Coordinate based solar tracking system design

Continuous the increase in human population in our age and with the rapid development of technology cause the amount of energy used to increase continuously. Due to the decrease in the reserves of fossil fuels in the world and the negative effects on the environment, the use of renewable energy sources (RES) in the production of electricity is increasing day by day. Photovoltaic (PV) panels are the main methods of obtaining electrical energy from solar energy, which is a common one type of RES. Most of the efforts to increase the efficiency of PV panels have been related to the chemical structure of the PV cell. Another factor affecting how much electrical energy is generated by the solar panel once falling lights on the PV panel surface is the angle of solar rays If the angle of solar rays is as much as steeper, a higher electrical energy is generated by the PV panel. In this thesis, the effect of solar tracking systems (GTS) on the gains of PV panels is discussed. Also, conventional GTS types are explained in detail and they are compared with each other. A coordinate based solar tracking sytem (KTGTS) is proposed in this thesis. The proposed system needs some information and calculations for the solar angles. In order to obtain the solar angles, a GPS module, a magnetic compass and an accelerometer are used. These obtained the solar angles are used in an Ardunio Mega2560 microcontroller to develop a program for desing a dual axis KTGTS. As compared to conventional fixed angle tracking system, the proposed tracking system enhances the gain by 33%-38%.