1. SOLAR TRACKER PROJECT

2. INTRODUCTION: Solar tracker is a system that is used to track sun light to increase the efficiency of electricity gained from solar cells. The advantages of solar trackers are; 1) The efficiency is increase by using solar tracker 2) The space requirement for a solar park is reduced, and system kept the same amount of output 3) The return of the investment timeline is reduced

3. Types of Solar Trackers Types of Solar Trackers

4. MECHATRONICS COMPONENTS PART OF A SOLAR TRACKER MECHANICAL COMPONENTS BODY SHAFT AND TUBE GEARS

5. ELECTRONICAL COMPONENTS ACTUATORS ( MOTORS)

6. Mechatronics Components available when the project was introduced to us: Mechanical component: √ Body Frame √ Shaft and Tube √ Gear Electrical component: Sensors Motors Solar Panel Missing Components and items - Controller - Battery Charger - Effective Power to run the system

7. Components and parts we Removed: 12v relay: because arduino can only supply 5v output 12v Stepper motor: A stepper motor needs to have an external controller to feed its coils (3,4,... coils) one at a time or using a special sequence. It moves in steps. Instead of using Stepper motor it is more effective to use DC motor and relay. A DC motor can be operated by just supplying a DC voltage to it.

8. Components and things we added: Controller (arduino) 5v Relay We built a Battery Charger Body Cover 12v DC motor

9. EXPLAINATION OF COMPONENTS THEIR FUNCTION AND HOW THEY WORK Mechanical component: Body: This gives shape to the System, and hold other components such as the actuators, solar panel and tube in place

10. SHAFT AND TUBE Tube: is the apparatus that delivers the horizontal rotation to the solar panel. Shaft: is the apparatus that delivers the vertical rotation to the solar panel

11. GEARS: THE GEAR IS CONNECTED TO THE SHAFT WHICH IS CONNECTED TO THE 24V MOTOR. THIS GEAR MOVES THE SOLAR PANEL IN VERTICAL ROTATION.

12. ELECTRONICAL COMPONENT LDR sensors (light dependent resistor) ◦Its resistance decreases when light impinges on it. ◦There are 4 LDR sensors on solar cell. 2 of them are at the cross-corners, one is at the bottom and last one is at the top of solar cell.

13. An Arduino board consists of an Atmel 8-bit AVR microcontroller with complementary components that facilitate programming and incorporation into other circuitsAtmelmicrocontroller CONTROLLER Arduino Uno

14. Sensor If ( Upper sensor value is lower then the down sensor value ) Motor 1 moves Solar Panel Down If ( Down sensor value is lower then the Upper sensor value ) If ( Left sensor value is lower then the Right sensor value ) Motor 1 moves Solar Panel down Motor 2 moves Solar Panel Right Motor 2 moves Solar Panel Left

15. Arduino Software Codes Arduino Software Codes

16. ACTUATOR ( MOTORS ) Motors are used to rotate the panel on two axes and keep the solar panel on position, this solar tracker uses two DC motors. One is 12v the other is 24v 12v24v

17. NO MOVEMENT MOVES THE MOTOR IN CCW DIRECTION 0v5v 0v MOVES THE MOTOR IN CW DIRECTION

18. Conclusion and future advancement: The project is used to track maximum sun power, we used to DC motor and an arduino controller. In the future this project can be improved by installing an LCD display to display the light photon and it can also be used to record to daily photon value which can be used for research purposes.