npTrack: A n-Position Single Axis Solar Tracker Model for Optimized Energy Collection

Manoel Henriques de Sá Campos and Chigueru Tiba
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Manoel Henriques de Sá Campos: Centro de Tecnologias e Geociências, Departamento de Energia Nuclear, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife 50740545, Brazil
Chigueru Tiba: Centro de Tecnologias e Geociências, Departamento de Energia Nuclear, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife 50740545, Brazil

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: The single axis solar tracker based on flat panels is used in large solar plants and in distribution-level photovoltaic systems. In order to achieve this, the solar tracking systems generally need to work by tracking the sun’s position with dozens, maybe hundreds of movements along the day with a maximal known tracking error within the specifications. A novel model is proposed along this work based on the control of the angle deviation within a (polar) single axis configuration. This way an optimization of the harnessing of solar energy can be achieved with as few panel displacements as possible in order to decrease the wear in the mechanical parts of the equipment and the energy consumed by it. This tracking approach was implemented with as few as seven positions along the day and got an estimated theoretical value of 99.27% of the total collected energy in a continuous tracking system. Regarding an annual average basis, it would be about 96.5% of a dual axis system according to the proposed model. The novelty of the model is related to a tradeoff between the gain with the simplicity of a single axis n-position tracking and the solar energy loss associated.

Keywords: PV discrete solar tracker; discrete solar tracker loss modeling; single-axis photovoltaic solar tracking; n-position single-axis solar tracker (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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