Automatic Real-time Solar Tracking System

The traditional method of manual calculations of solar tracking is complex and error-prone,so that it cannot be used for tracking the sun in real time.In this paper we give a design of a real-time solar tracking system to avoid the traditional method.The system uses a dsPIC as the key processor,which has the advantages of relatively high processing speed and low power consumption.The system incorporates an HMC3200 electromic compass and a high-precision video instrument to measure azimuth.It can record pointings of the instrument and video images along these pointings in real time.The new solar azimuth algorithm used in the system is simple and easily operable.Results of test runs show the the system can meet the requirement of real-time solar tracking.