Solar Panel Tracking System Using Optical Fiber

Abstract

In this work we present a new method for the measurement of the light intensity for the solar panels with dual axis tracking system by using optical fiber to conduct the direct sunlight to the light dependent resistors (LDR). With this method we keep away the influence of the temperature on the photoresistors which measure the light intensity. The measurements with the proposed system was done at the same time and place with a classical system with the same configuration, but with the LDRs directly exposed to the sunlight. The results highlighted that, in cloudy conditions when the sunlight is not in direct path on the solar panels and suffers a high scattering, the optical fiber system is more efficient compared to the classical one with differences up to 18% in the generated power.