Design and Fabrication or simulation IOT based maximum solar power tracking system

Project Title

Design and Fabrication or simulation IOT based maximum solar power tracking system

Project Area of Specialization Mechatronics EngineeringProject Summary

The main goal of this project is to design a very precise solar tracker and share the information through IOT. In this work sensing of the sun position carried out in two stages primary and secondary. Primary stage or indirect sensing performed via sun-earth relationship as a coarse adjustment and second stage or direct sensing performed via set of LDR sensors as output tuning to trims the azimuth and altitude angles. If the weather is cloudy or dusty, the tracking system uses primary stage or sun-earth geometrical relationships only to identify the location of the sun; so the system tracks the position of the sun regardless the weather condition. The energy extracted from photovoltaic (PV) or any solar collector depends on solar irradiance. For maximum extraction of energy from the sun, the solar collector panel should always be normal to the incident radiation Solar trackers moves the solar collector to follow the sun path and keeps the orientation of the solar collector at an optimal tilt angle. Solar tracking system improves substantially the energy efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) panel. The project is divided into two parts; hardware and software. Hardware part generally composed of solar panel, two gear motors, LDR sensor module, temperature sensor, humidity sensor and electronic circuit. Software part represents the thinking behaviour of the system, that is how the system acting under several weather conditions. In this paper, an automatic solar tracking system is designed and developed using Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) and DC motors on a mechanical structure with gear arrangement 

Project Objectives

Project concept aims at extracting maximum power from solar panel by using light sensors (LDR’S) and by the status of LDR’s the panel rotates with the help of dc Motor in any direction and if the sunlight is more in any direction then it rotates to that direction.  The panel is also provided with temperature sensor, humidity sensor, Voltage sensor and Current sensor. The sensors sense the respective parameters and data is sent to the monitoring unit.

Project Implementation Method

6.1 HARDWARE DESIGN:

The developed experimental prototype consists mainly of the PV system including the battery, sensors and the dual core ESP32 controller

6.1.1 Photovoltaic System

The photovoltaic system in this experimental setup consists of PV panel, Solar Inverter and lithium battery.

6.1.2 PV panel:

The PV panels consist of a set of parallel and series PV cells that convert the sun light into DC electrical energy. A PV Panel (Mono crystalline) of size (147.1 x 66.6 x 3.5) cm is capable to generate 150 W of power and 12 V of voltage .

6.1.3 DC Load:

Charging battery will be used in this project as according to solar panel.

Measurement Sensors:

The measurement sensors network in the presented application involves two mean sensors that sense three physical signals: Current, Voltage, and temperature.

6.1.4 Current/voltage sensor:

This a smart sensor that sense, makes also filtering and analog to digital conversion.

INA219 sensor is a current and power sensor.

6.1.5 Temperature sensor:

 The sensor DHT11 is a low cost temperature and humidity sensor, which is widely used in embedded projects. Its temperature range is from 0 to 50 degrees Celsius with ± 2 degrees accuracy. DHT11has good quality, fast response time and provides high stability. For temperature measurement, it has a thermistor embedded in it, which measure temperature. To ensure the accuracy of measurements, this sensor was also calibrated using another trustworthy thermometer.

6.1.6 ESP32 based controller:

ESP32 is a low-cost, low-power consumption system-on chip (SOC) microcontroller, with integrated Wi-Fi and dual mode Bluetooth and low power support, all in a single chip. This board is selected because it reduces the cost of the monitoring system and thanks to its high processing performances.

6.2. SOFTWARE DESIGN:

Proteus:

The Proteus Design Suite is a proprietary software tool suite used primarily for electronic circuit diagram. The software is used mainly by electronic design engineers and technicians to create schematics and electronic prints for manufacturing printed structure boards.

Benefits of the Project

 The presence of this device is extremely important because the sun’s position varies from time to time. And the position of the sun will often vary with the season and the elevation and dependent as well on the time of the day. And this is where the solar tracker comes in the picture. This solar powered equipment will make the solar panel work better and with efficiency since this will be pointed directly to the sun with the help of the tracker.

  It can be used most effectively in areas with low horizons and locations that are shade free from dawn to dusk each day. Throughout the year the tracking array will be able to utilize the wide open access to gain every available electron from the sun. This way, energy production is at an optimum and energy output is increased year round. 

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Solar tracking sytem capable of providing AC current for the domestic appliances.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry Energy Other Industries Others Core Technology Internet of Things (IoT)Other Technologies RoboticsSustainable Development Goals Affordable and Clean EnergyRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	80000
Solar panels	Equipment	2	10000	20000
Sensors(LDR,Humidity, Temperature etc ))	Equipment	10	700	7000
DC motors and drive	Equipment	2	4000	8000
Battery(12 V)(60 AMP))	Equipment	1	8000	8000
ESP 32 (Microcontroller)	Equipment	1	5000	5000
Design	Equipment	1	4000	4000
solar inverter	Equipment	1	18000	18000
Fabrication	Miscellaneous	1	9000	9000
documentation	Miscellaneous	1	1000	1000