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Arduino based Dual Axis Smart Solar Tracker

Article · January 2017

DOI: 10.24001/ijaems.3.5.20

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science (IJAEMS) [Vol-3, Issue-5, May- 2017]
https://dx.doi.org/10.24001/ijaems.3.5.20 ISSN: 2454-1311

Arduino based Dual Axis Smart Solar Tracker

Jyoti Mishra, Ritula Thakur, Alok Deep

Department of Electrical Engineering, NITTTR, Chandigarh, India

Abstract— Solar energy is rapidly advancing as an panel can response accurate and applicable to meet the
important means of renewable energy resource. It is power demands at different operational conditions.
radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed A solar tracking system designed with microcontroller
using a range of ever-evolving technologies such as solar and LDR’s that actively track the sun and change its
heating, photovoltaic, solar thermal energy, solar position accordingly to maximize the energy output. The
architecture, molten salt power plants and artificial LDR incorporated on solar panel helps to detect sunlight
photosynthesis. Trackers direct solar panels or modules which in turn moves the panel accordingly [2] .The solar
toward the sun. These devices change their orientation tracker described a more improved way to maximize the
throughout the day to follow the sun’s path to maximize power consumption by solar panel from sun by just
energy capture. The use of solar trackers can increase rotating the solar panel according to sun’s position. By
electricity production by around a third, and some claim comparing the results it was discovered that direct beam
by as much as 40% in some regions, compared with of sun helps in generating energy than it is produced
modules at a fixed angle. In any solar application, the when solar panel is kept fixed. The studied have shown
conversion efficiency is improved when the modules are that efficiency of solar panels can be increased to a great
continually adjusted to the optimum angle as the sun extent if the solar panels continuously rotate in the
traverses the sky. This paper presents the designing of a direction of sun. Microcontroller and an arrangement of
solar tracking system which is based on Arduino UNO LDR sensors can be used for the purpose of tracking the
and which provides movement of solar panel in the sun [3]. But the system was less efficient because of the
direction of maximum sun light incident. As a result of low sensitivity and disturbance of light dependent
which we get more efficient system which is compact, low resistors. The mechanism of solar tracking was
cost as well as easy to use. implemented by the use of image processing software
Keywords— Arduino UNO, Bluetooth module, Solar which combines the effect of sensors and processed
Panel, Servo Motor. image of sun and controls the solar panel accordingly. A
new mechanical structure for solar trackers which
I. INTRODUCTION implemented two stepper motors for free rotation on X
Sun is an abundant source of energy and this solar energy and Y axis [4]. The rotation was intelligently controlled
can be harnesses successfully using solar photovoltaic by a pre-programmed 2K microcontroller device PIC
cells and photovoltaic effect to convert energy into 18F4560 which provides simple programming strategy
electrical energy. But the conversion efficiency of a through C language. The designed algorithm was based
normal PV cell is low. One of the main reason for this is on the measurement of intensity of solar radiation which
that the output of PV cell is dependent directly on the was captured by an ultra violet sensitive device known as
light intensity and with the position of sun in the sky Pyranometer. The system had been tested and the results
changing continuously from time to time, the absorption show very significant impact on the mechanical design,
efficiency of an immobile solar panel would be controlling algorithm and also the cost of the
significantly less at certain time day and year, for the development.
solar photovoltaic cells are maximum productive when
they are perpendicular to the sun and less productive II. BLOCK DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION
otherwise. So to maximize the energy generation and The main aim of the proposed system is to develop a cost
improve the efficiency solar trackers are required. effective instrument using an Arduino Microcontroller
The solar tracker also provided lucrative solution for third based solar tracking system using Bluetooth module for
world countries to integrate it into their solar system with detection of voltage and getting the result in android app.
a comparatively low cost through software based solution. Block diagram of complete system is shown in Fig. 1
The study revealed that use of stepper motor enables below which consists of power supply, Arduino Uno,
accurate tracking of sun and LDR resistors used to LDR sensor, servo motor, and solar panel.
determine the solar light intensity [1]. Researchers
concluded that embedding the tracking system with solar

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science (IJAEMS) [Vol-3, Issue-5, May- 2017]
https://dx.doi.org/10.24001/ijaems.3.5.20 ISSN: 2454-1311
programmed to the microcontroller on the board via
Arduino programming language and the Arduino
development environment. Arduino projects can be stand-
alone or communicate with other software applications
running on a computer and other types of hardware.

Fig. 1: Block diagram of System

Fig. 2: Arduino Uno Microcontroller Development
A. HC-05 Bluetooth to Serial Port Module Board
The HC05 Bluetooth Module can be used in a Master or
Slave configuration, making it a great solution for The Adruino Uno board as shown in Fig. 2. The Table.1
wireless communication. It can be used simply for a serial shows the specifications of Arduino Uno microcontroller
port replacement to establish connection between MCU board.
and GPS, PC to embedded project. The HC05 module has Table.2: Arduino Uno specifications
6 pins Vcc, GND, Tx, Rx, Key and LED. It comes Microcontroller ATmega328
preprogrammed as a slave, so there is no need to connect Operating Voltage 5V
the key pin, unless it is needed to be chnaged to master Supply Voltage 7-12V
mode. The major difference between Master and Slave (recommended)
modes is that, in Slave mode the Bluetooth module cannot Maximum supply Voltage 20V
initiate a connection; it can however accept incoming (not recommended)
connections. Digital I/O Pins 14(of which 6 provide
PWM output)
Table.1: Pin Description of HC05 Bluetooth Module Analog Input Pins 6
PIN NO. CONFIGURATION DC Current per I/O Pin 40mA
Pin 1 STATE: NC (No DC Current for 3.3V Pin 50mA
Connection) Flash Memory 32KB of which 0.5KB
Pin 2 Rx: Tx of Microcontroller used by boot loader
Pin 3 Tx: Rx of Microcontroller SRAM 2KB
Pin 4 GND: Ground EEPROM 1KB
Pin 5 VCC: +5V Clock Speed 16MHz
Pin 6 EN: NC (No Connection)
III. FLOWCHART OF PROCESS
After the connection is established the Bluetooth module The given flow chart shows the order of steps taken in the
can transmit and recieve data regradless of the mode it is process for designing and working of solar tracking
running in. If we use mobile phone to connect to the system. The system is designed in order to respond to the
Bluetooth module, we can simply use it in the Slave sunlight incident on the solar panel, according to which
mode. . The module has a factory set pin of “1234” which the movement of solar panel is done. Working of system
is used while pairing the module to a phone. The HC-05 is controlled by arduino microcontroller.
module can build a connection to the other modules.

B. Over view of Arduino

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping
platform, mostly based on small, easy-to-use hardware
and software [5-6]. It can affect devices, like lights,
motors and other actuators by receiving input from
sensor. All the action performed by Arduino is

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science (IJAEMS) [Vol-3, Issue-5, May- 2017]
https://dx.doi.org/10.24001/ijaems.3.5.20 ISSN: 2454-1311

Fig. 4: Complete Hardware assembly

Fig. 5: Hardware Assembly with Bluetooth Module

V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

After designing, developing and implementing of the
smart solar tracker system for voltage measurement,
improvement of solar panel efficiency, compact and low
power system is successfully done. System is tested at
different times of a day in presence of varying orientation
of sun so that it is able to detect the incident light in
different conditions. The output is taken with the help of
panel movement according to maximum efficiency. The
developed system provides results and output in android
device through transmission from the controller and we
get real time measurement on the mobile app. The output
Fig. 3: Flow Chart of Process obtained in mobile app is shown below in Fig. 6.

From the flow chart it can be seen that initially the

position of both the motors is being set after that the
voltage of LDR is checked. After this process the
orientation of sun is being estimated, according to which
the sunlight falls on the LDR. There are four LDR used
on four sides of solar panel at which sunlight falls, out of
these two work for horizontal and two works for vertical
movement of panel. The voltages of x axis sensors are
compared as well as y axis sensors, as a result of which
the panel moves in clockwise/anticlockwise or
upward/downward direction. The direction of movement
of panel is always in the direction of maximum sun light. Fig. 6: Real Time Values of Solar Panel Voltage in
So, the solar tracker provides higher efficiency. Mobile App

IV. HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION The readings of solar panel were recorded with and
Complete system assembly of Solar is shown in Fig. 4 without tracking of system and in both the conditions
and 5. The system consists of Power supply unit for different output is obtained. The obtained readings are
whole system, Arduino UNO board, HC05 Bluetooth given in Table 3.
module, two servo motors, solar panel, four LDR sensors
fixed on on solar panel and voltage divider circuitry.

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science (IJAEMS) [Vol-3, Issue-5, May- 2017]
https://dx.doi.org/10.24001/ijaems.3.5.20 ISSN: 2454-1311
Table.3: Comparison of Panel Voltage with and without [3] Hanif Ali Sohag, Mahmudul Hasan, Mahmuda
Tracking Khatun, Mohiuddin Ahmad, “An accurate and
efficient solar tracking system using image
TIME SOLAR PANEL VOLTAGE
processing and LDR sensor”, 2nd International
WITHOUT WITH
Conference on Electrical Information and
TRACKING TRACKING
Communication Technologies, pp. 522-527, 2015.
08:00 am 3.62 V 5.78 V [4] M. Amir Abas , M. Hilmi Fadzil S, Samsudin
10:00 am 5.10 V 7.08 V A.Kadir, A. Khusairy Azim, “Improved Structure of
12:00 pm 7.26 V 8.98 V Solar Tracker with Microcontroller based Control
01:00 pm 8.42 V 9.62 V “,Second International Conference on Advances in
02:00 pm 8.15 V 9.58 V Computing, Control, and Telecommunication
04:00 pm 5.42 V 8.23 V Technologies, pp. 55-59, 2010.
06:00 pm 3.24 V 6.27 V [5] Dipti Bawa, C.Y. Patil, “Fuzzy control based solar
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Engineering and Innovative Technology, Vol. 2, No.
12, pp. 179-187, June 2013.
[6] Radhika Grover, Shoba Krishnan, Terry Shoup,
Maryam hanbaghi, “A Competition-Based
Approach for Undergraduate Mechatronics Education
Using the Arduino Platform”, 4th Interdisciplinary
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[7] Syed Arsalan, “Sun Tracking System with
Fig. 7: Graphical Representation of Data Microcontroller 8051”, International Journal of
Scientific & Engineering Research, Vol. 4, No. 6,pp.
VI. CONCLUSION 2998-3001, June 2013.
The aim of this project was to design a dual axis tracking [8] Soumya Das , Pradip Kumar Sadhu, Nitai Pal ,
system which can sense the incident solar light on the Suprotim Mukherjee, “Single Axis Automatic Solar
panel and move it in the direction of maximum solar light Tracking System Using Microcontroller”, Vol. 12,
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also studied. The disadvantages were the challenges that [9] Tarlochan Kaur, Shraiya Mahajan, Shilpa Verma,
had to be overcome. From this study the main Priyanka, Jaimala Gambhir, “Arduino Based Low
conclusions are: Cost Dual Axis Solar Tracker”, IEEE International
i. Proposed system is low cost and compact as conference on Power Electronics, Intelligent control
compared to the other tracking systems in use for and Energy Systems, pp. 1-5, 2016.
same application. [10] Mukul Goyal, Manohar H, Ankit Raj, Kundan
ii. It is very easy to program and modify because it is Kumar, “Smart Solar Tracking System”,
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required. Technology, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 367-369, February-
iii. The designed system is easy to use and provides 2015.
better efficiency of the panel.
iv. In the developed system real time data is retrieved
on the android device.

REFERENCES
[1] Khyati vyas, Dr. Sudhir Jain, Dr. Sunil Joshi, “ A
Review on an Automatic Solar tracking System”,
International Journal of Computer Applications,
2014.
[2] Priyanjan Sharma, Nitesh Malhotra, “Solar Tracking
System Using Microcontroller”, Proceedings of 1st
International Conference on Non Conventional
Energy, pp. 77-79, January 16-17, 2014

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