"A Low-Cost Lightweight, Low-Profile Portable Solar Tracker"

This paper describes the design and construction of a novel lightweight, low-profile solar tracker.Currently, available solar trackers are very large and rarely mobile.In the majority of cases, these machines require not only foundations, but increased structural support as well.These systems are expensive to install and are fixed to one location.Our device developed in the course of the junior-level Electromechanical Design course in Spring 2009 at Wentworth Institute of Technology, is designed to be portable and inexpensive.Four light sensors are positioned to measure light intensity at the four cardinal directions.By using a light-to-frequency IC, differences between incoming light intensity are detected and processed by a simple algorithm.Two motors then adjust the panel accordingly.The resulting prototype is light enough to transport, stable in wind, and was constructed for less than $120.The prototype will be demonstrated.