Design and Implementation of an Automatic Solar Tracking System

Abstract

Solar energy is available almost everywhere and solar power is very helpful in our everyday life. The plane of PV panel should always be normal to the incident solar rays to get maximum energy. The seasonal movement of the earth affects the radiation intensity received on the PV panel. Solar tracking systems can effectively improve energy efficiency of a solar PV panel. This research aimed to obtain maximum possible power from a solar panel all day long when the panel tracks the sun and rotates through the axis. This movement was achieved by installing a couple of servo motors with the solar panel that changes its direction according to the positioning of the sun. Arduino UNO with ATmega328p microcontrollers have been used for this purpose. It receives sensor output signal and controls servo motors according to the assigned program. One servo motor moves the panel vertically to upward and downward while the other moves the panel horizontally from left to right direction. Since the maximum solar ray is fallen down on the solar panel module, the maximum power output can be achieved from the module