A ±60° Field-of-View, highly compact, 3×3 integrated photo-diode array sensor for dual-axis solar tracking

Author

Tosanguan, Thanut ; Supadech, Jakrapong ; Jantawong, Jirawat ; Hruanun, Chamdet ; Poyai, Amporn

Author_Institution

Thai Microeletronics Center, Nat. Electron. & Comput. Technol. Center, Chachoengsao, Thailand

Volume

1

fYear

2013

fDate

16-19 Aug. 2013

Firstpage

253

Lastpage

257

Abstract

Solar energy production via photovoltaic (PV) cells has witnessed over 500% growth in cumulative installed capacity between 2006-2010 [1]. With this significant investment, there is a financial need to maximize the system´s power output, which can be achieved via a solar tracking system. The objective of this paper is to introduce a new, highly compact, integrated sensor consisting of 9 photo-diodes arranged in a 3×3 grid with 4 light windows in a 2×2 grid. The design allows simultaneous dual-axis solar tracking to take place with a single solid state sensor. Field-of-Views of ±58° azimuth and ±52° elevation and sensor calibrated errors of ±1° and ±0.3° in the azimuth and elevation direction, respectively, were obtained.

Keywords

photodiodes; sensor arrays; solar cells; dual-axis solar tracking; highly compact integrated sensor; integrated photodiode array sensor; photovoltaic cells; solar energy production; Arrays; Azimuth; Computers; Green products; Instruments; Microelectronics; Sun; highly compact; micro-sensors; photodiode array; photovoltaic system; solar tracking;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electronic Measurement & Instruments (ICEMI), 2013 IEEE 11th International Conference on

Conference_Location

Harbin

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-0757-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICEMI.2013.6743027

Filename

6743027