Analysis and implementation of a solar tracking rack system

Abstract

Solar energy is the most feasible source of renewable energy especially in sun rich regions like Africa. In particular, electrically epileptic country like Nigeria with current power output of only about 3.5GW of energy has a relatively long sunny period for about 90% of the year, making Nigeria very rich in solar power. Maximally harnessing solar energy into usable electricity however, is still a fundamental problem as the existing models can harness only about 70% of the available energy. To maximally harness solar energy, a solar panel must be perpendicular to the energy source for all 12hours of sunlight availability, and must be able to follow the sun’s movement all day long. Accordingly, this work considers the analysis, construction, and implementation of a single axis solar tracking dynamic system. Experimental result show that the proposed system outperforms the conventional static solar tracking system.
 Keywords: solar energy, single axis, harvesting-solar energy.