The solar tracker is used to orient various payloads toward the sun in order to trap the energy to the maximum extent. Payloads can be photovoltaic cells, reflectors, lenses or other optical devices. This tracker circuit finds the sun at dawn, follows the sun during the day, and resets for the next day. Here the payload is a Solar Photo Voltaic Panel. Sunlight has two components, the “direct beam” that carries about 90% of the solar energy, and the “diffuse sunlight” that carries the remainder .The diffuse portion is the blue sky on a clear day. As the majority of the energy is in the direct beam, maximizing collection requires the sunlight to fall straight onto the panels as long as possible. This is where the tracker comes.
The tracker is basically a mechanical device consisting of an induction motor and moves according to the command from the controller in response to the sun’s direction. The controller used is Programmable Logic Controller (PLC).
Speed and direction of the motor is controlled by the V/f Drive. The tacking is done by programmed Time-Delayed movement of the panel throughout the day. The delay is set in the PLC and the step-by-step movement is achieved by proximity sensor which senses the teeth of a Cog wheel there by providing the feedback to the PLC.