الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Currently, the most renewable energy production is produced depending on wind and solar energy are widely used in developed countries and some developing countries; Lately, the means of producing electricity using renewable energy sources have become commonplace, and there are many countries that have put in place plans to increase the percentage of their production of renewable energy so that they cover their energy needs by 20% of their consumption in 2020. Photovoltaic panels are used to convert solar energy into electrical energy. When photovoltaic panels are fixed at a particular angle, limited power can be generated. This disadvantage can be decreased by designing a solar tracker system which changes its position automatically in accordance with the sun’s movement. Dual axis solar tracker can continuously track the position of the sun in vertical and horizontal directions. This paper aims to implement the most accurate control application of dual-axis solar tracker which can rotate in horizontal and vertical direction that grantee the photovoltaic panel remains perpendicular always facing the sun. The fabricated tracker achieves higher efficiency so the solar panel remains a sun-oriented position at all times using two linear DC motors, an Arduino UNO controller and some auxiliary components to improve the energy generated from PV panels up to 36%. Solar tracking systems are of several types and can be classified according to several criteria. A first classification can be made depending on the number of rotation axes. Thus we can distinguish solar tracking systems with a rotation axis, respectively with two rotation axes. Since solar tracking implies moving parts and control systems that tend to be expensive, single-axis tracking systems seem to be the best solution for small PV power plants. Single axis trackers will usually have a manual elevation (axis tilt) adjustment on the second axis which is adjusted at regular intervals throughout the year. Among the proposed solutions for improving the efficiency of PV conversion, we can mention solar tracking, the optimization of solar cell configuration and geometry, new materials and technologies, etc. The solar tracking system is the most common method of increasing the efficiency of solar photo module. This study presents the efficiencies of energy conversion of photo module with solar tracking system and fixed photo module. The proposed sun tracking system uses 4 photo resistors, which are mounted on the sides of the photo module. 5 As a result of the lack of efficiency of electricity generation from fixed solar cells, so researchers have resorted to the method of tracking the sun for maximum ability of solar energy through the use of motors to control and move the solar panels to track down the sun. The proposed solar tracking system should satisfy certain technical requirements specific to the studied application, as follows: - Minimum energy consumption, for the maximization of global efficiency of the installation and optimum performance-cost ratio. - Reliability in operation, under different perturbation conditions (wind, dust, rain, important temperature variations). - Simplicity of movement solution (motor, gears, sensors), to diminish the cost and to increase the viability. Solar tracking system offers several advantages concerning the movement command of the PV panel: - An optimum cost/performance ratio, which is achieved via the simplicity of the adopted mechanical solution and the flexibility of the intelligent command strategy. - A minimum of energy consumption, due to the fact that the panel movement is carried out only in justified cases, eliminating unnecessary consumption of energy, and due to the cutting of the power circuits supply between the movement periods of the PV panel. - A maximization of output energy produced by the PV panel, through an optimal positioning executed only for sufficient values of light signal intensity. - A guarantee of the panel positioning starting from any initial position of the PV panel. - The possibility of extending this solution to an array of PV panels, connected to each other, with inter-connected operability by CAN protocol communication among the panels and managed by a central computation unit for monitoring and control. |