AUTOMATIC SOLAR TRACKING SYSTEM

The solar energy is a clean, freely and abundantly available alternative energy source in nature. Capturing solar energy from nature is an advantageous task for power generation. Conversion of sun energy into another form is a highly complex phenomenon. For this purpose, Photo-Voltaic (PV) panels are used which convert Sun energy to Direct Current (DC) electrical energy. Conventional fixed type PV panels extract maximum energy only during 12 noon to 2 PM which results in less efficiency. Therefore, building of an automatic solar tracking system is the need of an hour. PV panels have to be perpendicular with the sun for maximum energy extraction which can be fulfilled by automatic tracking. This project includes the design and development of microcontroller based automatic solar tracking system. Light Dependent Resistors (LDRs) are used to sense the intensity of sunlight and hence the sun’s position in the sky. Microcontroller AT89S52 is used for controlling the movement of PV panel. The mechanism uses geared DC motors to rotate the PV panel. DC motors are controlled by the microcontroller with respect to signals from LDR. Zigbee transmitter receiver pair is implemented to receive the data from remote location (plant) i.e. for data acquisition purpose. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is used to display the output DC voltage and current on site whereas at the supervising location using Visual Basic (VB) data is acquired, stored and displayed.