Concentrating PV module output power using a wireless microcontroller based automatic sun tracker

Abstract

In the present work, a wireless two dimensional microcontroller based sun tracker is designed and implemented. The proposed system has three main components namely the controlling unit, the wireless communication system, and the monitoring and recording unit. Controlling features are fully obtained in the present system using an efficient microcontroller based programming environment. Design equations, which are implemented, allow the usage of the system anywhere anytime without extra hardware tracking circuits. The sun tracker continuously calculates the photovoltaic module’s tilt and azimuth angles by using accurate sun movement equations. The system generates the motors controlling signals to allocate the photovoltaic module to receive the maximize amount of solar energy on its surface from sunrise to sunset. For monitoring purpose the output of the movable photovoltaic module and from a south faced fixed module are wirelessly transmitted to the local monitoring system where the data are recorded, analyzed, and published. The proposed system is successfully implemented and tested for long periods under realistic operating conditions and the obtained positioning results are in excellent agreement with the theoretical ones.