Abstract
Despite its inexhaustible nature, the use of solar energy is temporally limited. In addition, the efficiency of fixed photovoltaic panels is influenced by climatic conditions over a day, resulting in lower efficiency of energy production (about 15%). To operate close to the maximum production point, the photovoltaic panels must be kept perpendicularly to the solar radiation. Therefore, there is a need for solutions to improve the energy efficiency of the PV solar panel and a solar tracker system could be a solution. The paper presents the features of a bi-axial solar tracking system developed by the authors in the laboratory and based on an Arduino Uno microcontroller platform. A small solar panel is oriented in the direction corresponding to the maximum energy point by means of two servomotors controlled by the microcontroller platform, which receives the information from a system of 4 photodetectors.