Retractable Photovoltaic System

thingiverse

Hello everybody, this is my prototype of a Retractable Photovoltaic System. WHY I DID IT The International Year of Light was proclaimed by UNESCO in 2015. The United Nations adopted a global initiative to raise awareness of how optical technologies promote sustainable development and provide solutions to worldwide challenges in energy, education, agriculture, communications, and health. University of Padua launched a contest on February 11, 2015, to increase awareness of worldwide issues among students from secondary schools. I decided to join the competition by focusing on solar energy. WHAT IS MY PROJECT ABOUT? How Does It Work My project is a six-panel solar system arranged like the petals of a flower. A mechanism using servos allows the panels to move. My idea was to close the "petals" when there's bad weather and let them open when the sun is shining. What's the purpose I created this "solar flower" to be placed in any location, such as deserts, hills, or mountains. If we think of all those solar parks located where snow falls are common, they lose a lot of energy due to the snow layer on their surface. This issue requires daily routine maintenance, which is often very expensive. So, I focused my mind on increasing efficiency and reducing maintenance costs. Demostration Video Print Settings Printer Brand: RepRap Printer: Prusa I2 Rafts: Doesn't Matter Supports: Doesn't Matter Resolution: 0.3 Infill: 30% How I Designed This First, I sketched out my ideas and took up my pen to start drawing! I then focused on the measures. Sketches Upper part of the flower I used 2D/3D software Autocad 2015 Student Version for all designs. Petals' Structure Flower Mechanism Structure Renderings At the end, I rendered all parts for the presentation. Body Rendered Flower Parts Gathered Tree Parts Gathered Circuit Parts Gathered 3D PRINTING 3D Printers Rostock Mini I printed all white parts of the flower and a few red ones. (Click on it) Prusa Mendel I2 I printed all purple parts and most of the red ones. (Click on it) Print in progress... Some of the results ELECTRONICS I used Arduino Nano for programming all the movements of the flower's servos and tree's ones. The code is not so easy because I implemented arrays, functions, manual commands, and automatic commands, but it was worth it! I used a nunchuck controller for driving the servos (it communicates with Arduino through I2C Serial Interface): Manual You can move the flower in any position you want, opening and closing it. Automatic Path The flower follows a default path consisting of the sun's positions during the day. Circuit Diagram Arduino Nano Pinout + Scheme Circuit Realization First Version Final Version FINAL RESULT Part 1 - Circuit The cover is to avoid people touching the electronic components. Part 2 - Tree The aim of it is to camouflage the flower when it's at "idle." Part 3 - Flower That's the main part of the project. VIDEOS Final Video Testing it out