Abstract—Utilization of solar energy can be found in various domestic and industrial applications. The performance of any solar collector is largely affected by various parameters such as glazing, absorber plate, top covers, and heating pipes. Technology improvements have brought us another method for conversion of solar energy to direct electricity using solar photovoltaic system. Utilization and extraction of solar energy is the biggest problem in these conversion methods. This paper aims to overcome these problems and take the advantages of available energy from solar by maximizing the utilization through solar tracking system using a refrigerant as a working medium. The use of this tracking system can help increase the efficiency of conversion devices by maximum utilization of solar energy. The dual axis tracking system gives maximum energy output compared to single axis tracking system. Keywords—Refrigerant, solar collector, solar energy, solar panel, solar tracking. I. INTRODUCTION URRENTLY, 80% of the world energy is produced from the fossil fuels imposing a real threat to the environment, apparent mainly through global warming and acidification of water cycle [3], [25]. The distribution of fossil fuels around the world is uneven. Most of the energy is extracted from the middle-east oil reserves. Increase in usage of energy occurs due to enhancement of their standard of living thereby increasing the risks. These results in the reduction of energy storage which needs to find an alternative solution. Because of the maximum energy requirement, consequently there is increase in the rate of combustion of oil and coal. Location of alternatives is absolutely necessary considering these facts, as the available oil is running out fast. Renewable energy is one of the most promising alternative solutions to the above problems. Renewable energy sources are even larger than the traditional fossil fuels and in theory, can easily supply the world's energy needs. The solar power which falls on the earth is around 89%. While it is not possible to capture all or even most of this energy, capturing even less than 0.02% would be enough to meet the current energy needs. [24] II. LITERATURE REVIEW Solar collectors are commonly used for active conversion of solar energy to heat. In the recent years, solar energy is directly converted into electrical energy using solar Sendhil Kumar S. is with the INFO Institute of Engineering, Coimbatore, India (e-mail: ssk333c@yahoo.co.in). Vijayan S.N is with the Karpagam Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, India (e-mail: s.n.vijayan@gmail.com). photovoltaic system. In order to overcome the drawback of conventional solar collectors in winter, that is, its unavailability due to low water temperature or even freezing, a new design of solar collectors is presented. This is based on combination of a novel compound curved surface concentrator and an aluminum concentric solar receiver contained in a double-skin glass evacuated tube. The average ambient temperature is below 0 ∘ C, the water temperature can be heated up to 80 ∘ C with a daily average efficiency of about 50% [1]. The efficiency of a flat plate collector is found to increase with increase in ambient temperature with a single glass cover [2]. Performance of coated solar flat plate collector has been analyzed by introducing a new heating system at a low cost. Copper, stainless steel and aluminium were used as header and riser tubes for fabricating the equipment to analyse the performance. The output illustrates that copper, aluminium and stainless exhibit the same performance although cost of stainless tube with epoxy-polyether and aluminium with copper oxide is lesser than that of the copper tube [3]. Investigations have been carried out on the cost minimization of solar flat plate collector using ceramic coated panel, insulation, maintenance, durability and its life considerations [4]. The effect of glass thickness of flat plate solar collectors for fruits drying has been determined using a different glass thickness with minimum of 4 mm thickness. This shows the change in glass thickness resulting in variation of collector efficiency with 4 mm glass thick giving the best efficiency of 35.4% compared to 27.8% for 6 mm glass thick [5]. Thermal efficiency of the flat plate solar air heater has been analyzed in single and double pass smooth plate solar air collectors with and without porous media [6]. The performance of the variations of top loss heat transfer coefficient with absorber plate emission and air gap spacing between the absorber plate and the cover plate has been evaluated [7]. Productivity of the flat plate solar collector system has been estimated by using the present methods of average monthly and annual productivity [8]. The performance of the flat plate collector with different geometric absorber configurations has been analyzed. Variations in efficiency were found in the given collectors with their given parameters, as also variation in cost, area, and storage outlet temperature. A considerable scope was also found to reduce to the collector area, cost and minimizing the number of tubes and its result at same outlet temperature by changing the geometric shape of flat plate collector [9]. Performance characteristic of the solar flat plate collector with three different selective surface coatings was analyzed. The performance of solar thermal absorber can be improved by Solar Tracking System Using a Refrigerant as Working Medium for Solar Energy Conversion S. Sendhil Kumar, S. N. Vijayan C World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering Vol:10, No:8, 2016 1610 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 10(8) 2016 ISNI:0000000091950263 Open Science Index, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering Vol:10, No:8, 2016 publications.waset.org/10005995/pdf