Introduce Artificial Intelligence in Controlling a Solar Tracker

Abstract

According to the report on the global status of renewable energies 2016 published by REN21 (Renewable Energy Policy Network For The 21st Century) the production of solar photovoltaic energy for the year 2015 reached 227 GW with more than 50 GW compared to the year 2014 that was 177 GW this rapid growth is due to research and dedicated scientific developments for this type of energies all these last have the same goal to improve the energy production capacity of these panels. In order to increase the efficiency of the solar panels, we have thought about the design and the realization of a two-axis solar tracker, which will allow the panels to follow the sun and to have the optimal position where there is the maximum of solar power that our panel can acquire. In principle, our system consists of three cards, the first one is the acquisition card or the sensors card it delivers the information on the position of the sun, the second is the control card where we have programmed our algorithm which is responsible for continuously regulating of the position of our tracker, the third is a power card that acts as the intermediary between the control board and the actuators (the two motors of the two axes). By using a PID algorithm and after a real test of our solar tracker it was found that the regulation is done in a correct way but we noticed that the actuators consume a lot of energy to keep the optimal position and we lose the information after the position change, this is why we introduced the notion of artificial intelligence through the development of an algorithm based on advanced fuzzy logic with adaptable rules. Our algorithm will replace the old algorithm (PID) to control the movement of the axes of our tracker as well to find the optimal point where there is the maximum of solar irradiation. Our algorithm will also memorize all the optimal points found during the day for used as much as references and to add it’s as the elements that constitute these rules taking into account also the energy consumption of the system. Our system is developed from such a fate to be reliable, fair and tough.