Design and development of a PLC based solar tracking system

Today era is the era of green and sustainable energy and researchers have focused their potentials and studies towards the field of renewable energy, because of some serious environmental issues, climate changes and inefficiencies related to conventional non- renewable energy resources. Renewable en

Project Title

Design and development of a PLC based solar tracking system

Project Area of Specialization

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Project Summary

Today era is the era of green and sustainable energy and researchers have focused their potentials and studies towards the field of renewable energy, because of some serious environmental issues, climate changes and inefficiencies related to conventional non- renewable energy resources. Renewable energy is the key to a more sustainable future --- which is free of fossil fuels. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency Global grid-connected solar capacity reached 580.1 GW at the end of 2019, along with 3.4 GW of off grid PV and recent research shows that covering 0.22% of earth surface with PV panels having efficiency of 8% would be more than enough to fulfill current global power demand. Thus for this, solar energy generation is important as a renewable and efficient energy source, but solar energy has some drawbacks because it is not constant and exhibit varying dynamics, uncertainties and nonlinearities and some aspects of its variability is difficult to predict and therefore some controlled tracking methodologies are required to solve these issues effectively. This project will address some of the above mentioned challenges, and will increase the photovoltaic panel efficiency up to 35% by using a PLC base active and chronological type dual axis solar tracking system. Optical sensors (LDRs) will sense the intensity of solar irradiance and comparators will give voltage difference of two LDRs---N-S and E-W to the PLC and then PLC will issue a signal to the Stepper DC motors to rotate the system according to the situation. In case of clouds a switch will switched the system from active to chronological and using solar azimuth and altitude angles data, PLC will track the sun with the help of Stepper motors, and therefore a 35% power gain will be obtained compared to fixed solar panel.

Project Objectives

The aims of this project are as follows:

• To study and review previous works done on solar tracking system using PLCs.
• To understand the working and programing of PLCs and its interfacing on actuators and sensors with PLCs.
• To devise an optimal sun tracking algorithm
• To build an experimental prototype and implement our sun tracking algorithm on the PLC.
• To obtain results from the experiments to support our theory

Figure: Gantt Chart of our project

Project Implementation Method

Our project will be implemented by using the Active tracking method as a primary where the method will incorporate 4 LDR/Photodiodes that determines the sun’s position. These sensors then feed the data to a microcontroller or a PLC that determines the course of action and sends the command to the motors and actuators to turn the solar panel as to correctly follow the sun in order to maximize the energy output of the solar panels. The basic algorithm for this is that the 4 light sensors feed data to the microcontroller/PLC which compares the sensors and sends the command to the driver motors to move the panel towards the direction where the light sensor receives less sunlight intensity. The algorithm is fed to the microcontroller/PLC through its respective software where coding is done for it. 

Figure: Block diagram for Active System Tracking

As a backup to this project, we will use the chronological tracking method during the adverse conditions where the Active tracking method will not perform as required. A chronological tracking system is time-based tracking system where the module rotates at a fixed angle per unit time for the whole day and is set-up for different months. Usually the rate of angle of rotation is 15° per hour.

Benefits of the Project

Our project focuses on increasing the efficiency of current solar energy generation. We use active tracking method and chronological tracking method to do so and implement these two techniques using the PLC. The usage of both the primary active tracking method and the backup chronological method provides us with a hybrid solar tracking system that will work even in stormy conditions where the active tracking method will fail to perform properly. 

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Our deliverable project will perform an accurate and efficient tracking of the sun during the day time and will be configured to work during stormy conditions through the chronological tracking method that we will implement in our PLC to move the panel as intended even during low light conditions. 

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Energy

Other Industries

Core Technology

Others

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Affordable and Clean Energy

Required Resources

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