ELECTRICAL SPECIALISATION COURSE O-148

PROJECT REPORT ON

ATTITUDE CONTROL OF SOLAR PANEL

Guided By Syndicate
Lt Cdr S Agarwal Lt S Rahul
Lt S Raghu
Lt H Sharma
 ATTITUDE CONTROL OF SOLAR PANEL

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to extend our gratitude to our guide Lt Cdr S Agrawal in helping
us to complete this project. We would also like to thank the FTP staff, for their
unending support and also for providing a conducive atmosphere to work in

(S Rahul) (S Raghu) (H Sharma)

Lt Lt Lt

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project report titled “Attitude Control of Solar
Panel” which is being submitted by Lt S Rahul, Lt SR Viswanathan and Lt H
Sharma is a record of students own work carried out by them under my
guidance and supervision in fulfillment of the requirements of Electrical
Specialisation Course.

Date Mar 08 (S Agarwal)

Lt Cdr
Project Guide

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AIM & SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

1. The project is aimed at control the movement of a solar panel using a

stepper motor in such a manner so as to extract maximum efficiency
from the panel.

2. The stepper motors movement is controlled using a 8051 micro-

controller, which is programmed to move the panel to a position of
maximum intensity. The voltage from the panel is coupled through a
charge-controller, which is used to charge the battery during day time.

3. During darkness, a light detecting circuit has been used to cut-off the
charging supply to the panel and cut-in the load present in the circuit.

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CONTENTS

1. SOLAR PANEL BASICS

2. STEPPER MOTOR BASICS

3. HARDWARE SETUP
(a) STEPPER MOTOR
(b) SOLAR PANEL

4. FUTURE SCOPE

5. CONCLUSION

6. APPENDIX

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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SOLAR PANEL BASICS

Introduction

1. Solar energy is energy directly from the Sun. This energy drives the climate
and weather and supports virtually all life on Earth. Heat and light from the sun account for
most of the available flow of renewable energy. Solar energy technologies harness the
sun's energy for practical ends. Solar power is used synonymously with solar energy or
more specifically to refer to the conversion of sunlight into electricity. This can be done
either through the photovoltaic effect. Solar photovoltaic provide 0.04% of the world's
energy usage.

Solar Cell from Silicon

2. The solar cells are photovoltaic cells or modules (group of cells electrically
connected). Photovoltaic, as the word implies (photo = light, voltaic = electricity), convert
sunlight directly into electricity. Photovoltaic (PV) cells are made of special materials called
semiconductors such as silicon, which is currently the most commonly used. Basically,
when light strikes the cell, a certain portion of it is absorbed within the semiconductor
material. This means that the energy of the absorbed light is transferred to the
semiconductor. The energy knocks electrons loose, allowing them to flow freely. PV cells
also all have one or more electric fields that act to force electrons freed by light absorption
to flow in a certain direction. This flow of electrons is a current, and by placing metal
contacts on the top and bottom of the PV cell, we can draw that current off to use
externally. That's the basic process, but there's really much more to it. Let's take a deeper
look into a PV cell: the single-crystal silicon cell. At this junction, an interior electric field is
built up which leads to the separation of the charge carriers that are released by light.
Through metal contacts, an electric charge can be tapped. If the outer circuit is closed,
meaning a consumer is connected, and then direct current flows.

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When a photon hits a piece of silicon, one of three things can happen:
(i) The photon can pass straight through the silicon — this (generally) happens for lower
energy photons,
(ii) The photon can reflect off the surface,
(iii) The photon can be absorbed by the silicon which either:
(a) Generates heat,
(b) Generates electron-hole pairs, if the photon energy is higher
than the silicon band gap value.

3. When a photon is absorbed, its energy is given to an electron in the crystal

lattice. Usually this electron is in the valence band, and is tightly bound in covalent bonds
between neighbouring atoms, and hence unable to move far. The energy given to it by the
photon "excites" it into the conduction band, where it is free to move around within the
semiconductor. The covalent bond that the electron was previously a part of now has one
fewer electron — this is known as a hole. The presence of a missing covalent bond allows
the bonded electrons of neighbouring atoms to move into the "hole," leaving another hole
behind, and in this way a hole can move through the lattice. Thus, it can be said that
photons absorbed in the semiconductor create mobile electron-hole pairs.

4. A photon need only have greater energy than that of the band gap in order to
excite an electron from the valence band into the conduction band. However, the solar
frequency spectrum approximates a black body spectrum at ~6000 K, and as such, much
of the solar radiation reaching the earth is composed of photons with energies greater than
the band gap of silicon. These higher energy photons will be absorbed by the solar cell.

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Fig1: - Model of a crystalline solar cell

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STEPPER MOTOR BASICS

5. Stepper motors, however, behave differently than standard DC motors. First of all,
they cannot run freely by themselves. Stepper motors do as their name suggests -- they
"step" a little bit at a time. Stepper motors also differ from DC motors in their torque-speed
relationship. DC motors generally are not very good at producing high torque at low
speeds, without the aid of a gearing mechanism. Stepper motors, on the other hand, work
in the opposite manner. They produce the highest torque at low speeds. Stepper motors
also have another characteristic, holding torque, which is not present in DC motors.
Holding torque allows a stepper motor to hold its position firmly when not turning. This can
be useful for applications where the motor may be starting and stopping, while the force
acting against the motor remains present. This eliminates the need for a mechanical brake
mechanism. Steppers don't simply respond to a clock signal, they have several windings
which need to be energized in the correct sequence before the motor's shaft will rotate.
Reversing the order of the sequence will cause the motor to rotate the other way. If the
control signals are not sent in the correct order, the motor will not turn properly. It may
simply buzz and not move, or it may actually turn, but in a rough or jerky manner. A circuit
which is responsible for converting step and direction signals into winding energisation
patterns is called a translator. Most stepper motor control systems include a driver in
addition to the translator, to handle the current drawn by the motor's windings.

Common Characteristics

6. Stepper motors are not just rated by voltage. The following elements characterize a
given stepper motor:

6.1 Voltage
Stepper motors usually have a voltage rating. This is either printed directly on the
unit, or is specified in the motor's datasheet. Exceeding the rated voltage is sometimes
necessary to obtain the desired torque from a given motor, but doing so may produce
excessive heat and/or shorten the life of the motor.

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6.2 Resistance
Resistance-per-winding is another characteristic of a stepper motor. This resistance
will determine current draw of the motor, as well as affect the motor's torque curve and
maximum operating speed.

6.3 Degrees per step

This is often the most important factor in choosing a stepper motor for a given
application. This factor specifies the number of degrees the shaft will rotate for each full
step. Half step operation of the motor will double the number of steps/revolution, and cut
the degrees-per-step in half. For unmarked motors, it is often possible to carefully count,
by hand, the number of steps per revolution of the motor. The degrees per step can be
calculated by dividing 360 by the number of steps in 1 complete revolution Common
degree/step numbers include: 0.72, 1.8, 3.6, 7.5, 15, and even 90. Degrees per step are
often referred to as the resolution of the motor. As in the case of an unmarked motor, if a
motor has only the number of steps/revolution printed on it, dividing 360 by this number
will yield the degree/step value.

Types of Stepper Motors

7. Stepper motors fall into two basic categories: Permanent magnet and variable
reluctance. The type of motor determines the type of drivers, and the type of translator
used. Of the permanent magnet stepper motors, there are several types available. These
include the Unipolar, Bipolar, and Multiphase varieties. Since we have used unipolar
stepper motor in our project it has been explained in detail below.

7.1 Unipolar Stepper Motors

(a) Unipolar motors are relatively easy to control. A simple 1-of-'n' counter circuit
can generate the proper stepping sequence, and drivers as simple as 1 transistor per
winding are possible with unipolar motors. Unipolar stepper motors are characterized by
their center-tapped windings. A common wiring scheme is to take all the taps of the center-

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tapped windings and feed them +MV (Motor voltage). The driver circuit would then ground
each winding to energize it. Unipolar stepper motors generally have six leads, in two
triplets, each triplet powering one coil with a center tap. Sometimes we'll find a unipolar
stepper with only five leads. Here the two "common" leads (center taps) have been tied
together internally.

Fig 2: Stepper motor winding diagram and driver sequence

(b) Often unipolar motors are controlled by using the center taps as a common
point (cathode or anode), and then just switching drive voltage from one end of the given
coil to the other (to reverse coil polarity). If you have no data on a given unipolar motor,
you will need to work a bit to find which leads correspond to each winding. Using an
ohmmeter, look for pairs of leads with equal resistance between them -- the common of
each triplet will have equal resistance to two other leads and high (essentially infinite)
resistance to all the leads in the other triplet.

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HARDWARE SETUP

Stepper motor

8. The stepper motor set up consists of a 2kg torque stepper, a 0804 ADC, 8051
microcontroller and the stepper motor driver circuitry comprising of four IRFZ 44N
MOSFETs. The analog output of the solar panel is converted into its corresponding digital
value and fed to the 8051 microcontroller. The microcontroller processes these inputs as
per the written code and sends out the appropriate sequence to the driver circuitry to either
step up or step down the motor. Depending on whether the output is high or low the
MOSFETs are either turned ON or OFF.

Solar panel

9. The solar panel setup consists of the solar panel, a charge controller and a dark
activated relay. The output from the panel is fed to the battery through a charge controller
which charges a 12V 7 AH battery at constant voltage of 14.2V. The sensing circuit is an
LDR based one, which biases a transistor between saturation and cut-off, thereby
providing switching action between load and charging.

Fig 3: Charge Controller Circuit Diagram

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Fig 4: Dark Activated Relay

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FUTURE SCOPE

1. The project can be extended by incorporating a bi-axial movement to the solar

panel, by addition of another stepper motor on the presently provided supporting frame.

2. A visual aid, in the form of an LCD display may be interfaced, for monitoring of
various parameters.

3. An advanced charge controller, for automatically cutting off load on discharge of

battery, sudden lighting changes and to provide over charging protection, can be designed.

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CONCLUSION

1. With the world facing an impending danger of acute energy crisis, renewable
sources of energy are providing a much needed alternative.

2. By incorporating, setups such as those developed by the syndicate, a great amount

of power can be conserved. These methods also prove to be highly cost effective in the
long run.

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APPENDIX A

Microcontroller Code

#include <at89x52.H>
#include <intrins.h>
#include <stdio.h>

#define RD P3_4
#define WR P3_6
#define INTR P3_5
#define LIM_LO P0_0
#define LIM_HI P0_1

unsigned char j,Val,Old_Val=0;

unsigned char const F_Step[4] = {0x5F,0x9F,0xAF,0x6F};

time1ms() /* 1 ms +- 5us delay with XTAL 12MHz */

{
unsigned int i;
for (i = 0; i<125; i++) /* the value is (1000 * n us)/8 */
;
}

delay_ms(int n) /* do nothing n*1ms */

{

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unsigned int i;
for (i=0; i< n ; i++)
time1ms();
}
void myputchar(char c)
{
while(!TI);
TI=0;
SBUF = c;
}

void Read_ADC()
{
unsigned int i=0;
unsigned long TmpVal=0;

TmpVal=0;
for(i=0;i<1000;i++){
WR = 0;
_nop_();
WR = 1;
while(INTR);
RD = 0;
_nop_();
TmpVal += P1;
RD = 1;
}

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Val = TmpVal/1000;

myputchar(Val);
}

void Step_Forward(void)
{
j=(j+1)&3;
P2=F_Step[j];
delay_ms(200);
}

void Step_Reverse(void)
{
j=(j-1)&3;
P2=F_Step[j];
delay_ms(200);
}

void Home_Pos(void)
{
unsigned char i=0;

while(i++ < 100 && LIM_LO){

j=(j-1)&3;
P2=F_Step[j];
delay_ms(200);

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}
Read_ADC();
do{
if(Val > Old_Val)
Old_Val = Val;
Step_Forward();
Read_ADC();
}while(Val >= (Old_Val-1) && LIM_HI);
Step_Reverse();
}

void main()
{
unsigned int i=0;
unsigned long TmpVal=0;

SCON = 0x52; /* 8-bit UART mode */

TMOD = 0x21; /*timer 1 mode 2 auto reload And Timer
0 in 16-Bit timer Mode */
TH1= 0xfd; /* 9600 8n1 */
TR1 = 1; /* run timer1 */

delay_ms(500);

Home_Pos();
while(1)

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{
for(i=0;i<60;i++)
delay_ms(60000);
do{
if(Val > Old_Val)
Old_Val = Val;
Step_Forward();
Read_ADC();

}while(Val >= (Old_Val-1) && LIM_HI);

Step_Reverse();
}
}

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