Development of Variable Reluctance Stepper Motor Controller for PV System

A stepper motor or step motor or stepping motor is a brushless DC electric motor that divides a full rotation into a number of equal steps. Stepper motors effectively have multiple toothed electromagnets arranged around a central gear-shaped piece of iron. VR Stepper motor requires sequencers and driver to operate. Sequencer generates sequence for switching which determines the direction of rotation and mode of operation. We have developed a solar tracking system using a combination of micro-controller, VR stepper motor and light dependent resistors (LDRs) with the primary aim of improving the power efficiency of the solar panels [2]. Thus this system can achieve maximum illumination and can reduce the cost of electricity generation by requiring minimum number of solar panels with proper orientation with the sunlight.