Heliostat or Sun Tracker

▼This page was part of an MTU course MSE4777 OA and MSE4777 OB/MSE5777/EE4777/EE5777: Open-source 3-D printingPlease leave comments using the talk page. The course runs in the Fall semester. It is not open edit.

This project is designed so that it could be used for tracking the sun light and convert it to electrical power using the solar panel. I have very simple designs without curves and complexity. Integration is simple. Principal behind the working is simple. I have used simple photo resistors to track the sun light which are placed in the same plane of the solar panel to get maximum power output. I have attached scad and stl files below which shows the design of the setup. Because the electronic parts integration is also involved in this project, I have uploaded rest of the data on the other page where I have shown all the steps for integration of the mechanical design and the electrical circuit integration and the code explanation.

The link is here.....Big Money

• PLA Filament ~ 22$ [1]
• Painters Tape
• Superglue

• File:MirrorHolder&Y-ZServoMotorMount.scad
• File:SensorHolder.scad
• File:SolarPanelorMirrorHolder.scad
• File:Stand.scad
• File:X-YMountStand.scad
• File:X-YServoMotorMount.scad
• File:MirrorHolder&Y-ZServoMotorMount.stl
• File:MirrorHolder&Y-ZServoMotorMountleftsupport.stl
• File:MirrorHolder&Y-ZServoMotorMountPanelHolder.stl
• File:MirrorHolder&Y-ZServoMotorMountPanelHolder.stl
• File:SensorHolder.stl
• File:SolarPanelorMirrorHolder.stl
• File:Stand.stl
• File:X-YMountStand.stl
• File:X-YServoMotorMount.stl

• MOST Delta RepRap or similar RepRap 3-D printer

• MY4777/MY5777/EE4777/EE5777: Open-source 3-D printing.
• OpenSCAD
• Slic3r
• Printrun

All these project needs is printing the parts with a 3D printer and assembling them using the instructions given in the page link given below.

Because the electronic parts integration is also involved in this project, I have uploaded rest of the data on the other page where I have shown all the steps for integration of the mechanical design and the electrical circuit integration and the code explanation.

The link is here.....Big Money

• Because the design is very simple there is just one problem you will face. It is the placement of the solar panel holder shaft--adjusting the length and gluing it together with the servo motor. But that too is fairly simple, you just need to do it carefully.

Because that's just printing part you will save 90% of the cost as needed for the other setups available in the market.

• http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Solar-Tracker/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJC_9wlAXz8