Sistema electrónico de control de un prototipo de seguidor solar fotovoltaico en la Facultad de Ingeniería en Sistemas, Electrónica e Industrial de la Universidad Técnica de Ambato

Abstract

Solar tracking systems allow placing a solar panel perpendicular to the position of the sun, during the day, to take maximum advantage of the highest levels of solar radiation incident on the solar panel. This project focuses on the design of an electronic control system for a prototype photovoltaic solar tracker at the School of Systems, Electronics and Industrial Engineering of the Technical University of Ambato, which captures a greater amount of solar energy for electricity consumption or storage, due to the maximum use of solar radiation compared to fixed solar installations. In addition, it has a monitoring system of the most important parameters of the solar tracking installation such as: voltage, power, tilt angle, which are visualized by the administrator with the objective of verifying the correct operation of the system. The design of the tracking system is based on a hybrid loop control algorithm, which uses light sensors or photosensors to provide the system with feedback from the data detected by the sensors. In addition, the tracking system uses the geographic position, date and time of the location to know if the system is placed in the right position. On the other hand, for the communication, storage and processing of the data obtained by the current and voltage sensors, placed in the tracking system, WIFI is used as communication technology and communication protocols such as HTTP, which allow the monitoring of the data through a web interface. Finally, the technical parameters obtained by the sensors in the solar tracking system are compared to a fixed PV system. The results obtained reveal an improvement in the amount of energy captured by the solar tracking system of 10.23% compared to a fixed photovoltaic system.