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Solar Tracking Project

Team Members: Cristian Ruvalcaba Ken Seal David Clark Mark McKinley Richard DeJarnatt. Solar Tracking Project. Mark McKinley. Project Lead Time Management Budget Analyst. Richard DeJarnatt. Parts Manager Lead Photographer. Cristian Ruvalcaba. Web Designer Asst. Photographer.

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Solar Tracking Project

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  1. Team Members: Cristian Ruvalcaba Ken Seal David Clark Mark McKinley Richard DeJarnatt Solar Tracking Project

  2. Mark McKinley • Project Lead • Time Management • Budget Analyst

  3. Richard DeJarnatt • Parts Manager • Lead Photographer

  4. Cristian Ruvalcaba • Web Designer • Asst. Photographer

  5. David Clark • Report Editor

  6. Ken Seal • Presentation Design

  7. Tracking the Sun • Why have a solar cell that tracks the movement of the sun? • Stationary solar cells do not collect all of the direct sunlight that is available to them.

  8. Stationary Solar Cell Limitation • The Stationary Solar Cell is subject to the movement of the sun. Path of the Sun Angle of Incidence Stationary Solar Cell

  9. Stationary Solar Cell • By taking the cosine of the angle of incidence over 180 (the path of the sun in the sky) we find that the solar cell is not gathering 100% of the direct sunlight throughout the day. • The efficiency can be found by adding the area under the curve.

  10. Stationary Solar Cell • The stationary solar cell is most effective at gathering sunlight when the angle of incidence is zero or within a few degrees. • This occurs only for a short period every day when the sun is directly over the solar cell. • The solution for this problem is to move the solar cell to meet the sun and lessen the angle of incidence to near zero throughout the day.

  11. Tracking Solar Cell • The ability to move the solar cell to receive the most direct sunlight would allow for the light gathering efficiency of the cell to be at a maximum level. • The angle of incidence would be kept near 0 for the entire duration that the sun was visible to cell.

  12. Determining the Position of the Sun • A dual cell photo sensor will be used to translate the position of the sun into two separate signals. Photo Sensor

  13. Signals Generated from the Dual Photo Sensor • Shadows are caused by the moving sun on the dual panel photo sensor.

  14. Amplifying the Differential Signal • The two signals from the dual cell photo sensor will then be sent to a differential amplifier. • The signal from the differential amplifier will vary from 0 to 5 VDC. The Sun Dual Cell Photo Sensor Differential Amplifier Analog to Digital Converter

  15. Micro-Controller Inputs: Analog signal 0-5v from solar cell amplification circuit Analog signal 0-5v from DC motor Outputs: PWM motor signal Dual Microchip Development Microchip PIC chip Cheap – Around $1 Uses assembly language for programming Motorola Free scale 16 bit processor More expensive - $10 Uses assembly and C programming languages Microcontroller Programming Solar Cell Micro- Controller Motor Controller DC Motor PWM Signal Differential Signal Power Analog Signal

  16. Control Strategies Solar Cell Micro- Controller Motor Controller DC Motor PWM Signal Differential Signal Power Analog Signal • Problem: Correct error from solar cell: • PID Solution • Proportional, Integral, Derivative • Too Complex for following something that moves as slow as sun • Threshold Control System • As the error breaks a set “Threshold” for error the microcontroller sends the signal to move the motor to correct. • This is simple and allows the system to be in a energy efficient sleep mode. • This is our feedback loop. • Limit Control • Limit the maximum amount the motor can rotate so that there is no mechanical damage.

  17. Receives a Pulse Width Modulated signal from microcontroller Transforms duty cycle to voltage High duty cycle – positive voltage Motor runs forward Low duty cycle – negative voltage Motor runs backwards PWM to H Bridge

  18. H Bridge • Receives Voltages and Control Signals • Control Signals energize motor to turn in appropriate direction • And at correct speed

  19. Overview • Why use the tracker? • The heart of the design • The brain of the design • The limbs of the design

  20. Questions…

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