Mechatronic Prototype of Parabolic Solar Tracker

Area of Science:

• Engineering
• Renewable Energy
• Sustainable Architecture

Background:

• Concentrating solar thermal power (CST) has primarily focused on industrial thermoelectric power generation.
• Efficiency improvements in parabolic collectors for power production have been explored for decades.
• The application of CST in building construction remains an underdeveloped area.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential of concentrating solar thermal power in building construction.
• To design and develop a mechatronic prototype for hybrid solar tracking.
• To enable autonomous meteorological data collection for energy potential assessment.

Main Methods:

• Designed a mechatronic prototype of a hybrid paraboloidal and cylindrical-parabolic tracker.
• Integrated Arduino technology for control and data acquisition.
• Developed autonomous meteorological data measurement capabilities.

Main Results:

• The prototype successfully measures meteorological data autonomously.
• The system quantifies the energy potential for specific locations.
• Enables reliable modeling of commercial equipment performance before building integration.

Conclusions:

• The developed hybrid solar tracker is a viable tool for assessing CST potential in buildings.
• Autonomous data collection facilitates accurate energy modeling for construction applications.
• This research opens new avenues for integrating solar thermal power into the built environment.