Fuzzy logic based and real-time actualization of two axis sensorless solar tracker system

The production of electrical energy from solar energy is increasing rapidly today. In photovoltaic (PV) systems, efficiency of the solar panels and the inverters are increase day by day although the efficiency of the electrical energy obtained in the application is very low. Therefore, the design and development of solar tracking systems is an important for increasing the efficiency of PV systems. In this study, a mechanical and electrical design of a two-axis solar tracking system (STS) implemented and an intelligent control method using fuzzy logic based on mathematical model proposed. In the proposed two-axis GTS, the sun's declination and tilt angles are calculated and the position of the sun is determined according to the latitude and longitude of the region. The PV system tracks the sun according to the calculated position without using any light sensors. Thus, position determination errors due to environmental factors have been eliminated in existing methods. The step lengths for the movement of the motors are given to the system with a real time developed fuzzy logic based decision maker. In this way, the two-axis STS automatically determines both the position of the PV panels and the step lengths. The control of the motors and the entire system is ensured by real-time software developed in the LabVIEW environment. With the proposed two-axis sensorless automatic GTS method, 28.7% more electrical energy was obtained compared to fixed PV system. Another proposed system, fuzzy logic based decision maker sensorless GTS method, was generated 30.5% more electrical energy than fixed PV system. As a result of the comparison of the two GTS methods, it was found that the fuzzy logic based system was 6.64% more efficient than the automatic system. Furthermore, with the fuzzy logic based controller, step times can be determined with an accuracy of 97.24%. The results show that the proposed two-axis GTS is easier to develop than the existing methods, the efficiency obtained from the PV system is greatly increased, and that the solar tracking can performed more stable and accurate. Gerçek zamanlı olarak geliştirilen akıllı GTS'nin özellikle It has also been foreseen that the intelligent GTS, which is developed in real-time, can be easily applied especially in PV and concentrated solar energy (CPV) based systems.