The Creation of a Free-Floating, Self-Stabilizing Solar Cell

The purpose of this experiment was to create a prototype of a free-floating, self-stabilizing solar panel that would autocorrect to the movement of the ocean waves. This was done in order to determine if it is feasible to create solar panels that could be placed in open water rather than on land or on man-made reservoirs. Solar farms take up immense amounts of space, on land and on water, so creating a solar panel that can be placed in seldom crossed areas of the ocean could be an excellent location for producing energy. The solar cell was created by attaching a wooden platform (representing a solar panel) to two servo motors that stabilized the platform in the X and Y axes. These were connected to an Arduino which controlled their movements and a gyroscope was used to determine the orientation of the prototype. Testing was completed by setting the platform flat, 90 degrees from the vertical, and then rotating the prototype to the given angle, either 15, 30, or 45 degrees in both the X and Y direction, from horizontal. As the board was rotated, the solar panel stabilized itself and the new angle created between the board and the vertical was measured with a protractor. The results for each angle of rotation for each axis was compared to the starting angle of 90 degrees in a one-sample t test. The result of all t tests with exception to the X rotation of 30 degrees was not statistically significant. Due to this the hypothesis that the solar panel model would be able to return to its starting position of 90 degrees was accepted.

Research Conducted By:

Tyler Knight
Lake Shore High School

Evan Tarian
Lake Shore High School