Automatic Solar Tracking System

As we know, sun is a one of the most important component in this world. Without sun, it is impossible for a human or living creature to live in this world. Humans nowadays feel uncomforted about the global warming situation. Even this kind of situation bring a lot of negative perception, they s

Project Title

Automatic Solar Tracking System

Project Area of Specialization

Computer Science

Project Summary

As we know, sun is a one of the most important component in this world. Without sun, it is impossible for a human or living creature to live in this world. Humans nowadays feel uncomforted about the global warming situation. Even this kind of situation bring a lot of negative perception, they should have to think it through the positive way. One of the way to reduce the global warming is to reduce the utilizing of electrical voltage and change to a natural voltage source like wind, rain, tides, sunlight and geothermal heats. So, the engineers try to create a new device that can convert the natural energy to an electrical energy like solar panel for sunlight energy, wind turbines for wind energy, water turbines. The problem that still exists now is the device that invests by an engineer. For example, the solar panel that many of the users use is only in a one way direction. If the sun located at the direction that is not perpendicular to the solar panel, the power that can be generate is low compare to the when the sun located exactly perpendicular to the solar panel. The sun is rotate from east to west but the highest power that can be generate by the solar panel is when location of sun is perpendicular to the solar panel. So the power that can be use in the night day is quite short. So, the project that I will do is called ‘Automatic Solar tracking System’. This is because the sunlight can generate a clean and free power. This project helps for power generation by setting the equipment to get maximum sunlight automatically. This system will detect the maximum intensity of light. When there is decrease in intensity of light, this system will automatically change it direction using a motor to get a maximum intensity of light.

Project Objectives

The objectives for the solar tracker are as follows:

• Track the sun across the sky within a 5º margin of error. Ability to manually rotate the tracker with the use of a controller along the full ecliptic.
• The apparatus should also be able to display the power output of each cell. While the tracking is required for daylight hours, after sunset it should reset to the sunrise location and not follow the solar path when there is no sunlight to collect. The manual override only applies when the solar panels are being used for informative purposes. Also, the design needs to be reliable, needing little maintenance.
• To design a project that can detect and compare the intensity of light.
• To design a project that able to move a stepper motor based on the intensity of light and show the direction/angle of solar panel.

Project Implementation Method

A solar tracking cell generates current when incident light falls on its surface. The amount of current generated is proportional to the light and is determined by the flux density. In Simulink, the model of solar cell can be found in the library of Sources in SimElectronics. This block models a solar cell as a parallel combination of a current source, two exponential diodes and a parallel resistor, that are connected with a series resistances.

When LDR2 receives more light than LDR1, it offers lower resistance than LDR1, providing a high input to comparators A1 and A2 at pins 4 and 7, respectively. As a result, output pin 1 of comparator A2 goes high to rotate motor M1 in one direction (say, anti-clockwise) and turn the solar panel.

When LDR1 receives more light than LDR2, it offers lower resistance than LDR2, giving a low input to comparators A1 and A2 at pins 4 and 7, respectively. As the voltage at pin 5 of comparator A1 is now higher than the voltage at its pin 4, its output pin 2 goes high. As a result, motor M1 rotates in the opposite direction (say, clock-wise) and the solar panel turns.

Benefits of the Project

• Higher accuracy Longer active functioning time.
• Better lifetime for solar cells Applicability for different applications
• It is more reliable.
• It is ideal for companies with a lower budget or generally cloudy areas.
• It is nearly 40-50% efficient compared to a fixed tracker mount panel.
• It will follow the Sun from east-west to provide consistent power all days.
• It generates 15-20% higher annual power as compared to static station.
• It provides the highest density of Photovoltaic (PV) panel placement per square.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

It can be concluded that these results have met the initial goals of the project, and the functionality of device has sufficed the design requirements. Also practical performance of the system is in accordance with theoretical background knowledge. The solar tracker, however, was yet to be a perfect device without drawbacks and limitations. In the first implementation, the obstruction of motor cables was a bothersome shortcoming. Twisting of cables limited the rotation of stepper motors, and prevented the tracker from operation every now and then. This had been resolved in the upgraded 0.0 200.0 400.0 600.0 800.0 1000.0 1200.0 09:30 11:30 13:30 15:30 17:30 19:30 Output Power [W] Time of day [hh:mm] Fixed Mount, 100 ? Load TTDAT, 100 ? Load Fixed Mount, 450 ? Load TTDAT, 450 ? Load Linear (Fixed Mount, 100 ? Load) Linear (TTDAT, 100 ? Load) 36 design, with the use of additional measuring hardware and modifications of the microcontroller program. Although absolute resolution for this problem requires rearrangement of stepper motors and the mounting configuration of control board, the approach was not studied in the scope of this project. The limited utilisation of stepper motors was also a factor that affected the precision of the device. In the manufacturer’s specifications, the motors were rated about 24 steps per rotation. However, different programming approaches of controlling the motor drivers had succeeded at only 12 steps per rotation. This resulted in imperfect aligning function of the tracker, where misalignment could be up to 15 degrees or energy loss of 3.4%. The incorrect alignment also activated more frequent realignments, which drew more energy. In actual commercial projects, it is recommended to using high quality motors for better precision.

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Energy

Other Industries

Others

Core Technology

Others

Other Technologies

Clean Tech

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People, Affordable and Clean Energy

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com