Dual-axis solar tracker for using in photovoltaic systems

Robles Algarin, Carlos Arturo | 2017

Improving the conversion efficiency of solar panels has become a challenging area of study for researchers. Solar trackers are an alternative to reach this goal, as has been shown in many cases, by tracking the position of the sun changes, the productivity of the panel increases. This paper presents a new design of a dual-axis solar tracker system based on a real-time measurement of solar radiation in order to improve the conversion efficiency. As a first design stage, the dynamic models for solar radiation, solar panel and electromechanic system, were obtained using Matlab-Simulink. Then a control unit for capturing the signals from radiation sensors and an inertial measurement unit, was implemented in a High-Performance 16-Bit Digital Signal Controller DSPIC33FJ202MC. The acquired data are compared with a mathematical algorithm to calculate sun's position and set the control action to orient the panel. An embedded system with real-time sampling was developed. It does not rely on external databases and takes into account the relative position between the radiation sensor and solar panel to improve the efficiency of the system.