Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal Vol. 5, No.
3, 41-45 (2020)
ASTESJ
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ISSN: 2415-6698
Special Issue on Advanced Electrical and Communication Technologies
Design, Implementation and Performance Analysis of a Dual Axis Solar Tracking System
Ba Thanh Nguyen1, Hong-Xuyen Thi Ho2,*
1
Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Thu Dau Mot University, Thu Dau Mot City 75109, Vietnam
2
Faculty of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, Ho Chi Minh City 71307, Vietnam
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT
Article history: This study presents the design and construction of the Dual Axis Solar Tracking System to
Received: 09 February, 2020 ensure maximum energy gain. The solar tracking system will automatically follow the sun's
Accepted: 22 April, 2020 position to maximize the intensity of the light emitted from the sun. When the light intensity
Online: 03 May, 2020 decreases, the system automatically changes its direction to get the maximum light intensity.
Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) is used to track the coordinates of the sun. The two servo
Keywords:
motors that receive signals from the central processing unit will turn the solar panel to the
Solar Tracking System
appropriate location for optimum performance. The energy results obtained by the dual-
Servo Motors
axis solar system are compared with single and fixed solar systems. This research provides
Arduino
optimal solar energy usage.
1. Introduction is the body of the system, and the control system is its brain, which
controls the movement of the solar panel system.
Nowadays, environmental pollution is getting more serious,
traditional energy sources such as oil, coal, etc. are gradually Many authors have studied solar tracking. Mayank Kumar
exhausted. However, the global demand for energy is forecasted to Lokhande [5] presented an automatic solar tracking system. The
increase in the upcoming decades. Thus, many countries are study designed a microcontroller-based solar panel tracking
promoting the development of alternative energy sources [1]. system and observed that the single-axis solar tracking unit
increased efficiency by 30% compared to the fixed panel.
Renewable energy is an energy source that does not consume
the limited resources of the earth. It can be easily and quickly Guiha Li, Runsheng Tang and Hao Zhong [6] experimented
replenished. Renewable energy plays an important role in meeting with a single horizontal solar tracking system. The study found that
energy demand and contributing to climate change control [2]. the east-west-oriented system was not significantly improved
while the south-north oriented system was the best. The efficiency
Among renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind increase for the east-west axis is below 8% while for the south-
energy, biomass energy, tidal energy, etc., Solar energy can be north axis it increases 10-24%.
easily exploited in Vietnam because Vietnam has a high level of
radiation, and advances in solar technology have made production Chaiko and Rizk [7] have developed an effective solar tracking
costs more and more affordable [3] [4]. system. The authors designed a simple axis tracking system by
using a stepper motor and light sensor. They observed that this
Because the earth is always orbiting its axis, the angle of system increased the efficiency of collecting energy by keeping a
sunlight is constantly changing, affecting the amount of solar solar panel perpendicular to the sun's rays. The study also found
radiation that is projected on the solar cell. To increase the that the electrical power increased by 30% compared to static
efficiency of absorbing light from the sun, we need a system of systems.
devices called the solar tracking system that help the photovoltaic
panels orientate to the sun. Imam Abadi, Adi Soeprijanto and Ali Musyafa [8] designed a
single-axis solar tracking system based on fuzzy logic. They
The solar tracking system includes tracking installation system, performed on ATMEGA 8353 microcontroller to improve the
solar panels and tracking control system. The mounting structure power of the panels. The study presented that the performance of
solar tracking systems with fuzzy control increased by 47%
*
Corresponding Author: Hong-Xuyen Thi Ho, [email protected] compared to static systems.
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B.T. Nguyen et al. / Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal Vol. 5, No. 3, 41-45 (2020)
Ashwin R, Varun A.K et al. [9] showed a single-axis solar
tracking system based on sensors to achieve the highest energy
level. The system automatically changes in the direction of solar
panel to get maximum light energy. Therefore, the test results
show the robustness and productivity of the proposed method.
In 2013, Anusha, Chandra and Reddy [10] designed a solar
tracking system based on a real-time clock. They compared a static
system and a real-time system using an ARM processor.
Experiments have proven that the new system is about 40% more
efficient.
Hussain S. Akbar [11] designed a single-axis solar tracking
unit using the AVR microcontroller. The results show that the
designed solar tracking system has improved the output power by
18-25% compared to the static panels in Kirkuk, Iraq.
In 2016, H. Fathabadi [12] tested that the energy level obtained Figure 1: Sun path in Thu Dau Mot City, Vietnam [18]
from the dual-axis solar tracking system was 28.8% - 43.6% higher
than static systems depending on the season. A solar tracking system consists of three components: a
mechanical mechanism, a solar panel and a control system.
Jing-Min Wang and Chia-Liang Lu [13] implemented a dual-
axis solar tracking system in New Taipei City, Taiwan. 2.2. Types of solar tracking
Experiments show that their system boosts energy levels to Solar tracking system plays an important role in the
28.31% for a cloudy day.
development of solar energy applications, in order to improve the
Munna, M. S et al. [14] constructed and evaluated the efficiency of solar power systems.
performance of dual-, single- and fixed-axis solar tracking
systems, the data showed that the dual-axis system is more optimal According to the mechanical structure, the solar tracking
than the two systems. again. system has 2 types: single and dual-axis systems [12], [19]. Of
these, dual shafts are often used because it provides higher
Mustafa, F. I. et al. [15] implemented a dual-axis solar system,
accuracy and is known to improve solar power captured capacity
data collected in one day showed that the efficiency of this system
is 35% higher than that of fixed systems. compared to single-axis tables [13]. In addition, there is a way to
classify according to control with a positive and passive system [7-
The authors Chhoton, AC, and Chakraborty, N. R [16] 9].
performed a performance evaluation of the dual-axis solar tracking
system, the data collected during the day showed that the 2.2.1. One-Axis Trackers
performance of this system was higher than the fixed system. 40%.
The single-axis solar tracking system uses an inclined PV
In this study, the authors designed and constructed a dual-axis mount bracket and an electric motor to move the board in orbit
solar tracking system with a simple and low-cost structure that still closer to the position of the sun. Spindle can be horizontal, vertical
meets the requirements of increasing the efficiency of solar energy or inclined. Figure 2 shows a general diagram of a single-axis
exploitation. The automatic operating system is controlled by tracker that shows both the axis of rotation (unit vector e) and the
Arduino microcontroller. The results of this study provide optimal collector plane (the unit vector is normal for the collector plane).
solar energy solutions. Moreover, the results of this study provide
The angle between these two unit vectors is usually kept constant
an optimal solution for solar energy, helping to improve the
in this type of solar tracker.
efficiency of the solar power system, effectively serving the energy
production process.
This paper is organized as follows. Part 2 discusses the
operating principles of a solar tracking system. Part 3 presents
hardware and software design. Part 4 presents the test results,
compared with the static system. The last part is the conclusion.
2. Overview of Solar Tracking System
2.1. A Solar Tracker
The solar tracking system was created to take advantage of
solar radiation as efficiently as possible, increasing the amount of
energy radiated to the solar rig. Thus, the amount of electricity
generated will be greater than the fixed devices [17].
Figure 2: Characteristic vectors in a one-axis tracker [19].
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B.T. Nguyen et al. / Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal Vol. 5, No. 3, 41-45 (2020)
2.2.2. Two-Axis Trackers 3.2. Hardware Design
The two-axis solar tracking system can achieve the maximum Figure 3 depicts the structure of the model including 2 main
power level because, because it is completely free to move in two components: fixed and mobile parts. Fixed parts are the base of the
directions, it is capable of tracking the sun anywhere. system; the movable joint is attached to the servo motor, placed
above and below to rotate the solar panels in two directions.
Figure 3: Characteristic movements in a two-axis tracker [19].
3. Proposed Solar Tracker System
3.1. Architecture of The Overall System
Our proposed design is a dual-axis solar tracking system, based
on feedback loops. The system consists of optical resistors acting
as sensors, servo motors, actuators, and Arduino microcontrollers.
The whole system is divided into two main parts: hardware and Figure 5: Complete hardware setup of a solar tracking system
software. The main equipment is listed in Table 1 and the system
has diagrams as shown in Figure 4. 3.3. Software Design
Table 1: List of devices The sensor system consists of 4 resistors (R1, R2, R3, R4) that
will receive light from the light source. Between these 4 resistors,
No. Item Name Quantity
there will be a cross-shaped partition dividing the 4 optical sensors
1 Arduino Uno R3 1 into 4 different directions. This partition will serve as a guide for
2 MG996R Servo Motor 2 the 4 optical barriers always towards the strongest light source,
3 Light Dependent Resistor 4 namely the sun. When the sensor assembly is perpendicular to the
4 Module LM2596 2 radiation of the sun, the values of the 4 sensors will be equal.
5 Solar Panel 10 W 1
The signal from the sensor assembly will be transmitted
6 Solar Charge Controller 1
directly to the Arduino control center and converted into a digital
7 Battery 12V 5Ah/10HR 1
signal. Here, the Arduino compares the average of the two adjacent
8 DSN-VC288 DC 100V 10A Voltmeter 1
optical sensors to the average of the two opposite sensors.
Ammeter
A = (R1 + R2)/2 (1)
B = (R3 + R4)/2 (2)
C = (R1 + R3)/2 (3)
D = (R2 + R4)/2 (4)
For R1, R2, R3, R4 are the resistance values of the 4 optical
resistors LDR1, LDR2, LDR3, LDR4, respectively. These values
are inversely proportional to the values of voltage transferred to
the Arduino.
If A = B, the servo motor controls the X-axis.
If C = D, then the Z-axis servo motor is stationary.
If A> B, it means that the light is more concentrated on R3, R4
side, 1st servo motor rotates the panel downwards until the light is
Figure 4: Block diagram of overall system perpendicular to the panel then stops.
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B.T. Nguyen et al. / Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal Vol. 5, No. 3, 41-45 (2020)
If A <B, which means more light is concentrated on R1, R2 Table 2: Data for different solar tracker
side, 1st servo motor rotates the panel upwards until the light is Time Fixed Panel Single Axis Dual Axis
perpendicular to the panel then stops. (h: (Watt) Tracker Tracker
Similarly, if C> D, which means more focused light on side mm) (Watt) (Watt)
R2, R4, servo motor 2 will rotate the solar panel to the right until
the light is perpendicular to the solar panel. 6:30 0 0 0
If C <D, it means that the light on the side of R1 and R3 is more 7:00 0,16 0,16 0,32
concentrated, the servo motor 2 will rotate the battery plate to the
left until the light is perpendicular to the solar panel, then stop. 7:30 0,415 0,24 0,67
The rotation angle of servo motors is within the limit of 0 - 180
degrees. 8:00 0,765 0,32 2,27
8:30 1,2 0,49 4,12
9:00 4,6 5,04 6,26
9:30 4,7 5,04 6,95
10:00 6,3 7,27 7,84
10:30 6,84 7,08 8,06
11:00 1,58 1,69 1,8
11:30 6,25 7,48 8,1
12:00 6,25 7,48 8,1
12:30 6 6,25 7,02
Figure 6: Flowchart of Solar Tracking System
13:00 6,8 7,12 7,52
4. Experimental Setup and Results
This study has implemented experiments for three systems: 13:30 3,6 5,15 5,61
fixed solar panels, single-axis solar tracking system, and dual-axis
solar tracking system. The experiment was conducted on 14:00 1,8 1,89 2,18
December 12, 2019, from 6:30 to 18:30, the weather was sunny
and cloudy at the location 10 ° 58'49.8 "N 106 ° 40'26.4" E. 14:30 0,9 1,09 1,27
In this experiment, we use the DSN-VC288 DC 100V 10A
15:00 1,26 1,13 1,39
Voltmeter Ammeter to measure the amperage and voltage
produced by the solar panel for a load (9W LED). From the
15:30 0,99 1,11 1,39
recorded data, the authors use the Excel software to calculate the
power output (Table 2) and plot the chart as Figure 7.
16:00 0,8 0,91 1,1
Table 2 shows the statistical results for the three systems, and
these results are plotted as shown in Figure 7. Experimental results 16:30 0,57 0,729 0,9
in the dual-axis tracking system have a total output of more than
14.28W (20, 77%) compared to a single-axis tracking system and 17:00 0,45 0,49 0,59
20.31 W (32.39%) more when the solar panel is left standing.
Thus, the use of the dual-axis solar battery tracking system will 17:30 0,24 0,3 0,37
have a greater efficiency than leaving the battery in place and
tracking a single axis.
18:00 0,236 0,29 0,29
As shown in Figure 7, the performance of the dual axis system
is more optimal than that of a single and fixed system. The graph 18:30 0 0 0
descended at 11 o'clock because of the cloud cover, at 11 o'clock a
cloud appeared to cover the sun, so the output power of all 3 Total 62.706 68.74 83.02
systems decreased.
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B.T. Nguyen et al. / Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal Vol. 5, No. 3, 41-45 (2020)
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Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgment
The authors appreciate the support from Thu Dau Mot University
and Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education
in Vietnam.
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