Automatic Sun Tracking System for Street light applications

Aim of the Project

Implementation of the automatic street light

application by using solar panel using efficient power management concept.

Solar energy is the most readily available source

of energy. It is free. It is also the most important of the non-conventional sources of energy because it is non-polluting.
By using ARM 7 TDMI (LPC2148) microcontroller

we can control the system to capture the maximum energy from sun light in day time.

Basic Principle of Design

Solar photo voltaic (SPV). Can be used to generate

electricity form the sun.

Silicon solar cells play an important role in generation of

electricity.
While the output of solar cells depends on the intensity of

sunlight and the angle of incidence. The solar panels must remain in front of sun during the whole day.
But due to rotation of earth those panels cant maintain

their position always in front of sun. This problem results in decrease of their efficiency.
Thus to get a constant output, we are implementing an

automated system which should be capable to constantly

Existing Methods
Microcontroller based systems can be existing

but they dont have Automatic Sun Tracking System by getting the maximum power in the day time.
By using the LPC2148 Microcontroller we are

overcome the above problem and make the system intelligently according to our requirements with a less complexity .

Proposed Solution
Using LPC2148 controller we can implement

the intelligent system.

The unique feature of this system is that

instead of taking the earth as its reference, it takes the sun as a guiding source. By using RTC and LDR sensors constantly monitor the sunlight and rotate the panel towards the direction where the intensity of sunlight is maximum.

Specifications
Solar Panel Specifications:
3 watts power 12 V output voltage 200 mA current

Automatic Sun Tracking System using LPC2148

Basic Block Diagram
RTC LPC2148 LCD Display
Sensor unit

+5 V

Geared motor Driver

Light Sensor

Battery

Solar Panel

Mechanical arrangement

TOOLS

Hardware Tools
ARM 7 (LPC2148) controller unit Solar panel

Geared motor
Mechanical item to drive the solar panels LCD Display.

Software Tools
To implement this project we are using Embedded

C language to write the code in Keiluvision4 to execute the code

Philips Flash Magic to dump the program in to

LPC2148 controller

Why LPC2148 Microcontroller?

Due to their tiny size and low power consumption,

LPC21418 are ideal for applications.

A blend of serial communications interfaces ranging from a

USB 2.0 Full Speed device, multiple UARTs, SPI, SSP to I2Cs, and on-chip SRAM of 8 kB up to 40 kB, make these devices very well suited for communication gateways and protocol converters, soft modems, voice recognition and low end imaging, providing both large buffer size and high processing power.
The basic function of LPC2148 controller is read the time

from RTC according to that time it set the angle of the solar panel.

Pin Description

Solar Panel
Solar photo voltaic (SPV). Can be used to generate

electricity form the sun. Silicon solar cells play an important role in generation of electricity. Solar cells Characteristics. Isc-short circuit current. Voc-open circuit voltage. Peak power.

Isc

How solar cells Generate electricity

From Cells to Modules

The open circuit voltage of a single solar cell is approx 0.5V. Much higher voltage is required for practical application. Solar cells are connected in series to increase its open circuit voltage.

RTC (Real Time Clock )

Real time clock counts seconds, minutes,

hours, valid up to 2100

Consumes less than 500nA in battery backup

mode with oscillator running

This RTC unit is driven by a LiCd Battery of

3V
The date and time collected in LPC2148

Microcontroller using 2-wire serial interface (I2C Protocol) for tracking purpose.

LCD Display
This module used for display the present

status of the system. This is interface to 4 bit mode with LPC2148 controller Here we are using 16X2 LCD The LCD Part number is: JHD162A

Advantages
The advantage of this unit is that to run the

system it does not need computer

Solar cells directly convert the solar

radiation into electricity using photovoltaic effect without going through a thermal process.
During the winter the sun has a low

position , tracking angle from sunrise to sunset is shortened.

 The plant will not driven up to the final

position but just to that position at which really sets, therefore saving of power. Depending on the radiation intensity, it may sinks under a predefined value for instance at dusk , when the sky is cloudy, tracking is interrupted.

Applications
Street light applications with out using

normal power supplies.

In Remote areas implementing a small

power systems units at each home.

Using this system to getting hot water

Thank You