*Article* **Development of a DSP Microcontroller-Based Fuzzy Logic Controller for Heliostat Orientation Control**

### **Eugenio Salgado-Plasencia, Roberto V. Carrillo-Serrano and Manuel Toledano-Ayala \***

División de Investigación y Posgrado, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Cerro de las Campanas s/n, Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro 76010, Mexico; eugenio.salgado@uaq.mx (E.S.-P.); roberto.carrillo@uaq.mx (R.V.C.-S.)

**\*** Correspondence: toledano@uaq.mx; Tel.: +52-442-144-5820

Received: 25 December 2019; Accepted: 17 February 2020; Published: 28 February 2020

**Abstract:** This paper describes the design and implementation of a heliostat orientation control system based on a low-cost microcontroller. The proposed system uses a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) with the Center of Sums defuzzification method embedded on a dsPIC33EP256MU806 Digital Signal Processor (DSP), in order to modify the orientation of a heliostat by controlling the angular position of two DC motors connected to the axes of the heliostat. The FLC is compared to a traditional Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller to evaluate the performance of the system. Both the FLC and PID controller were designed for the position control of the heliostat DC motors at no load, and then they were implemented in the orientation control of the heliostat using the same controller parameters. The experimental results show that the FLC has a better performance and flexibility than a traditional PID controller in the orientation control of a heliostat.

**Keywords:** heliostat; sun tracking; solar energy; embedded system; fuzzy logic control; center of sums defuzzification method
