Sunny Side Up

About:
Sunny Side Up is a solar panel optimization app for android. I worked with two physicists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison at MadHacks 2015 to design an app within 24 hours. Our project won most commercially viable product. Sunny Side Up uses a smartphone's internal compass and gyroscope to help users install and optimize home solar panels.
Why should I care about the angle of my solar panels?
Different locations receive sun at different angles. Near the equator, the sun is approximately 90 degrees from the surface of the earth, but if you are north or south of the equator, the sun’s rays arrive at a shallower angle to the earth’s surface.
How does it work?
Sunny Side Up looks at your location and the time of year. Your solar panels should always face towards the equator and angled towards the sun at the brightest time of day. Your latitude, or angular distance from the equator, is the only part of your location that matters. If you aren’t optimizing based on time of year, the angle of your panels should face true south at an angle equal to your latitude. To increase your energy gains, you can adjust your tilt seasonally because the sun is higher in the summer than in the winter.
Sunny Side Up is a solar panel optimization app for android. I worked with two physicists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison at MadHacks 2015 to design an app within 24 hours. Our project won most commercially viable product. Sunny Side Up uses a smartphone's internal compass and gyroscope to help users install and optimize home solar panels.
Why should I care about the angle of my solar panels?
Different locations receive sun at different angles. Near the equator, the sun is approximately 90 degrees from the surface of the earth, but if you are north or south of the equator, the sun’s rays arrive at a shallower angle to the earth’s surface.
How does it work?
Sunny Side Up looks at your location and the time of year. Your solar panels should always face towards the equator and angled towards the sun at the brightest time of day. Your latitude, or angular distance from the equator, is the only part of your location that matters. If you aren’t optimizing based on time of year, the angle of your panels should face true south at an angle equal to your latitude. To increase your energy gains, you can adjust your tilt seasonally because the sun is higher in the summer than in the winter.
Step 1: Compass
Solar panels should always face due south in the northern hemisphere or due north in the Southern hemisphere. A phone's internal compass points towards magnetic poles. Sunny Side Up makes a correction for true north or south from the magnetic poles based on a user's location. Use Sunny Side Up's Compass to point your panels in the appropriate direction. |
Step 2: Level
With fixed solar panels, like those found on many roofs, a user can optimize the amount of light received by placing the panel at an angle based on their latitude and time of year. Sunny Side Up uses your phone's internal gyroscope to determine what angle your phone is placed at. Place your phone flat on a solar panel and tilt until ideal angle is achieved. |
Sunny Side Up was a great learning experience. None of us had done any mobile development before, so the 24 contest pushed all of us out of our comfort zones. The screenshots shown on the right are of the app as submitted to MadHacks 2015.
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