Design of the position control system of parabolic solar concentrators through collector by electrical drive

Abstract

Solar energy is one of the most important renewable energies due to its abundance and sustainability. This has led to a great development in the technologies used to obtain them, which are increasingly effective and varied, such as solar thermal collection technology. Solar thermal collection technology to obtain a greater capture of solar energy requires a monitoring mechanism for its use, either manual or automatic. This work provides a proposal for automatic solar tracking in Parabolic Trough Solar Concentrators, with the aim that they absorb as much solar energy as possible during the day from the position control of their reflectors to faithfully follow the solar path. The positioning of these collectors is done by an electric drive and using a Raspberry Pi single-board computer as a control and command unit. The geared motor and the other elements that conform to the system were selected in compliance with the requirements of the application. The programming of the position control system implemented in the Raspberry Pi is carried out and the collectors are provided with wind safety. Finally, the results of the simulation tests made with the help of the MATLAB tool are carried out and shown. In addition to an economic and environmental analysis that demonstrates the reliability of the project. The system design generated a satisfactory result for sun tracking using the developed algorithm.