Solar Concentrator

Solar Concentrator Using Light-Dependent Resistor Compartments and Inverse Kinematics for Solar Tracking

This technology maximizes the solar concentration efficiency of a collector unit mounted on the end of a 6-DOF robot manipulator. It precisely calibrates the robot's position and orientation through inverse kinematics by combining theoretical solar position calculations based on GPS/Compass with real-time incident angle measurements from light-dependent resistors (LDRs) within compartment members.

Conventional solar tracking methods suffer from discrepancies between theoretical position values and actual light source incidence due to solar scattering caused by environmental factors like clouds and fog, leading to reduced concentration efficiency and difficulties in securing precise energy output.

This technology utilizes compartment members of varying heights (first and second compartment sets) and light-dependent resistors to measure minute deviations in the solar incident angle. By calculating offset values based on these measurements and recalculating the robot manipulator's inverse kinematics model, it enables real-time precision control to ensure the collector surface remains perpendicular to the sun.

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Key Features:

• A sensing unit that acquires position and orientation information of the concentrator, and a measurement unit that measures the actual solar incident angle.
• A calculation unit that determines the theoretical solar position using sensing unit data and solves inverse kinematics to compute the position and orientation of the robot manipulator.
• A control unit that precisely calibrates the robot manipulator to ensure the collector surface remains perpendicular to the solar incident angle.
• A measurement unit comprising compartments with one open side and light-dependent resistors installed opposite each compartment to acquire voltage values based on light particle intensity.

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