Final Project¶
Project Idea¶
The Project is About fabricating a product that can track the sun and reflect the sun rays into a certain spot (eg. Plants).
Time Management¶
This Project will require us to have theory ready, use science laws as necessary, create 3D Designs and program motors. Thus, we distributed the work based on our major studies and previous knowledge to increase our efficiency in work and time management.
Distribution of Work & Teammates¶
- Theory - Me
- 3D Designs - Ali Al-Saegh
- Programming - Zainab Al-kheej
1. Theory Summary¶
Bahrain Sun Angle During Seasons & Mirror Angle¶
- Bahrain Latitude: 26 degrees
- Spring (3/21): 64 degrees
- Summer (6/21): 87.5 degrees
- Autumn (9/21): 64 degrees
- Winter (12/21): 40.5 degrees
- The Best Angle for the Mirror to create is 45 degrees to the sun’s angle to redirect the rays into the plant directly in one axis as a straight line
More Details¶
- Sun Angle, Law of reflection and simple mirror solution
We are in Bahrain, sun angle has been measured according to our latitude of Bahrain, then we have calculated the angle of the sun at the 4 seasons in Bahrain at their peak.
The law of reflection has been explained in graph and solved for a simple mirror system.
- Solution of Simple, Concave and Convex Mirror
Summary of simple mirror were written and explanation of how it’s angle affect the resulting ray in distance and intensity(beam).
Concave Mirrors are not commonly used in luminating plants as they require more space to function efficiently and are more concentrated causing fire or damage plants and people when not attended to.
Convex Mirrors are commonly used in gardens that have huge amount of space, this type of mirrors requires a small about of space and can reflect the light it receives everywhere, its only flaw is that the light it reflects is weak with very low efficiency. However, People still use it since it does not require money and adds a scenery touch.
Among these mirrors, the one that is mostly fit for this project is the simple mirror which is mostly used in most of our appliances since it can add more efficiency when moved tracking the sun, the concave mirror requires a lot of funds and space to function properly and the convex mirror does not require to move.
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Mirror Angle and Movement
we do know that along the daytime, the sun is going from the sunrise to the sunset, so that the mirror can reflect the sunlight into the spot that we want, the sun light has to hit the mirror at an angle of 45 degrees while the angle for the LDR is going to be 90 degrees to set the mirror to be facing the sun before adjusting it to reflect. Also, for every 2 degrees the LDR cuts from sunrise to sunset, the mirror cuts 1 degree, degrees are distributed into a vertical and horizontal angles. -
Axis Movement for sun tracking
So far, there are 2 types of movements that can be used to track the sun, one is the single axis solar tracking[Simple] and the two axis solar tracking[Heliostat] using either an LDR or a compass.
2. Motion - Dual Axis¶
Mirror¶
- for the up/down rotation we managed implementing it using a micro servo motor connected to the piece responsible for the motion.
Gears
- The motion for the right/left rotation required us to use Gears, which took from us quite an amount of time to use since we had to create the system in order for them to be connected to.
- 2:1 Gear Ratio Containing (30 teeths to 15 teeths).
- The gears have been laser cut and the mirrors were made from plastic pieces on the back attached to a thin light mirror.
- Boxers.py Link used to create gears
LDR¶
Motion
LDR light Tracking Fence & System Overview¶
- Optimum Fence Height: 8cm
- System Motion - Dual Axis Motion (Rotation)
- For Every 2 degrees the LDR Moves to track the sun, The mirror moves 1 degree creating a 45 degrees gap between it and the sun
- Fence Accuracy: 2.9 degrees
- Sun Angle: 0.5 degrees
- Device Accuracy (how much it is late from the suns pulp): 3.4 degrees
- Site used to find different sun angles at different seasons
More Details¶
The Sun is Found to have an angle observed from earth of the value 0.5 degrees approximately, this may add to our error if the LDR Reaches Saturation at the edges of the sun, while the accuracy of the device has been determined to be approximately 2.9 degrees.
3. System¶
Design, Prototype and Results
- After Choosing the Design that was more appealing and beneficial for this project, we decided to create a prototype, then laser cut the pieces that were necessary, after connecting the pieces we concluded that it is best for us if the design was half open so that we can manage the electronics necessary for us in case one of the wires was loose since we were using a breadboard.
Manual Track of Target (Using Laser)¶
This is a Prototype we used to manual track the target using a laser, this tool requires you to view the object from x-axis and y-axis to find the values, the size of the laser in degrees is 15 degrees which will require you to add 7.5 degrees to the bottom value of the angle to get definite values.
Final Result¶
The Product will start from 0 (origin) of each servo motor in the system then starts tracking the sun until it reaches the point where it receives the highest signals, after it reaches the point where it will stop, which is where we can see the reflection on the target.
Motion when focused on target¶
Front View
Rear View