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. 2009;9(5):3875-90.
doi: 10.3390/s90503875. Epub 2009 May 20.

Sun tracking systems: a review

Chia-Yen Lee  1 , Po-Cheng Chou, Che-Ming Chiang, Chiu-Feng Lin
Affiliations

Sun tracking systems: a review

Chia-Yen Lee et al. Sensors (Basel). 2009.

Abstract

The output power produced by high-concentration solar thermal and photovoltaic systems is directly related to the amount of solar energy acquired by the system, and it is therefore necessary to track the sun's position with a high degree of accuracy. Many systems have been proposed to facilitate this task over the past 20 years. Accordingly, this paper commences by providing a high level overview of the sun tracking system field and then describes some of the more significant proposals for closed-loop and open-loop types of sun tracking systems.

Keywords: solar orientation; solar position; sun sensor algorithm; sun tracking system.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
(a) Collector acceptance angle. (b) illustration of sun tracking mechanism. Reproduced with permission from Elsevier [21].
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Block diagram of sun-tracking system. Reproduced with permission from Elsevier [24].
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(a) four-quadrant sensor and (b) transfer functions for both axes. Reproduced with permission from Elsevier [31].
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
(a) Schematic illustration of vision-based heliostat control system, and (b) photographs showing different shapes of sun images projected by heliostats onto target plane: (i) centered ellipsoids (the shape of the ellipsoid changes during the day), and (ii), (iii) ellipsoids outside of target boundaries due to aiming errors. Reproduced with permission from Elsevier [33].
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
(a) Typical configuration of three-phase grid-connected PV system, (b) overall configuration of system controller. Reproduced with permission from Elsevier [38].
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Functional PLC program for plane rotated about (a) south-north axis and (b) about vertical axis. Reproduced with permission from Elsevier [45].
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Uncertainties in solar zenith and azimuth angles. Reproduced with permission from Elsevier [46].
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
(a) Operational principle of traditional analogue sun sensor, (b) aperture of traditional analogue sun sensor, (c) aperture of proposed analogue sun sensor. Reproduced with permission from IOP Publishing Ltd. [48].
Figure 9.
Figure 9.
Distribution of errors in solar vector (i.e. solar vector: angular position of the sun). Reproduced with permission from Elsevier [49].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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