A New Design of Dual-Axis Solar Tracking System With LDR Sensors by Using the Wheatstone Bridge Circuit
Mahdi Saeedi, Reza Effatnejad
Abstract
Nowadays, using photovoltaic (PV) cells is among the power generation methods that absorb solar energy and convert it into electrical energy. The sun moves from east to west during the day and its radiation angle changes relative to the Earth in different seasons. So, the output power of PV panels changes as well. The output power of PV panels increases by being located in a position perpendicular to the angle of the sun's rays. This study aims to design and implement a dual-axis solar tracker (DAST) to increase the output power of the PV panel. This simple system has high efficiency and adjusts the PV panel based on solar radiation by moving simultaneously on two axes. An analog controller is used for its control system. DAST control system is a closed-loop system that uses Wheatstone bridge circuit function along with light-dependent resistors (LDRs). A small DAST was designed and built to validate the proposed system, the performance of which was verified. Based on the experiments, I-V and P-V specifications were obtained. Finally, it was found that the output power of the PV panel using solar tracker was higher than that of the fixed panel.