International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)

Volume 4 Issue 2, February 2020 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470

Automatic Solar Tracking System

J. Lavanya1, K. Saiswaroop2, M. Naveen3, K. Vijetha4
1,2,3UG
Student, 4Associate Professor,
1, 2, 3, 4Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,

Audisankara College of Engineering and Technology, Gudur, Andhra Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT How to cite this paper: J. Lavanya | K.

Solar energy is very important means of expanding renewable energy Saiswaroop | M. Naveen | K. Vijetha
resources. In this paper is described the design and construction of a "Automatic Solar Tracking System"
microcontroller based solar panel tracking system. Solar is a nonconventional Published in
source of energy, considering this we have developed solar panels so that we International Journal
can fulfill our electricity need. But due to revolution of the earth, solar source of Trend in Scientific
i.e. sun does not face the panel continuously hence less electricity is produced. Research and
The energy panel should face the SUN till it is present in a day. The problem Development
above can be solved by our system by automatic tracking the solar energy. The (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-
block diagram below shows system architecture it consist of a LDR sensor 6470, Volume-4 | IJTSRD29929
senses max solar power which is being given to the Microcontroller through Issue-2, February
the ADC which digitizes the LDR output. 2020, pp.137-142, URL:
www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd29929.pdf
Controller then takes the decision according to then algorithm and tilts the
panel towards the direction of the max energy given by LDR with the help of
Copyright © 2019 by author(s) and
DC Motor . The Motor is used to rotate the LDR to sense the max solar power.
International Journal of Trend in Scientific
A Solar Tracker is basically a device onto which solar panels are fitted which
Research and Development Journal. This
tracks the motion of the sun across the sky ensuring that the maximum
is an Open Access article distributed
amount of sunlight strikes the panels throughout the day. After finding the
under the terms of
sunlight, the trackerwill try to navigate through the path ensuring the best
the Creative
sunlight is detected. It is completely automatic and keeps the panel in front of
Commons Attribution
sun until that is visible. Its active sensors constantly monitor the sunlight and
License (CC BY 4.0)
rotate the panel towards the direction where the intensity of sunlight is
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by
maximum. Residential that uses solar power as their alternative power supply
/4.0)
will bring benefits to them. The main objective of this project is to
development of an automatic solar tracking system whereby the system will
caused solar panels will keep aligned with the Sunlight in order to maximize in
harvesting solar power. The system focuses on the controller design whereby
it will caused the system is able to tracks the maximum intensity of Sunlight is
hit. When the intensity of Sunlight is decreasing, this system automatically
changes its direction to get maximum intensity of Sunlight. LDR light detector
acts as a sensor is used to trace the coordinate of the Sunlight by detecting
brightness level of Sunlight. While to rotate the appropriate position of the
panel, a DCgeared motor is used. The system is controlled by two relays as a
DC-geared motor driver and a microcontroller as a main processor. This
project is covered for a single axis and is designed for low power and
residential usage applications. From the hardware testing, the system is able
to track and follow the Sunlight intensity in order to get maximum solar power
at the output regardless motor speed.

KEYWORDS: Four quadrant sensor, Light Dependent Resistor (LDR), Automatic

Solar Tracking System (ASTS).
INRODUCTION
In last ten years, many of residentials around the world used fixed location, but many other approaches are used as well.
electric solar system as a sub power at their houses. This is Active trackers use motors and gear trains to direct the
because solar energy is an unlimited energy resource, set to tracker as commanded by a controller responding to the
become increasingly important in the longer term, for solar direction. The solar tracker can be used for several
providing electricity and heat energy to the user. Solar application such as solar cells, solar day- lighting system and
energy also has the potential to be the major energy supply solar thermal arrays. The solar tracker is very useful for
in the future. Solar tracker is an automated solar panel that device that needs more sunlight for higher efficiency such as
actually follows the Sun to increase the power . The sun's solar cell. Many of the solar panels had been positioned on a
position in the sky varies both with equipment over any fixed surface such as a roof. As sun is a moving object, this
fixed position. One well-known type of solar tracker is the approach is not the best method. One of the solutions is to
heliostat, a movable mirror that reflects the moving sun to a actively track the sun using a sun tracking device to move

@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD29929 | Volume – 4 | Issue – 2 | January-February 2020 Page 137
 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
the solar panel to follow the Sun. With the Sun always facing result the light will fall on the sensorskept on each side of the
the panel, the maximum energy can be absorbed, as the solar panel. The tracking circuit is so designed that when
panel is operating at their greatest efficiency. The main reflection falls on say the sensor attached to the right of the
reason for this project is to get the maximum efficiency for panel, the tracker will move towards the left, and visa- versa.
the solar cells. Although there are many solar Similar is the case when the reflection falls on the sensor
attached at the top of the panel, circuit will make the tracker
trackers in the market, the price is expensive and to move downwards. We here have tried to bring two simple
unaffordable because the market for solar tracker is still new principles together. One being, the normal principle of
and only certain countries use the solar tracker such as USA incidence and reflection on which our tracker works. And the
and South Korea. The large scale solar tracker that normally other is the principle on which the solar panel works, which
used is not suitable for the residential use. As a result, this is on the incidence of the solar rays the photovoltaic cells,
project will develop a Sun tracking system specially designed will produce electricity. This both principles are combined
for residential use for a low cost solar cell. Previous there and as a result of which we are able to fetch nearly
researchers and used LDR and photodiode as sensors double the output which the panel gives normally. Precisely
respectively. Meanwhile and used DC motor with gear and speaking the tracker is liable for two kinds of rotations, on is
steeper motor respectively. Those projects have on the vertical axis and other is on the horizontal axis. The
disadvantages and some of the disadvantages are high cost earlier is for the right-left movement of the reflection and the
during development, difficult to control motor speed and later is for the up-down movement of the reflector, for
difficult to design because using microprocessor. The main aligning reflection on the panel. Photovoltaic’s is the field of
objective for this project is to develop the sun tracking solar technology and research related to the application of solar
system model which is a device that follow the movement of cells as solar energy. Solar cells have many applications.
the Sun regardless of motor speed. Besides that, it is to Individual cells are used for powering small devices such as
improve the overall electricity generation using single axis electronic calculators. Photovoltaic arrays generate a form of
sun tracking system and also to provide the design for renewable electricity, particularly useful in situations where
residential use. LDR or light dependent resistor has been electrical power from the grid is unavailable such as in
chosen as the sensor because LDR is commonly used in sun remote area power systems, Earth-orbiting satellites and
tracking system. This is because LDR is sensitive to the light. space probes, remote radiotelephones and water pumping
The resistance of LDR will decreases with increasing applications. Photovoltaic electricity is also increasingly
incident light intensity. For the controller, AT89S52 had deployed in grid-tied electrical systems. Renewable energy is
been chosen. This ATMEL programming will give the pulse to rapidly gaining importance as an energy resource as fossil
the driver to move the motor. For the driver, bidirectional fuel prices fluctuate. One of the most popular renewable
DC motor control using relay has been used. The motor energy sources is solar energy. Many researches were
controller had been chosen because it can control the motor conducted to develop some methods to increase the
to rotate clockwise and counter-clockwise easily. DC geared efficiency of Photo Voltaic systems (solar panels). One such
motor also been chosen because it has a hold torque up to 24 method is to employ a solar panel tracking system .This
kg.cm and low rpm. Last but no least, LM7805 is used to project deals with a microcontroller based solar panel
convert the input voltage from the source to 5 V output tracking system. Solar tracking enables more energy to be
because integrated circuit only need 5 V to operate. generated because the solar panel is always able to maintain
a perpendicular profile to the sun’s rays. Development of
solar panel tracking systems has been ongoing for several
years now. As the sun moves across the sky during the day, it
is advantageous to have the solar panels track the location of
the sun, such that the panels are always perpendicular to the
solar energy radiated by the sun. This will tend to maximize
the amount of power absorbed by PV systems. It has been
estimated that the use of a tracking system, over a fixed
system, can increase the power output by 30% - 60%. The
increase is significant enough to make tracking a viable
preposition despite of the enhancement in system cost. It is
possible to align the tracking heliostat normal to sun using
electronic control by a micro controller.

BLOCK DIAGRAM:-
Working principle of the tracker:-
Figure shown here is the tracking device in out prototype. It
is the one which follows the sun’s movement throughout the
day and provides uninterrupted reflection to the solar panel.
The sun rays will fall on the solar panel in two ways, which
is, they will fall directly on the solar panel and also the
reflector will reflect the incident rays on the solar panel.
Suppose at the time of sun rise the sun is in extreme east the
reflector will align itself in some position by which the
incident rays will fall on the solar panel. Now when the earth
rotates and the sun gets shifted form its earlier position the
reflection of the incident rays will also change. Thus as a

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Automatic solar tracker Components Description:-

The major part of this electronics system is the micro Boot loader :-Boot loader are used to burn the program into
controller. All the operations are controlled by it. With the the controller chip using serial communication by using ISP
help of micro controller, you can align the solar panel programmer.
according to the intensity of the sunlight. Another
component is the rechargeable battery which is used to store
energy which is received from the panel. The purpose of the
charge control is to control the charging of the battery. Micro
controller unit receives the status of the battery by the
charge control unit. It has two sensors, each made up of LDR.
Four LDRs constitute on unit and are placed at the four
corners of the panel. LDR senses the intensity of sunlight and
controller receives the output. Control unit decides in which
direction the panel has to be rotated to get maximum
sunlight. Another unit of the sensor also consists of LDRs and
used for the control of lightning load. The panel can be
rotated in the desired direction by the server motor.

Circuit Diagragram

Introduction to embedded systems:

An Embedded system is a combination of computer
hardware and software, and perhaps additional mechanical
or other parts, designed to perform a specific function.
Embedded systems are usually a part of larger, complex
system. Dedicated applications, designed to execute specific
activities, are implemented and embedded in systems. These
embedded applications are required to collaborate with the
other components of an enclosed system. Embedded
application components interact mostly with the non-human
external environment. They continuously collect data from
sensors or other computer components and process data
within real time constraints. Embedded systems are usually
associated with dedicated hardware and specific software.
KeilMicrovision3:- It is converted normal file cirrror code Embedding an application into system Application and
into .hex file. system are closely tied together Collaborative application
Dedicated H/W and specific S/W Interaction with non-
human external environment Real- time systems are
embedded systems.

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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
Methodology:-
Surrounding effects, for instance, weather condition are not seriously considered during hardware testing on the controller
design. The constructed system has been tested and some data from hardware measurement have been collected and
discussed. Typical solar panel has been used and the purpose only to prove the designed system is able to operate
accordingly. Therefore the surrounding effects, for instance, weather condition are not seriously considered during
hardware testing.

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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
will change gradually over the course of a day and over the maximize energy production. Several factors must be
seasons throughout the year. They can be used most considered when determining the use of trackers. Some of
effectively in areas with low horizons and locations that are these include: the solar technology being used, the amount of
shade free from dawn to dusk each day. Throughout the year direct solar irradiation, feed-in tariffs in the region where the
the tracking array will be able to utilize the wide open access system is deployed, and the cost to install and maintain the
to gain every available electron from the sun. This way, trackers. Solar panels are usually set up to be in full direct
energy production is at an optimum and energy output is sunlight at the middle of the day, facing south in the Northern
increased year round. The standalone PV home kit system is Hemisphere, or facing north in the Southern Hemisphere.
a very reliable and uncomplicated source of energy Therefore morning and evening sunlight hits the panels at an
production; the panels don't move and require little acute angle and reduces the total amount of electricity which
maintenance. Solar tracking systems are used to continually can be generated each day. A solar tracker is a device onto
orient photovoltaic panels towards the sun and can help which solar panels are fitted which tracks the motion of the
maximize your investment in your PV system. They are sun across the sky, thus ensuring that the maximum amount
beneficial as the sun's position in the sky will change of sunlight strikes the panels throughout the day. When
gradually over the course of a day and over the seasons compared to the price of the PV solar panels, the cost of a
throughout the year. Advantages to using a tracker system solar tracker is relatively low. We provide highly efficient,
like this will depend mainly on it's placement in determining proprietary single and dual axis solar tracking systems. Our
how well it will increase the effectiveness of the panels. They single-axis solar trackers can typically increase electricity
can be used most effectively in areas with low horizons and generation by 30%, while our dual-axis trackers can boost
locations that are shade free from dawn to dusk each day. electricity generation by up to 40%
Throughout the year the tracking array will be able to utilize
the wide open access to gain every available electron from ADVANTAGES:
the sun. This way, energy production is at an optimum and
This automatic solar tracker is easy to implement since
energy output is increased year round. This is especially its construction is simple.
significant throughout the summer months with its long days

With the implementation the proposed system the
of sunlight available to capture and when, at many Northern
additional energy generated is around 25% to 30% with
latitudes, the sun rises in the northeast and sets in the
very less consumption by the system itself.
northwest, no energy will be lost. For those with limited
space this means that a smaller array only needs to be
The solar panel with the sun in order to extract maximum
installed, a huge advantage for those smaller sites with only
energy falling on it renewable energy is rapidly gaining
a small area Another possible disadvantage to be aware of
importance as an energy resource as fossil fuel prices
when purchasing a tracking solar power system, is in the
fluctuate
way your local utility's PV Rebate Program may be set up.
Many are based on the size of the PV array in your home kit
DISADVANTAGES:
and not on your PV array's production, which could mean

This system cannot be used in rainy season.
less of a financial benefit to you. If you have a small array,
such as a 3 Watt capacity, you may get less overall cost
Initial cost is high.
benefit than someone else with a larger array of a 4-5 Watt
size capacity, even if your energy production works out APPLICATIONS
higher than the person using a bigger array, due to increased
This system software and hardware can be used to drive
sun exposure in your area. The upfront cost of purchasing a a real and very huge solar panel.
home kit with a smaller size array is less but you may receive
The computer and System Control Unit would have a
a smaller rebate check. Many areas though, are now starting wireless communication with the mechanical structure
to make the move from the rated wattage system of of solar panel.
photovoltaic home systems to the energy production based
To make emergency control better more powerful
incentive program. microcontrollers e.g. PIC 16F877A would be used.

Application :- Tips for assembling the project: -

It controls movement in azimuthal and zenithal directions,
Make the PCB Layout as given in the PCB layout diagram.
independent of whether the requirements are for a
photovoltaic (PV) or a concentrated solar power (CSP)
Make the all connection on the 8051 PCB Board as given
facility. The modules or mirrors are optimally aligned with in the circuit diagram.
the angle of the sun's rays to constantly optimize solar energy
Assemble and solder all the components as given in the
regardless of the sun’s position. These solar tracking systems circuit diagram.
have up to a one-third higher energy yield than stationary PV
system — depending on the intensity of the sunlight at the Testing Procedure:-
installation site because the closer an installation is to the
equator, the more efficiently the PV tracking systems operate.

Check the Continuity of the tracks on the PCB board with
the help of Multimeter setting on the continuity mode.
Applications in concentrated solar power and concentrated
photovoltaics require the precise tracking of solar units to
Check the Voltage on the all IC pins with the Mulitimetre
focus sunlight on the target medium. Solar trackers are by setting multimeter on the 20v dc.
devices used to orient photovoltaic panels, reflectors, lenses
or other optical devices toward the sun. Since the sun’s
Check the serial communication on the PCB board by
position in the sky changes with the seasons and the time of using serial cable with the pc by hyper terminal or using
day, trackers are used to align the collection system to Terminal Software.

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Actual View:- Conclusion:-
Single Axis Solar Tracking System prototype
model is successfully developed. The designed system is
focuses on designing controller part and the main concern is
to design appropriate circuits and the circuits suppose to be
able to control DC-gear motor rotation direction without
considering motor speed. The system is able to track and
follow Sunlight intensity in order to collect maximum solar
power regardless of motor speed. The unique of developed
system, motor speed is not critical consideration

References
[1] www.wikipidia.com

[2] www.electronicsforu.com
[3] www.engineeargarage.com
[4] www.slideshare.net
[5] www.youtube.com
[6] www.projectsof8051.com
[7] www.ieeexplore.ieee.org

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