B.Tech Engineering Project: Sun Tracking Solar Panel System Design

This document presents a Bachelor of Technology engineering project report focused on a sun-tracking solar panel system designed to maximize solar energy capture. The project addresses the limitations of static solar panels by implementing a microcontroller-controlled system that adjusts the panel's position based on the sun's location throughout the day. The system utilizes an ATmega328p microcontroller, servo motors for panel movement, and includes detailed explanations of the hardware and software components, such as the LCD, solar panel specifications, battery, regulator, and power supply. The report covers embedded systems concepts, hardware testing procedures, and provides code snippets, block diagrams, and layout diagrams to illustrate the project's design and functionality. The goal is to provide a cost-effective and portable solution for optimizing solar energy utilization, making it a valuable resource for students and enthusiasts in the field of renewable energy.

For the award of the degree
Bachelor of Technology
In
Engineering
Submitted by
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A Project Report on
SUN TRACKING SOLAR PANEL
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the
requirements

Department of __________________________
Engineering
____________________College of Engineering
Affiliated to ____________________ University

Abstract
The renewable energy is abundant in nature and it is very necessary to exploit it in the most
efficient way. Solar sector holds a very important place today because it is less tedious and
complex as compared to the other resources. Moreover solar energy is not limited to any
region or geographical area and therefore anyone can make use of this energy as per his need.
The main thing is that how it is utilised for maximum output. Nowadays solar energy
exploitation is not optimised. In order to fulfil for the demand the number of solar panels
installed are increased in the form of a grid. The same requirement of power can be satisfied
by less panels only if the power extracted is maximised. This way cost of the overall circuit
increases making it uneconomical. This issue is solved in this project with the help of
commonly used components. It is cheap, portable and easy to build unlike any complex
development. The basic knowledge of any programming language along with some idea
about electronics is enough to enable anyone in grasping and developing the same.
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Table of Contents
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................i
Table of Contents.......................................................................................................................ii
Acknowledgement....................................................................................................................iv
1 Introduction........................................................................................................................1
2 Main Body & Literature review.........................................................................................2
2.1 Embedded Systems......................................................................................................2
2.1.1 Which systems can call themselves as Embedded?.............................................2
2.1.2 Constituents of an Embedded System..................................................................3
2.1.2.1 Programming:..................................................................................................3
2.1.2.2 Peripherals:......................................................................................................3
2.1.2.3 Function Addition:............................................................................................3
2.1.2.4 Debugging:.......................................................................................................3
2.1.3 Crosschecking:.....................................................................................................4
2.1.4 What are requirements to work on it?..................................................................4
2.1.5 Applications.........................................................................................................4
2.2 Block Diagram.............................................................................................................4
2.3 Hardware Required......................................................................................................5
2.3.1 Microcontroller....................................................................................................5
2.3.2 Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)...........................................................................10
2.3.3 Solar Panel.........................................................................................................11
2.3.4 Servo Motors......................................................................................................13
2.3.5 Battery................................................................................................................14
2.3.6 Regulator............................................................................................................17
2.3.7 Power Supply.....................................................................................................17
2.3.8 Rectifier..............................................................................................................18
2.3.9 Capacitors...........................................................................................................18
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2.4 Software Required.....................................................................................................19
2.5 Layout Diagram.........................................................................................................25
2.6 Code...........................................................................................................................26
2.7 Hardware Testing......................................................................................................31
2.7.1 Continuity Test...................................................................................................31
2.7.2 Power-On Test...................................................................................................32
3 Conclusion........................................................................................................................33
References..................................................................................................................................v
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Acknowledgement
The satisfaction and euphoria that accompany the successful completion of any task would be
incomplete without the mentioning of the people whose constant guidance and
encouragement made it possible. We take pleasure in presenting before you, our project,
which is result of studied blend of both research and knowledge.
We express our earnest gratitude to our internal guide, Assistant Professor ______________,
Department of ECE, our project guide, for his constant support, encouragement and guidance.
We are grateful for his cooperation and his valuable suggestions.
Finally, we express our gratitude to all other members who are involved either directly or
indirectly for the completion of this project.
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1 Introduction
Solar energy is the most abundant energy present on Earth. It is a renewable source of energy
and therefore cannot be depleted. It doesn’t pollute the environment. Moreover solar energy
does not require any complicated process or machinery. It consists of a solar panel and an
inverter along with the controller. But the current scenario has not achieved optimisation in
terms of capturing and exploiting the sun energy to a very large extent. The position of the
sun is changing throughout the day but the device which is producing energy is static and
therefore it reduces voltage unevenly throughout the day. This issue is a big one for the
industries who require a constant supply of voltage for their operation. To meet this
challenge, a project is proposed that contains microcontroller controlling the displacement of
the solar panel according to the position of the sun during the day. A servomotor controls the
solar panel. It turns it according to the output signal given by the microcontroller. This way
the solar panel is continuously facing the sun and it receives the maximum solar energy that
can be converted into the voltage. If not the constant, but still near to the same value is
received every time from the output. This, although a very simple point, but it quite and
importance. The future holds for the renewable energy sources.
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2 Main body & literature review
2.1 Embedded Systems
An embedded system is a combination of components that work in a synchronised manner
and constitute the following functionality (Keim, 2018),
 As a main component whose job is to perform tasks based on computation.
 It is developed for a particular purpose with very limited operation, and
 Is used as one of the component in a given electrical network.
There is some uncertainty among some people that embedded system is nothing but a
mechanical or simple electronic device. But, it is not so. An IOT device is shown in figure 1
as embedded system (Swaroop, 2018).
Figure 1 (Keim, 2018)
2.1.1 Which systems can call themselves as Embedded?
Embedded system is not just single component, instead it is a group of many components
which synced together to perform a particular task. It can be called more like a system than
just single component or electronic device. This system can then be used in a larger system
basically it can be integrated into that and work collectively with that. For example,
refrigerator, air conditioner, water cooler, vending machine, laser printer and many more. We
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are surrounded by many embedded systems. All the system to one particular task and nothing
more than that. There are specialised in performing a single task perfectly. Here, when we
talk about device it means single component of this whole system. For example a cooling
module in a refrigerator is the electronic device or a thermostat which can be programmed
that is used in an electrical heating system.
2.1.2 Constituents of an Embedded System
But we use the term embedded system because it signifies that these systems possess a single
functionality and all the components are embedded inside a big system. Now, digging deeper,
an embedded system performs tasks that involve calculations. Mostly it is used for
microcontrollers but FPGA or microprocessor can also be used as the main operational
component or animal system. Every embedded system has a firmware, which involves
following tasks,
2.1.2.1 Programming:
We usually have to tell an embedded system about its function. This can be done through
programming, mostly in C language which is easy to understand and implement.
2.1.2.2 Peripherals:
The functioning and making use of these peripherals is a challenge for embedded developers.
They need to understand their functioning, usage and how they could be used. Some of the
peripherals are USB module, Analog to Digital converter (ADC), Programmable Counter
Module (PMC) and many more (Sankar, 2017), (Anish, 2018), (Bilal, 2017).
2.1.2.3 Function Addition:
It is not necessary that the code which is written works fine in the first attempt itself. There
might be some missing functions, tasks that has to be written in the programming language
concerned. After this the code has been brought to stage where it can be checked through the
compiler.
2.1.2.4 Debugging:
This term implies finding out the errors or the bugs within the code that were not visible for
the compilation. The errors may include syntax, runtime or any other. It is important to make
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a code functional as desired. Debugging requires a lot of skill and it cannot be learnt through
books, it comes with practice and experience.
2.1.3 Crosschecking:
The code has been compiled, debugged and there is no error to be found but what happens if
for example, the device has to extinguish the fire and it doesn’t do that. Please take notice
that the code has been debugged, compiled and there is no issue found but the task which we
were demanding is not fulfilled in the runtime. These unexpected issues have to be solved
before presenting the code is the final one (Ravi, 2017).
2.1.4 What are requirements to work on it?
Embedded systems require certain skill set, patients and common sense with logical approach
as well. Basically it is the job of the embedded developer to developer emitted system but
ultimately the product has to be sold or employed somewhere. For example it has to be
installed in a factory where there are workers. Those workers have their own jobs and they
don’t have the time or the patience to understand the technicality of your product. Here
comes the interface, and emitted system should work in all conditions because it is intended
to work under harsh conditions as well, self-correcting behaviour is expected. Moreover the
interface should be so simple that any layman can also use it. In all being used in a real-time
world, and emitted system is to function properly and for a long period of time (Nasir, 8
Things for Embedded Systems Programming, 2016).
2.1.5 Applications
 Communication
 Artificial Intelligence
 Space station
 Military & warfare
 Consumer electronics and many more.
2.2 Block Diagram
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Figure 2
Figure 2 shows the block diagram. It consists of some hardware as well as software for
burning the code in the microcontroller.
2.3 Hardware Required
2.3.1 Microcontroller
A microcontroller is simply a small computer that is built on a silicon wafer through VLSI
technology. It is also called as an embedded computer because it’s basically a microprocessor
integrated with the peripherals such as input/output, memory and other. Thus, making it an
embedded system. Microcomputers achieved, the nature and fast. They are programmed to do
a particular task. There are wide variety of microcontrollers available, differentiated on the
basis of their data bus. A microcontroller has a main processing unit, Analog to Digital
converter (ADC), timers, counters, oscillator, interrupts, serial ports, Random Access
Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM) and many more. The main processing unit
decodes the instruction and executes it. The memory stores the data and the code. IO ports
helps in interfacing with other peripherals. Timers and counters are one of the main features
of the microcontroller, they can be multiple. All the functions related to the clock such as
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measurement of the frequency, generation of the oscillations, pulse counting, and many more
are performed by the timer and counters. The signal present in the environment is Analog in
nature and therefore in order to make it understandable, it is converted into its digital form.
The reverse function is carried out in the case of Digital to Analog Converters (DAC).
Processed digital signal has to be converted back to its Analog for which can be used for
other applications. The Internet control circuits interrupts in the given code. This means that
if some special functions has to be performed before the normal function, the controller can
skip the normal functions and execute the special ones (Vysakh, 2018).
2.3.1.1 ATmega328p
In this project, we will be using one of the most powerful and popular microcontroller
developed by ATMEL- ATmega328p Microcontroller Control Unit (MCU). This MCU lies
in the series of Advanced Virtual RISC (AVR). It can process eight data bits at a time, it has
32 kB of internal memory. Even when the electricity is removed the microcontroller
continues to store the data (Nasir, 2017). This is due to the presence of an Erasable
Programmable Read-only memory, the size of which is 1Kb. ATmega328p is cheap,
powerful and consumes very low power. Its architecture is based on the advanced RISC. It
has many useful pins such as 6 for Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), one pair for serial
communication, Analog pins for reading value from sensors. Due to many advantages, it has
been used in another most popular development boards in the market ‘Arduino Uno R3’.
Power input is from 3.3V to 5V. ATmega328p has a total of 28 pins shown with their name
in figure 3.
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