Smart Dual Axes Solar tracking

Photo voltaic effect is one of the methods of converting solar power to electric power. Photo voltaic cells (PV cells), made up of silicon semiconductor material, exhibit the property of photovoltaic effect and converts the solar energy to direct current. The output power of the PV cells depends on the angle of incidence of sunlight. These cells are able to produce maximum power, as long as the sun light is perpendicular to the panel's surface. The position of the sun is not stationary so the angle of incidence also changes with time, thereby performance of the solar panel. If the panel is made to align itself perpendicularly to sun rays, maximum efficiency can be achieved. This procedure is called solar tracking. Depending on the number of axes the panel is moving, trackers are differentiated as dual axes and single axis trackers. A single axis tracker can show good performance when the sun's path is stationary, but as the sun's path always changes with season, Dual axes tracker, which tracks the sun irrespective of the sun's path, is preferable than single axes tracker. The tracking mechanism mainly uses LDR sensors to detect the sun's position, but in the cloudy atmosphere whenever the LDRs cannot locate the sun's position, automatically activated timer controls the tracking. This paper elucidates the construction of a Dual Axes Solar Tracker using LDR sensors & Timer and it's uses over conventional trackers.