DESIGN OF SUN TRACKER FOR A PV SYSTEM. A RESEARCH PROJECT TOPIC ON PHYSICS
ABSTRACT
This project involves a design of sun tracker for PV system.
The circuit of the sun tracker is designed in such a way that it follows the track of the sun as it travel in the sky. The LDR are connected to non-inverter input of the operational amplifier whose reference voltage resistor R1 and R2 is 10Ω each. At the output of the operational amplifier are NPN and PNP transistor. These transistors are used to drive the DC motor in forward and backward directions which corresponds to the direction of the sun in the sky. The motor is switch through a relay.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
A solar tracker is a device for orienting a photovoltaic array solar photovoltaic panel or concentrating solar reflector or lens toward the sun. The sun’s position in the sky varies both with the seasons (elevation) and time of day as the sun moves across the sky. Solar powered equipment works best when pointed at or near the sun, so a solar tracker can increase the effectiveness of such equipment over any fixed position, at the cost of additional system complexity. There are many types of solar trackers, of varying costs, sophisticationand performance. One well-known type of solar tracker is the heliostat, a movable mirror that reflects the moving sun to a fixed location. (Pang 2010). But many other approaches are used as well non-concentrating applications require less accuracy, and many work without any tracking at all. However, tracking can substantially improve both the amount of total power produced by a system and that produced during critical system demand periods (typically late afternoon in hot climates). The use of trackers in non-concentrating applications is usually an engineering decision based on economics. Compared to photo voltaic, trackers can be inexpensive. This makes theme especially effective for photovoltaic systems using high-efficiency (and thus expensive) panels.
