Design and construction of two-axis solar tracking system with angle detection system for a Dish with a diameter of 3.2meter

A sun tracking system has been designed and fabricated. This system tracks the sun movement in horizontal and vertical  directions under all weather conditions. Two light sensors receive the sun light, under various environment conditions (1- night 2- day an sunny 3- day and cloudy) and send signals to a microcontroller. An algorithm, based on comparing the average difference between the two signals, is written. When it is sunny the system uses sensors to find the direction of the sun. During cloudy hours, the tracking is according to sun movement equations. At night, the system stops and the next morning it returns to its original location. The programming of this system is written in C language in Codevision and on AVR micro controller. Tracking system has been simulated in Proteus and the results of simulation were compared with results of astronomy software. This system is capable to be installed and operate on systems harvesting solar energy.