The Designing of an Educational Solar Panel That Can Be Controlled in Different Ways

Nowadays, reasons such as the gradual decrease of natural gas, coal, oil and oil derivatives, fluctuations in water levels in dams, and doubts surrounding the reliability of nuclear power plants and waste problems connected with them have caused people to search for renewable energy resources that have lower costs per unit, and do less damage to nature. To this end, intensive efforts have been made in the past decade to make use of solar energy for the purpose of producing electricity. As a result of these efforts, the use of solar panels is increasing rapidly. In parallel to this, the need for staff members who have knowledge and skills about these systems and are well-qualified is also increasing. In this study, a multi-purpose and educational solar energy set was designed in order to meet the need for well-qualified personnel in the field of solar energy education. This set was designed to be used in the education of students attending macaronis, control automation, electric and electronic departments in institutions of vocational and technical education. This set enabled students to see the equipment used in the solar panels, serial and parallel connections of the panels and how electric energy is obtained from the panels. The control of the panels in the set was designed in such a way as to be performed using PLC, SCADA or microcontroller. In this way, it was made possible that in PLC, SCADA and microcontroller classes, controls can be implemented regarding the dual-axis movement of the panel. It was seen that using this set, students were enabled to receive better quality, more lasting and more effective education as a result of the instruction given to them.