Low-cost dual-axis system for solar tracking

This work presents description of an active solar tracking system, which computes the solar position as a function of topo-centric position and time. A micro-controller based design of an automatic solar tracker is presented in this paper. The Sun positioning testing procedures conducted included two primary motor calibration tests and a heliostat positioning test with two micro switches. The measured errors from the motor positioning tests were in the range of 0.22°, whereas solar positioning tests conducted showed an error of 0.21°, which is satisfying the main market needs for decreased costs and increased accuracy.