Modeling and Analysis of WSN-Enabled Solar Tracking System with On-Nodes Energy Harvesting
Dr. Raaid AlubadyScientific Research Center, Al-Ayen Iraqi University, Thi-Qar, Iraq; Information Technology College, University of Babylon, Hilla, Iraq. alubadyraaid@alayen.edu.iq0000-0001-9748-2541
Dr. Atheer Y. OudahScientific Research Center, Al-Ayen Iraqi University, Thi-Qar, Iraq; Department of Computer Science, College of Education for Pure Science, University of Thi-Qar, Nasiriyah, Iraq. atheer@alayen.edu.iq0000-0003-0867-7203
Dr. Haydar Abdulameer MarhoonScientific Research Center, Al-Ayen Iraqi University, Thi-Qar, Iraq; College of Computer Sciences and Information Technology, University of Kerbala, Karbala, Iraq. haydar@alayen.edu.iq0000-0002-2711-1857
Keywords: Wireless Sensor Network, Energy Harvesting, Solar Height, Tracking System, Photovoltaic Plant, Energy-saving Control, Autonomous Solar Tracking, Solar Power Optimization.
Abstract
This paper proposes and discusses a WSNs-based solar tracking system which is targeted at maximizing the collection of PV energy at low operation costs. The modules are all autonomous sensors of the solar elevation, calculating the associated maximum tilt and changing its direction every hour with a low-complexity controller, given Gaussian sensing noise. The by tracking the sun in a dynamical way over a 24-hours period in the MATLAB implementation, the system has an average tracking error of less than 2o, which translates to a greater than 99.9 % optical effectiveness. The simulation has indicated that this system increases the most daily energy production by nearly a twofold, which is 1.8 kWh of energy produced by the fixed-tilt arrays and about 3.4kwh/module of energy generated by 90 tilt a 90 % enhancement. This is greatest during the periods of 9 AM to 3 PM, when the losses of cosine of fixed systems are highest. The operating value of the system is less than 0.01kWh/day per node. Communication is done with short-range and single hop radio connections to a sink at the center. The system is well designed in space organization and orientation to have homogeneous wireless coverage; This is ensured by a 3D deployment visualization that confirms the robust design of the system. These results confirm the fact that WSN-based tracking is an energy-saving, cost-efficient option in the next-generation of PV systems, in particular, the distributed or off-grid solar systems. The efficiency and the low cost of running the energy harvesting applications with WSNs is guaranteed by the integration of WSNs.