Design and construction of a solar energy tracking device

Abstract

A solar tracking device using PIC16F873 microcontroller was developed to solve the problem of adjustment of solar panels for optimum solar reception. MPLAB software was used to develop sets of instructions in an assembly language. The choice of PIC16F873 microcontroller stemmed from its flexibility in producing a complete computer system necessary for achieving the objective of the study. The design was tasted and found to be working within the design limits. The total output was compared with the fixed equivalent and found to yield better result.

Keywords: Solar energy, renewable energy, sunlight, tacking device, microcontroller