SOLAR TRACKER
Alazone Smith - CWU MET 2019
Through an age of unprecedented technological advancement humanity has developed a gargantuan reliance on energy. Generating energy has become one of society’s most prioritized challenges. There is a substantial need for devices that can optimize energy collection. The hope for this project is to produce a fully operation, dual-axes, active solar tracker.
PROJECT OUTREACH SUMMARY
Project Description
The Solar Tracker is a system designed with the intent of configuring a solar panel, so it can optimize its energy intake. The hardware should have dual-axes rotation to ensure the solar panel maintains a perpendicular relationship with direct sunlight. A sketch of the product is provided below.
Technical Merit
The hope for this project is to produce a fully operation, dual-axes, active solar tracker, that will improve upon the capabilities of the previous model. It will improve upon the orientation of the panel so that it will optimize the performance of the system.
Requirement
The solar tracker will maintain a perpendicular relationship with direct sunlight with a maximum 3% tolerance, and intake 25% more energy than a fixed solar panel. This will be based on the efficiency of the dual axes rotation. This will addressed through the software analysis.
Optimization Opportunities
In an attempt to minimize energy usage of the system, reducing the weight of the system should allow the motors to operate more efficiently.
Known Challenges
At this point in time, funding and addressing the material needs of particular components are the main challenges. Also, deciding which manufacturing options are best may pose a challenge.
Industry Help
Technical expertise in the EET field could be of use for programming the Arduino software. Also, this project will require two motors, a wood beam, some sheet metal, and bolts. These are predicted materials, but funding would be more valuable when closer to construction.
"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does"