Dual-Axis Solar Tracking System for Maximum Power Production in PV Systems

Authors

  • Muhd.Ikram Mohd. Rashid Faculty of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, 26600 Pekan, Malaysia.
  • M. F. Akorede Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, University of Ilorin, 240003 Ilorin, Nigeria.
  • L. Z. Chao Faculty of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, 26600 Pekan, Malaysia.
  • Nik Fadhil Nik Mohammed Faculty of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, 26600 Pekan, Malaysia.

Keywords:

photovoltaic system, dual-axis, azimuth, elevation angle, DAQ card

Abstract

The power developed in a solar energy system depends fundamentally upon the amount of sunlight captured by the photovoltaic modules/arrays. This paper describes a simple electro-mechanical dual axis solar tracking system designed and developed in a study. The control of the two axes was achieved by the pulses generated from the data acquisition (DAQ) card fed into four relays. This approach was so chosen to effectively avoid the error that usually arises in sensor-based methods. The programming of the mathematical models of the solar elevation and azimuth angles was done using Borland C++ Builder. The performance and accuracy of the developed system was evaluated with a PV panel at latitude 3.53o N and longitude 103.5o W in Malaysia. The results obtained reflect the effectiveness of the developed tracking system in terms of the energy yield when compared with that generated from a fixed panel. Overall, 20%, 23% and 21% additional energy were produced for the months of March, April and May respectively using the tracker developed in this study.

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Published

2015-12-01

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2015)

Section

Articles

License

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