Automatic SOLAR TRACKER USING ARDUINO

Project co-ordinator- Guide by: -

Mr.Gondkar.A.R Mr. Raut.S.D

• PRESENTED BY-

• Garud.M.R

• Garud.S.D

CONTENTS:

Introduction

Component description

AVR IC – ATME328

Sensors

Tracking mechanism

INTRODUCTION

Solar energy is a very large, inexaustable source of energy.

The power from the sun intercepted by the earth is

approximatel 1.8*1011 MW.

Solar energy could supply all the present and future energyb

needs of the world on a continuing basis. This makes it one

of the most promising of the unconventional energy

sources.

PROBLEM WITH SOLAR

Problem associated with the use of solar energy is

that its availability varies widely with time. The

variation in availability occurs daily because of the

day night cycle and also seasonally because of the

earth’s orbit around the sun.

To rectify these above problems the solar panel should

be such that it always receive maximum intensity of

light.

INTRODUCTION

Solar Tracker: -

Solar trackers are devices used to orient photovoltaic

panels, reflectors, lenses or other optical devices toward the

sun.

Since the sun’s position in the sky changes with the seasons

and the time of day, trackers are used to align the collection

system to maximize energy production.

Dual Axis Tracker:

Dual axis trackers have two degrees of freedom that act as

axes of rotation. These axes are typically normal to one

another.

Dual axis trackers allow for optimum solar energy levels

due to their ability to follow the sun vertically and

horizontally.

Here we have divide sun position into five areas and those

are EAST, WEST, NORTH, SOUTH, CENTER.

Arduino Severino Board

Arduino is a development platform for the purpose of

programing AVR microcontrollers.

Arduino Severino board is used to program 28 pin DIP

ATMEGA168 IC.

Here we are using 16MHz crystal for operating frequency.

ARDUINO SEVERINO BOARD:

ATMEGA328: The ATMEGA168 is a modified Harvard architecture 8-bit

RISC single chip microcontroller which was developed

by Atmel in 1996.

Features: -

Flash : 16KB

EEPROM : 1024B

SRAM : 512B

Clock freq. : upto 20MHz

Supply voltage : 2.8-5.5V

Ext. Interrupt : 24

PWM : 6

Sensor:

We are using LDR’s as a sensor to track the position of sun

or density of sun light.

Here we have made potential

divider with LDR and register.

Output voltage (Vo)is proportional

to light incident on LDR which is

further processed to move solar

panel.

Here we are using four sensors to

Track Sun position.

Servo Motor: Servo motors has three wires.

Among those 3 wires, 2 wires provide power supply to the

motor and one is used to send PWM signals {50Hz (analog

servos) or 400-500Hz (digital servos)} to the motor for

required shaft positions.

Servo shaft is rotated by an angle depending on the ON-

Time and OFF-time of the pulse.

Here we are using two servo motors- One for Horizontal

movement and another for Vertical movement.

Servo motor

Tracking Mechanism:

EAST- West

movement

North – South

movement

FINAL PROJECT

SOLAR PLATE

LDR’S

ARDUINO

UP SERVO

DOWN

SERVO

THANKS FOR WATCHING