Sun position algorithm for sun tracking applications

The efficiency of solar power systems, either concentrating or non-concentrating, can be increased by incorporating a tracking system. The tracking controller requires the position of sun in the sky which can be obtained by using a sun position algorithm that calculates sun position in a certain coordinate system. This papers presents a method to calculate the sun position which could be useful in tracking sun without sensors. The proposed algorithm is a compilation of different equations that compute solar position. The accuracy of the algorithm affects the efficiency of the tracking system but a complex high accuracy algorithm can be replaced with a simple low accuracy algorithm without affecting the accuracy to much extent as presented in this paper.