System for the automatic estimation of the tilt angle of a flat solar collector

Abstract

In this work, a compact system for the automatic estimation of the tilt angle at any location of the world is presented. The system components are one computer, one GPS receiver and one Python program. The tilt angle is calculated through the maximization of the flux of direct radiation incident upon a flat solar collector. An estimation of the adjustments of this angle at different time periods are obtained. This angle is calculated in steps of six minutes during a whole year. Daily, monthly, biannually and yearly averages of this value are obtained. A comparison of the energetic gain when the tilt angle changes at the different time periods is made as well. Because, the algorithm doesn't receive as an input the solar radiation incident upon a surface at the location of the calculation, a comparison was made between the results obtained and the results reported for the monthly tilt angle of 22 different places. The root mean square error obtained with this comparison was between 1.5 and 9.5 degrees. The monthly tilt angle estimated deviated in average for less than 6.3° with respect to the values reported for the different locations. Finally, the application of a correction factor in the monthly estimated angles is proposed, which might increase the collected energy.