Finding Fëanor

Project Overview

The primary drawback of solar panels as a commercially viable energy harvesting application is the high cost per watt energy. Currently, the best consumer solar modules are able to achieve an efficiency of 24%, meaning that about 24% of incident solar radiation is converted to usable electrical energy. That figure is astounding if one examines previous maximum efficiency in consumer models throughout the technology's development.

This success aside, our group believes that the core issue of high cost per energy harvested is still not being addressed in a practical way, which is the motivation behind our project, Finding Fëanor. A portion of the inefficient energy conversion stems from the changing angle of incident sunlight with the respect to a given solar panel. The closer to 0˚ between the face of the solar panel and path of sunlight, the more optimum the collection is. The problem with current products on the market is that most are static panels that cannot change in response to the changing angle, driving their already low efficiency even lower.

Our solution is to build an Arduino-controlled system that allows for two degrees of freedom of rotation. This would allow a panel in almost any setting or application to be dynamically adjusted to the changing incident angle of light. While doing preliminary research, we came across a project almost identical in motivation and scope. We decided it would be beneficial to replicate this project before we start our own development so we can learn the process of controlling a motor. This will allow us to approach our own design ideas with expectations of what will and will not work.

Team Members

• John Fordice
• Zach Pewitt
• Sam Donaldson
• Will Luer (TA)

Objectives

A successful project will require:

• 1. Replication of the project found on Hackster to see where it can be improved.
• 2. Implementation of photoresistors that allow an Arduino unit to calculate the incidence angle.
• 3. A control algorithm for a double-step motor system based on data taken from the photoresistors and processed by the arduino.
• 4. Power to the system using a wall adapter.
• 5. A scale-able design.

Challenges

Power supply

• Can handle load bearing of panel (more of a challenge in scale).
• Logistics- consuming less power than panel is creating theoretically.

Hardware

• Sheets need to be light but stable.
• Ball joint logistics.
• 360 degree rotation (stepwise)

Possible solutions

Power supply

• Theoretically drawing power from the solar panel attached would be ideal but we may try and implement a regular two prong wall plug for convenience and testing. We are also positive that an outlet power source will provide enough power for the tasks we will ask of it.

Hardware

• The ball joint we envision is similar to that of an old ball joint mouse for a computer.

Safety

• Mechanical safety should not be too much of an issue given the relatively small size of our design.Safety regarding moving parts should also not be an issue as this project will be designed to move slowly in order to get accurate readings on the light sensitive photo-resistors.

• Electrical safety may be a larger issue especially if the shell of our device is comprised mostly of metal. Electrical safety will be crucial because we will be utilizing wall plugs which provide a voltage relatively dangerous to humans.

Budget

• Raspberry Pi — From lab - This is the brains of the operation. It both computes the algorithm to solve the cube and sends commands to the servos.
• Camera (Arducam) — $14.99 - This camera should be able to recognize the colors on the cube to put them into the algorithm.
• Gripper rotation servos - $27.99 - These servos rotate the grippers, turning the faces on the cube.
• Servo driver hat - $23.53 - This is our servo motor controller, capable of taking input from the pi and turning it into servo rotation.
• Servo motors — $11.98 - these mini servos are the actuators for the individual grippers.
• 1" #5 machine screws - used for assembling the build.
• Lab power supply
• Total: $78.49 + $0 shipping (purchased through Amazon prime)