Automatic Sun Tracking System with Dual Axis

AUTOMATIC SUN TRACKING SYSTEM WITH DUAL AXIS

K Srinivasa Rao1, G.Sreedhara Babu2 and M.Rajesh3 1,2,3Department of Mechanical Engineering,V.R.Siddhartha Engineering College Abstract— The aim of this paper is to solve the problem of energy crisis which is considerably serious issue in today’s period. It is becoming essential to increase use of renewable sources of energy namely solar energy as compared to conventional sources for energy generation. Solar energy is rapidly gaining notoriety as an important means of expanding renewable energy resources. As such, it is vital that those in engineering fields understand the technologies associated with this area. Our project will include the design and construction of a microcontroller-based solar panel tracking system. It uses 8051 microcontroller and stepper motor to move solar panel according to position of sun. Photo resistors are also used to detect light intensity. Solar tracking allows more energy to be produced because the solar array is able to remain aligned to the sun. A technology namely solar tracking system is introduced to improve efficiency of solar cells by tracking sun’s energy. A working system will ultimately be demonstrated to validate the design. Problems and possible improvements will also be presented. A solar panel receives the most sunlight when it is perpendicular to the sun’s rays, but the sunlight direction changes regularly with changing seasons and weather. Currently, most solar panels are fixed, i.e., the solar array has a fixed orientation to the sky and does not turn to follow the sun. To increase the unit area illumination of sunlight on solar panels, we designed a solar tracking electricity generation system. The design mechanism holds the solar panel and allows the panel to perform an approximate 3-dimensional (3-D) hemispheroidal rotation to track the sun’s movement during the day and improve the overall electricity generation. This system can achieve the maximum illumination and energy concentration and cut the cost of electricity by requiring fewer solar panels, therefore, it has great significance for research and development. Keywords—Solar panel, sun light, solar cells, solar tracking system, micro controller, stepped motor,electricity generation.

I. INTRODUCTION

The world population is increasing day by day and the demand for energy is increasing accordingly. Oil and coal as the main source of energy nowadays, is expected to end up from the world during the recent century which explores a serious problem in providing the humanity with an affordable and reliable source of energy. The need of the hour is renewable energy resources with cheap running costs. Solar energy is considered as one of the main energy resources in warm countries. In general, India has a relatively long sunny day for more than ten months and partly cloudy sky for most of the days of the rest two months. Very rich is solar energy. Many projects have been done on using photovoltaic cells in collecting solar radiation and converting it into electrical energy but most of these projects did not take into account the difference of the sun angle of incidence by installing the panels in a fixed orientation which influences very highly the solar energy collected by the panel. As we know that the angle of inclination ranges between -90o after sun rise and +90o before sun set passing with 0o at noon. This makes the collected solar radiation to be 0% at sun rise and sun set and 100% at noon. This variation of solar radiations collection leads the photovoltaic panel to lose more than 40% of the collected energy. Fig. 1shows the yearly sun path at the latitude of 30o. From the figure 1, one can estimate the exact position of sun in every.

DOI:10.21884/IJMTER.2017.4190.HKMGB 106 International Journal of Modern Trends in Engineering and Research (IJMTER) Volume 04, Issue 6, [June– 2017] ISSN (Online):2349–9745; ISSN (Print):2393-8161

Fig. 1Sun path at latitude of 310

Solar angle of incidence Fig. 2 Curve for the relationship between the solar radiation and the solar angle of incidence

II. SOLAR POWER IN INDIA

Solar power in India is a fast-growing industry. As of 6 April 2017, the country's solar grid had a cumulative capacity of 12.28 gigawatts (GW) compared to 6.76 GW at the end of March 2016. In January 2015, the Indian government expanded its solar plans, targeting US$100 billion of investment and 100 GW of solar capacity, including 40 GW from rooftop solar, by 2022. Commenting on the key importance India attaches to solar power, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the historic COP21 climate conference in Paris in 2015, “The world must turn to (the) sun to power our future. As the developing world lifts billions of people into prosperity, our hope for a sustainable planet rests on a bold, global initiative.” India quadrupled its solar power generation capacity from 2,650 MW on 26 May 2014 to 12,288.83 MW on 10 March 2017. The country added 3.01 GW of solar power capacity in 2015-2016, and 5.525 GW in 2016-2017, the highest of any year. India's largest photovoltaic (PV) power plants are 1.Kamuthi solar power project, Tamil nadu, 648MW commissioned 21-september 2016 2. Charanka Solar Plant, Charanka village ,patan district, Gujarat, 221MW Commissioned April 2012 3. Welspun solar MP project ,Neemuch ,Madhya pradesh, 151MW Commissioned February 2014 4.Sakri solar plant, Maharashtra, 125MW Commissioned march 2013 5. NTPC solar plants, 110MW during year 2015-2016

Fig.3 The average solar radiations receiver by different regions in India The daily average solar energy incident over India varies from 4 to 7 kWh/m2 with about 1500–2000 sunshine hours per year (depending upon location), which is far more than current total energy consumption. For example, assuming the efficiency of PV modules were as low as 10%, this would still be a thousand times greater than the domestic electricity demand projected. Fig 3 shows the average solar radiations receiver by different regions in India In January 2016, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, and the President of France, Mr. François Hollande laid the foundation stone for the headquarters of the International Solar Alliance(ISA) in Gwalpahari, Gurgaon. India is one of the countries with the higher solar electricity production per watt installed, with an insolation of 1700 to 1900 kilowatt hours per kilowatt peak (kWh/KWp). On 16 May 2011, India’s first solar power project (with a capacity of 5 MW) was registered under the Clean Development Mechanism. The project is in Sivagangai Village, Sivaganga district, Tamil Nadu

III. LITERATURE REVIEW

Sun-synchronous navigation is related to see that solar panel always points toward the sun and which results into maximum battery charging. The unique feature of this solar tracking system is that instead of taking the earth as its reference, it takes the sun as a guiding source. Its active sensors constantly monitor the sunlight and rotate the panel towards the direction where the intensity of sunlight is maximum. The light dependent resistor’s do the job of sensing the change in position of the Sun. The control circuit does the job of fetching the input from the sensor and gives command to the motor to run in order to tackle the change in the position of the sun. By using this system the additional energy generated is around 25% to 30% with very less consumption by the system itself. The tracking system was driven by two permanent magnet DC motors to provide motion of the PV panels in two axis. The project describes the use of a microcontroller based design methodology of an automatic solar tracker. Light dependent resistors are used as the sensors of the solar tracker. The tracking system maximizes solar cell output by positioning a solar panel at the point of maximum light intensity This paper describe the use of DC motors, special motors like stepper motors, servo motors, real time actuators, to operate moving parts of the solar tracker. The system was designed as the normal line of solar cell always move parallel to the rays of the sun. The Aim of this project is to develop and implement a prototype of two-axis solar tracking system based on a microcontroller. This auto-tracking system is controlled with two 12V, 6W DC motors. The four light sensors (LDR) are used to track the sun and to start the operation (Day/Night operation).

The project concentrates on the design and control of dual axis orientation system for the photovoltaic solar panels. The orientation system calculations are based on astronomical data and the system is assumed to be valid for any region with small modifications. The system is designed to control the Altitude angle in the vertical plane as well as the Azimuth angle in the horizontal plane of the photovoltaic panel workspace. And this system is expected to save more than 40% of the total energy of the panels by keeping the panel’s face perpendicular to the sun. In the previous solutions, each tracking direction is controlled by using a Sun sensor made by a pair of phototransistors. The single matrix Sun sensor (MSS) controls both axes of the tracking system. The inspiration for the MSS is the antique solar clock. MSS comprises 8 photo resistors and a cylinder The difference between a shaded photo resistor cell and a lighted cell is recognized using an electronic circuit and corresponding output voltage signals are given to the DC motors which will move the array toward sun. In order to improve the solar tracking accuracy, the author comes up with combining program control and sensor control. Program control includes calendar-check tracking and the local longitude, latitude and time, to calculate the solar altitude and solar azimuth by SCM (single-chip microcomputer), servo motor is used to adjust the attitude of the solar panel. Sensor control is that sunray is detected by photoelectric detector and then the changed signal is transmitted to control step motor to adjust the attitude of the solar. The paper discusses the technology options, their current status and opportunities and challenges in developing solar thermal power plants in the context of India. The National Solar Mission is a major initiative of the Government of India and State Governments to promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing India’s energy security challenge. It will also constitute a major contribution by India to the global effort to meet the challenges of climate change.  Joao M. G. Figueiredo presented on the optimization of the electric energy production by photovoltaic cells through the development of an intelligent sun-tracking system.  V Sundara Siva Kumar and S Suryanarayana in 2011 presented a solar energy collection technology using micro controllers. This was designed to optimize the operation of solar energy receiver.  Sharad Kumar , Shashank Mishra and Shashank Gupta presented a paper which deals with the design and execution of a solar tracker system dedicated to the PV conversion panels.  Sanzidur Rahmana, Rashid Ahammed Ferdaus focused on design and implementation of dual axis tracking system .This presented the efficient solar generation system.  Kais, I. and Abdul-Lateef, in 2012 developed a low cost single-axis sun tracker system using a LDR sensor and a microcontroller.  Asit Mistry, Nikhil Patel presented the design methodology of a microcontroller based simple and easily programmed automatic solar tracker which is cost efficient.  Khan, N., Mariun, Z., Saleem, N., Abas, N studied on “Fossil Fuels, New Energy Sources and the Great Energy Crisis”.  M. Serhan and L. El-Chaar in 2015 compared two axis system with a fixed system drawing a conclusion that two axis systems are more efficient.

IV. AIM OF THE PROJECT

The aim of this paper is to solve the problem of energy crisis which is considerably serious issue in today’s period. It is becoming essential to increase use of renewable sources of energy namely solar energy as compared to conventional sources for energy generation. A technology namely solar tracking system is introduced to improve efficiency of solar cells by tracking sun’s energy. It helps to keep the solar photovoltaic panel perpendicular to the sun throughout the year in order to make it more efficient. The dual axis solar photovoltaic panel takes astronomical data as reference and the tracking system has the capability to always point the solar array toward the sun and can be installed in various regions with minor modifications. The vertical and horizontal motion of the panel is obtained by taking altitude angle and azimuth angle as reference. The fuzzy controller has been used to control the

@IJMTER-2017, All rights Reserved 109 International Journal of Modern Trends in Engineering and Research (IJMTER) Volume 04, Issue 6, [June– 2017] ISSN (Online):2349–9745; ISSN (Print):2393-8161 position of DC motors. The mathematical simulation control of dual axis solar tracking system ensures the point to point motion of the DC motors while tracking the sun. It uses 8051 microcontroller and stepper motor to move solar panel according to position of sun. Photo resistors are also used to detect light intensity.

V. SOLAR RADIATION AND PHOTO VOLTAIC CONCEPTS ON SOLAR RADIATION

Before talking about the solar tracking systems, we will review some basic concepts concerning solar radiation and mention some important values to better understand the results of this work. The sun, at an estimated temperature of 5800 K, emits high amounts of energy in the form of radiation, which reaches the planets of the solar system. Sunlight has two components, the direct beam and diffuse beam. Direct radiation (also called beam radiation) is the solar radiation of the sun that has not been scattered (causes shadow). Direct beam carries about 90% of the solar energy, and the "diffuse sunlight" that carries the remainder. The diffuse portion is the blue sky on a clear day and increases as a proportion on cloudy days. The diffuse radiation is the sun radiation that has been scattered (complete radiation on cloudy days). Reflected radiation is the incident radiation (beam and diffuse) that has been reflected by the earth. The sum of beams, diffuse and reflected radiation is considered as the global radiation on a surface. As the majority of the energy is in the direct beam, maximizing collection requires the sun to be visible to the panels as long as possible.

5.1 Declination Angle: The declination of the sun is the angle between the equator and a line drawn from the centre of the Earth to the centre of the sun. The declination is maximum (23.450) on the summer/winter (in India 21 June and 22 December) The declination angle, denoted by ä, varies seasonally due to the tilt of the Earth on its axis of rotation and the rotation of the Earth around the sun. If the Earth were not tilted on its axis of rotation, the declination would always be 0°. However, the Earth is tilted by 23.45° and the declination angle varies plus or minus this amount. Only at the spring and fall equinoxes is the declination angle equal to 0°.

Figure 4 The Declination Angles 5.2 Hour Angle The Hour Angle is the angular distance that the earth has rotated in a day. It is equal to 15 degrees multiplied by the number of hours from local solar noon. This is based on the nominal time, 24 hours, required for the earth to rotate once i.e. 360 degrees. Solar hour angle is zero when sun is straight over head, negative before noon, and positive after noon.(here noon means 12.00 hour)

5.3 Solar Altitude (èz)

The solar altitude is the vertical angle between the horizontal and the line connecting to the sun. At sunset/sunrise altitude is 0 and is 90 degrees when the sun is at the zenith. The altitude relates to the latitude of the site, the declination angle and the hour angle.

Figure 5 Solar altitudes and azimuths typical behavior of sun path

5.4 Solar Azimuth (èA)- The azimuth angle is the angle within the horizontal plane measured from true South or North. The azimuth angle is measured clockwise from the zero azimuth. For example, if you're in the Northern Hemisphere and the zero azimuth is set to South, the azimuth angle value will be negative before solar noon, and positive after solar noon.

5.5 Insolation: Insolation is a measure of solar radiation energy received on a given surface area and recorded during a given time. It is also called solar irradiation and expressed as hourly irradiation if recorded during an hour, daily irradiation if recorded during a day, for example. The unit recommended by the World Meteorological Organization is MJ/m2 (mega joules per square meter) or J/cm2 (joules per square centimeter).Practitioners in the business of solar energy may use the unit Wh/m2 (watt-hours per square meter). If this energy is divided by the recording time in hours, it is then a density of power called irradiance, expressed in W/m2 (watts per square meter). Over the course of a year the average solar radiation arriving at the top of the Earth's atmosphere at any point in time is roughly 1366 watts per square meter. The Sun's rays are attenuated as they pass through the atmosphere, thus reducing the irradiance at the Earth's surface to approximately 1000 W m−2 for a surface perpendicular to the Sun's rays at sea level on a clear day. The insolation of the sun can also be expressed in Suns, where one Sun equals 1000 W/m2

VI. CONCLUSION

This paper deals with the design and execution of a solar tracker system dedicated to the PV conversion panels. The proposed single axis solar tracker device ensures the optimization of the conversion of solar energy into electricity by properly orienting the PV panel in accordance with the real position of the sun. The operation of the experimental model of the device is based on a DC motor intelligently controlled by a dedicated drive unit that moves a mini PV panel according to the signals received from two simple but efficient light sensors. The performance and characteristics of the solar tracker are experimentally analyzed.

Fig 6 comparison of power

TABLE 2 For Fixed Axis Solar Panel

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