Team members:
- Ryan Manning
- Eric Simley
- Arvind Talukdar
Solar energy is one of the leading renewable energy sources. Its use is predominant in power generators, heating, air conditioning, as well as industrial processes, water distillation and several other applications. However, a large problem with solar panels is that they may not receive the maximum amount of light possible. This is because of the sun's movement relative to the earth, which limits the total amount of incident light normal to the panel itself. The purpose of this project is to design and develop a low-cost solar tracker that will be able to detect the angle where the highest intensity beams are present and shift the position of the panel to that angle. Currently, solar tracking devices cost several thousands of dollars, and are not very efficient. This team will build a system under $1000, running a more cost-effective algorithm. The device is intended to be developed by this team during the Spring semester of 2008.