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Corresponding Author

Gad, Helmy

Subject Area

Mechanical Power Engineering

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

The sun tracking became of high necessity for increasing the efficiency and reducing the cost of photovoltaic systems and solar concentrators. This system is used for maximizing the normal incident direct solar radiation on the surface of these devices. This is essential in solar water pumping for irrigation and power generation. In the present study, a new prototype şun tracker (heliostat) is designed, constructed and tested. This sun tracker tracks the sun on two axes and uses a real time control unit and hybrid stepper motors. The control unit uses a low cost microcontroller compared to the other controllers. The microcontroller provides a large number of input/output pins for controlling the hybrid stepper motors and the LCD screen. Also, its internal memory size and the processing power are high making it the most suitable device for solving solar energy equations in real time. The proposed sun tracker is seen to be simpler in operation and more reliable than the PLC, microprocessor and electro-optical controlled systems. Results show that this şun tracker has a good accuracy for tracking the sun and that the experimental data are closely fit the theoretical results. Hybrid stepper motors with their advantages and the control system are suitable for these applications. Thus, this sun tracker is also seen to be suitable for the photovoltaic panel used for solar pumping, power generation and the dish type solar concentrators.

Keywords

design; Construction; Real Time; two axes; sun tracker; hybrid stepper motors

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