Abstract
Solar energy market is growing rapidly and presenting a high energy share. We can find many applications of solar energy harvesting systems like Photovoltaics, Dual Face Photovoltaics, Concentrated Photovoltaics, and Concentrated Solar Power. All these systems need tracking technology to increase their efficiency or total output. We present in this paper an innovative sensorless tracking algorithm for PV panels where we track the sun’s position without using a sensor. The algorithm has been implemented on a Beckhoff PLC and a small PV module has been used to test the system.
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Abbreviations
- LIRA:
-
Lebanese Industrial Research Achievements Program
- MPP:
-
Maximum Power Point
- MPPT:
-
Maximum Power Point Tracker
- PLC:
-
Programmable Logic Controller
- d:
-
Julian day number
- H:
-
Solar hour angle degrees
- LSTM:
-
Local Standard Time Meridian
- LT:
-
Local time in hours
- P:
-
Local solar time
- PV:
-
Photovoltaic
- S:
-
Grid-shadowing factor
- TC:
-
Time correction factor
- TGMT:
-
Time in Greenwich Mean Time
- X:
-
Equation of Time
- \( \alpha \) :
-
Elevation angle of the sun in degrees
- αp:
-
Elevation angle of the panel in degrees
- \( \beta \) :
-
Azimuth angle of the sun in degrees
- \( \beta_{p} \) :
-
Azimuth angle of the panel in degrees
- \( \delta \) :
-
Declination angle in degrees
- l:
-
Wavelengths with energy higher than the energy gap
- \( \theta \) :
-
Incident angle of the sun’s rays to the panel in degrees
- \( \varphi \) :
-
Latitude
- \( \omega \) :
-
Longitude
- r(l):
-
Reflectance
- α(l):
-
Coefficient of absorption
- f(l):
-
Incident flux of the photon
References
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the HCR (Higher Center for Research) of the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik for financing this project. In addition, the authors would like to thank the LIRA research grant for participating in funding this project and ITEC company for providing the Beckhoff PLC as well as Eng. Carlos Bou Gerges for his valuable help.
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Nehme, B., Fenianos, A., Akiki, T. (2019). Developing a Sensorless Sun Tracker for PV Panels. In: Rizk, R., Awad, M. (eds) Mechanism, Machine, Robotics and Mechatronics Sciences. Mechanisms and Machine Science, vol 58. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89911-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89911-4_5
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