A theoretical and experimental study of a microcontroller based dual-axis automatic solar tracking system (ASTS) is presented in this paper. The PV panel rotates automatically based on the intensity of sun light. ASTS helps keeping the solar panels aligned with the Sun in order to obtain maximum solar power at any instance. When in any particular alignment the intensity of light is decreasing, this system has the ability to automatically redirect to get maximum intensity of light. The light energy is detected by four lLight-dependent resistor (LDR) sensors that are located on the surface of the photovoltaic panel. Two servo motors have been employed to move the solar panel to a direction with maximum luminous intensity. Design and construction of a small prototype of ASTS is presented here to measured the efficiency over the fixed solar panel.

Keywords: Automatic solar tracking system, Dual-axis, Photovoltaic (PV), Light dependent resistor, Microcontroller, Servo motors