7th ISF

PHYS027 - Development and Field Testing of a Cost-effective 150W Single-Axis Solar Tracking System Using a Real-Time LabVIEW DAQ Monitoring Module

Both of a low-cost and high-efficient 150W single-axis solar panel tracking module and its real-time LabVIEW monitoring system have been developed at Faculty of Natural Science, National University of Laos. In order to produce the solar tracker with a low cost, a set of linear actuator of 18-inch length, DC 12V-operating actuator controller, and two-cell sensor switch are utilized and installed properly. Regarding the implementation of LabVIEW monitoring system, a sensor for voltage, current, and power detection, the combination of five resistors is used. In addition, a commercially available low-cost thermistor and a photodiode are employed to produce the sensors for real-time panel temperature and input sunlight power measurements, respectively. The evaluation result of developed LabVIEW monitoring system at 1Hz sampling rate shows that the produced data is more than 95% matched with the control data measured by a digital watt-meter as long as the panel’s current range is between 2.0A and 9.0A, which matches with the normal operation range for a 12V/150W solar panel. The field testing of 150W solar tracking module using LabVIEW system shows that the tracker is able to produce minimum 50% more power than the exactly same solar module without tracker. The greatly increased charging current by more than 70% in the solar module with tracker is responsible for the enhanced power production, whereas its output voltage level is smaller (12.9V) than the solar module without tracker (13.4V). It is proposed that the solar tracking module with its LabVIEW monitoring system in this study can play an important role in improving the quality of solar photovoltaic energy research infra in Lao PDR, effectively.

Show More