A STUDY OF NON ELECTRIC AUTOMATIC SOLAR TRACKING SYSTEM

Solar energy is one of the best renewable source of alternative energy. The efficiency of the solar panel can be improved more by tracking it in such a way that it faces perpendicular to the sun throughout the day rather than it is kept fixed at an angle. At present there are three methods of solar tracking out of which the refrigerant method is found out to be more efficient as it is a passive type and does not require any external power source for its operation. In this project, we have used R-134a (Tetrafluroethene CF3CH2F) as the refrigerant medium for tracking the panel. To store the refrigerant, we have made use of two canisters and a proper conduit for connecting the canisters. The tracking system works on the principle of Differential Pressure Controlled system where high pressure refrigerant from one canister to another flows due to imbalance in weight of the canisters, the panel will tilt in the direction of the side where the weight is high due to gravity. Thus out aim is to harvest more solar energy at a much lower cost than the available trackers.