15-07-2011, 10:28 AM
[attachment=14466]
Introduction
This project is about designing and implementing a Solar Tracking system. This system will be used to track and follow the sun during the daytime in order to increase the power which is absorbs by the panels. Since our country is under energy crisis due to shortage of electricity of which main reason is shortage of water and its storage(dams) so we have to find out alternatives of energy sources. The vast and complex system by which energy is produced and used is increasingly at the heart of environment and economic challenges facing the world.
Our country is heavily dependent on highly polluting fossil fuels, particularly coal and oil. Most of which has to be imported. thus reducing the use of fossil fuels is essential for India’s long term economic and long term well being.
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 microcontroller 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) Tracking software.
5) Output mechanical transducer (stepper motor).
We will complete our discussion
Phase I-SOLAR TRACKER
Phase II-MICROCONTROLLER (AT89C51)
Phase II-STEPPER MOTOR
Phase III-DRIVER CIRCUIT (ULN2003)
4.OBJECTIVE:
Commercial made solar trackers are a nice addition to any solar panel array. They help increase the time that panels directly face the sun and allow them to produce their maximum power. Unfortunately they can be expensive to buy. We decided to make our own solar tracker to see if we could reduce the cost. We did not want to re-invent the wheel but wanted to make it more affordable. We started out small and came up with the idea of solar tracking using time instead of using a device that would sense where the sun is and move the panels toward it.
4.1Need for this project
Solar energy basically comes in the form of light and heat and has to be converted to electrical energy. The transducer used is a special semiconductor diode called a photovoltaic cell. These cells are usually made of silicon (si), selenium (se), cadmium sulphate (cds) and cadmium telluride (cite). Light falling on the junction induces a potential difference between the two electrodes, electrons are thus mobilized and an external circuit can be driven. More power can be generated out of these cells by increasing the intensity of light falling on them. This can be achieved by keeping the cells perpendicular to the light source. Beside this to make more precisely the use of energy produced from this system we need a such system which would continuously monitor and deliver the information about all the equipment we will install as load.
The Solar Panel.
Solar cells are usually in the form of very thin flat wafers. A number are connected in series or parallel and mounted on flat board to form what is know is Solar panel. Solar panel work by by converting Sun’s energy into electrical energy which is stored in battery. A charge controller between battery and solar panel which protect the battery from over charging. The energy can be taken out of the battery as required(12 or 24 V DC)using a transformer to convert to 220/240 V if required
Design Optimization.
Since we have to track the Sun this means that motor driving the motor continuously but as the motor receiving the power from panel, so the continuous running off the motor will cause the efficiency it suffer a great deal so in order to achieve the maximum efficiency. We have to design our tracker in such a way that the motor consume minimum power so we had to different ways to handle situation.
First was by using the stepper motor in which timing algorithm is implemented.
Second was by using DC motor in which direction is controlled by LDR sensors.
We select the second method because of its efficiency, in terms of not consuming the power continuously even in cloudy weather it is efficient also it don’t need a long and complex calculation
Introduction
This project is about designing and implementing a Solar Tracking system. This system will be used to track and follow the sun during the daytime in order to increase the power which is absorbs by the panels. Since our country is under energy crisis due to shortage of electricity of which main reason is shortage of water and its storage(dams) so we have to find out alternatives of energy sources. The vast and complex system by which energy is produced and used is increasingly at the heart of environment and economic challenges facing the world.
Our country is heavily dependent on highly polluting fossil fuels, particularly coal and oil. Most of which has to be imported. thus reducing the use of fossil fuels is essential for India’s long term economic and long term well being.
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 microcontroller 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) Tracking software.
5) Output mechanical transducer (stepper motor).
We will complete our discussion
Phase I-SOLAR TRACKER
Phase II-MICROCONTROLLER (AT89C51)
Phase II-STEPPER MOTOR
Phase III-DRIVER CIRCUIT (ULN2003)
4.OBJECTIVE:
Commercial made solar trackers are a nice addition to any solar panel array. They help increase the time that panels directly face the sun and allow them to produce their maximum power. Unfortunately they can be expensive to buy. We decided to make our own solar tracker to see if we could reduce the cost. We did not want to re-invent the wheel but wanted to make it more affordable. We started out small and came up with the idea of solar tracking using time instead of using a device that would sense where the sun is and move the panels toward it.
4.1Need for this project
Solar energy basically comes in the form of light and heat and has to be converted to electrical energy. The transducer used is a special semiconductor diode called a photovoltaic cell. These cells are usually made of silicon (si), selenium (se), cadmium sulphate (cds) and cadmium telluride (cite). Light falling on the junction induces a potential difference between the two electrodes, electrons are thus mobilized and an external circuit can be driven. More power can be generated out of these cells by increasing the intensity of light falling on them. This can be achieved by keeping the cells perpendicular to the light source. Beside this to make more precisely the use of energy produced from this system we need a such system which would continuously monitor and deliver the information about all the equipment we will install as load.
The Solar Panel.
Solar cells are usually in the form of very thin flat wafers. A number are connected in series or parallel and mounted on flat board to form what is know is Solar panel. Solar panel work by by converting Sun’s energy into electrical energy which is stored in battery. A charge controller between battery and solar panel which protect the battery from over charging. The energy can be taken out of the battery as required(12 or 24 V DC)using a transformer to convert to 220/240 V if required
Design Optimization.
Since we have to track the Sun this means that motor driving the motor continuously but as the motor receiving the power from panel, so the continuous running off the motor will cause the efficiency it suffer a great deal so in order to achieve the maximum efficiency. We have to design our tracker in such a way that the motor consume minimum power so we had to different ways to handle situation.
First was by using the stepper motor in which timing algorithm is implemented.
Second was by using DC motor in which direction is controlled by LDR sensors.
We select the second method because of its efficiency, in terms of not consuming the power continuously even in cloudy weather it is efficient also it don’t need a long and complex calculation
