Wireless Solar Tracking System with LabVIEW and Arduino

Wireless Solar Tracking System With LabVIEW and Arduino

The solar tracking works on the principal of astronomical equations. With the help of the equation it calculates the coordinates of the sun by calculating the elevation and azimuth angle given the latitude, longitude and time zone of a given place. The use of a tracking system greatly improves the power gain from solar radiation. The amount of current a PV panel produces has a direct correlation with the intensity of light the panel is absorbing. 

So before we get on with working of the project, let's first try to understand the advantage of solar tracking system as compared to standstill solar panels. 


THIS PROJECT IS FOR SALE!

If you are looking for a project to work with or maybe a project for your engineering course, we can assist you by providing the software we developed on LabVIEW for this solar tracking system. This will not only help you with your work but will also provide a head start to your next big project!

If this is something you would be interested in then please feel free to contact us. 


Advantages and Benefits of Solar Tracking System

  • The most important of advantage of solar tracking system is that it improves the overall efficiency of the system and the output of the solar panels. According to some estimates it can be somewhere between 10% - 25%.
  • In a scenario where space is limited for the solar panel system having a solar tracking system in place will be helpful simply because you don't have to buy as many solar panels to meet the same power requirement due to the overall increase in efficiency. 
  • Through out the year the sun keeps changing it's position but with a tracker one need not worry as the process is automated thus ensuring that the solar panel gets the highest amount of solar radiation throughout the year. 

Items Required

ARDUNIO UNO R3

Arduino

2 x XBEE Chips

Xbee chips

xbee sheild

Arduino

2 x servo motors

motor

Solar panel

solar panel 1w

pan tilt structure

mechanical

The solar tracking system greatly improves the power gain from solar radiation by almost 25-30% !

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How Does Solar Tracking work ?

The software uses complex mathematical astronomical equations to determine the position of the sun very accurately. The inputs required by the software include the Latitudes, Longitudes and time zone of the location by the user. Other inputs like date, hour, minutes and seconds are taken by the LabVIEW program from the computer system. The software system calculates the azimuth and elevation angle which is fed to the Arduino board wirelessly via XBee chip. Based on the information the Arduino board generates a PWM signal proportional to the angle it gets from the software. The PWM signals are fed to the servo motors to rotate the pan tilt structure on which panel is mounted.

block diagram solar tracking

Solar tracking project is divided into two modules: software module and hardware module. Both software and hardware modules have to work in synchronism in order to achieve solar tracking.

LABVIEW Arduino

One of the unique feature of the project lies in the â€˜Sun Trajectory Tab’.This tab provides the information of the sun trajectory with the help of both 2D and 3D graphs along with the current position of the sun. A 2D graph is plotted ‘Elevation Angle’ vs ‘Azimuth Angle’. Whereas the 3D graph gives a more comprehensive outlook to the trajectory of the sun with the directions marked. The trajectory of the sun for both 2D and 3D graph is plotted by simulating the algorithm from sunrise to sunset thus plotting points for each second of the day.

Labview Arduino

The hardware module comprises of the following components: mechanical components, HS-311 servo motors, Arduino Board, XBee shield, XBee and 1W solar panel. It also is responsible to hold the solar panel and aligned it to the sun. Which helps it to attain the maximum efficiency from the solar panel while wirelessly communicating with the software module. This project can also be realized by programming a microcontroller and designing a custom PCB. Companies like NextPCB can then fabricate the board.


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