MAXIMUM POWER POINT BASED SOLAR TRACKER

Abstract

This project focuses on the enhancement of electric energy produced from PV solar panels as a result of solar tracking. The concept of solar tracking is that by facing the solar panels towards the sun results in enhanced solar power gathered during the entire day. There are multiple options available for solar tracking such as chronological, sensor based and power based. The tracker that has been developed uses maximum power point strategy for solar tracking .The development of the tracking system is based on finding the max power point orientation of a PV solar panel at which max power is delivered. Two techniques for monitoring “Real-time power” have been demonstrated. The tracking system has many advantages in relation to similar devices. It is intelligent in a way that it performs real-time power monitoring and has the ability to store data and improve behavior based on previous tracking history. The efficiency of the solar tracker includes its capability to compensate clouds and make adjustments according to seasonal changes. Furthermore the control unit for tracking has been tested on a wide variety of single axis tracking platforms. The final result increases the energy return of the soar modules by 35-40 % on average, and up to 55 % in summer months. Furthermore the tracker is very useful for the Pakistani market since it is user friendly and requires no input from the user.