Ali Basrah Pulungan, Lovely Son, Syafii, Syamsul Huda, Ubaidillah Ubaidillah
This study aims to obtain an effective solar panel tracking mechanism using energy-efficient electric actuators. Furthermore, we designed and implemented a semi-active solar tracking system. A tracking system is proposed to control solar panel orientation using a moving mass, a spring system, and an actuator. The weight of the moving mass and the spring constant are optimized to reduce actuator size. A stepper motor was used for this case. This electric drive is not the prime mover of the solar tracker; hence, it works against mass elements lighter than solar panel weight as used in the active solar tracker. Experimental results suggest that the average power required by the stepper motor is 0.21% of the energy generated by the solar tracking system. The results indicate that the proposed solar panel tracker works satisfactorily to control solar panel orientation. © Int. J. of GEOMATE All rights reserved, including making copies unless permission is obtained from the copyright proprietors
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Indonesia; Engineering Faculty, Universitas Negeri Padang, Indonesia; Engineering Faculty, Universitas Andalas Padang, Indonesia; Engineering Faculty, Universitas Sebelas Maret Solo, Indonesia
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