The Finite Element Analysis of Solar Tracker

• Main Authors: Chen Chien-Chung, 陳建中
• Other Authors: Ching-I, Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/6222rm

碩士 === 中華大學 === 機械工程學系碩士在職專班 === 104 === Energy crisis is the most important issue in today’s world. Conventional energy resources are not only limited but also the prime culprit for environmental pollution. Renewable energy resources are getting priorities in the whole world to lessen the dependency on conventional resources. Solar energy is rapidly gaining the focus as an important means of expanding renewable energy uses. Solar cells those convert sun’s energy into electrical energy are costly and inefficient. Solar tracking system is the most appropriate technology to enhance the efficiency of the solar cells by tracking the sun. Not only a microcontroller based design methodology of an automatic solar tracker but also the deformation due to the loading, such as wind and gravity should be considered. The finite element method based on the ANSYS is analyzed to investigate the deformation to the setting angle of the solar tracker in this paper. To enhance the efficiency of the analysis, the finite element models are classified four models. There are Model A : 3-D solid element without solar module; Model B: 3-D solid element with solar module; Model C: 1-D three dimensional beam element without solar module; Model D:1-D three dimensional beam element with solar module. In static analysis, it is found that the rigidity of model B is higher than that of model A by 18.22 %. It is not suggested the model C due to the rigidity is smaller than that of model D by 66 %. Model D can be replaced by Model B due to the rigidity is higher than that of model D only by 3 %. The deformation is insignificant to the setting angle in this type of solar tracker. The actual deformation is recommended by experiment to adjust the stiffness in the finite element model. In modal analysis, the first ten frequencies and modal shapes are obtained for both modal B and modal D. The first three natural frequencies is out-of-plane vibration that affects the solar module setting angle mostly. The slant beam has to be further considered since there are four modal occurs in the slant beam. According to numerical results, it is ascertain that model D can be considered as the best model in terms of less elements, less time cost, especially in the transient dynamics analysis. Only the model D performs in the transient analysis for a maximum push force 1200 Kg. Keywords: Solar Tracker, Solar Module, Finite Element Method, Natural Frequency