1D Solar Tracker

I worked with Benjamin Reed, James Sears, and Alex Weiss on a small prototype of a one-dimensional solar tracker. The tracker has a solar cell mounted on a servo that faces the sun and maximizes the energy it receives. As a team, we researched how the solar panel works, how we can measure voltage, current, and power from the solar panel, and how we could track the light source with our design. Additionally, we researched three different photoresistors for our project. We got the data for the GL5528, GL5516, and GM5549 photoresistors from their respective datasheets. Each sensor was ohmed with a multimeter to find the actual operating range. This was done to ensure that the sensors had close enough resistance values to work in tandem. The solar panel itself was also characterized in different light conditions to write code custom-tuned to the operation of the panel. This way we could set applicable conditional parameters for the individual components that were used. The resistor that shunts the solar panel current to the ground was measured and put in explicitly, not just off of the color bands. This increases the accuracy of the power reading. Overall, our research gave us a general idea of how we planned to carry out designing each aspect of the project, including the physical build and code.