TELKOM
NIKA Indonesia
n
Journal of
Electrical En
gineering
Vol. 12, No. 12, Decembe
r
2014, pp. 80
2
8
~ 803
2
DOI: 10.115
9
1
/telkomni
ka.
v
12i12.67
25
8028
Re
cei
v
ed
Jun
e
29, 2014; Revi
sed Septe
m
ber
23, 201
4; Acce
pted
Octob
e
r 20, 2
014
Single Axis Automatic Solar Tracking System Using
Microcontroller
Soumy
a
Das
1
, Pradip Kumar Sadhu
2
, Nitai Pal
2
, S
uprotim Mukherjee
3
1
Departme
n
t of Electrical En
gi
neer
ing, Un
iver
sit
y
In
stitute of T
e
chnolog
y, B
a
rdh
a
man, W
B
-713
104, Ind
i
a
2
Departme
n
t of Electrical En
gi
neer
ing, Ind
i
an
Sc
hool of Min
e
s, Dhan
ba
d, Jharkh
and-
82
60
04, India
3
Departem
ent of Electrical En
gi
n
eeri
ng, W
B
UT
, W
B
-70064, India
Corresp
on
din
g
author, e-mai
l
: dasgu
pta.sd1
984
@gma
il.co
m
A
b
st
r
a
ct
Solar p
o
w
e
r ge
nerati
on h
ad b
een
empl
oyed
as a re
n
e
w
abl
e en
ergy for ye
ars ago. R
e
sid
ents th
a
t
use s
o
lar
pow
er as t
heir
alte
rnative
pow
er
supp
ly w
ill
bri
n
g b
enefits t
o
t
h
e
m
. T
h
e
mai
n
o
b
jectiv
e
of thi
s
pap
er
is t
o
de
velo
p
a
m
i
cr
oc
ont
r
o
l
l
er
-
b
ase
d
solar
pa
ne
l t
r
ackin
g
syst
e
m
wh
i
c
h
wi
ll
keep
th
e
s
o
la
r
pane
l
s
a
lign
e
d
wi
th
th
e Sun
in
ord
e
r to ma
ximi
z
e
in
ha
rve
s
ting
so
la
r
po
we
r.
When
the
in
tensi
t
y o
f
l
i
gh
t i
s
de
crea
sing
,
this syst
em
automatically changes
its
direction to get
maximum
int
e
nsity of light.
Li
ght dependent
photo
res
i
st
or
s a
r
e
u
s
e
d
as t
he
s
e
n
s
or
s of t
h
e s
o
l
a
r tr
ac
ke
r. F
o
r
rot
a
ti
n
g
t
h
e
a
p
p
r
o
pri
a
t
e
po
sit
i
o
n
of t
h
e
pa
n
e
l
,
a
ste
p
e
r
moto
r i
s
us
ed. T
h
is d
e
s
ig
n
is c
o
v
e
r
e
d for
a si
n
g
l
e
ax
i
s
a
n
d
i
s
de
sign
ed
for residen
tial u
s
e
.
Fina
ll
y, the
p
r
o
j
ect is
ab
le
to
tra
c
k
a
nd follo
w the
Su
n in
ten
s
i
t
y
i
n
o
r
d
e
r
to
ge
t
ma
ximum po
wer
a
t
the ou
tp
u
t
re
ga
rdle
ss
mot
o
r s
peed.
Ke
y
w
ords
: ph
otovolta
ic cell,
solar tracki
ng, mi
cr
ocontr
o
ll
er
, stepper motor
,
photo resistor
Copy
right
©
2014 In
stitu
t
e o
f
Ad
van
ced
En
g
i
n
eerin
g and
Scien
ce. All
rig
h
t
s reser
ve
d
.
1. Introduc
tion
The sola
r en
ergy is
kn
own to be on
e o
f
t
he prefe
rre
d ren
e
wable
gree
n en
ergi
es, which
is mu
ch
clea
ner a
nd fre
e
from ha
rmful pro
d
u
c
tion
to the environment
com
pare
d
with t
he
conve
n
tional
cou
n
terp
art
s
[1, 2]. Maximizing
po
we
r o
u
tput from
a
sola
r
system
is d
e
si
rabl
e t
o
increa
se efficiency. In ord
e
r to maximize po
we
r out
put from the sola
r pan
els,
one need i
s
to
kee
p
the p
a
n
e
ls ali
gned
with the su
n, mean
s that
the tra
cki
ng o
f
the sun i
s
required [3]. Sola
r
tracke
rs
are
the most a
p
p
rop
r
iate a
n
d
proven te
ch
nology to in
crea
se the
efficien
cy of sol
a
r
panel
s
th
rou
gh kee
p
ing
the
pa
nel
s aligne
d with
the
sun’
s
positio
n. Sol
a
r tracke
rs
get
popul
ari
z
ed
a
r
oun
d the
wo
rld in
re
ce
nt d
a
ys to h
a
rn
ess
sola
r en
erg
y
in mo
st efficient
way [4,
5].
The mai
n
obj
ective of this pape
r is to
desi
gn
the sun
tra
cki
ng solar system model whi
c
h is
a
device that follow the mo
vement of
the Sun reg
a
rd
less of motor spee
d. Besi
de that, it is to
improve the
overall ele
c
tri
c
ity generation usi
ng
si
n
g
le axis sun
tracking
system and al
so to
provide the d
e
sig
n
for re
si
dential u
s
e.
2. The Propo
sed Me
thod
The Automatic
Solar Trac
king Sys
t
em
(ASTS)
is
co
mpletely auto
m
atic a
nd
ke
eps th
e
panel
in f
r
ont
of
sun
until
that is visible
.
The
uni
q
u
e
feature of
th
is
syst
em
is
that inste
a
d
of
taking th
e e
a
rth a
s
its
referen
c
e, it take
s t
he
su
n as
a guidi
ng source. Its a
c
tive se
n
s
ors
con
s
tantly m
onitor the
su
nlight a
nd
ro
t
a
te the
pan
el
towa
rd
s th
e
dire
ction
wh
e
r
e th
e inte
nsit
y of
sunli
ght i
s
m
a
ximum
cont
rolled
by th
e
micro
c
ont
rol
l
er
ba
sed
co
ntrol
panel.
In case the
sun
become
s
invi
sible
e.g. in
clou
dy we
ath
e
r, the
p
anel
sen
s
o
r
can’t
detect th
e sun. After a
while
whe
n
the
clo
ud vani
she
s
,
it will scan th
e sky and
ag
ain alig
ned to
face the
sun
vertically, by this
pro
c
e
s
s maxi
mum effici
en
cy can
get th
rough
out th
e
whol
e d
a
y [6-12]. Sch
e
mati
c di
agram
of
An
ASTS is sho
w
n in Figu
re
1. Moreove
r
the sy
stem
ca
n handle the
errors and al
so supplie
s the
error me
ssag
es on the L
C
D display.
Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
TELKOM
NIKA
ISSN:
2302-4
046
Single Axi
s
Autom
a
tic Solar Tra
c
king System
Using M
i
cro
c
o
n
troll
e
r
(Soum
ya Das)
8029
Figure 1. Automatic Sun T
r
ackin
g
Syste
m
—Di
s
he
s a
nd PV
3. Rese
arch
Metho
d
This
de
sign
is divide
d
into two p
a
rts, hardware
developm
e
n
t and p
r
o
g
r
ammin
g
developm
ent. Block dia
g
ra
m of micro
c
o
n
trolle
r and a
s
soci
ated ci
rcuitry is sho
w
n
in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Block
Diag
ram o
f
Micro
c
ont
rol
l
er and A
s
sociated Circuit
r
y
3.1. Hard
w
a
r
e
Opera
t
ion
Since the
pro
j
ect focus i
s
on emb
edd
e
d
softwar
e
co
ntrol the mi
croco
n
trolle
r is
the co
re
of the o
r
ga
ni
zation. T
he
e
n
tire
system
depe
nd
s
up
o
n
a p
r
o
g
ra
m
in emb
edd
ed
c
burned
in
th
e
microcontroll
er. The
micro
c
ontrolle
r sel
e
cted fo
r thi
s
task ha
d to
be abl
e to
ch
ange th
e an
a
l
og
photo
c
ell voltage in the di
g
i
tal values a
n
d
offer f
our
o
u
tput cha
nnel
s to co
ntrol th
e stepp
er m
o
tor
rotation. A 4 MHz
cry
s
tal o
scill
ator
wa
s also u
s
e
d
in
conj
un
ction with the P89V5
1
RD2 to provide
the necessa
ry clock input. This
spee
d is sufficient for
the appli
c
atio
ns.
The 12V DC input voltage
is injected t
o
t
he PCB after necessa
ry
steppin
g
do
wn from
the ad
apte
r
.
This 12V
DC
sup
p
ly go
es t
o
78
05
Volta
ge Reg
u
lator from whe
r
e
the
o
u
tput 5V DC
spread to all
logic
circuitry.
The 12V DC suppl
y is onl
y for Relay and THE Moto
r Drive
r
. There
are th
ree
switche
s
an
d a
re
set switch
are
con
n
e
c
ted to the mi
cro
c
o
n
troll
e
r
for controlli
n
g
necessa
ry condition.LM
3
39 Qua
d
Co
mparator is
also
conn
ect
ed to the micro
c
o
n
troll
e
r
for
comp
ari
ng the sola
r pane
l sensor voltage. The
an
alog input from the light sensor du
ri
ng
operation fi
rst
goe
s to
the
ADC0
804
fro
m
wh
ere afte
r
conve
r
ting it
to digital
si
g
nal it i
s
di
spl
a
yed
in the
L
C
D di
splay. T
h
is A
D
C080
4 i
s
al
so li
nked
up
to the
micro
c
o
n
trolle
r by
pa
rallel
bu
s to
g
e
t
the output.The EEPROM
AT24c64 is
connected to t
he microcont
roller by IIC bus to
keep the
accumul
a
ted
memory of mi
crocontr
oll
e
r
after the power ru
ns a
w
ay.
The micro
c
on
troller P89V5
1
RD2 is com
p
iled wi
th the
assista
n
ce of softwa
r
e na
m
ed Keil
µ-Visio
n
soft
ware. The mi
cro
c
o
n
troll
e
r i
s
co
nne
cted
to the PC by a DB9 Co
nn
ector. MAX2
32
proto
c
ol conn
ects the mi
croco
n
trolle
r wi
th DB9 Con
n
e
ctor by an
RS232 BUS.
The L
293
D
motor d
r
iver
controls the d
r
iving
p
e
rfo
r
mance of th
e
step
per mot
o
r
whi
c
h i
s
like
w
ise linke
d with the microcontroller.
Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
ISSN: 23
02-4
046
TELKOM
NI
KA
Vol. 12, No. 12, Decem
ber 20
14 : 8028 – 80
32
8030
A BUZZER
a
nd a 1
2
V Re
lay are th
ere
for outp
u
t o
peratio
n an
d
sen
s
in
g the
voltage
r
e
spec
tively.
3.2. Soft
w
a
r
e
Opera
t
ion
As wa
s fund
a
m
ental to the
cou
r
se, the a
s
se
mbly lan
g
uage
wa
s utili
zed fo
r the p
r
oject.
It
wa
s m
o
re
tha
n
ad
equ
ate t
o
satisfy d
e
si
gn o
b
je
ct
ives whil
e e
nha
n
c
ing
level
of
unde
rsta
ndin
g
of
the prog
ram
m
ing lang
uag
e.
The software
operatio
n can be split i
n
to vari
ou
s se
ction
s
. The first part is initial
positio
ning. P
r
ior to
po
we
ri
ng up
the
system,
the p
h
o
tocell
mu
st be ma
nually
set to a
sta
r
ting
point (Ea
s
t).
The second p
a
rt of the syst
em co
de de
al
s with
the lig
h
t
tracki
ng. Thi
s
is the h
e
a
r
t of the
prog
ram.
On
ce the tra
c
ke
r
has
set it
s init
ial po
sition to
a bri
ght sou
r
ce of light
(sun
), it is
ready t
o
align itself mo
re preci
o
u
s
ly
and continu
e
tracking the li
ght.
The total soft
ware ope
rati
on is compil
ed in Embed
ded C a
nd K
e
il µ-Visio
n
software.
This compile
d p
r
og
ram
co
ntrol th
e total
ha
rd
ware o
p
e
ration
that i
s
the
T
r
a
c
ker and
the
Mot
o
r
will rotate according
to this program.
3.3. Sy
stem
Program Flow
Char
t
The micro
c
o
n
trolle
r used
in this sola
r tracke
r sy
stem is P89V
51RD2. Flo
w
cha
r
t of
P89V51
RD2 prog
ram i
s
sh
own in Fig
u
re
3.
Figure 3. System prog
am
flow chart of P89V51
RD2
4. Results a
nd Discu
ssi
on
For
prepa
ring
the exp
e
rim
e
ntal setup
of
ASTS,
1.2 volt sola
r
panel
i
s
u
s
e
d
h
e
re
a
nd it i
s
s
h
ow
n
in
F
i
gu
r
e
4
.
Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
TELKOM
NIKA
ISSN:
2302-4
046
Single Axi
s
Autom
a
tic Solar Tra
c
king System
Using M
i
cro
c
o
n
troll
e
r
(Soum
ya Das)
8031
Figure 4. Experime
n
tal mo
del of Solar Panel
Low
spe
ed st
eppe
r motor
has b
een u
s
ed and the
steppe
r motor
use
d
here to prep
are
the model is
sho
w
n in Fig
u
re 5. As the motor sp
eed i
s
very low, motor sp
eed p
a
ram
e
ter can
be
negle
c
ted a
n
d
the system
only focu
se
s
in tracking of
Sun intensity.
Figure 5. Experime
n
tal mo
del of Steppe
r motor
A practi
cal di
splay du
ring t
he experi
m
en
t is sho
w
n in
Figure 6. As stated ea
rlie
r that an
LCD display is used he
re to sho
w
the re
sult.
Figure 6. Practical di
spl
a
y view
In this di
spla
y it is clea
rly sho
w
n th
at the sy
stem
starts
scanni
ng
for finding i
n
whi
c
h
angle
sola
r in
tensity is max
i
mum and ali
gn itself in the maximum solar inten
s
ity positio
n.
Evaluation Warning : The document was created with Spire.PDF for Python.
ISSN: 23
02-4
046
TELKOM
NI
KA
Vol. 12, No. 12, Decem
ber 20
14 : 8028 – 80
32
8032
If a fixed sol
a
r p
anel i
s
u
s
ed i
n
pla
c
e
of ASTS it would n
o
t hav
e given 1.2
volt output
throug
h out the day due to the varying
position of
the sun. But in this ca
se it has bee
n cl
early
sho
w
n fro
m
the display that the output of the ASTS is maximum.
Thoug
h this
experim
ental
setup i
s
very
sma
ll, but if it works for
a smaller
one, t
hen
this
prin
ciple
coul
d be used in
bigge
r pan
el and gri
d
also.
5. Conclusio
n
Here Single
Axis Solar Tracking Syste
m
m
odel i
s
d
e
velope
d usi
ng micro
c
ont
roller. The
system is ab
le to track a
nd follow the
intensit
y of
the Sun in orde
r to get
maximum ou
tput
rega
rdl
e
ss of
motor spee
d. Beside
s, l
o
w
spee
d st
eppe
r moto
r
has
been
used for n
egle
c
ting
motor
spe
ed
para
m
eter
an
d therefore th
e syste
m
onl
y
f
o
cus
e
s i
n
t
r
ac
kin
g
of
S
u
n int
e
n
s
it
y
.
The
system
can
b
e
applie
d in t
he re
sid
ential
area fo
r
alte
rnative ele
c
tri
c
ity gene
ratio
n
espe
cially for
non-critical a
nd low p
o
wer applian
c
e
s
.
Referen
ces
[1]
Ar
y
u
anto So
et
edj
o. Model
in
g of Maxim
u
m Po
w
e
r Po
int T
r
a
cking C
ontrol
l
e
r
for Solar Po
w
e
r S
y
stem.
[2]
T
E
LKOMNIKA Indon
esi
an Jou
r
nal of Electric
al Eng
i
ne
eri
n
g
.
2012; 1
0
(3): 4
19-4
30.
[3]
Yuho
ng Z
h
a
o
, Xu
ech
e
n
g
Z
h
a
o
, Yunhu
i Z
han
g. MPPT
for Photovo
l
taic S
y
s
t
em Using Mu
lti-obj
ective
[4]
Improved P
a
rti
c
le S
w
a
rm Optimization Algorithm
T
E
LKO
M
NIKA Indon
e
s
ian J
ourn
a
l
of Electrica
l
Engi
neer
in
g
, Janu
ar
y
20
14; 1
2
(1): 261~
26
8
.
[5]
S
y
e
d
Ars
a
la
n.
Sun T
r
acking
S
y
stem
w
i
th
M
i
croco
n
troll
e
r 8
051.
Inter
nati
o
nal
Jour
nal
of
Scientific
&
Engi
neer
in
g R
e
searc
h
, June-
201
3; 4(6).
[6]
Md T
anvir Arafat Khan, SM Shahre
a
r
T
anzil, Rifat
Rahm
an,
SM Shafiul Alam
.
D
e
si
g
n
an
d
Constructi
on o
f
an Auto
matic
Solar T
r
ack
i
n
g
Syste
m
.
6th Internatio
na
l
C
onfere
n
ce on Electrical an
d
Comp
uter Engi
neer
ing ICECE
.
Dhaka, Ban
g
l
ades
h. 201
0
[7]
MA Pan
a
it, T
T
udor
ache.
A Si
mp
le
Ne
ural
N
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