Automatic Solar Tracking System

Solar energy is very important means of expanding renewable energy resources. In this paper is described the design and construction of a microcontroller based solar panel tracking system. Solar is a nonconventional source of energy, considering this we have developed solar panels so that we can fulfill our electricity need. But due to revolution of the earth, solar source i.e. sun does not face the panel continuously hence less electricity is produced. The energy panel should face the SUN till it is present in a day. The problem above can be solved by our system by automatic tracking the solar energy. The block diagram below shows system architecture it consist of a LDR sensor senses max solar power which is being given to the Microcontroller through the ADC which digitizes the LDR output. 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 DC Motor . The Motor is used to rotate the LDR to sense the max solar power. A Solar Tracker is basically a device onto which solar panels are fitted which tracks the motion of the sun across the sky ensuring that the maximum amount of sunlight strikes the panels throughout the day. After finding the sunlight, the trackerwill try to navigate through the path ensuring the best sunlight is detected. It is completely automatic and keeps the panel in front of sun until that is visible. Its active sensors constantly monitor the sunlight and rotate the panel towards the direction where the intensity of sunlight is maximum. Residential that uses solar power as their alternative power supply 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. J. Lavanya | K. Saiswaroop | M. Naveen | K. Vijetha ""Automatic Solar Tracking System"" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-2 , February 2020, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd29929.pdf Paper Url : https://www.ijtsrd.com/engineering/electrical-engineering/29929/automatic-solar-tracking-system/j-lavanya