THE EFFECT OF SOLAR CELLS CONTROL STRATEGY ON THE NET POWER IN SINGLE AXIS ROTATION

Abstract

Solar power generation has been used as a renewable energy since years ago. The solar panels could be mounted as a fixed frame facing the sun, or, as a single axis rotating frame that track the sun position. Many control strategies are proposed to track sun position over the horizon. In the present study two control methods has been implemented: in the first method the sun position is pre-determined based on latitude and altitude as a look-up table. While in the second method, the look-up table is assisted by a simple algorithm that search for the sun position which yields the maximum power output from the PV cell. The solar system is driven by a DC linear actuator geared motor that will rotate the frame through a simple mechanism. The two control strategies have been compared in terms of the net power output.