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SYNOPSIS Objective:
The objective of this project is to control the position of a solar panel in accordance with the motion of sun. Brief Methodology: This project is designed with solar panels, LDR, ADC, Microcontroller, Stepper Motor and its driving circuit. In this project two LDRs are fixed on the solar panel at two distinct points. LDR (Light Dependant Resistor) varies the resistance depending upon the light fall. The varied resistance is converted into an analog voltage signal. The analog voltage signal is then fed to an ADC. ADC is nothing but analog to digital Converter which receives the two LDR voltage signals and converts them to corresponding digital signal. Then the converted digital signal is given as the input of the microcontroller. Microcontroller receives the two digital signals from the ADC and compares them. The LDR signals are not equal except for normal incidence of sunlight. When there is a difference between LDR voltage levels the microcontroller program drives the stepper motor towards normal incidence of sunlight. 1) INTRODUCTION Renewable energy is rapidly gaining importance as an energy resource as fossil fuel prices fluctuate. At the educational level, it is therefore critical for engineering and technology students to have an understanding and appreciation of the technologies associated with renewable energy.
One of the most popular renewable energy sources is solar energy. Many researches were conducted to develop some methods to increase the efficiency of Photo Voltaic systems (solar panels). One such method is to employ a solar panel tracking system .This project deals with a micro- controller based solar panel tracking system. Solar tracking enables more energy to be generated because the solar panel is always able to maintain a perpendicular profile to the sun’s rays. Development of solar panel tracking systems has been ongoing for several years now. As the sun moves across the sky during the day, it is advantageous to have the solar panels track the location of the sun, such that the panels are always perpendicular to the solar energy radiated by the sun. This will tend to maximize the amount of power absorbed by PV systems. It has been estimated that the use of a tracking system, over a fixed system, can increase the power output by 30% - 60%. The increase is significant enough to make tracking a viable preposition despite of the enhancement in system cost. It is possible to align the tracking heliostat normal to sun using electronic control by a micro controller. Design requirements are: 1) During the time that the sun is up, the system must follow the sun’s position in the sky. 2) This must be done with an active control, timed movements are wasteful. It should be totally automatic and simple to operate. The operator interference should be minimal and restricted to only when it is actually required. The major components of this system are as follows.
1) Input photo transducer (LDR).
2) Analog to digital converter.
3) Microcontroller.
4) 555 Timer.
5) Output mechanical transducer (stepper motor).
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ABSTRACT
Solar energy is rapidly gaining notoriety as an important means of expanding renewable energy resources. As such, it is vital that those in engineering fields understand the technologies associated with this area. This project includes the design and construction of a microcontroller-based solar panel tracking system. Solar tracking allows more energy to be produced because the solar array is able to remain aligned to the sun. This system builds upon topics learned in this course.
To make solar energy more viable, the efficiency of solar array systems must be maximized. A feasible approach for maximizing the efficiency of solar array systems is sun tracking. This is a system that controls the movement of a solar array so that it is constantly aligned towards the direction of the sun. Solar modules are devices that cleanly convert sunlight into electricity and offer a practical solution to the problem of power generation in remote areas. The solar tracker designed and constructed in this project offers a reliable and affordable method of aligning a solar module with the sun in order to maximize its energy output.
Automatic Sun Tracking System is a hybrid hardware/software prototype, which automatically provides best alignment of solar panel with the sun, to get maximum output (electricity) ideate the design. Problems and possible improvements will also be presented.
INTRODUCTION
Energy is the primary and most universal measure of all kinds of work by human beings and nature. Primarily, it is the gift of the nature to the mankind in various forms. The consumption of the energy is directly proportional to the progress of the mankind. With ever growing population, improvement in the living standard of the humanity, industrialization of the developing countries, the global demand for energy increases day by day.
The primary source of energy is fossil fuel, however the finiteness of fossil fuel resources and large scale environmental degradation caused by their widespread use, particularly global warming, urban air pollution and acid rain, strongly suggests that harnessing of non-conventional, renewal and environmental friendly
As the sources of conventional energy deplete day by day, resorting to alternative sources of energy like solar and wind energy has become need of the hour.
Solar powered lighting systems are already available in rural as well as urban areas. These include solar lanterns, solar home lightning system, solar street lights, solar garden lights and solar power packs. All of them consist of four components; solar photovoltaic module, rechargeable battery, solar charge controller and load.
In the solar powered lightning systems, the solar charge controller plays an important role as the system’s overall success depends mainly on it. It is considered as an indispensible page link between the solar panel, battery and load.
BLOCK DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION
MICROCONTROLLER
It is the major part of the system. The microcontroller controls all the operations. The solar panel is aligned according to the intensity of sunlight under the control of the microcontroller.
SENSOR
The system consists of two sensors, each composed of LDR. One unit is made up of four LDRs. These are placed at the four corners of the solar panel. The intensity of sunlight is sensed by the LDR and the output is sent to the controller. The control unit analyzes it and decides the direction in which the panel has to be rotated, so that it gets maximum intensity of light.
The other unit of sensor is also composed of LDRs which is meant for the control of a lighting load.
SERVO MOTOR
Servo motor is used to rotate the panel in desired direction. It is controlled by the controller.
SOLAR PANEL
Solar panel is used for the conversion of solar energy directly into electricity. It is composed of photo voltaic cells, which convert solar energy into electrical energy.
CHARGE CONTROL
It is meant to control the charging of battery. It sends the status of battery to the microcontroller unit.
BATTERY
It is for the storage of energy received from the panel. A rechargeable battery is normally employed for this purpose.
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plz sent me the ckt diagram of light based solar tracker using steeper motor with its description on my id jyotikiran21[at]yahoo.com.
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to get information about the topic MICROCONTROLLER BASED SOLAR TRACKING SYSTEM full report refer the page link bellow
http://studentbank.in/report-microcontro...ing-system
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kindly send me the complete circuit diagram of solar power generation with tracking . also the code of microcontroller .
email id
nisar.cool[at]yahoo.com
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to get information about the topic "solar tracking system " full report ppt and related topic refer the page link bellow
http://studentbank.in/report-microcontro...e=threaded
http://studentbank.in/report-time-operat...e=threaded
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plz send me all details of this project like circuit diagram and block diagram on my id rahulraje1215[at]gmail.com
tis message s very useful for my project thank u.....
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actually, what i need is a fully automatic solar tracker with position display and i am intending to use Atmega16 as my microcontroller....and i need full details about the topic including it's source code in arduino...can i get these by mail..my id is sreelekshmis[at]yahoo.com
