Design and Implementation of a Dual‐Axis Photovoltaic Tracking System Using Sun Sensor Technology

ABSTRACT This paper presents a low‐cost dual‐axis photovoltaic (PV) tracking system based on sun‐sensor feedback to improve solar energy capture. The tracker uses a four‐quadrant photosensor arrangement to estimate solar displacement and to continuously adjust the PV module in both azimuth and elevation, enabling real‐time operation with a mechanically simple structure. System performance was evaluated through hardware prototyping and MATLAB/Simulink validation using measured irradiance conditions and solar trajectory information. Field testing was conducted on a 50 W PV module with data recorded from sunrise to sunset at 10‐min intervals for 1 month in each representative season (March, July, and November). Simulation runs covered a 12‐h diurnal cycle with 1‐min time steps and reproduced the experimental daily‐energy trends with less than 5% deviation. Compared with a fixed‐tilt reference under identical conditions, the proposed tracker increased energy yield by 47.8% in winter and 29.89% in summer. In addition to seasonal gain, tracking performance is quantified using operational metrics: the proposed system achieved an average performance ratio of 0.83 versus 0.72 for the fixed system, with a capacity factor improvement of 32% and an average RMSE on the order of 12 W across the test periods. The novelty lies in achieving competitive dual‐axis tracking accuracy using a simplified sensing and control configuration that avoids complex astronomical computation and high‐cost hardware while maintaining robust, practical performance.