SOLAR TRACKING SYSTEM

UNIVERSITY OF GLAMORGAN
FACULTY OF ADVANCE TECHNOLOGY
2011-2012
Presented by Syed H Raza (08011605)
PROJECT SUPERVISOR
BEN MEHENNI



1
Implementation of Solar
Tracker system
Group Project
PROJECT STATEMENT
To design and implement an automated, double-axis
solar-tracking mechanism using embedded system design
in order to optimize the efficiency of overall solar energy
output
Project Objective
To design a sensor array to provide directional information to
guide a key drive system to follow the movement of the sun
across the sky.
The sensors have to be in the position to get best angle of
exposure to sunlight to get the solar energy
Dual axis moment will be made to make the tracker more
accurate and powerful and efficient.
To complete the project before the end of the course to be
made an example for the upcoming student of the university
and in university open days.
Requirements
To design a dual axis solar tracker
Stepper motor used to rotate the solar panel
Motors are controlled by the M16c microcontroller
Light dependant resistor used to detect the sun
light

Physical Design
Solar panel mounted on the pan tilt,
LDRS connected on each side of the
panel
Two synchronous motors for the
motion of the solar panel connected
to the microcontroller
Hardware Design
To start with the hardware design first of all we tried to make a system
with two step motors but it was quite excessive, we chose to buy a pan
tilt module for CCTV camera systems and modify it to fit our application.

Then we design the bracket to mount the solar panel on the pan tilt , the
design was made with the help of auto CAD software.

For the project we dont have any big schematic as we need just four
LDRS connected with 10 k resistor in series all separately so we it was
very simple and straight forward.

The pan tilt we bought got a control box with it to control the movement
which we disconnect and connect it to the microcontroller to rotate the
motors according to the intensity of the light on the LDRS.

Control box to change the direction of the
pan tilt but we need the panel to by control
by the M16c microcontroller so we connect
the control box with the M16c
8
Frame mounted on the panel that we design
with the help of the auto CAD and built it in
university workshop
Light dependant resistor connected in
series with the 10k resistor with 3
output, one for ground, Vcc and
Encoder to connect it to the
microcontroller
9
Software implementation
To develop the software for the M16c was the
most difficult task in this project as we were
not that familiar to the coding of the M16c but
with lots of research and tutor help we
manage to complete it
The software used to write the code named
HEW(high performance embedded
workshop)
10
Screenshot taken from the code while complete
code has been submitted in assignment 2
11
As the LDR will pass the light intensity to
M16c in the form of signal so we have used
ADC(Analog to digital conversion) register to
make it understandable to the microcontroller

Microcontroller connection with LDRS and
Motors
12
Future Improvements
The improvement can by made by connected the
GPS to solar panel that will show the direction in
attitude and latitude ion the LCD screen with the
help of microcontroller
Conclusion
A solar tracker is designed employing the new principle of
using small solar cells to function as self-adjusting light
sensors, providing a variable indication of their relative
angle to the sun by detecting their voltage output. It has
been proven through research that solar tracking system
with single-axis freedom can increase energy output by
approximately 20%, whereas the tracking system with
double axis freedom can increase the output by more than
40%. Therefore this work was to develop and implement a
solar tracking system with both degree of freedom and
which detected the sunlight using sensors.

Any Question ??