ICEAMM 2017 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 343 (2018) 012019 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/343/1/012019
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Design and Analysis of Solar Smartflower Simulation by
Solidwork Program
Tatang Mulyana1, Darwin Sebayang2, Fildzah Fajrina1, and Raihan, M. Faizal1
1
Universitas Telkom, Jakarta.
2
Universitas Mercu Buana, Jakarta
[email protected]
Abstract. The potential of solar energy that is so large in Indonesia can be a driving force for
the use of renewable energy as a solution for energy needs. Government with the community
can utilize and optimize this technology to increase the electrification ratio up to 100% in all
corners of Indonesia. Because of its modular and practical nature, making this technology easy
to apply. One of the latest imported products that have started to be offered and sold in
Indonesia but not yet widely used for solar power generation is the kind of smartflower. Before
using the product, it is of course very important and immediately to undertake an in-depth
study of the utilization, use, maintenance, repair, component supply and fabrication. The best
way to know the above is through a review of the design and simulation. To meet this need,
this paper presents a solar-smartflower design and then simulated using the facilities available
in the solidwork program. Solid simulation express is a tool that serves to create power
simulation of a design part modelling. With the simulation is very helpful at all to reduce errors
in making design. Accurate or not a design created is also influenced by several other factors
such as material objects, the silent part of the part, and the load given. The simulation is static
simulation and body battery drop test, and based on the results of this simulation is known that
the design results have been very satisfactory.
Keywords: design, analysis, simulation, solar, smartflower, solidwork.
1. Introduction
The last few years are intensively promoted through various electronic media sales of solar
smartflower, but not many are interested. This may be due to the very expensive price and
unavailability of service. To anticipate if it will be widely used but knowledge about it is not adequate
then for the solution is to design and analyse through simulation program. This paper presents some
research that tries to develop the design of solar smartflower and then analyse it through simulation
using solidwork before made the process of its fabrication. The smartflower is an all-in-one ground
mounted solar system with a tracker that follows the sun. It name comes from its design – the solar
cells are arranged on individual “petals” that open at the beginning of each day. After the sun goes
down, the smartflower petals fold up and a self-cleaning process kicks in. In addition to solar cells, the
smartflower system contains a dual-axis tracker that makes it possible for its “petals” to follow the sun
across the sky throughout the day. Thanks to this tracking capability, the smartflower can produce
significantly more electricity than a similarly-sized rooftop solar panel system – up to 51 percent
more, according to smartflower website. The 12-petal, 194 square-foot structure comes with 2.5
kilowatts (kW) of electricity production, which is equivalent to a 4 kW fixed rooftop array. There are
two versions of the smartflower available in the U.S., both of which is manufactured in Austria: the
smartflower and the smartflower-plus. The smartflower-plus offers energy storage capabilities via an
integrated battery in addition to the standard solar electricity generation that the smartflower offers.
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
ICEAMM 2017 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 343 (2018) 012019 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/343/1/012019
1234567890‘’“”
According to press coverage about the product, the smartflower is priced at approximately $16,900.
The smartflower-plus, which has includes batteries for energy storage, is not yet available in the U.S.,
but will be priced around $22,000 when it comes to market. Strategies and approaches related to the
design method can be seen from the Montgomery literature [1] while some papers that have applied it
can be found in Haris [2, 3]. Paper presents digital control design in [4], and for concept and theory of
automation applied to production system can be found in Groover literature [5].
2. Methodology
Static studies provide tools for the linear stress analysis of parts and assemblies loaded by static loads
and drop test studies are used to analyse the stress of moving parts or assemblies impacting an obstacle
[6]. The step-by-step instructions are following given:
Step 1: Creating a Study
Step 2: Assigning Material
Step 3: Applying Fixtures
Step 4: Applying Loads
Step 5: Meshing the Assembly
Step 6: Running the Analysis
Step 7: Visualizing the Results
Step 8: Save Your Work and Exit SolidWorks
3. Result and Discussion
Solar smartflower is designed to have six main parts consist of fin diesel nine units, body battery,
hinge buffer, base, hinge base, and fin with hinge 1 unit. This Smartflower can open and close focus
horizontally 360 degrees, you can move up and down vertically 270 degrees vertically. Figure 1 shows
parts designed of the solar smartflower, and Figure 2 shows designed full assembly of the solar
smartflower.
Figure 1. Design of parts of the solar smartflower.
Figure 2. Designed full assembly of the solar smartflower.
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ICEAMM 2017 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 343 (2018) 012019 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/343/1/012019
1234567890‘’“”
Figure 3 shows the static simulation performed on the full assembly of the fan part solar smartflower.
Can be interpreted stress on all surfaces occurs in all directions. The occurrence of blue colour on the
surface is due to receive a static minimum load permanently, and the part is not changed shape. Figure
4 shows silicon material properties, and Figure 5 shows load and fixtures.
Figure 3. The static simulation result of fan part of the solar smartflower.
Figure 4. Material properties simulation result of the fan part solar smartflower.
Stress simulation result of the fan part solar smartflower designed is shown in Figure 6. Figure 7 and
Figure 8 show displacement and strain simulation results of the fan part solar smartflower designed. If
seen in the simulation results contained in Figure 6, shows the blue colour, meaning that the material
used can withstand the stress load given, as well as the load displacement and strain. This can be seen
in the simulation results shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8.
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ICEAMM 2017 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 343 (2018) 012019 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/343/1/012019
1234567890‘’“”
Figure 5. Static simulation result of the fan part solar smartflower for load and fixtures.
Figure 6. Stress simulation result of the fan part solar smartflower designed.
Figure 9 shows body battery of the solar smartflower designed, and the material properties is shown in
Figure 10. Figure 11 shows stress simulation of the body battery solar smartflower designed while
Figure 12 and Figure 13 show displacement and strain simulation results of the body battery solar
smartflower designed.
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ICEAMM 2017 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 343 (2018) 012019 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/343/1/012019
1234567890‘’“”
Figure 7. Displacement simulation results of the fan part solar smartflower designed.
Figure 8. Strain simulation results of the fan part solar smartflower designed.
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ICEAMM 2017 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 343 (2018) 012019 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/343/1/012019
1234567890‘’“”
Figure 9. Body battery of the solar smartflower designed.
Figure 10. Body battery material properties of the solar smartflower designed.
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ICEAMM 2017 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 343 (2018) 012019 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/343/1/012019
1234567890‘’“”
Figure 11. Stress simulation of the body battery solar smartflower designed.
Figure 12. Displacement simulation of the body battery solar smartflower designed.
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ICEAMM 2017 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 343 (2018) 012019 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/343/1/012019
1234567890‘’“”
Figure 13. Strain simulation of the body battery solar smartflower designed.
4. Conclusion
Based on fan static and body battery drop test simulations it can be concluded that the solar
smartflower designed can be forwarded to the fabrication stage. This fact is reinforced by the
simulation results that show despite the static or drop test loads but parts of the solar smartflower
designed does not change shape.
5. References
[1] Montgomery D.C 2013 Design and Analysis of Experiments (New York: John Wesley and Sons)
[2] Haris R, Rino Andias A and Tatang M 2015 EMS-SCADA Design of AC Usage on a Building
(Proceeding 8th International Seminar on Industrial Engineering and Management 2015 (ISIEM
2015)) PS45-49.
[3] Haris R and Tatang M 2015 Website Design of EMS-SCADA for AC Usage on a Building
(Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Information and Communication Technology
2015 (ICoICT 2015)) p 17-22
[4] Tatang M, Mohamad Nor M.T, Dirman Hanafi B, and Afrodi A 2010 Digital control design for the
boiler drum BDT921 (Proceeding of Conf. on Industrial and Appl. Math., Indonesia) p 257-260
[5] Groover M.P 2001 Automation, Production System, and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing
(New Jersey: Pearson)
[6] Solidworks 2010 An Introduction to Stress Analysis Applications with SolidWorks Simulation,
Student Guide (Solidworks Education - Concord, Massachusetts 01742 USA)
Acknowledgments
The results of the study presented in this paper are part of a study funded by a research grant from
ristekdikti in post-doctoral research scheme on fiscal year 2017 study entitled design development of
power plants wind-solar hybrid system.
