Download or read book Sun Tracking and Solar Renewable Energy Harvesting written by Gerro Prinsloo and published by Gerro Prinsloo. This book was released on 2015-11-02 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Free to download eBook on Practical Solar Tracking Design, Solar Tracking, Sun Tracking, Sun Tracker, Solar Tracker, Follow Sun, Sun Position calculation (Azimuth, Elevation, Zenith), Sun following, Sunrise, Sunset, Moon-phase, Moonrise, Moonset calculators. In harnessing power from the sun through a solar tracker or solar tracking system, renewable energy system developers require automatic solar tracking software and solar position algorithms. On-axis sun tracking system such as the altitude-azimuth dual axis or multi-axis solar tracker systems use a sun tracking algorithm or ray tracing sensors or software to ensure the sun's passage through the sky is traced with high precision in automated solar tracker applications, right through summer solstice, solar equinox and winter solstice. Eco Friendly and Environmentally Sustainable Micro Combined Solar Heat and Power (m-CHP, m-CCHP, m-CHCP) with Microgrid Storage and Layered Smartgrid Control towards Supplying Off-Grid Rural Villages in developing BRICS countries such as Africa, India, China and Brazil. Off-grid rural villages and isolated islands areas require mCHP and trigeneration solar power plants and associated isolated smart microgrid solutions to serve the community energy needs. This article describes the development progress for such a system, also referred to as solar polygeneration. The system includes a sun tracker mechanism wherin a parabolic dish or lenses are guided by a light sensitive mechanique in a way that the solar receiver is always at right angle to the solar radiation. Solar thermal energy is then either converted into electrical energy through a free piston Stirling, or stored in a thermal storage container. The project includes the thermodynamic modeling of the plant in Matlab Simulink as well as the development of an intelligent control approach that includes smart microgrid distribution and optimization. The book includes aspects in the simulation and optimization of stand-alone hybrid renewable energy systems and co-generation in isolated or islanded microgrids. It focusses on the stepwise development of a hybrid solar driven micro combined cooling heating and power (mCCHP) compact trigeneration polygeneration and thermal energy storage (TES) system with intelligent weather prediction, weak-ahead scheduling (time horizon), and look-ahead dispatch on integrated smart microgrid distribution principles. The solar harvesting and solar thermodynamic system includes an automatic sun tracking platform based on a PLC controlled mechatronic sun tracking system that follows the sun progressing across the sky. An intelligent energy management and adaptive learning control optimization approach is proposed for autonomous off-grid remote power applications, both for thermodynamic optimization and smart micro-grid optimization for distributed energy resources (DER). The correct resolution of this load-following multi objective optimization problem is a complex task because of the high number and multi-dimensional variables, the cross-correlation and interdependency between the energy streams as well as the non-linearity in the performance of some of the system components. Exergy-based control approaches for smartgrid topologies are considered in terms of the intelligence behind the safe and reliable operation of a microgrid in an automated system that can manage energy flow in electrical as well as thermal energy systems. The standalone micro-grid solution would be suitable for a rural village, intelligent building, district energy system, campus power, shopping mall centre, isolated network, eco estate or remote island application setting where self-generation and decentralized energy system concepts play a role. Discrete digital simulation models for the thermodynamic and active demand side management systems with digital smartgrid control unit to optimize the system energy management is currently under development. Parametric simulation models for this trigeneration system (polygeneration, poligeneration, quadgeneration) are developed on the Matlab Simulink and TrnSys platforms. In terms of model predictive coding strategies, the automation controller will perform multi-objective cost optimization for energy management on a microgrid level by managing the generation and storage of electrical, heat and cooling energies in layers. Each layer has its own set of smart microgrid priorities associated with user demand side cycle predictions. Mixed Integer Linear Programming and Neural network algorithms are being modeled to perform Multi Objective Control optimization as potential optimization and adaptive learning techniques.