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International Conference on Environmental Technology

and Construction Engineering for Sustainable Development


ICETCESD-2011, March 10-12, 2011, SUST, Sylhet, Bangladesh

A MICROCONTROLLER BASED AUTOMATIC SOLAR TRACKING


SCHEME
DR. ENAMUL BASHER1, MARZIA HOQUE TANIA2 and MD. SAMIUL ALAM2
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering
and Technology, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
2
Recent Graduate, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Dhaka-1215,
Bangladesh

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ABSTRACT

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A solar energy collecting surface performs best whenever it is faced to the sun. In this
research, studies have been carried out to develop a microprocessor based automatic solar
tracker locally with least cost. The system has been programmed to detect the intensity of
sunlight by a differential arrangement of two photoresistors and subsequently actuate the
motor to position the solar panel where it can receive maximum sunlight. This permits the
solar panel moving from east to west and returning from west to the east, within the angle
regulation range of 0-180 forward and reverse. The designed system can track the better
sunlight position within 1 sec. This microcontroller based system with its auxiliaries and
stepper motor drive arrangement made it interactive with high degree of dynamic and steady
state stability.
Key Words: Renewable energy, photovoltaic, solar tracking system, microcontroller, stepper
motor, maximum power capture, closed-loop control.
1. INTRODUCTION

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Energy is one of the key building blocks of sustainable development. Even today one third of
the world population does not have access to electricity and are not connected to the national
grid. Solar, wind, and hydroelectric power not only produce minimal carbon emissions once
the generating systems are in place, they also help reduce poverty through improved energy
access in underserved areas. Photovoltaic (PV) system will need to play a significant role in
the worlds energy mix in 2050 to help achieve global climate change goals at the lowest cost
[1]. The International Energy Agency estimates that nearly 50% of global electricity supplies
will need to come from renewable energy sources in order to halve carbon dioxide emissions
by 2050 and minimize significant, irreversible climate change impacts [2].
Solar panels are generally statically aligned at lattitude tilt angle, they have a fixed position
at that certain angle towards the sky; the time and intensity of direct sunlight falling upon the
solar panel is greatly reduced, it results in low power output from the PV cells. In order to
have maximum power capture throughout the day it is necessary that the photovoltaic panels
change their orientation throughout the day following the path of the sun in the sky, this is
___________________________________
Corresponding Author: Dr. Enamul Basher
Email: enamul_basher@eee.buet.ac.bd

possible by means of an automatic solar tracking system. A solar tracker improves the
efficiency of solar electric or thermal energy conversion system [3]. The main reason to use a
solar tracker is to reduce the cost of the energy captured by the solar panel and other criterion
for solar tracker is the efficiency. A tracker produces more power over a longer time than a
stationary array with the same number of modules.

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From the past decades, several techniques and experiment has been developed for solar
tracking device for an alternative source of energy. In this work we present a single axis
tracker. It helps maximizing the investment in a PV system. Embedded controlled solar
tracker like [4] needs statistical data over a long period of time. Conversely presented
prototype avoids all the complex calculations. This scheme can be easily converted to a dual
axis tracker. Actually trackers need not point directly at the sun to be effective, and if the aim
is off by ten degrees the output is still 98.5% of the full-tracking maximum. Dual axis
tracking is effective only for seasonal tracking; therefore single axis tracking is sufficient for
effective energy transformation. It has better accuracy. It has less dependence in hardware. It
is more feasible than [5, 6]. It is very user friendly, easily reprogrammable and numerous
features can be added to it, if required.

2. SOLAR TRACKERS

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A Solar tracker is a device for orienting a solar photovoltaic panel or concentrating solar
reflector or lens toward the sun. The sun's position in the sky varies both with the seasons
(elevation) and time of day as the sun moves across the sky. Solar powered equipment works
best when pointed at or near the sun, so a solar tracker can increase the effectiveness of such
equipment over any fixed position, at the cost of additional system complexity. The
additional output or gain can be quantified as a percentage of the output of the stationary
array. Gain varies significantly with latitude, climate, and the type of tracker one chooses- as
well as the orientation of a stationary installation in the same location. (The energy required
to move the tracker is insignificant in these calculations.)

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Climate is the most important factor. The more sun and less clouds, moisture, haze, dust, and
smog, the greater the gain provided by trackers. At higher latitudes gain will be increased due
to the long arc of the summer sun. In the cloudiest, haziest locations the gain in annual output
from trackers can be in the low 20 percent range. In a given area the annual gain on any given
day may vary from almost zero to nearly 100 percent. In general, a tracker adds most to
output during the hours when a stationary array produces the least power.
There are several types of classification of solar tracker. Considering movement capability,
three main types of sun trackers can be found-fixed surfaces [7], one axis trackers [8] and two
axes trackers [9].The amount energy they produce is varied due to the ability of reducing the
pointing error, increasing the daily irradiation that the solar cells receive. Different studies
have been made to do a comparative study between the energy available to a two axes
tracker, an eastwest tracker and a fixed surface [10].

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Fig 1: One and two axis tracking PV array [4, 11]

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As main results, it concluded that the annual energy available to the ideal tracker is higher by
510% and 50% than the eastwest tracker and the fixed surface, respectively. Another
classification can be made regarding control units, the major types of solar trackers are [12]:
passive, microprocessor and electro-optical controlled units. In the first one there is no
electronic control or motor [13]. The second ones use mathematical formulae to predict the
suns movement and need not sense the sunlight. An example of this kind of unit can be
found in [9]. And in the last one, the electro-optical controlled units that use the sensing
information from sensor like auxiliary bifacial solar cell panel, pyrheliometer to estimate the
suns real position and use in the control algorithm [8, 14].
2.1 Closed-loop types of sun tracking systems

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Closed-loop types of sun tracking systems are based on feedback control principles. In these
systems, a number of inputs are transferred to a controller from sensors which detect relevant
parameters induced by the sun, manipulated in the controller and then yield outputs (i.e.
sensor-based). From performance test of sun-tracking systems [15] gain in energy production
comparing with a non-tracking systems and error is compared between open-loop and closeloop control sun-trackers. Using open-loop control sun tracker maximum 41% gain has been
achieved than the non-tracking modules. Energy production gain can be 10-75% for different
type close-loop control sun trackers.
3. FRAMEWORK OF THE SOLAR TRACKER PROTOTYPE
The design we present is based on the following criterions Simplicity
Less steady state error
Low cost
Dynamic output
Easy to construct
High Convergence Speed
Minimum maintenance
Availability of components
Reliability
Independent of PV characteristics
3.1 Working methodology of designed solar tracker
This design is developed and implemented using a simplified horizontal-axis and active
tracker method fitted to a solar panel. It is able to navigate to the best angle of exposure of

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Fig 2: Sun path

Fig 3: Schematic diagram of single axis high precision solar tracker circuit

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light, entailing control of one angle. This tracker implies tracking only in path 1 but not Path
2 (Fig 2); to comprise tracking in path-2 facilitation to control the azimuth and latitude angle
is necessary.
The eyes of the Solar Tracker are taken care by the photo resistor. The photo resistors are
imperative to detect the amount of illumination; two Cadmium Sulphide (CdS) light sensors
are used as comparator of light intensity. When one of the sensors has higher intensity of
light, the position of the sun is on the side of that light sensor. In this prototype, the two
photocells have been positioned on a small straight piece of plastic; an additional small piece
has been placed perpendicular to the straight piece to divide both the sensors. The purpose of
doing so is that- if both the photocells are equally illuminated by the sun, their resistance
level will be same; if one of the sensors comes under shadow, then the controller of the
tracking system will sense the deviation of signal and it will generate actuating signals for
drivers to correct misalignment between suns ray and the surface normal. The
microcontroller is programmed so that it can attain signal from the two light dependent

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resistors (LDR) and to move motor either clock wise or anti clock wise depending on which
LDR is under shadow, to a position where equal light is being illuminated on both of them.

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Obviously in real world solar trackers are not so simple. A solar tracker must be able to reset
itself at sunset so it is ready for sunrise.For this two limit switches are placed at both sides of
the stand. When the tracking is going on then the motor will rotate in one direction and when
the sun goes set the stepper motor will rotate in reverse direction as one of the limit switch
will be touched. This is done for tracking the sun for next day morning. The other limit
switch is used to give signal when the panel touches it so that the microcontroller can
generate a pulse to halts rotation until next sunrise is sensed by the light sensors.

Fig 4: Sensor module

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Fig 5: Operation of sensor module once an


LDR comes under shadow

Fig 6: System implementation flowchart

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Fig 7: Proposed solar tracker prototype


3.2 Overall design considerations

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In terms of optimal functionality, the barrier between two LDRs should be adjusted based on
the location where to implement. To protect the photovoltaic array from damage, protection
diodes were used. Two lead acid battery banks may be utilized- only one battery bank will be
charged at a time, the other may be employed to run other components of the circuitry. In
order to tickle charge the batteries, a voltage within cut off points must be fed to the bank.
Voltage regulators may need a proper heat sink to operate smoothly.

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4. DESCRIPTION OF MAJOR COMPONENTS


4.1 ATmega32 architecture detail

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The ATmega32 [16] is a low-power CMOS 8-bit microcontroller based on the AVR
enhanced RISC architecture. By executing powerful instructions in a single clock cycle, the
ATmega32 achieves throughputs approaching 1 MIPS per MHz allowing the system designer
to optimize power consumption versus processing speed. The AVR core combines a rich
instruction set with 32 general purpose working registers.
4.2 Configuring ATmega32
The AVR Microcontroller chosen for the system, has sufficient memory to meet the
requirements of the design. The analog to digital converters (ADC) is integrated in the AVR
which reduced the amount of additional external parts. As program compiler AVR studio is
used and Extreme Burner is used to burn the microcontroller.
To configure the microcontroller unit (MCU), 5 Volt digital supply from the voltage regulator
is fed to Vcc (Pin 10). Pin 32 is the analog reference signal for the A/D converter. Analog
input from LDR-1 and LDR-2 is received by Pin 37 and Pin 38 of port A respectively and
converted to digital signal. Port A receives supply voltage through AVCC and a low pass
filter is used in this case to use port A as ADC. Built-in compare [5] is there to compare the
input values. PB0- PB4 is connected with the driver to provide signaling information to the
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motor. Port D is configured to conduct the limit switches through interrupt signals via PD2
(INT0) and PD3 (INT1). Inverting oscillator amplifier receives input signal from XTAL1
(Pin 12) and XTAL2 (Pin 13) of MCU and is configured to be employed as an On-chip
Oscillator. Few delays are purposely introduced in order to avoid gratuitous assessment,
tracking, rotation and signaling.
4.3 Relay

4.4 High-voltage, high-current Darlington arrays

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A relay is an electrically operated switch. Current flowing through the coil of the relay
creates a magnetic field which attracts a lever and changes the switch contacts. The coil
current can be on or off so relays have two switch positions and most have double throw
(changeover) switch contacts [17]. In this design a relay is used as an automatic switch which
enables the current flow from the battery at night and in the day when the sun light is
available then the PV output is fed into the battery for charging [18].

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This is two transistors connected together so that the current amplified by the first is
amplified further by the second transistor. The overall current gain is equal to the two
individual gains multiplied together: Darlington pair current gain, hFE = hFE1 hFE2 (hFE1
and hFE2 are the gains of the individual transistors).This gives the Darlington pair a very
high current gain, such as 10000, so that only a tiny base current is required to make the pair
switch on. A Darlington pair behaves like a single transistor with a very high current gain. In
this work ULN2804 [19] is used. The eight NPN Darlington connected transistors in this
family of arrays are ideally suited for interfacing between low logic level digital circuitry
(such as TTL, CMOS or PMOS/NMOS) and the higher current/voltage requirements of
lamps, relays, printer hammers or other similar loads for a broad range of computer,
industrial, and consumer applications. All devices feature opencollector outputs and
freewheeling clamp diodes for transient suppression. The ULN2803 is designed to be
compatible with standard TTL families while the ULN2804 is optimized for 6 to 15 volt high
level CMOS or PMOS.
4.5 Voltage regulator

A Voltage Regulator (also called a "regulator") has only three legs and appears to be a
comparatively simple device but it is actually a very complex integrated circuit.

Fig 8: Schematic diagram of voltage regulator

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A regulator converts varying input voltage and produces a constant "regulated" output
voltage. Voltage regulators are available in a variety of outputs, typically 5 volts, 9 volts and
12 volts. Voltage regulators are very robust. They can withstand over-current draw due to
short circuits and also over-heating. In both cases the regulator will shut down before damage
occurs. The only way to destroy a regulator is to apply reverse voltage to its input. In this
work LM7805 is used for its excellent thermal overload protection, short circuit protection
and output transition so a protection.
4.7 Light detection theory

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A light sensor is the most regular electronic equipment. The simplest optical sensor is a photo
resistor or photocell which is a light sensitive resistor these are made of two types, cadmium
sulfide (CdS) and gallium arsenide (GaAs) [20]. The sun tracker system designed here uses
the cadmium sulfide (CdS) photocell for sensing the light. This photocell is a passive
component whose resistance is inversely proportional to the amount of light intensity directed
towards it. It is connected in series with capacitor. The photocell to be used for the tracker is
based on its dark resistance and light saturation resistance. The term light saturation means
that further increasing the light intensity to the CdS cells will not decrease its resistance any
further [20, 21]. In this work VAC54 [19] is used.
5. TEST AND RESULT

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From the experiment testing section, we varied the bulbs in four directions; 15, 35, 55 and
75 respectively. The result of time response and speed are as shown in Table 1.

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Table 1: Experimental Result

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Position of
lamp ()
15
35
55
75

Time of
positioning to
the target (sec)
1
1
1
1

Response time of
the system (sec)
.25
.35
.45
.55

Even for variation of small angle this system can response dynamically and no dead band is
found. The speed of it position tracking is 1 sec. In order to verify light sensing ability an
evaluation is done from the LDR outputs by means of digital display oscilloscope. Figure 9
shows the result when one of the Two LDRs is under shadow. Channel 1 and 2 represent the
PA3 and PA4 of ATmega32 respectively. The indication of channel 1 illustrates that LRD1 is
under shadow. The signal shown in the figure is sent to the motor drive from the ATmega32.
The motor is therefore actuated, and it runs until the resistance on both LDRs is the same. Fig
10 illustrates that, when LDR 1 and LDR 2 both are under shadow i.e. equal sun light is
received by both light detector microcontroller puts no comparative output to fed the motor to
generate the next pulse. Thus the panel remain in the same position.

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Fig 10: Generated ssignals while both LDRs


are under shadow

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Fig 9: Generated Signal when one LDR is


under shadow
6. FUTURE WORK

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The goals of this project were purposely kept within what was believed to be attainable
within the allotted timeline. As such, many improvements can be made upon this initial
design. That being said, it is felt that this design represents a functioning miniature scale
model which could be replicated to a much larger scale. The following recommendations are
provided as ideas for future expansion of this project:
Remedy the motor binding problems due to the photosensor leads. This could be done with
some sort of slip ring mechanism, smaller gauge wire, a larger motor with more torque, or a
combination of some or all of these ideas.
Increase the sensitivity and accuracy of tracking by using a different light sensor. A
phototransistor with an amplification circuit would provide improved resolution and more
prcised tracking.
Utilize a dual-axis design instead of a single-axis to increase PV output to at least 40%.
7. CONCLUSION

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Different study shows that the factors that influence the performance of the Solar Home
System (SHS) in developing countries e.g. Bangladesh indicates that the overall efficiency is
quite low. It makes energy cost significantly high and discourages rapid dissemination of the
idea of green energy via solar PV modules.
The sun tracking system which is proposed in this article is able to track the sun under clear
sky and partly cloudy sky. In worse case, this tracking system disable when there have not a
sun under the overcast sky. Presented sun-tracking scheme results in a considerable saving in
energy; use of the step-tracking scheme instead of continuous tracking keeps the motors idle
for most of the time which also helps to save energy. It is easy to assemble, portable, light
and long-lasting. Trackers competency depends upon the solar panel weight and the
mechanical frame weight. The tracking system is slightly constrained by wind speed because
of the lightness of overall scheme. Predetermining the necessary solar panel height from the
base can avoid discretionary rotation of the solar panel. The system has 1 sec response time.
But this response time can be reconfigured through programming. The short interval will
utilize the full bright sunshine hours and will give better output of solar energy collectors. Its
dynamic response, least steady state error and stability make the system a substantial one. A
typical 100Wp module will give 21% more electricity as fixed at latitude tilt angle. This
reveals that the proposed system is compatible with the additional energy production.
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