I'm trying to make sun tracking device for use in solar energy research (Steve will be jealous now!).
My first thought was to use LDR and 8051 derivative with A/D converter and start scanning in one dimension. My astronomical knowledge is not great and I have few questions:
1. is one dimension scanning enough or does the sun change angle through out the year making it necessary to do 2 dimension tracking?
2. if sun changes angle throughout the year will the change be fixed by the date? i.e. I can make a data base lookup for sun path by the date and geographical location ? this way I will only use one dimensional scanning.
3. if I know the time and date and geographical location there must be an equation(s) to determine the position of the sun saving me from tracking.
Any thoughts suggestions are welcome
Regards
Mahmood