Micro-controller controlled solar-tracking system

Abstract

Shortage of fuel supply and tremendous increase in its price lead to hunt for new energy source to cope with today technologies. Solar energy is one of the free resources readily available everywhere using Photovoltaic panels. This solution encourages designing automatic sun tracker capable of extracting maximum energy by following sun’s position.

This project emphasizes on low budget solar tracker circuit design in analog and digital environment. The portable prototype single-axis model was built with simple mechanical design. Various technologies and concept of sensors were carefully examined and LEDs had been selected as the most suitable main sensor to be used due to their price and performance. Moreover, BJT transistors help to achieve switching operation and H-bridge motor control in sensor design.

By using Microchip’s PIC18F819 microcontroller, it could enhance the solar tracker with additional features. The reusable elab16m controller board housed with microcontroller together with L293D chip is able to provide interfacing and simple connections. The challenge of programming part was completed using Corechart and MPLAB.

Lastly, future works and improvement to focus on necessary areas are highlighted to increase the tracking performance.