AUTOMATIC SUN TRACKING

SYSTEM

Department of Mechanical Engineering

DHANEKULA INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING &TECHNOLOGY
Affiliated to JNTUK - Approved By AICTE
Accredited: NBA & NAAC

Presented by : Under the Esteemed Guidance of

BAYISETTI.MANIKANTA 178T1A0308
Mr .M. Rama Gopal M.Tech
GHANTA.SUNEEL 188T5A0317
KODAMANCHILI.MANI DEEPTTHI 178T1A0331 Assistant Professor
MALLADI.KARTHIK 178T1A0338
CONTENTS:

 Introduction

 Literature Review
 Abstract

 Components
 Components functions

 Working procedure

 Working principle
 Results and graphs
INTRODUCTION:
Solar panels are hence used to utilize solar power in electrical means. They
are aligned different arenas to collect maximum solar power. Though, solar
panels can be used to absorb or collect solar power, there work is bounded
to certain hours of the day and the sunlight pouring directly on them,
i.e. the angle between the sunrays and the panel is orthogonal. While at
other hours of the day, the angle of the sunrays is different, hence the
amount of the solar power captured is very less.
To overcome such pitfalls, and encapsulate the maximum available of solar
energy the solar tracking systems were introduced. A solar tracking system is
designed with the intention of keeping the angle between the sunrays and
the solar array 90°.
The solar tracking system have three different modules-
• The mechanism
• Driving motors
• The tracking controller.
The mechanism is accountable to furnish with accurate
movements, in the sake of following the footsteps of the sun
throughout the day. The prototype of the device is made durable
enough to withstand unfavorable weather condition. This
mechanism of the solar tracking systems classifies themselves
into two segments single axis tracker, dual axis tracker.Single axis
tracking can be considered as one of the handy systems or prime
solution in terms of small-scale photovoltaic power plants. Single
axis tracking can be done using three different arrangements,
which are based on the different axes of tracking-
• Inclined shaft installation
• South-North axis horizontal installation
• East-West axis horizontal installation.
Literature review:
• This paper describes the complete design and construction of a microcontroller based automatic
solar panel tracking system. The solar panel is fixed and no automatic tracking of sun light based
on its intensity. The System architecture made up of a LDR sensor senses max solar power which
is being given to the Arduino which digitizes the LDR output. Its active sensors constantly
monitor the sunlight and rotate the panel towards the direction where the intensity of sunlight is
maximum. Due to rotation of earth, panels can’t maintain their position always in front of sun. An
automated system is required which should be capable to constantly rotate solar panel. A unique
feature of this system is that instead of taking the earth as its reference, it takes sun as a guidance.

• This paper explains about the effects of global warming and how can we take advantage
from this effect like how the Solar energy is used for electrical energy generation. Solar tracking
System is based on AVR microcontroller, which is a brain of a complete system. This controller
will monitor and control the intensity and rotation respectively.
• This system is more cost effective and efficient. System installation is
easy. But the trackers are complex than the fixed solar systems.

• This paper includes a solar array, solar frame and two actuators,
and also it is a dual-axis solar tracker capable in extreme weather
conditions. It has mechanically linked solar trackers in a large
configuration of solar array, so that they can operate in unison way.
This solar observe the radiation and send to the photovoltaic cell to
convert the power from AC to DC. And it as a moveable technology of
solar panels to expose with sun throughout the day.
 ABSTRACT:

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). In remote areas the sun is a cheap
source of electricity because instead of hydraulic generators it uses solar cells to produce electricity. While the
output of solar cells depends on the intensity of sunlight and the angle of incidence. It means to get maximum
efficiency; the solar panels1 must remain in front of sun during the whole day. But due to rotation of earth those
panels can’t maintain their position always in front of sun. This problem results in decrease of their efficiency. Thus
to get a constant output, an automated system is required which should be capable to constantly rotate the solar
panel. The Automatic Sun Tracking System (ASTS) was made as a prototype to solve the problem, mentioned above.
It is completely automatic and keeps the panel in front of sun until that is visible. The unique feature of this system
is that instead of taking the earth as its reference, it takes the sun as a guiding source. Its active sensors constantly
monitor the sunlight and rotate the panel towards the direction where the intensity of sunlight is maximum. In case
the sun gets invisible e.g. in cloudy weather, then without tracking the sun the ASTS keeps rotating the solar panel
in opposite direction to the rotation of earth. But its speed of rotation is same as that of earth’s rotation2. Due to
this property when after some time e.g. half an hour when the sun again gets visible, the solar panel is exactly in
front of sun. Moreover the system can manage the errors and also provides the error messages on the LCD display.
In manual mode, through the software (GUI) at computer, the solar panel can be rotated at any desired angle.
 COMPONENTS:

o Aurdino uno

o Ldr module

o Lcd

o DC motor

o Solar panel

o Ultrasonic sensor

o Rectifier

o Transformer

o Relay
 Aurdino uno:

• The Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the

ATmega328 (datasheet). It has 14 digital input/output pins (of
which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz
crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header,
and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the
microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable
or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started. The
Uno differs from all preceding boards in that it does not use the
FTDI USB-to-serial driver chip. Instead, it features the Atmega8U2
programmed as a USB-to-serial converter. "Uno" means one in
Italian and is named to mark the upcoming release of Arduino 1.0.
The Uno and version 1.0 will be the reference versions of Arduno,
moving forward. The Uno is the latest in a series of USB Arduino
boards, and the reference model for the Arduino platform;
Aurdino uno
 LDR MODULE:
(LIGHT DEPENDENT RESISTOR)

o An LDR is an input transducer (sensor) which converts brightness (light) to resistance. It

is made from cadmium sulphide (CdS) and the resistance decreases as the brightness of
light falling on the LDR increases.
o LDR’s or Light Dependent Resistors are very useful especially in light/dark sensor
circuits. Normally the resistance of an LDR is very high, sometimes as high as 1,000,000
ohms, but when they are illuminated with light, the resistance drops dramatically.

o Thus in this project, LDR plays an important role in controlling the electrical appliances
based on the intensity of light i.e., if the intensity of light is more (during daytime) the
loads will be in off condition. And if the intensity of light is less (during nights), the loads
will be switched on
LDR: (LIGHT DEPENDENT RESISTOR)
 LCD:

o The HD44780U dot-matrix liquid crystal display controller and driver LSI displays
alphanumerics, Japanese kana characters, and symbols. It can be configured to drive a
dot-matrix liquid crystal display under the control of a 4- or 8-bit microprocessor. Since
all the functions such as display RAM, character generator, and liquid crystal driver,
required for driving a dot-matrix liquid crystal display are internally provided on one chip,
a minimal system can be interfaced with this controller/driver. A single HD44780U can
display up to one 8-character line or two 8-character lines
 DC MOTOR:

• The speed of a DC motor is directly proportional to the supply voltage, so if we reduce the
supply voltage from 12 Volts to 6 Volts, the motor will run at half the speed. How can this
be achieved when the battery is fixed at 12 Volts? The speed controller works by varying
the average voltage sent to the motor. It could do this by simply adjusting the voltage sent
to the motor, but this is quite inefficient to do. A better way is to switch the motor's supply
on and off very quickly. If the switching is fast enough, the motor doesn't notice it, it only
notices the average effect.

o When the switch is closed, the motor sees 12 Volts, and when it is open it sees 0 Volts. If
the switch is open for the same amount of time as it is closed, the motor will see an
average of 6 Volts, and will run more slowly accordingly.
 SOLAR PANEL:
o The solar cell is composed of the semiconductors of the P-N junctions [10-11]. It can
convert light into electric energy. Therefore we can assume that electricity produced using
sunlight shining on the solar cell can be used like common electricity.
 ULTRASONIC SENSOR:

• An ultrasonic sensor is an electronic device that measures the distance of a target object
by emitting ultrasonic sound waves, and converts the reflected sound into an electrical
signal. Ultrasonic waves travel faster than the speed of audible sound (i.e. the sound that
humans can hear). Ultrasonic sensors have two main components: the transmitter (which
emits the sound using piezoelectric crystals) and the receiver (which encounters the sound
after it has travelled to and from the target).
• RECTIFIER:

The output from the transformer is fed to the rectifier. It converts A.C. into pulsating D.C.
The rectifier may be a half wave or a full wave rectifier. In this project, a bridge rectifier
is used because of its merits like good stability and full wave rectification.

• The Bridge rectifier is a circuit, which converts an ac voltage to dc voltage using both half
cycles of the input ac voltage. The Bridge rectifier circuit is shown in the figure. The
circuit has four diodes connected to form a bridge. The ac input voltage is applied to the
diagonally opposite ends of the bridge. The load resistance is connected between the other
two ends of the bridge.
 TRANSFORMER:

o Usually, DC voltages are required to operate various electronic equipment and these
voltages are 5V, 9V or 12V. But these voltages cannot be obtained directly. Thus the a.c
input available at the mains supply i.e., 230V is to be brought down to the required
voltage level. This is done by a transformer. Thus, a step down transformer is employed to
decrease the voltage to a required level.
 RELAY:
• A relay can be defined as a switch. Switches are generally used to close or open the circuit
manually.

Working of Relay
 Relay works on the principle of electromagnetic induction.
 When the electromagnet is applied with some current it induces a magnetic field around it.
 Above image shows working of the relay. A switch is used to apply DC current to the load.
 In the relay Copper coil and the iron core acts as electromagnet.
 When the coil is applied with DC current it starts attracting the contact as shown. This is
called energizing of relay.
 When the supply is removed it retrieves back to the original position. This is called De
energizing of relay.
o lly. Relay is also a switch that connects or disconnects two circuits.
Working procedure:

1. The figure depicts the notion for the instalment of the light dependent
resistors (LDR). A secure state is attained when the light intensities of
the two LDR become the same. The principal source of light energy,
the Sun, moves from east to west. This movement of the Sun causes
the variation in the level of light intensities falling on the two LDRs.
The designed algorithm compares the variation in the light intensities
inside the microcontroller and the motor then is operated to rotate the
solar panel, so it moves aligned with the trail of the light source.
2. The two LDRs are attached with two sides of the panel. One LDR on the east
side of the panel and other on the west side. The two LDRs are connected to
the microcontroller. Based on the amount of intensity of light falls on the LDRs,
the microcontroller decides the direction in which the panel rotates.
• The stepper motor is connected to solar panel and microcontroller. The microcontroller
controls the rotation of the stepper motor. Two switches are connected on the panel
stand. When the panel rotates and touches the switch, the microcontroller stops the
rotation of the motor. This helps the solar panel not to face the ground .So that the
panel will always face upwards to track the sunlight. The electrical energy from the
panel is stored in battery. There is no external power supply needed for stepper motor
and microcontroller. A part of power from the battery is converted from DC to AC using
inverter.

• Which is then given to microcontroller and stepper motor. The solar water pump is
attached to the battery. Since the pump works on DC power supply, it is straightly
attached to the battery. No conversion of DC to AC is needed for the working of pump.
The pump is attached to relay. The soil moisture detector senses the level of water in
the tank. When there is no enough water, soil moisture detector sends signal to relay to
switch on the pump.
THANK YOU