A review on sun position sensors used in solar applications

Salgado-Conrado, Lizbeth

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2017.08.040

Cited by 51 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…However, this tracking strategy is unreliable [12]. This is mainly due to the weakness innate in sun pointing sensors which are ineffective without the sun and in the strong occurrence of reflected light [20]; and are vulnerable to tracking errors caused by improper installation and effects of varying weather conditions [21]. This, in turn, results in poor tracking performance [22] that undesirably affects the power generation of PV panels.…”

Section: Fig 1: Direct Power Loss Due To Misalignment In Anglementioning

confidence: 99%

An Improved Sunflower-Inspired Solar Tracking Strategy for Maximizing Photovoltaic Panel Power Generation

Sabran¹,

Fajardo²

2019

IJRTE

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A previous study proposed a nature-inspired tracking strategy that mimics the solar tracking behavior of sunflowers driven by the light stimulus and the circadian clock. The approach delivered a good tracking performance with an average tracking error of 0.727° under clear, partly cloudy, and cloudy conditions. However, it incurred high tracking errors caused by false detection brought about by the abrupt changes in the amount of solar radiation during realignment. In addition, the scheme also maintained high stepper motor current consumption due to the use of a fixed stepping resolution. To address these issues, the previous tracking routine was modified to direct the search for the sun’s position to a range of calculated altitude angles where a fine-tuning process will be performed using current measurements and the adoption of a variable stepping resolution during panel reorientation. Experiments were conducted to measure the performance of the modifications in terms of tracking error, power generation, and stepper motor current consumption. A comparison of the performances between the previous and the modified approaches was done to assess the impact of the proposed improvement. The result of the comparison showed that the modifications significantly improved the overall tracking performance of the strategy.

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Section: Fig 1: Direct Power Loss Due To Misalignment In Anglementioning

confidence: 99%

An Improved Sunflower-Inspired Solar Tracking Strategy for Maximizing Photovoltaic Panel Power Generation

Sabran¹,

Fajardo²

2019

IJRTE

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“…Numerous studies show that the solar energy collection of solar PV systems as well as solar thermal systems can be enhanced by around 20-50%, with the utilization of solar tracking [167][168][169]. By facing the sun, the apparent area of the receiver surface is at a maximum (i.e., cos h $ 1), but the most viable tracking technology to achieve this is much less clear [170,171]. Solar tracking systems are mainly categorized on the basis of their degrees-of-freedom, namely single-axis trackers [172,173] and dual-axis sun trackers [174][175][176][177].…”

Section: Solar Trackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technological Advances to Maximize Solar Collector Energy Output: A Review

Salvi

Bhalla

Taylor

et al. 2018

Journal of Electronic Packaging

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Since it is highly correlated with quality of life, the demand for energy continues to increase as the global population grows and modernizes. Although there has been significant impetus to move away from reliance on fossil fuels for decades (e.g., localized pollution and climate change), solar energy has only recently taken on a non-negligible role in the global production of energy. The photovoltaics (PV) industry has many of the same electronics packaging challenges as the semiconductor industry, because in both cases, high temperatures lead to lowering of the system performance. Also, there are several technologies, which can harvest solar energy solely as heat. Advances in these technologies (e.g., solar selective coatings, design optimizations, and improvement in materials) have also kept the solar thermal market growing in recent years (albeit not nearly as rapidly as PV). This paper presents a review on how heat is managed in solar thermal and PV systems, with a focus on the recent developments for technologies, which can harvest heat to meet global energy demands. It also briefs about possible ways to resolve the challenges or difficulties existing in solar collectors like solar selectivity, thermal stability, etc. As a key enabling technology for reducing radiation heat losses in these devices, the focus of this paper is to discuss the ongoing advances in solar selective coatings and working fluids, which could potentially be used in tandem to filter out or recover the heat that is wasted from PVs. Among the reviewed solar selective coatings, recent advances in selective coating categories like dielectric-metal-dielectric (DMD), multilayered, and cermet-based coatings are considered. In addition, the effects of characteristic changes in glazing, absorber geometry, and solar tracking systems on the performance of solar collectors are also reviewed. A discussion of how these fundamental technological advances could be incorporated with PVs is included as well.

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“…Likewise, other authors [ 17 , 48 , 49 , 50 ] have implemented tracking systems with sensors that follow the position of the Sun with great precision and that have the advantages of easy implementation, simple design, low cost and a high level of adaptability. However, it is necessary to continue advancing in the search for tracking strategies that enable constant identification of the direction of the celestial sphere in which solar irradiance is maximum in a simple way regarding the hardware and software necessary for its implementation and that does not imply an increase in the cost of the technology, either in implementation or maintenance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Omnidirectional Sensor Based on Open-Source Software and Hardware for Tracking and Backtracking of Dual-Axis Solar Trackers in Photovoltaic Plants

Gómez-Uceda

Ramírez-Faz

Varo-Martínez

et al. 2021

Sensors

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In this work, an omnidirectional sensor that enables identification of the direction of the celestial sphere with maximum solar irradiance is presented. The sensor, based on instantaneous measurements, functions as a position server for dual-axis solar trackers in photovoltaic plants. The proposed device has been developed with free software and hardware, which makes it a pioneering solution because it is open and accessible as well as capable of being improved by the scientific community, thereby contributing to the rapid advancement of technology. In addition, the device includes an algorithm developed ex professo that makes it possible to predetermine the regions of the celestial sphere for which, according to the geometric characteristics of the PV plant, there would be shading between the panels. In this way, solar trackers do not have to locate the Sun’s position at all times according to astronomical models, while taking into account factors such as shadows or cloudiness that also affect levels of incident irradiance on solar collectors. Therefore, with this device, it is possible to provide photovoltaic plants with dual-axis solar tracking with a low-cost device that helps to optimise the trajectory of the trackers and, consequently, their radiative capture and energy production.

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A review on sun position sensors used in solar applications

Cited by 51 publications

References 65 publications

An Improved Sunflower-Inspired Solar Tracking Strategy for Maximizing Photovoltaic Panel Power Generation

An Improved Sunflower-Inspired Solar Tracking Strategy for Maximizing Photovoltaic Panel Power Generation

Technological Advances to Maximize Solar Collector Energy Output: A Review

New Omnidirectional Sensor Based on Open-Source Software and Hardware for Tracking and Backtracking of Dual-Axis Solar Trackers in Photovoltaic Plants

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