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Reseach Article
Low Cost Two-Axis Automatic Solar Tracking System
| Communications on Applied Electronics |
| Foundation of Computer Science (FCS), NY, USA |
| Volume 3 - Number 8 |
| Year of Publication: 2015 |
| Authors: Amevi Acakpovi, Nana Yaw Asabere, Daniel Babbo Sunny |
10.5120/cae2015652015
|
Amevi Acakpovi, Nana Yaw Asabere, Daniel Babbo Sunny . Low Cost Two-Axis Automatic Solar Tracking System. Communications on Applied Electronics. 3, 8 ( December 2015), 46-53. DOI=10.5120/cae2015652015
Abstract
This paper presents the design and construction of a two-axis solar tracking system. The system is designed to track the movement of the sun in order to get maximum power from the solar panels as they follow the direction of the sun. Though existing tracking systems are available in the market, limited purchasing capabilities in developing countries has been the main drive behind the device presented in this paper. The system employs Light Dependent Resistors to sense the position of the sun which is directly communicated to a micro-processing board with ATmega328 microcontroller. The micro-processing board therefore commands a set of two stepper motor to re-orient the panel either horizontally or vertically in order to stay perpendicular to the sun rays. The design was constructed successfully and tested to determine the increase in efficiency. Evaluation results show that the new system performs 10.7% better than the static solar system. Moreover the implementation cost of $132.36 is lower than many other existing trackers with the same capabilities available in the market.
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