See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/259398464

DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF DUAL AXIS SOLAR TRACKER FOR OPTIMUM

SOLAR ENERGY ABSORPTION

Conference Paper · December 2013

CITATIONS READS

10 5,790

3 authors, including:

Hussain A Attia Yousif Ismaill Al-Mashhadany

American University of Ras Al Khaimah University of Anbar
49 PUBLICATIONS   186 CITATIONS    58 PUBLICATIONS   132 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Classification of Vibration Fault View project

Muscles Activity Detection from EMG Signal of Human Leg Posture View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Yousif Ismaill Al-Mashhadany on 22 December 2013.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Design and Simulation of Dual Axis Solar Tracker for Optimum Solar Energy
Absorption

Hussain A. Attia , Beza N. Getu, and Yousif I. Al-Mashhadany

American University of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE
Phone: +97172210500 - Fax: +97172210300
hattia@aurak.ae; bgetu@aurak.ae
University of Al-Anbar, Iraq
Phone: +9647814143764 - Fax: +9647706156267
yousif.almashhadany@uoanbar.edu.iq

ABSTRACT towards the direction of sunlight will lead to

Solar energy is clean, cheap, renewable, and
abundantly available source of energy and hence
many researchers focus on the techniques of
increasing absorption of solar power for different
practical applications. Solar tracking system plays a
major role in this field because of the importance of
tracking the sun and increasing absorption of solar
energy during the day light timing. This paper
presents a new design, simulation as well as results of
dual axis solar tracking system that is able to make the
solar panel produce maximum power during its
function. The design takes into account that all related
electronic (transducers, controlling, and drive circuits)
are supplied by an efficient designed and simulated
DC power supply which is fed from the connected
solar panel. The simulation results show that the dual
axis tracker has better capability of tracking the sun
light in two planes instead of single plane tracking of
single axis tracker. The design of the proposed
system depends on general use discrete electronic
components that make the practical implementation to
be easily constructed.
KEYWORDS
Dual Axis; Solar Tracker; Transducers Array;
Phototransistor; Control Circuit.
maximize the produced power from the
connected power electronic system [4], [5], [6].
From this fact, there is a need of an automatic
closed loop control system which is responsible
for the motion to the solar panel to make it in line
with the sunlight [7], [8], [9]. This paper presents
a dual axis closed loop control tracking system
and Figure 1. represents the block diagram of the
proposed electronic control system that is used
for the automatic motion of solar panel so us to
have maximum solar power during the day light
working and guarantee the sunlight radiation in
perpendicular with the face of panel.
The proposed design started with selection of
appropriate solar panel (18 Volt / 30 Watt) [9],
[10] and it takes into account all electronic
circuits of the dual axis controller work on DC
supply voltage of 9 Volts and this voltage is
maintained even though there is a variation or
fluctuation of the output voltage of the solar
panel. While the 9 Volts DC supply voltage for
the transducers array and part of the control
circuit, an additional 12 Volts is used to supply to
the drive circuit which include relays of type 12
Volt.

1 INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, the trend of using the solar energy is

exponentially increasing and the focus for this
type of clean energy and to transfer to electrical
power has been interesting since it avoids
pollutions which may happen with other source
Figure 1. Block diagram of the proposed dual axis system
of energy [1], [2], [3]. Aligning the solar panel

ISBN: 978-0-9891305-3-0 ©2013 SDIWC 144

 voltmeters record the values of VDC1 and VDC2
The transducers array include five symmetrical as well as the solar panel voltage; Figure 3.
photo transistors [11], [12], [13], [14], [15] illustrates the response of the presented supply
distributed in suitable locations on the solar circuit with stable results of output voltage.
panel, and these transducers are responsible to
transform the instantaneous light intensity levels
to the proportional dc voltages. These DC voltage
levels will be used as input to the comparators
stage of the proposed design.
The control circuit consists of two sets of
operational amplifiers, logic circuits, and drive
circuits. While the first set of control circuit is
responsible for auto controlling of the motion of Figure 2. DC power supply (12V & 9V)
the panel in one of the axes, the second set is
responsible for the motion of the panel in the
second axis which is perpendicular to the first
axis. The two control circuits work to gather to
give a suitable decision of motion of the solar
panel and align it towards the direction of
sunlight for maximum solar energy absorption.

2 DC POWER SUPPLY

This circuit is designed to produce two levels of

voltages; the first value is 12 Volt which used to
supply the drive circuit while the other level is 9
Volt applied as supply voltage to the array of
transducers, op-amp circuits, and the logic
circuits. Figure 2. represents the simulation of the
proposed electronic DC power supply which is
loaded by two separate resistors RL1 , RL2 each
of them 500 Ω. The design includes two voltage
regulators of type 7812 to produce 12 Volt, and
of type 7809 to produce 9 Volt, capacitor (470 µF
/ 35 V) which is used to minimize the fluctuation
of the solar panel voltage, diodes which are used
as a free wheel diodes to save the regulators from
any undesired back voltages [16], [17], [18], [19],
[20], [21]. The simulation of the DC power
supply is made by using Multisim software [16].
The records of simulated data satisfy the ability
of the proposed supply to deliver the required
voltages with accurate values during the wide
range of changing in the instantaneous levels of
the output voltage of solar panel at day working.
The proposed design is tested with input voltage
variation starting from 12 Volt to a maximum
value of 24 Volt in steps of 1 Volt to emulate the
variation of the solar panel voltage. The
Figure 3. The response of the power supply
3 DESIGN OF TRANSDUCERS ARRAYS
The design of the arrays of transducers is
represented by five phototransistors, where each
of them senses the light intensity at a certain
direction. The sensors work as a light sensor to
generate an output DC voltage that is
proportional to the intensity of the incident light
energy. Photo transistor is one of light sensors. It
consists of a bipolar NPN transistor with its base
often electrically unconnected and uses the
photons of light to generate a base current which
in turn causes a collector to emitter current to
flow. Figure 4. shows the construction and
characteristics of phototransistor.
In order to emulate the actual conditions of the
tracking system, a transducer circuit that includes
a phototransistor, resistor 100KΩ, and an op-amp
used as voltage follower is practically implanted
and tested. The photo transistor is placed in a

ISBN: 978-0-9891305-3-0 ©2013 SDIWC 145

black hollow type 3cm long so as to avoid the
effect of light coming from side directions and
only able to sense light coming in from up
direction as shown in Figure 5. The phototransistor
is connected to the 9 Volt DC supply voltage,
there will be collector emitter current flowing
through the 100 KΩ resistor proportional with the
value of the light intensity. The operational
amplifier LM224 connected as a voltage follower
[9], and produces a voltage output that changes
from 0.1V to 5.5V during the change from dark
to full light condition indoor test, while in the
case of the outdoor condition the maximum value
of voltage is 6.5V when the light sensor is in line
with sunlight.
Figure 4. Photo transistor construction and
characteristics [6].
Figure 5. Transducer connection circuit
The arrangement of the transducers is illustrated
in Figure 6. with one photo transistor in the center
and the other four distributed in the corners with
accurate deflection angles (Ɵ) among them in
small suitable dimensions of square shape. The
center transducer should be fixed in
ISBN: 978-0-9891305-3-0 ©2013 SDIWC
perpendicular line with the solar panel, and all
transducers will be fixed on a certain plate and
this plate is fixed in any location over the solar
panel. In this distribution of sensors, there is
ability to have information of light intensity in all
around directions (x-axis and y-axis) as well as
center location.
Figure 6. Transducers arrays, photo transistors
distribution, (a) front view, (b) side view, (c) fixing way
4 DESIGN TRACKING CONTROLLER
AND SIMULATION RESULTS
The control system consists of two identical
circuits one used for control rotation related to x-
axis and the other related to rotation related to the
y-axis direction. The process involves producing
a suitable logic commands for rotation of the
solar panel in the horizontal plane (x-axis
rotation) and/or in the vertical plane (y-axis
rotation). The rotation in the x-axis is either
clockwise rotation (from here onwards forward
rotation), anticlockwise rotation (from here
onwards reverse rotation), or no rotation (from
here onwards stop). The rotation in the y-axis is
rotation in the vertical plane, the rotation in the y-
axis is either clockwise rotation (from here
onwards right rotation), anticlockwise rotation
(from here onwards left rotation), or no rotation
(from here onwards stop). The command stop (no
rotation) in any direction will happen when the
surface of solar panel in the same line with
sunlight that is mean falling of the sunlight is
perpendicular over the solar panel so in this case
no need to change the direction of panel because
the panel in this x-axis and y- axis directions will
have maximum solar energy. When the sun
motion happens with time, the rate of energy
absorption reduces and this case will be
monitored by the transducers and will be
146
processed and controlled by remaining parts of Table 1. Probabilities of op-amps inputs and buffers
the proposed tracker system to give suitable outputs
rotation commands to again have maximum solar
Op-Amp Logic Logic
energy absorption. Case1 Case2
No. Indication Indication
Figure 7. explains the block diagram of the Op-Amp1
Frwd > On / High Frwd ≤ Off / Low
internal circuit included the proposed control Frwd &
Cntr (9V) Cntr (0V)
circuit for x-axis and y-axis rotations: Cntr
Op-Amp2
Frwd > On / High Frwd ≤ Off / Low
Frwd &
Rvrs (9V) Rvrs (0V)
Rvrs
Op-Amp3 Rvrs > On / High Rvrs ≤ Off / Low
Rvrs & Cntr Cntr (9V) Cntr (0V)
Op-Amp4 Rght > On / High Rght ≤ Off / Low
Rght & Cntr Cntr (9V) Cntr (0V)
Op-Amp5 Rght > On / High Rght ≤ Off / Low
Rght & Left Left (9V) Left (0V)
Op-Amp6 Left > On / High Left ≤ Off / Low
Left & Cntr Cntr (9V) Cntr (0V)
Figure 7. Block diagram of control circuit
Table 2. Truth table of the x-axis rotation command

The diagram is consist op-amps first stage, which Frwd > Frwd > Rvrs > Frwd Rvrs
includes six op-amps represented by two of Cntr Rvrs Cntr Cmnd Cmnd
State (A) State (B) State (C) (XF) (XR)
integrate circuit type LM224 used for simulation. 0 0 0 0 0
These op-amps are used to do complete 0 0 1 0 1
comparisons [9] for all cases of the two axes 0 1 0 0 0
rotations with respect to the motion of the sun as 0 1 1 0 0
well as any probability of clouds found in any 1 0 0 0 0
direction. The results of these op-amps are either 1 0 1 0 1
0V or 9 V depending on the instantaneous 1 1 0 1 0
voltage levels received from the transducers 1 1 1 1 0
arrays as shown in Table 1. shows all the logic
probabilities of the outputs of six buffers
regarding the input voltages to the related op- Table 3. Truth table of the y-axis rotation command
amps. Rght > Rght > Left > Left Rght
Cntr Left Cntr Cmnd Cmnd
These logic outputs send to the designed logic State (D) State (E) State (F) (YL) (YR)
circuit to have suitable logic commands for 0 0 0 0 0
motions x-axis and y-axis as well as the related 0 0 1 1 0
directions or commands for stop (no motion) 0 1 0 0 0
state, the design of this logic circuit has the same 0 1 1 0 0
procedure for two axes and depending on the 1 0 0 0 0
instantaneous logic probabilities at the outputs of 1 0 1 1 0
six buffers, the following Table 2. and Table 3. 1 1 0 0 1
represent a truth tables of required function from 1 1 1 0 1
the designed logic circuits in x-axis, and y-axis
respectively. From the related truth table the correct logic
combination to represent x-axis motion in
forward direction (XF) equal AND gate the state
A and state B while the command of reverse
motion (XR) will be happen when use AND gate
for the state C and invert of the state B, these two

ISBN: 978-0-9891305-3-0 ©2013 SDIWC 147

logic equations for XF, and XR were came from
the following logic minimization.
(1)
That is mean forward motion command will be
come when Frwd > Cntr AND Frwd > Rvrs:
(2)
That is mean reverse motion command will be
come when Rvrs > Cntr AND NOT Frwd > Rvrs.
By the same procedure that use with other truth
table, this will be lead to have other logic
combination for the motion of y-axis:
(3)
Or Right motion command will be come when
Rght > Cntr AND Rght > Left
(4)
Or Left motion command will be come when Left
> Cntr AND NOT Rght > Left
Last part in the control circuit is a drive circuit
which is represented be also identical two design
one for x-axis and other one for y-axis, each
circuit include two NPN transistors type 2SC945
(50V / 150mA) used to drive two relays (12 V)
separately.
Figure 8. The simulation of the proposed dual axis solar tracker system
ISBN: 978-0-9891305-3-0 ©2013 SDIWC
First relay work at one time for panel rotation in
the suitable direction or the two relays will in off
state in the case no rotation / stop condition, that
is mean there is no chance to work the two relays
in the same time. Each relay have two insulated
contacts connected to reach the dc supply in a
certain polarity to make the connected dc motor
rotate in a certain direction while the other relay
make the dc motor rotate in the opposite
direction.
The designed circuit has logic indications
distributed in the output points of buffers, logic
combination circuits, and in parallel with a dc
motors for x-axis and y-axis that to deliver all the
required logic information in different case of
solar tracker work, Figure 8. presents the
simulation of proposed design of two axes tracker
system.
Table 4. explain all case may be happen about the
levels of light intensity and the recoded data at
the buffers outputs as well as the logic outputs
which will be obtained from the logic
combination circuits in x-axis and y-axis while
Figure 9. illustrate the translation of the recorded
data of x-axis simulation included in Table 4
while Figure 10. represents the records of y-axis
included in the table.
148
 Table 4. The Simulation Records of the proposed dual axis 5 CONCLUSIONS
solar tracker system

X Y In this work we proposed a dual axis solar

Frwd Cntr Rvrs Rght Cntr Left tracking system with complete design of required
Motor Motor
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
(V) (V) having the main tracking function. The design,
30 20 10 12 15 20 25 -12 simulation and recorded data shows the photo
30 30 15 0 20 30 25 0 transistors used as an efficient transducer light
40 42 38 0 42 42 42 0 intensity sensing. The obtained simulation of
40 42 45 -12 50 42 35 12 rotation commands for different cases of light
40 45 45 0 50 51 49 0 intensity levels have complete agreement with the
60 60 60 0 58 60 61 -12 main function of the presented system. The
65 60 55 12 62 60 55 12
65 60 65 -12 55 60 58 0
proposed system can be adapted to work with any
80 79 78 12 85 79 70 12 size of DC motors which are responsible for the
70 69 71 -12 64 69 75 -12 mechanical system rotation this because the
proposed tracking system drive insolated contacts
of connected relays in x-axis and in y-axis
rotation. The presented design is characterized by
flexibility and can be easily contracted using
commercially available discrete components and
the constructed tracking system can be used for
home or industrial purpose.

Figure 9. The x-axis simulation results
Figure 10. The y-axis simulation results
REFERENCES
1. J. M. Hallas, K. A. Baker, J. H. Karp, E. J. Tremblay,
J. E. Ford, “Two-axis solar tracking accomplished
through small lateral translations”, Journal of Applied
Optics, Vol. 51, No. 25, PP. 6117-6124, 2012.
2. B.J. Huang, F.S. Sun, “Feasibility study of one axis
three positions tracking solar PV with low
concentration ratio reflector”, Journal of Energy
Conversion and Management, Vol. 48, PP.1273–1280,
2007.
3. S. Kivrak, M. Gunduzalp, F. Dincer, “ Theoretical and
experimental performance investigation of a two axis
solar tracker under the climatic condition of Denizli,
Turkey”, Przegląd Elektrotechniczny (Electrical
Review), ISSN 0033-2097, R. 88 NR 2/2012
4. J. Shingleton, “One-Axis Trackers – Improved
Reliability, Durability, Performance, and Cost
Reduction”, Final Subcontract Technical Status Report
, 2 May 2006 – 31 August 2007
5. F. Duarte, P.D. Gaspar, L.C. Gonçalves, “Two Axes
Solar Tracker Based on Solar Maps Controlled by a
Low-Power Microcontroller”, Journal of Energy and
Power Engineering, Vol. 5, PP. 671-676, 2011.
6. T. Tudorache, C. Daniel, L. Kreindler, “Performance
Evaluation Of A Solar Tracking Pv Panel”, U.P.B. Sci.
Bull., Series C, Vol. 74, Iss. 1, ISSN 1454-234x, 2012.
7. S. Zubair, A. Suleiman, H. T. Abdulazzez, B. A.
Salihu, “Design And Construction Of A
Microcontroller Based Single Axis Solar Tracker”,
Journal of Innovations in Science and Engineering,
Vol. 1, PP.41-47, 2011
8. E. Abdallah, M. Al_Soud,A. Akayleh, S. Abdallah,
“Cylindrical Solar Cooker with Automatic Two Axes
Sun Tracking System”, Jordan Journal of Mechanical
and Industrial Engineering www.jjmie.hu.edu.jo, Vol.
4, No. 4, ISSN 1995-6665, PP 477 – 486, 2010.

ISBN: 978-0-9891305-3-0 ©2013 SDIWC 149

9. J.M. Wang, C.L. Lu, “Design and Implementation of a
Sun Tracker with a Dual-AxisSingle Motor for an
Optical Sensor-Based Photovoltaic System’, Journal of
Sensors, Vol. 13, PP. 3157-3168, 2013
10. H. A. Attia, B. N. Getu Design & Simulation of an
Electronic Tracking System for Optimum Solar Energy
Absorption, International Conference on Energy,
Water & Environment, ICEWE 2013.
11. S. R. Bull, Renewable energy today and tomorrow,
IEEE Proc., vol. 89, no. 8, pp. 1216-1226, 2001.
12. S. Rahman, Green power: what is it and where can we
find it? IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, vol. 1, no.
1, pp. 30-37, 2003.
13. K. I. Abdul-lateef, A Low Cost Single-Axis Sun
Tracker System Using Pic Microcontroller, Diyala
Journal of Engineering Sciences, Vol. 05, No. 01,
pp.65-78, June 2012.
14. Watt 18 Volt DASOL Polycrystalline Solar Panel -
30W 18V
http://www.ebay.com/itm/30-Watt-18-Volt-DASOL-
Polycrystalline-Solar-Panel-30W-18V-/111059891785.
15. The Light Sensors, Photo-transistor Construction and
Characteristics
http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/io/io_4.html.
16. Software package, NI MutltSIM,
http://www.ni.com/multisim/
17. G. M. Rebeiz, Photo Transistor Characteristics, EECS
Department, 1301 Beal Ave, The University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2122, Lab
Experiments, Experiment-45 A, Vol-3, No-1, March –
2003, Email rebeiz@umich.edu.
18. Lesson 1452, Optoelectronics, Experiment 6,
Photodiode and Phototransistor Current Measurements,
http://cie-wc.edu/Photodiode-Phototransistor-
Characteristics-07-10-2012.pdf.
19. S. Smith, Microelectronic Circuits”, fifth edition,
oxford university press, 2004.
20. Floyd, Digital Fundamentals, 2nd Edition, Thomas L.
Floyd, Mayland Technical College.
21. 2SC945 C945 BIPOLAR TRANSISTORS NPN 50V
0.15A http://www.taydaelectronics.com/2sc945-c945-
bipolar-transistors-npn-50v-0-15a.html, © 2011 Tayda
Electronics. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-9891305-3-0 ©2013 SDIWC 150

View publication stats