Maximum Efficiency of Solar Panels

Introduction section

Many solar panels lose energy because they don't face the sun at all times. My purpose is to help move solar panels to get maximum efficiency, from the pannels. The way I will do this is by using sensors to move motors that will track the sun and point the solar panels at the sn.

My project helps the real world by helping maximize energy in the more technological world. When solar panels don’t face the sun they are getting almost no light vs a lot of light when they face the sun so this will help get more energy to power the world. The system will also help track rockets and guide them toward the sun. One of the scientific concepts is the flow of electricity can be used to generate a system of data and 1s and zeros to control a piece of machinery or electric device through pulses of current down a conductor. 

This is the fundamental principle that makes my rocket systems work and my tracking work. My system is also known as a line of sight guidance system “Line of sight (LOS) guidance is classified as a so-called three-point guidance scheme since it involves a (typically stationary) reference point in addition to the interceptor and the target.”One of the other ways we could chase down dead satellites is by using a pure pursuit type of tracking “Pure pursuit (PP) guidance belongs to the so-called two-point guidance schemes, where only the interceptor and the target are considered in the engagement geometry” The final way is constant being guidance which makes the interceptor move along one line to intercept the target at a certain point in the fight of the missile often used in air to air missiles.

” However, in a CB engagement, the interceptor is supposed to align the relative interceptor-target linear velocity along the line of sight between the interceptor and the target.” This discusses how the constant being pursuit is like and different from the pure pursuit missile. The way this benefits society is that it will help find space debris and help rockets avoid impact with space debris. The other way it could benefit society is it could help us put people on paces like IO one of Jupiter's moons Even though it is covered in lava we still could detect light coming off the moon from the very hot rock on the surface.

Some previous research was for laser-guided missiles by the soviet union and the united states in the cold war but neither projects were useful to my purpose but they did give examples of how to build a light guidance system” The missile can be operated in multiple secure guidance modes including laser beam riding, automatic guidance”. The research done on light guidance has mostly been done in classified government abs and most research was during the cold war so the governments of Russia and the united states didn't want private companies building weapons. The research that the governments did was inconclusive because the light missiles were dropped for heat-seeking missiles.

I have learned that the light guide has been around for a while but always overlooked and now it has its time to shine with my project which will put it to its full use and I also learned that the

technology to create this system exists it just was overlooked also that in the cold war the USSR and the USA both had the idea of light guidance for rockets.

In conclusion, I have learned that lots of research were done on light tracking missiles and that the technology already exists for a rocket to track light and aim at the light just the tech has never been used in practice so none of the potentials has been explored and none of the boundaries pushed and I intend to push those boundaries.

My goal at the beginning of the science fair was to create a system that could help guide rockets and maximize solar panel efficiency. The results of my tests conclude that my solution will work for the purpose of my project. It tracked the light of the sun through the day which means that if you strap a solar panel on top of it you would maximize its efficiency by pointing it at the light through the whole day.

The other thing I could have done better is I could have gone with my accelerometer solution and made something that could stay vertical instead of tracking a light. My final design is also too large to fit on a normal size rocket.

My project is very similar to a Soviet project in the 1950s for surface-to-air missiles.

This is all I know on the subject because no other information has been declassified by the Russian government. The other solution to the solar panel problem was solar panels on stepper motors that would turn on only one axis and move every hour

My Hypothesis was that I could create a working machine that could track the sun or guide a rocket effectively. My data showed that on a sunny day the device would be able to point a solar panel at a light source throughout the day but if clouds obstructed the view of the device it may not be able to. My device also could track a Delta 4 heavy from 5 km away if it was launched at night because in the day the sun would produce more light energy than the rocket

Abstract Section

The reason I did my project was that we as humans are moving toward a more reusable energy era. With it, we are only getting so much energy from solar panels and that is an issue.

My main build, for my solution, consists of 2 servo motors and 4 photoresistors to track alight. The light hits each resistor a different amount so they move to equalize their input. The code has an interesting feature in which is, that you can adjust the sensitivity of my photoresistors. This means that I will be able to aim a solar panel at the sun all day which will double the amount of energy produced by the panel. The reason the panel gets more energy is that it will aim at the sun all day and even on partly cloudy days as long as there is enough light for it to work. My results showed that my solution worked but it wouldn't work for rockets because it wouldn't fit inside of a normally sized rocket. This, however, is not my main goal, which is to aim at the sun.

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