Cloud Catcher

Cloud Catcher Supervisor Malculm McCulloch

By Theodor IstrateSolar

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RRPO62vt2vt2vt2vtx1x2xsO12s122shx1x2xsXYZThe Importance of the Project Photovoltaic systems are usually coupled with diesel generators in order to be able to maintain the required energy output

Disadvantage When the sun is obstructed by a cloud, the power generated will drop quickly, however there is not enough time to start the diesel engine

Our Solution We aim to use a cheap camera with a fish-eye lens in order to be able to detect and predict any clouds that will overshadow the system Obtaining information from pictures GPS location Date and time Velocity field

Sun Position

Velocity Field of the SkyUsing cross correlation of two consecutive images we obtained a vector field of the sky

One problem appeared due to close variance in the blue

After trying different approaches to solve it we decided to set the errors vectors to 0

Detecting the region of interest

By taking each individual point and calculating the angle at which it sees the sun and comparing it with the angle of the velocity vector we can determine the region of interest13Future Work Calculating a cloud coefficient based on the ratio between the blue and red intensity levels of the pixels

Obtaining the clouds velocity based on the pixels velocity