ANALYSIS OF EFFICIENCY OF SOLAR PV WITH SOLAR TRACKING

SYSTEM IN MALAYSIA CLIMATE

MUHAMMAD QAMARUL NAQIB BIN PALIL

UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

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SUPERVISOR DECLARATION

“I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my opinion this thesis is

sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Design & Innovation)”

Signature : ...................................

Supervisor : ...................................

Date : ...................................

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ANALYSIS OF EFFICIENCY OF SOLAR PV WITH SOLAR TRACKING

SYSTEM IN MALAYSIA CLIMATE

MUHAMMAD QAMARUL NAQIB BIN PALIL

This thesis is submitted as

partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of

Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Design & Innovation)

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

JUNE 2015

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DECLARATION

“I hereby declare that the work in this thesis is my own except for summaries and

quotations which have been duly acknowledged.”

Signature : ...................................

Name : ...................................

Date : ...................................

iv

I dedicated this thesis to my beloved family especially my parent for all the support

that has been given to me in doing this project.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Assalamualaikum w.b.t

First of all, Alhamdulillah, praise upon Him, for giving me permission in

order to complete this project for my Degree of Mechanical Engineering. The title

for this project is “Analysis of Efficiency of Solar PV with Solar Tracking System in

Malaysia Climate”. Thank to my kind supervisor, Mrs. Afiqah binti Hamzah for

giving me the opportunity to do this project. Thank for all the advice that you have

giving me during completing this project. Next, thank also to my beloved family

especially my parent that give me a fully support in order to finish my project. Not to

forget, thank also to my entire friends that give me a hand in doing this project. To

one of my friend, Mohamad Faiz bin Mohamad Radzuan, thank a lot to him for

helping me a lot during conducting the experiment. Finally, thank again to all of you

for the cooperation.

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ABSTRACT

Solar energy is becomes more popular nowadays because its form that free

from the greenhouse effect and any wasted harmful to the environment. Solar energy

can be converting into electrical energy using the solar panel. Commonly, there are

two type of technology that applied in solar system which is solar thermal and solar

photovoltaic (PV). Solar thermal is converting the heat energy to any other form of

useful energy such as kinetic energy. Solar PV is converting the sunlight energy

directly into electrical energy by using solar panels to maximize the power produce

by using either active of passive system. Solar tracking system is one of the

technologies used in solar PV system which is to maximize the use of solar energy.

This research was conducted in order to analyze the efficiency of solar PV with solar

tracking system by using automated of data collection. The research is focusing on

designing the data acquisition system in order to automatically collect the data of

electrical parameter which are voltage and current value to calculate the power

produce. A data logger has been built by using Arduino UNO to collect this data. The

power produce by solar tracking system will then be compare with solar fixed mount

system in order to find out the efficiency of the system. The efficiency of solar

tracking system is seemed to be higher that solar fixed mount proved by analyzing

the data that have been collected. The power increase compare to fixed mount system

was in excess of 10% and it can be considered as a high percentage in solar energy

technology. Based on the result and analysis, it proves that all the objective of this

project was successfully achieved.

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ABSTRAK

Tenaga solar semakin menjadi perhatian pada masa kini kerana

penggunaannya yang bebas daripada kesan rumah hijau dan bahan buangan yang

berbahaya kepada alam sekitar. Tenaga solar boleh ditukarkan kepada tenaga elektrik

menggunakan panel solar. Kebiasaannya, terdapat dua jenis teknologi yang

digunakan dalam sistem solar iaitu teknonologi haba solar dan teknologi cahaya

solar. Teknologi haba solar menukarkan tenaga haba kepada apa-apa bentuk tenaga

yang berguna seperti tenaga kinetik. Teknologi cahaya solar menukarkan tenaga

cahaya matahari secara terus kepada tenaga elektrik dengan menggunakan panel

solar untuk memaksimumkan hasil kuasa dengan menggunakan sama ada sistem

aktif atau sistem pasif. Sistem pengesan solar adalah salah satu teknologi yang

digunakan dalam technologi cahaya solar iaitu untuk memaksimumkan penggunaan

tenaga solar. Kajian ini dijalankan untuk menganalisis kecekapan teknologi cahaya

solar dengan penggunaan sistem pengesan solar menggunakan alat pengumpulan

data secara automatik. Kajian ini memberi tumpuan kepada mereka bentuk sistem

perolehan data bagi mengumpul data parameter elektrik seperti nilai voltan dan nilai

arus untuk mengira hasil kuasa secara automatik. Satu pengumpul data telah dibina

dengan menggunakan Arduino UNO untuk mengumpul data ini. Hasil kuasa oleh

sistem pengesan solar kemudiannya akan dibandingkan dengan sistem solar tetap

untuk mengetahui kecekapan sistem. Kecekapan sistem pengesan solar dilihat

menjadi lebih tinggi berbanding system solar tetap dibuktikan dengan menganalisis

data yang telah dikumpulkan. Peningkatan kuasa berbanding sistem solar tetap

adalah melebihi 10 % dan ia boleh dianggap sebagai peratusan yang tinggi dalam

teknologi tenaga solar. Berdasarkan keputusan dan analisis, ia membuktikan bahawa

semua objektif projek ini telah berjaya dicapai.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUPERVISOR DECLARATION i

DECLARATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v

ABSTRACT vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS viii

LIST OF TABLES xi

LIST OF FIGURES xii

LIST OF SYMBOLS xiv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND 2

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT 3

1.3 OBJECTIVES 4

1.4 SCOPE 4

1.5 SUMMARY 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.0 INTRODUCTION 5

2.1 SOLAR SYSTEM 6

2.1.1 Renewable Energy 6

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2.1.2 Solar Energy 7

2.2 SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM 7

2.2.1 Solar Cell 8

2.2.2 Principle of Solar Cells 9

2.2.3 Types of Solar Panel 10

2.2.4 Type of Solar PV System 12

2.3 PRINCIPLE OF SOLAR BATTERY CHARGE 14

2.4 SOLAR POWERED BATTERY CHARGER 16

2.5 SOLUTION FOR UNSTABLE CURRENT 17

2.6 TRACKING SYSTEM 17

2.6.1 Comparison between Tracking System 19

2.6.2 Tracker Controller 20

2.7 DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM (DAQ) 20

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 22

3.0 INTRODUCTION 22

3.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND 23

3.2 THEORY 24

3.2.1 Data Analysis and Parameters 24

3.3 CONCEPT DESIGN 25

3.3.1 Solar Tracking System 25

3.3.2 Solar Cells Concept 25

3.3.3 Control Unit 27

3.3.4 Actuator 28

3.3.5 Solar Panel Fabrication 29

3.4 DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM (DAQ) 31

3.4.1 Arduino Circuit Design 31

3.4.2 Voltage Divider 33

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3.4.3 Data Logger 33

3.5 FINAL EXPERIMENTAL SETUP 34

CHAPTER 4: RESULT AND DISCUSSION 35

4.0 INTRODUCTION 35

4.1 THEORETICAL RESULT 36

4.2 EXPERIMENTAL RESULT 37

4.2.1 Voltage (V) Reading 39

4.2.2 Current (A) Reading 41

4.2.3 Analysis of Efficiency of Power Produce 43

4.3 DISCUSSION 46

4.3.1 Validation 46

4.3.2 Voltage and Current Reading 47

4.3.3 Solar Tracker Performance 48

4.3.4 Power Efficiency 48

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 49

5.0 INTRODUCTION 49

5.1 CONCLUSION 50

5.2 RECOMMENDATION 51

REFERENCES 52

APPENDICES 54

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LIST OF TABLES

NO TITLE PAGES

3.1 Movement of solar panel 28

3.2 Specification of actuator 29

3.3 Specification of solar panel 30

4.0 Efficiency of power produced by both solar panels 45

4.1 Comparison of efficiency with previous research 46

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LIST OF FIGURES

NO TITLE PAGES

2.1 Percentage of energy used 6

2.2 Solar power system 7

2.3 Principle of solar cell 9

2.4 Monocrystalline Solar Panels 10

2.5 Polycrystalline Solar Panels 11

2.6 Amorphous Solar Panels 11

2.7 Configuration of grid-connected solar PV systems 13

2.8 Configuration of off-grid solar PV systems 14

2.9 Principle of solar battery charger 15

2.10 Solar powered battery charger 16

2.11 Single-axis tracker 18

2.12 Double-axis tracker 18

3.1 Minor flow chart 23

3.2 Concept of solar tracking system 25

3.3 Concept of solar cells as a sensor 26

3.4 Sensor of solar cell 26

3.5 Flow chart of operation of control unit 27

3.6 Control unit 28

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NO TITLE PAGES

3.7 Actuator 29

3.8 Fabricated solar panel 30

3.9 Arduino UNO 31

3.10 Data Logging Shield 32

3.11 Arduino circuit 32

3.12 Solar PV tracking system 34

3.13 Fixed mounted solar PV system 34

4.1 Solar Panel 36

4.2 Arduino UNO 37

4.3 Data Logging Shield 38

4.4 Data Collected 38

4.5 Graph of Voltage against Time for both solar panels 40

4.6 Graph of Current against Time for both solar panels 42

4.7 Graph of Power against Time for both solar panels 44

4.8 Comparison of power produced 45

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LIST OF SYMBOLS

PV = Photovoltaic

DAQ = Data Acquisition System

DC = Direct Current

AC = Alternating Current

ACDB = Alternating Current distribution boards

V = Volt (unit for voltage)

A = Ampere (unit for current)

W = Watt (unit for power)

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This chapter will cover on the research background, problem statement,

objective, scope and the summary of the report. All information of the research will

be stated clearly in order to achieve the objective of this project. In this project, the

focus is given on the study of solar PV with solar tracking system in Malaysia

climate.

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1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND

Nowadays, a lot of energy needs to be use in order to survive in human daily

life. There is several type of energy that act as a main source of energy for human

such as kinetic energy, potential energy, electrical energy, gravitational energy,

thermal energy and heat energy. All this energy is very important in human daily life.

Moreover, in this era of technology, peoples need energy in order to light up the

house during night, cool down the house during daylight, switch on the computer for

working, surfing internet as a source of information, and many other important

things. Mostly all this thing needs a huge source of electrical energy to be working

out.

Electrical energy is the energy carried by moving electrons in an electric

conductor. It cannot be seen but can be measure or can be identify by using electrical

instrument such as voltmeter, ammeter, and multi-meter. Electrical energy is one of

the most useful forms of energy that help peoples in doing a lot of work. It is also

easy to transmit and use where it work when electrons are forced along a path in a

conducting substance. There a several ways of generating the electricity such as by

using power plants, magnetic poles, turbine, geothermal power and many others

ways. In addition, electricity can also be generated by using solar photovoltaic (PV)

system.

Solar PV system is one of the technologies of generating electricity. The

method used in this system is by converting solar power source which is sunlight into

direct current electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the effect of

photovoltaic. The equipment use in solar PV system is solar panels which consist of

a numbers of solar cells that can detect and collect solar energy. Solar cell is a form

of photoelectric cell which it electrical characteristic such as current, voltage or

resistance vary when it is being exposed to light. Therefore, solar cell is mainly used

as a solar energy detector to collect the solar energy before converting it in electrical

power. The electrical power generated by solar PV system is categorized as a clean

sustainable energy technology because it has been proved that there is no

environmental emission during operation.

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Solar PV system is very useful in generating electrical power and it is very

suitable with climate of Malaysia. Malaysia is located between one and six degrees

North latitude. Therefore, Malaysia has an equatorial climate with uniformly high

temperature, high humidity, relatively light winds and abundant rainfall throughout

the year. As a country which closes to equator, Malaysia naturally has abundant

source of sunlight and thus solar radiation. However, it is extremely rare to have a

full day with completely clear sky even in periods of severe drought. The cloud cover

cuts off the sunlight as a solar energy resources. In average, Malaysia receives about

6 hours of sunshine per day but it is based on seasonal and spatial variations. It

shows that Malaysia could use the solar PV system as a method of generating

electrical power.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

In order to generate electricity using solar PV system, a source of solar

energy is required which is sunlight that usually been used for this system. Sunlight

is commonly known as one of the renewable source of energy. Renewable energy

source is come from existing flows of on-going natural processes such as sunlight,

wind, flowing water, biological processes and geothermal heat flows. All sources of

renewable energy can generate electricity. As for solar PV system, the efficiency of

the system is depending on the light intensity. Lower amount of light intensity makes

the system less efficient. Therefore in order to make it more efficient, a huge amount

of light intensity is required.

The used of solar PV also can be more efficient with a direct sunlight which

perpendicular to solar panel. This can be done by using solar tracking system. Solar

tracking system is a system where a device for orienting a solar panel towards the

sun is used. This system requires high degree of accuracy to ensure that the sunlight

is concentrated precisely toward the solar PV system. There are two type of solar

tracking system which is single axis tracking system and dual axis tracking system.

This research is focusing on the single axis tracking system where the efficiency of

the single axis tracking system will be compare to the fix mounted solar panel that is

conventionally use in Malaysia.

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1.3 OBJECTIVES

The objective of doing this research is to:-

i. Install an automatic data collection system by using Arduino UNO.

ii. Analyse the efficiency of Solar PV with solar tracking system in

Malaysia climate.

1.4 SCOPE

The scope of this research will be cover on the installation and monitoring of

the data collection system of solar PV with solar tracking system and without solar

tracking system. Comparison of electrical power between both types of solar PV

system will be made in order to analyse their efficiency in Malaysian climate. A data

acquisition system will be use in order to collect the data. Since the research needs

the source of sunlight, the research will be conduct and will be monitoring during

daylight.

1.5 SUMMARY

This chapter is explaining briefly about the important of energy used in

human daily life. Electrical energy is one of the important energy that help human to

working out during the day. There a several ways of generating the electricity such as

by using solar PV system, power plants, magnetic poles, turbine, geothermal power

and many others ways. In this project, the objective is to analyse the efficiency of

Solar PV with solar tracking system in Malaysia climate. Since Malaysia is located

in an equatorial climate with uniformly high temperature, high humidity, relatively

light winds and abundant rainfall throughout the year, it shows that Malaysia could

use the solar PV system as a method of generating electrical power. In order to

analyse the efficiency, a data acquisition system will be use to collect all the data

need.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 INTRODUCTION

This chapter will describe briefly on the solar PV tracking system. All

information related to this project will be explained in order to increase the

understanding in doing this project. There will be also explanations about the data

collecting system that will be used on this project.

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2.1 SOLAR SYSTEM

2.1.1 Renewable Energy

Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as

sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are naturally replenished[1].

In this various forms, it derives directly from the sun or from heat generated deep

within the earth. Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from

solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels and

hydrogen derived from renewable resources[2]. Figure 2.1 show that natural gas and

nuclear power are expected to grow slowly over the upcoming years. It also expected

that the renewable energy is growing faster from 2000 and also hope that a new clean

energy source of fusion energy will be demonstrated at increasing scales from 2030

to 2070 which will then become commercially competitive[3].

Figure 2.1: Percentage of energy used

Renewable energy replaces conventional fuels in four distinct area which are

power generation, water and space heating, transport fuels, and rural and remote

areas energy services[1]. Globally, as estimated 193 million households depends on

renewable energy systems. The most important of renewable energy is solar energy.

However, grid-connected PV increased the fastest of all renewable technologies,

with 60 percent annual average growth rate for the five year period[1]. Nowadays,

solar energy has been widely used and it is expected to be increase in the next

upcoming years.

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2.1.2 Solar Energy

Solar energy is the energy which derived from the sun through the form of

solar radiation. The basic aspects of solar energy system include components (such

as photovoltaic, modules, solar cell and inverters), integration and installation. Solar

powered electrical generation relies on photovoltaic. A partial list of other solar

applications includes home heater, lighting, water heater, solar cooking, and even

produce air conditioning for homes, businesses, and industrial application[4].

2.2 SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM

The word photovoltaic comes from the Greek meaning “light” (photo) and

“electrical” (voltaic). The common abbreviation for photovoltaic is PV[5]. The sun

delivers its energy to us in two main forms which are heat and light. There are two

main types of solar power systems namely solar thermal system that trap heat to

warm up water and solar PV system that convert sunlight directly into electricity as

shown in Figure 2.2[6].

Figure 2.2: Solar power system

When the PV modules are exposed to sunlight, they generate direct current,

DC electricity. An inverter then converts the DC into alternating current AC

electricity so that it can feed into one of the building’s AC distribution boards,

ACDB without affecting the quality of power supply[6]. PV technology converts

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sunlight into electricity using no moving parts, consuming no conventional fossil

fuels, creating no pollution and lasting for decades with very little maintenance. The

use of a widely available and reasonably reliable fuel source-the sun-with no

associated storage or transportation difficulties and no emissions makes this

technology eminently practicable for powering remote scientific research

platforms[7]. The need for low cost electric power in isolated areas is the primary

force driving the world wide PV industry today. PV technology is simply the least

cost option for large number of applications such as stand-alone power systems for

cottages and remote residences, remote telecommunication sites for utilities and the

military, water pumping for farmers and emergency call boxes for highways and

college campuses[8].

2.2.1 Solar Cell

Bell laboratories produced the first solar cell in 1954. The efficiency of this

solar cell was about 5 percent. The first solar cell was design for space applications,

so the cost was not a major issue. Then solar cell efficiency increased continuously in

the following years, and costs have decreased significantly in recent decades. The

main material used in the construction of solar cells is still silicon, but other materials

have been developed, either for potential for cost reduction or their potential for high

efficiency[5].

Solar cells are converting light energy to electrical energy. When light energy

is reduced or stopped, as when the sun goes down in the evening or when a cloud

passes in front of the sun, then the conversion process stops or slows down. When

the sunlight returns, the convention process immediately resumes, this conversion

without any moving parts, noise, pollution, radiation or constant maintenance. These

advantages are due to the special properties of semiconductor materials that make

this conversion possible. Solar cells convert light to electricity when sunlight is

available but they do not store electricity. To have electric power at night, a solar

electric system needs some form of energy storage, usually batteries, to draw

upon[9].