Sun Tracking Solar Panel Project Report for Bachelor of Technology in Engineering

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
iii

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.
iv

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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