New low-cost solar tracking system based on open source hardware for educational purposes

• Published in: Solar energy Vol. 174; pp. 826 - 836
• Main Authors: Carballo, Jose A., Bonilla, Javier, Roca, Lidia, Berenguel, Manuel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2018; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: Automatic control; Automatic control and computer sciences; Computer science; Computer vision; Control algorithms; Education; Educational tool; Hardware; Low cost; Open source; Prototypes; Raspberry pi; Renewable resources; Solar energy; Solar tracker; Tracking control systems; Tracking systems; Automatic control and computer sciences; Computer vision; Raspberry pi; Low cost; Solar energy; Educational tool; Solar tracker; Open source
• ISSN: 0038-092X; 1471-1257
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2018.09.064

•New methodology for solar trackers based on low cost open source hardware.•Remote laboratory.•A small prototype of solar tracking system is built to test.•Control methodology developed has been proven.•Educational application. In this paper, due to the detected educational demands regarding automatic control and training in management of solar tracker systems, a small prototype based on low cost open source hardware and computer vision is built to test the control algorithms developed in Mathematica and Simulink. The new prototype has been developed with the aim of being a powerful tool for a wide range of applications regarding to the learning of automatic in solar energy. Finally, its educational application is discussed.