Development of Smart (Light Dependent Resistor, LDR) Automatic Solar Tracker

In this study, a Smart (Light Dependent Resistor, LDR) Automatic Solar Tracker is intended and successfully developed. It was developed with unique design criteria such that it instantly aligns the solar panels position perpendicular the position of the sun, resulting in a 42% increase in efficiency of the generated energy when compared to a fixed axis solar panel. A low-cost solar tracker set-up is uniquely set up to act as the solar radiation sensor/detector which is used to rotate the solar panels via the electric motors to position the panels at a specific angle determined by the light dependent resistor of the tracker system. A microcontroller Arduino Uno is used as the microcontroller unit, and the Analogue Digital Converter ports are used to interconnect the sensor units. To connect the solar arrays, the Direct Current motor driver ULN 293D is used to rotate the solar panel at the highest solar power angle. The digital model was conceptualized on Autodesk® Fusion™ 360, using four Light Dependent Resistors. The performance analysis for the simulated model and developed system shows that the maximum current drawn by the solar tracking sensor is less than 0.72 mA. “Arduino UNO”, Proteus 7.6 ISIS” and “Code Vision AVR” are used to write the program code and to transmit it to the Arduino Uno microcontroller for parameter estimation.