Design and Development of Solar-Based Water Heating System with Mechanical Sun Tracking

In this work, the effect of integrating a mechanical sun tracking system on the performance of a solar heating system was investigated. The heating system consists of a copper pipe in the form of rectangular vortex. The solar tracking system is designed and constructed mechanically through a water float associated with a tow pulley to the gearbox. The gearbox is connected to a pulley on the shaft that is connected to the parabolic trough. A programming method to control the pumping system as a function of time is used. An experimental study was conducted to investigate the performance of the solar heating system with and without tracking. The results of experimentation indicate that in the case of exposing solar heating to the sun for 15 minutes, the heating system with mechanical tracking increased water temperature from 24° C to 84° C, while the heating system without tracking increased water temperature from 24° C to 55° C.