Design of a Pneumatic Robotic Arm for Solar Cell Tester System By using PLC controller
Solar cell testers sort photovoltaic cells according to their electrical performance, tested under simulated sunlight. A variety of testers exist, but they all face a common challenge of handling cells that are very small and thin, which makes it difficult to transport the cells from the conveyer to the storage box. This paper presents a new design for a handling robot with vacuum end-effectors, which uses a PLC controller to govern the movement of the cells and the testing process. The design applies to solar cell testers for monocrystalline, polycrystalline, cadmium telluride (CdTe), and copper indium diselenide (CIS) cells. Each cell is tested for efficiency and categorized accordingly into four groups (A to D). A Virtual Reality (VR) model was built to simulate the system, keeping in mind real world constraints. Two photoelectric sensors were used to make detections for both the testing process and the robot movement. The PLC controller guides the trajectory of the robot according to the results of the efficiency testing. It was seen that the system worked very well, with the testing process and the robot movement interacting smoothly. The robot trajectory was seen to be highly accurate, and the pick and place operations were done with great precision.
Keywords: Handling robot, Solar cell tester, Virtual reality, photoelectric sensor.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Yousif I. Al Mashhadany
Dr. Yousif Ismail Mohammed Al-Mashhadany, was born in Baghdad / 1973. He received the B.Sc. degree in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (1995) from the Rashid School of Engineering and Science / University of Technology in Baghdad. He received the M.Sc. degree in control and guidance engineering (1999). And a Ph.D in electrical engineering department / control (2009) from the same university. Complete postdoctoral fellow research in electrical engineering - control department at the University of Malaya in Malaysia (UMPEDAC) in 2012. In addition, he completed undergraduate study in Islamic Sciences - Sharia Department of the University of Baghdad in 2004. He works since 2004, a lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering / Engineering College / University of Anbar. His research interests include advanced control systems, automated control systems and Bio-medical engineering. He has thirty-nine publications in international journals and conferences. He has many practical projects in the areas of renewable energy and control systems in electrical power systems.
Nasrudin Abd Rahim
University of Malaya Power Energy Dedicated Advanced Centre (UMPEDAC), Level 4, Wisma R&D, University of Malaya, Jalan Pantai Baharu, 59990 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
Yousif I. Al Mashhadany
Dr. Yousif Ismail Mohammed Al-Mashhadany, was born in Baghdad / 1973. He received the B.Sc. degree in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (1995) from the Rashid School of Engineering and Science / University of Technology in Baghdad. He received the M.Sc. degree in control and guidance engineering (1999). And a Ph.D in electrical engineering department / control (2009) from the same university. Complete postdoctoral fellow research in electrical engineering - control department at the University of Malaya in Malaysia (UMPEDAC) in 2012. In addition, he completed undergraduate study in Islamic Sciences - Sharia Department of the University of Baghdad in 2004. He works since 2004, a lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering / Engineering College / University of Anbar. His research interests include advanced control systems, automated control systems and Bio-medical engineering. He has thirty-nine publications in international journals and conferences. He has many practical projects in the areas of renewable energy and control systems in electrical power systems.
Nasrudin Abd Rahim
University of Malaya Power Energy Dedicated Advanced Centre (UMPEDAC), Level 4, Wisma R&D, University of Malaya, Jalan Pantai Baharu, 59990 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
