
Solar trackers have both a horizontal and a vertical axis and thus they can track the sun's
apparent motion virtually anywhere in the world. CSP applications using dual axis tracking
include solar power towers and dish (Stirling engine) systems. Dual axis tracking is

extremely important in solar tower applications due to the angle errors resulting from longer
distances between the mirror and the central receiver located in the tower structure.
Many traditional solar PV applications employ two axis trackers to position the solar panels
perpendicular to the suns rays. This maximizes the total power output by keeping the panels
in direct sunlight for the maximum number of hours per day.
A microcontroller of 8051 family is used that generates stepped pulses periodically to rotate
the panel through stepper motor. The power to the motor is provided by an interfacing IC.
Use of solar panel to convert suns energy to electrical is very popular, but due to transition of
the Sun from east to west the fixed solar panel may be able to generate optimum energy. The
proposed system solves the problem by an arrangement for the solar panel to track the Sun.
This tracking movement is achieved by coupling a stepper motor to the solar panel such that
the panel maintains its face always perpendicular to the Sun to generate maximum energy.
This is achieved by using a programmed microcontroller to deliver stepped pulses in
periodical time intervals for the stepper motor to rotate the mounted panel as desired. The
project is provided with a dummy solar panel which can be used for demonstration purpose
only.

Hardware Specifications:

8051 series Microcontroller

Voltage Regulator

Dummy Solar Panel

Stepper Motor

Diodes

Transformer

Relay driver IC

Software Specifications:

Keil Vision IDE

MC Programming Language: Embedded C

Summary:
The designed project aims at tracking the sun to achieve the maximum sun light incident on
the solar panel during anytime of the day. The project is useful during cloudy days. The
system requires a solar panel coupled with a stepping motor to keep tracking the sun and
moving according to the maximum sun light received. Such solar panels offer several
solutions to help energy providers generate the most solar power from their system. The sun
tracking solar panels allows machine builders to provide an off the-shelf solution to low
efficiency problem of solar panels.