ISSN(Online) : 2456-8910

International Journal of Innovative Research in Applied Sciences and Engineering (IJIRASE)

Volume 4, Issue 8, DOI:10.29027/IJIRASE.v4.i8.2021.873-878,February 2021

Arduino Based Dual Axis Solar Tracking System with

Voltage and Temperature Measurement
1 2
Mayank Bajpai , Piyush Saxena
Department of Instrumentation and Control NSIT Delhi
New Delhi, India
Email : [email protected] 1, [email protected]

Abstract—This hardware device concept keeps the solar cells persistently aligned with the solar
radiation, which maximizes solar panel sensitivity to the radiation from the sun. As a result, the
solar panel will produce maximum output power. The use of solar trackers will increase the
bearing of electricity by about a third and some people in some regions say as much as 40 percent
compared to modules at a fixed angle. The project's work includes hardware design and
implementation and programming software for the solar tracker microcontroller device. The
system used an ATmega328P microcontroller to control two DC gear motors that rotate two axes
of the solar panel. The microcontroller calculated the amount of rotation based on inputs from
two LDR Sensors. The concept was prospering built and tested using Lab View to assess the
performance enhancements.

Keywords: Tmega328P, DC gear motor, LDR Sensor, Temperature sensor, Arduino UNO.
each value of LDR sensor is not the same. each LDR
I. INTRODUCTION sensor sends a signal according to there respective
Sun is an excellent source of energy, and the use of resistance value to the Arduino, which is then
solar photovoltaic cells and photovoltaic effect to turn processed through the microcontroller and
power into electrical power will efficiently tackle this configured by particular programming logic. [5] The
solar energy. This hardware technology has been microcontroller then sends a signal to the motor
widely adopted for commercial and residential use. driver according to the signal received from the LDR
Nowadays, we thanks to different organization and sensor so that it can drive the DC gear motor.
research teams that are working thoroughly to improve
solar cell performance and reduce costs. The electrons
in the silicon cells are produced electricity when
excited using photons of light from the solar radiation.
The paper proposes an inexpensive active double axis
tracker based on a microcontroller. [1] With the aid of
trackers, the panels are reoriented to the appropriate
location. The sensor makes sure the panel is pointed
toward the light.
Maximum energy is obtained as trackless orientation
tends to shift during the day to match the sun's
direction. [2] The sensors will activate the
motor/actuator, which will cause the mounting device
movement so that the solar panels will still be
perpendicular to the sun all day long. [3] An Arduino
uno, single-board microcontroller, dc gear motor, LDR
sensor, and a voltage sensor and temperature sensor are
used with LCD monitor to display the measured
voltage and temperature value.
II . System Specification
There are many main components, i.e. LDR Fig 1: Block Diagram
sensor, Arduino, Motor driver, dc gear motor, LCD, There are several hardware components which
Temperature sensor. There is four LDR sensor which are named in fig.1.Both hardware and software
senses the intensity of light. [4] They follow the plays a vital role in determining the exact location
property of decreasing resistance with increasing the of the solar tracker. So, a detail description of
incident light intensity, i.e. the value of resistance of hardware components are shown below.

Vol. 4 (8), February 2021, www.ijirase.com 873

 ISSN(Online) : 2456-8910
International Journal of Innovative Research in Applied Sciences and Engineering (IJIRASE)
Volume 4, Issue 8, DOI:10.29027/IJIRASE.v4.i8.2021.873-878,February 2021

A. Solar Cell DC gear Motor

The photovoltaic cell is a non-mechanical silicon It is a dual shift plastic gear motor. [13] Its main
amalgam gadget. [6] It converts light energy received advantage is to provide good operating Mounting
from the sun into electricity. Photovoltaic cluster body holes and lightweight making its deal for in-
designed depends on daylight. In street lighting, circuit positioning torques and high rpm at very
domestic use, industrial areas, the solar panel find its low operating voltages. Approximately equal to100
applications. Its efficiency is almost 10 to 20 %. Its RPM. Its output torque capability is 4 kg-cm..Its
rated power is 10W and the rated voltage and current operating voltages is between 3V to 12V and speed
is 16.4Vmp and 0.61 Imp.
E. LCD
B. LDR (Light Dependent Resistor)
LCD stands for liquid crystal display. It is an
It runs on the concept of photoconductivity. Its electronic module and are very thin and is
resistance decreases as light intensity increases. [7] composed of several layers. It has two polarized
According to it, LDR is used to sense the light and panels with a liquid crystal solution sandwiched
provide an analog signal to Arduino. It is made up between them. Light is projected through the layer
of semiconductor material having high resistance. and is colorized as it passes, thereby producing the
When light (photons) incident on the device, the visual image. The JHD162A LCD unit consists of
electrons in the semiconductor material's valence 16 pins and can display 16x2 monochrome
band jump to the conduction band, increasing the characters. Two lines of the display where each
number of charge carriers. [8] Thus, the flow of line can hold 16 characters. It can be interfaced in
current is increased, resulting in a decrease in a 4-bit mode or an 8-bit mode. when an electric
resistance. The variation of resistance with incident current is applied to the liquid crystal molecules,
light is non-linear. Therefore, they require they untwist.
calibration. [14] A reflecting mirror is arranged at the back of
C. Arduino Uno the unit. An electrode plane is used to allow flow in
selected areas. The entire arrangement is placed
It is a microcontroller based on ATmega328.It is an
inside a sealed casing, with necessary electronics
open-source microcontroller developed by Arduino.
[9] The UNO board is the first in a series of USB for controlling the device. The information that is
Arduino boards and the backing blueprint for the displayed on the LCD is in ASCII form.
Arduino plan of action. The ATmega328p on the F. Temperature Sensor
Arduino UNO comes pre-programmed with a boot
loader that permits the transmission of new code to it In this hardware model a DHT11 temperature
without using an extrinsic instrument programmer. It sensor is used. [15] It is essential humidity and
passes on using the original STK500 protocol. [10] temperature sensor of very low cost. Inside it, there
The communication between the STK500 and the PC is a capacitive humidity sensor and a thermistor to
is done over RS232 (PC COM PORT). The STK500 measure the encompassing air and gives a digital
uses 115.2 kbps, 8 data bits, 1 stop bits and parity. It signal to the digital pin. It is simple to use. It is of
also consists of 6 analog pins and 14 digital pins. [11] low cost and its maximum current is approximately
It is programmable with the Arduino IDE via a type 2.5 mA. [15] Its sampling rate is not more than 1
B USB cable. It can be powered by a USB cable or Hz. Its temperature range is between 0 to 50
by an external 9V battery, though it also accepts degrees Celsius with a temperature error of 2
voltage between 7 and 20 volts. Its purpose is to degree Celsius.
control the position of the motor. Arduino's
advantages are low cost, robust design and IV. ALGORITHM
independent board. It has a clock speed of 16 MHz.
D. Motor Driver Phase 1- Get the program
started. Phase 2- Initialize
The L293 and L293D devices are fourfold high1.
the panel position. Phase 3-
Drivers, latch relay drivers, DC motor drivers etc. It
Calculate the LDR
mainly consists of H-bridge circuits, which are
resistance.
frequently used in robotics. Due to this, the motor
Phase 4- If the resistance of LDR1<LDR2 move
can run in both directions that is on both forward
the panel up.
and backward. [12] It is also used to reverse the
Phase5- If the resistance of LDR1>LDR2 move
direction of the motor and also to break the motor.
the panel down.
Its voltage range is between 4.5V TO 36V. It has a
Phase 6- if the resistance of LDR3<LDR4 move
separate input logic supply. Its input is
the panel left.
unsusceptible to noise and internal protection is also
Phase 7- if the resistance of LDR3>LDR4 move
provided. Its execution is in stepper motor

Vol. 4 (8), February 2021, www.ijirase.com 875

 ISSN(Online) : 2456-8910
International Journal of Innovative Research in Applied Sciences and Engineering (IJIRASE)
Volume 4, Issue 8, DOI:10.29027/IJIRASE.v4.i8.2021.873-878,February 2021

the panel right. The above flowchart shows the working principle of a
Phase 8- if the resistance of LDR doesn't change. hardware model in a detailed form. It also shows how
Then the panel position remain as it is. solar- panel achieve their position as solar radiation
changes.
II. VI. Hardware Model
V. FLOWCHART

START

Solar
Radiation
Fall on Solar
Panel

If LDR

Changes

No
LDR Signal
Generates

No Change
in Solar
Position Analog to
Digital
Conversion

Arduino
Fig.3 Hardware picture

If If

Yes
Yes No No

Motor Motor Motor Motor

Driver Driver Driver Driver
Moves Moves Moves Moves
The The The The
Solar Solar Solar Solar
Panel Panel Panel Panel Fig.4 picture of different components that were used in
Toward Left hardware model.
Up Down Right

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 ISSN(Online) : 2456-8910
International Journal of Innovative Research in Applied Sciences and Engineering (IJIRASE)
Volume 4, Issue 8, DOI:10.29027/IJIRASE.v4.i8.2021.873-878,February 2021

VII . RESULTS MATLAB/Simulink. Renewable Energy, 36(11),

3075-3090.
The following results were obtained with the help [2] Hua, C., & Shen, C. (1998, February).
of the hardware and software model. There is a table Comparative study of peak power tracking
that shows the products at a different time and is techniques for solar storage system. In APEC'98
thoroughly observed. The table shows the variation of Thirteenth Annual Applied Power Electronics
voltage with and without tracking. There is also a Conference and Exposition (Vol. 2, pp. 679-
temperature sensor that senses the temperature. The 685). IEEE.
analysis was first made out on a fixed solar panel and [3] Grover, R., Krishnan, S., Shoup, T., &
then again through the movable solar panel with the Khanbaghi, M. (2014, March). A competition-
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also done on other days simultaneously, and the Conference (pp. 78-83). IEEE.
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were shown on the table described as shown. December). Improved structure of solar tracker
with microcontroller based control. In 2010
Time Voltage Voltage Temperature in Second International Conference on Advances in
without with degree Celsius Computing, Control, and Telecommunication
Technologies (pp. 55-59). IEEE.
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(2016, July). Arduino based low cost active dual
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1:30 PM 3.89 V 6.13 V 34
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[7] Zolkapli, M., Al-Junid, S. A. M., Othman, Z.,
Manut, A., & Zulkifli, M. M. (2013, June). High-
In this hardware model, a dual axis solar tracker is efficiency dual-axis solar tracking developement
implemented with the help of motor driver and using Arduino. In 2013 International Conference
arduino. It is more efficient than fixed system. It on Technology, Informatics, Management,
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ADC. The ADC converts the analog value of signal [9] Ashi, A., Joudeh, A. A., Shafeey, M., Sababha,
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solar tracking system: Design, implementation
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and algorithm evaluation. In 2014 5th
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International Conference on Information and
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Communication Systems (ICICS) (pp. 1-6).
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IEEE.
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[10] Gabe, I. J., Bühler, A., Chesini, D., & Frosi, F.
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(2017, April). Design and implementation of a
friendly in nature and are widely used.
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 ISSN(Online) : 2456-8910
International Journal of Innovative Research in Applied Sciences and Engineering (IJIRASE)
Volume 4, Issue 8, DOI:10.29027/IJIRASE.v4.i8.2021.873-878,February 2021

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