Small scale sun tracking power plant

Solar energy is one of the potential renewable energy which is also gaining popularity in recent years. The proposed small scale sun tracking solar power plant is a combination of mechanical design of structure and control system that maximizes solar energy accumulation by means of photovoltaic cells during real-time sun tracking. This project aims to overcome a few disadvantages of traditional solar photovoltaic systems with a new model. The new model consists of smaller modules, each having a few cells. The modules are constructed with solar cells sandwiched in between a transparent plastic layer on top and a heatsink at the bottom for sufficient cooling. Then, the modules are mounted onto a frame in V shape, consisting of two panels to allow for more heat dissipation and lower air resistance. The mechanical base supporting system for the panels has a linear motor which allows the panels to rotate in a single axis about the vertex of the V shaped frame. To confirm the feasibility of the developed system, performance analysis has been added at the end of this paper.