Solar Health Monitoring System
Solar systems are the talk of the town these days. Everyone seems to be equally impressed by the systems. And why shouldn?t they be! For solar systems provide sufficient amount of clean energy at low cost. One of our group members has had the experience of working with a solar company for a s
2025-06-28 16:29:35 - Adil Khan
Solar Health Monitoring System
Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject SummarySolar systems are the talk of the town these days. Everyone seems to be equally impressed by the systems. And why shouldn’t they be! For solar systems provide sufficient amount of clean energy at low cost.
One of our group members has had the experience of working with a solar company for a short amount of time. In his internship, he used to accompany the company’s staff in their visits whenever they were called upon to install, refurbish or investigate any underlying cause for a certain problem in the solar system. In that tenure, one thing he observed on their visits was constant i.e. an unrelenting dissatisfaction about the performance of the solar system from the its users. They always used to complain about their solar system’s eroding efficiency with the passage of time. For the admirers and new buyers, it was an acquaintance’s advice and for old users, it was first hand experience.
The company had to come up with a solution for this ever-growing confusion about whether to invest in the solar systems or not. After all, there lives and sustenance depended on it. And For that part, they decided to do a little survey. From then onwards, whenever they went on an inspection of a system, they started enumerating the possible causes that may cause potential lapse in the solar system outputs. Following are the findings they agreed on.
1) Dust accumulation
2) Undetected faulty PVC
3) Misalignment of the solar panels with the sun
These are the 3 main reasons they decided on in their survey. Our friend who had been working with them came to us with these findings. We sat to discuss and concluded on building a project that would cater to these abovementioned problems and will ensure maximum output from a solar system.
The project will consist of 5 different modules that’ll solve 5 different solar problems using sensors, capacitors, LDRs, etc.
1.Sun tracking:
2.Weather forecast:
3.Battery backup(backup time estimation):
4.PVC cleaning(maintenance):
5.Faulty PVC detection:
Project ObjectivesFollowing are the primary objectives of the study and the project.
1) To lay open the possible factors affecting the output of solar systems.
2) To design an electrical project that caters to solving the identified problems re solar systems.
3) To encourage usage of solar systems on domestic as well as commercial level.
4) To help the world in this global climate crisis in making a shift from conventional power generation methods to newer and cleaner energy sources.
5) To help developing countries like Pakistan in tackling electricity shortfall that results in forced load shedding and industrial disruptions leading to reduced production.
Project Implementation MethodThe system design and implementation method is quite simple. The system will comprise of five different modules that’ll feed their recorded information to an Arduino Uno R3. The Arduino will be connected to a computer using UART communication wire. UART stands for universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter. UART is the most common serial communication technique used around the world. The computer will have a program running on it that is able to give input to the system and record outputs of the system. The system will feature sun tracking, weather forecast, scheduled PVC clean clock, remaining battery backup and faulty PVC indicator.
For sun tracking purpose, the solar panel will be mounted on a servo motor that’ll be made to track sun over the whole day through an angle of 180°.
Weather forecast for the next week will be obtained by connecting an antenna directly to the weather satellite present in space.
For scheduled PVC cleaning, the system will be tuned to a certain time when it’ll ask the user if he has or has not cleaned the PVCs. Over the weeks, it’ll record the whole schedule of the PVC cleaning and keep record of it.
The system will be able to tell how much the batteries are charged and how much time can operate.
And to detect faults, the system will record if even after scheduled cleaning and all the mandatory maintenance, the output is still low, they system will notify you about some fault in the whole system.
We live in the times of climate distress. Decades of misguided energies have deteriorated the world and its atmosphere to a point where we come across news of a natural disaster every other day. From floods to volcanic eruptions to tsunamis, natural disasters are wreaking havoc in the world. Situation has never been this dire. Earth’s temperature is rising with each passing year. Glaciers are melting at expedited pace. Where there are a lot of factors causing the crisis, power generation stands at the pinnacle of it all. The engines we use in our vehicles to the methods we are using for electricity generation, all of them are a leading cause of climate deterioration.
What we need is course correction. We need to be shifting to environmental friendly technologies for our electricity needs. This is where solar systems come in. Solar energy is one of the most clean source of electricity available on this earth. There are no emissions, neither heat nor harmful gases as in the case of coal, gas turbines. That is why, we need to be encouraging people to go for solar energy for their needs.
The study we’ve done helps people better understand solar systems and the misconceptions associated with them. The study will go a long way in promoting the employment of solar systems for electricity production, be it domestic or industrial.
Talking about the scope of the conducted study and project, the study will help demystify the misconceptions attributed to the usage of solar systems. While the project technology will present them with an option of practical solution to their solar system problems.
Since solar systems are a novel technology that people are not much familiar with, they are reluctant towards moving ahead with their plans for procurement of the system. The study is focused on educating them on the problems that surround solar systems. Moreover, they will be able to see to them(problems) with our designed technology.
Solar systems provide clean and cheap electricity and are employable at both domestic as well as commercial level. If we could help encourage people to opt for it, this would mean so much to the world and its atmosphere. In this time of global climate crisis, we need to be finding alternatives to our conventional power generation technologies. Solar systems do just that and that also on low prices. So we need to encourage the use of solar systems.
The project will consist of 5 different modules that’ll solve 5 different solar problems using sensors, capacitors, LDRs, etc.
1.Sun tracking:
The solar panel will be mounted on a servo motor that’ll move the panel through 180 degrees as the sun moves in the sky. We’ll be using LDRs sensors to measure the angle to which the panel needs to rotate.
2.Weather forecast:
The system will come with a built in receiver antenna that’ll be directly connected to a weather satellite in the space. This module will predict weather forecast of the upcoming week so as to let you know when there’ll be sunlight or not and if you need to make alternative arrangements for your energy requirements.
3.Battery backup(backup time estimation):
The software will tell you about the percentage charging of the batteries and the time the battery backup can satiate your electricity needs. The system will update you about the load applied on it in KWs.
4.PVC cleaning(maintenance):
The software will prepare a log file to keep record of the times the dust was cleared or routine maintenance was performed. The software will give you weekly notifications asking if you’ve cleaned PVC or not.
5.Faulty PVC detection:
The system can detect if there is a faulty PVC in the whole apparatus. For that, the system will check if, for prolonged time, the recorded output is less than the systems capacity even after performing dust cleaning and other maintenance tasks. You’ll get a notification to check where the fault lies so that you locate it and fix the it.
All the data will be fed into the Arduino and the Arduino will be connected to a computer using UART communication cable.
| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 30380 | |||
| Solar panels | Equipment | 3 | 2250 | 6750 |
| Batteries | Equipment | 3 | 1000 | 3000 |
| Arduino Uno R3 | Equipment | 1 | 1950 | 1950 |
| LDRs | Equipment | 10 | 100 | 1000 |
| UART cable | Equipment | 1 | 2500 | 2500 |
| Antenna | Equipment | 1 | 2500 | 2500 |
| Servo motor | Equipment | 1 | 580 | 580 |
| Capacitors | Equipment | 10 | 50 | 500 |
| Resistors | Equipment | 10 | 50 | 500 |
| Diodes | Equipment | 5 | 100 | 500 |
| Wires | Equipment | 20 | 30 | 600 |
| Extra charges | Miscellaneous | 1 | 10000 | 10000 |