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Sensor based solar tracker system using electronic circuits for moisture
detection and auto-irrigation

Conference Paper · September 2017

DOI: 10.1109/ICPCSI.2017.8391956

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 IEEE International Conference on Power, Control, Signals and Instrumentation Engineering (ICPCSI-2017)

Sensor based Solar Tracker System using

Electronic Circuits for Moisture Detection and
Auto-Irrigation
Dr PUSHAN KUMAR DUTTA Dr KETHEPALLI MALLIKARJUNA
1. Asst. Professor,Electronics and Communication
Associate Professor, Electronics and Communication
Engineering Dept., Rajeev Gandhi Memorial College
Engineering Dept., Rajeev Gandhi Memorial College of
of Engineering and Technology, Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh.
Engineering and Technology, Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh
2. Post Doctorate Fellow, Erasmus Mundus Scholar, Email: [email protected]
University of Oradea, Romania.
3. Doctorate in Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata,
India. Email: [email protected]

Dr ANCHULA SATISH
Professor, Electronics and Communication Engineering
Dept., Rajeev Gandhi Memorial College of Engineering and
Technology, Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh.
Email: [email protected]

Abstract— In this study, we propose a simple but efficient, mismanagement water conservation and planning. As most of
low-cost power efficient embedded system for solar based Off- the fresh water supply is to be provided to households, the
Grid irrigation by orientation of the solar panel in the direction critical factor for the farming is facing difficulties to manage
of the sun for providing the necessary power source in remote sufficient supply of water. As the rural households require
areas or in the field for irrigation where it is not possible to water, carrying sufficient water from rivers and water
provide charge through a stable current supply. The solar panel shortage, the Government has to apply fast track agro-based
is used for charging 5V supply. We have used Soil moisture automation for water supply for irrigation that will suffice the
sensor to sense the moisture conditions of the soil. Based on need to make legitimate utilization of rural water supply use
moisture sensor values, a water pump is connected to switched on
and coordination that will stop squandering of water resorvoir
and off automatically. When moisture level of the soil reaches to
to huge extent. With the expansion of Social schemes on rain
low, the soil moisture sensor is sending the signal to
microcontroller to start the pump by using stored solar energy. water preservation focused on water conservation and
At the same time, using GSM, microcontroller sends message on drainage, it has turned out to be vital to manage on the
farmers mobile about pump status. The microcontroller receives utilization of water using electronic equipments and
the pump status, moisture condition of the soil and moisture and instrumentation in places where it is not possible to manage
temperature in air or enclosed region and provides this water using electric power resources. In order to address this
information over a data acquisition device. The system can be issue Solar based irrigation factors can be utilized to a great
utilized in varied domains by regulating the voltage necessary extent in irrigation to optimize use of water by adopting sensor
including mobile phone charging, access drip irrigation and also base irrigation system. Soil moisture sensor base irrigation
weather data monitoring and irrigation facilities. system ensures proper moisture level in the soil for growing
plants in all season. In this system, sensor is sensing the
Keywords— Solar Panel,soil moisture sensor, Arduino Uno, moisture content of soil and accordingly switches the pump
GSM motor on or off. Soil moisture sensor is used to detect the soil
condition whether the soil is wet or dry. If soil is dry, the
I. INTRODUCTION pump motor will pump the water till the field is wet which is
continuously monitored by the microcontroller. The main
Solar power panel installation and use has become a
advantage of soil moisture sensor is to ensure accurate
modern day revolution with most of the scientific community
measurements and farmer doesn’t have to visit his farm to
using the immensely potential inexhaustible and non-polluting
operate the pump. It is necessary to identify impediment work
solar energy source to suffice our ever-increasing energy
items for tasking the devices to automatically orient the solar
requirements for agro based applications and building
panels in the direction of the sun’s position and the direction
scientifically clean and environment friendly applications. In
of the solar panel to get the maximum output from the solar
India, agriculture assumes an imperative part to advancement
cell. The practical inefficiency of solar-energy conversion for
of nation as our economy for the most part in light of it. India
solar panel components fixed at a certain angle is that we
positions second worldwide in cultivate yield. However, with
cannot track the sunlight direction with diurnal and seasonal
increase of population in urban and semi-urban townships,
changes. As a result, power output for the system cannot be
most of the ground water resources have depleted due to

978-1-5386-0814-2/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE

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 IEEE International Conference on Power, Control, Signals and Instrumentation Engineering (ICPCSI-2017)

improved as the area of exposure of sunlight on solar panels sensor to maintain a strategic distance from superfluous
and efficiency of the solar tracking system involving solar following development and for dependability. During the
panels cannot be improved. Our effort is to develop solar evening the trackers take up a level position as appeared in
panel tracking system. We also develop sensor base irrigation figure 2.
system based on soil moisture. This work is an application
development done in college project. In the proposed work, B. DUAL AXIS TRACKERS
done we had first collected all the necessary components and Double axis solar trackers have both a horizontal and a
then used a solar panel to drive a battery for charging. The vertical axle and so can track the Sun's apparent motion
light dependant resistors were not connected although in the exactly anywhere in the world. This type of system is used to
proposed study, we proved using electrical output. After this control astronomical telescopes, and also in hydro plants to
work, we connected the DHT11 sensor for moisture and send water at fixed points in the using solar power predict and
humidity analysis and the soil moisture sensor interfaced with track the motion of the sun across the sky. Dual axis trackers
the GSM relay to calculate the output. The Raspberi pi device track the sun both East to West and North to South for added
had been also attached with the Arduino to collect serial port power output (approx 40% gain)and convenience. In our
data information for moisture and humidity mapping of the structure and prototype design, a servo motor has been added
soil and ground. for the two degree of freedom of the solar panel.
In order to address the issue first, we include in our design
the solar cell which looks as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2: Pump Action and Irrigation Monitor Control

These stationary as well as expensive solar panels are

unable to extract the maximum solar energy as there is no
Figure.1: Equivalent Circuit of Solar Cell stability of weather conditions [3]. The power output of solar
In order to model and analyze the electronic behavior of a panels is maximum when it is oriented perpendicularly to the
solar cell, it is useful to create a model which is electrically direction of sun rays as both the area of illumination of
equivalent, and is based on discrete electrical components. An sunlight on solar panels and intensity of sun-rays is maximum
ideal solar cell may be modeled by a current source in parallel in this case. It has been found out that the efficiency of solar
with a diode. In practice no solar cell is ideal, so a shunt panels improve by 30-60 percent for mobile solar tracking
resistance and a series resistance component are added to the system instead of a stationary array of solar panels [4]. The
model. The result is the "equivalent circuit of a solar cell". design and implementation of a power efficient solar tracker is
Dynamic trackers measure the light force from the sun to challenge owing to the immobility of the solar panels. The
figure out where the sun based modules ought to be pointing. angle of inclination of sun-rays with the solar panels
Sensors situated on the tracker at different areas and if the sun continuously changes due to the movement of the sun from
is not incidental on the tracker specifically there will be a east to west because of earth’s rotation independent of the
change in light force on one light sensor contrasted with weather conditions [5]. The essential thought behind this work
another and this distinction can be utilized to decide in which is that the power of light will be detected by the LDR's, the
bearing the tracker needs to tilt to be facing in the direction of comparators will contrast the episode light force and the force
the solar rays. of opposite occurrence. The small scale controller will turn the
stepper engine by the coveted point upon the yield of the
comparators by means of a stepper motor driver circuit to
II. TYPES OF SOLAR TRACKERS expand the productivity. For the adjustment in the area where
First, There are many different types of solar tracker which the instrument is set and climate conditions, the power of
can be grouped into single axis and double axis models. daylight changes, for which we have influenced an
arrangement of changing the limit to an incentive by utilizing
A. SINGLE AXIS SOLAR TRACKERS variable resistances.
Single pivot sun powered trackers can either have an even
or a vertical application. The flat part of the system is utilized III. LITERATURE REVIEW
as a part of tropical day where the sun gets high at twelve, yet Several research and hardware based analysis shows that
the days are short. The vertical sort is utilized as a part of high we can apply auto-tracking techniques for the analysis of solar
scopes where the sun does not get high, but rather summer tracking methodology. The autotracking of a 8051
days can be long. These have a physically customizable tilt microcontroller based solar tracker using a
point of 0 - 45 °and programmed following of the sun from combinations of LDRs, opto-couplers, stepper motor,
East to West. They utilize the PV modules themselves as light

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 IEEE International Conference on Power, Control, Signals and Instrumentation Engineering (ICPCSI-2017)

relays, analog to digital converter, etc and manual tracking For condition 1, Vout will be close to 5V and under normal
done by a “Sun Tracking Software” is reported in [1]. Anuraj light condition Vout will be close to 2.5V. So, to differentiate
et al reported the implementation of a solar tracking system between normal light condition and perpendicular light
using ATMEGA 16 which improved the power efficiency by condition, we set a threshold of approximately 4V. Stepper
as much as 20% [2]. Tudorache et al. explained the design and motor is a digital actuator whose input is in the form of
execution of solar tracker system for Photovoltaic (PV) power programmed energization of the stator windings and whose
plants. The operation of the tracker is based on a DC motor output is in the form of discrete angular rotation. The stepper
controlled by an intelligent driver circuit which moves a mini motor is used to rotate the solar panel accordingly where we
PV panel sensing the difference signal from two efficient light obtain maximum voltage. The cylindrical covering is used to
sensors [6]. The tracking implementation of a solar tracker prevent the stray light from being detected by the LDRs [9].
prototype using a PIC 16F84A microcontroller with the design We had earlier calculated the resistance of the LDR under
of two degrees of freedom- azimuth and vertical is reported in three different situations using multimeter. The steps involved
[7]. Many recent studies involve the use of a dual-axis solar in the selection of stepper motor are as follows,
tracking PV system utilizing a feedback control theory, a four-
quadrant light dependent resistor (LDR) sensor and simple 1. Initialize a servo object for the connected servo
electronic circuits. Tracking is accomplished with the help of a 2. Initialize the relay pin and other variables for sensor
unique dual-axis AC motor and a stand-alone PV inverter [8]. information
3. Attach the signal pin of servo to pin9 of Arduino
IV. APPLICATION OF THE ALGORITHM 4. Sets the GSM Module in Text Mode
5. Set Mobile Phone Values
The Arduino microcontroller receives analog input from 6. Send SMS on pump status on pump on and off
panel. The maximum voltage which can be obtained from 7. Servo command to set value for rotation of the servo
solar cell is set as reference voltage in micro controller. The motor
Panel output voltage and current is compared with the 8. Rotate at the specified angle for specifying the
reference voltage and current accordingly controller gives acceleration
signal to the stepper motor. If the output of ADC is equal to
9. Call the functions
the reference voltage then stepper motor keeps the solar panel
in same direction. And if output is less than reference voltage 10. Set the value of the moisture sensor using loop to be
then stepper motor keeps rotating the solar panel till we get the put in Raspberi pi to calculate every minute.
voltage equal to the reference voltage. The Solar panel will be 11. Read data using the dht11 sensor to calculate the
controlled by a stepper / servo motor to rotate to adjust the temperature and humidity using data pin.
light on fixed time basis (LDR is not used to get the time 12. Put the delay to calculate using serial pin port.
benefit). From Solar Panel, a rechargeable battery will be 13. Raspberi pi measures the change of soil moisture
charged. The battery will be used to operate the pump. There using values for the soil moisture sensor
will be moisture sensor, and when the value goes below a 14. Calculate humidity and temperature using DHT11
predefined value it will start the pump. Also the user gets an sensor gives the condition of the environment.
SMS notification at his / her mobile about the moisture status 15. Apply machine learning algorithms to identify the
when it goes below the predefined value. The entire project nature of the soil conditions.
will be controlled using Arduino. The Arduino Moisture
sensor is used which controls the data using serial pin and
transfers the output to Raspbery pi to data log from the
sensors.

A. Hardware Development and Implementation

In this section, we will elaborate the block diagram, circuit
diagram, working principle and different components required
for the implementation of our solar tracking system. Figure 3
shows the block diagram of the designed solar tracker system.

Figure 4: Flow Diagram showing Execution of Hardware and

software implementation

Figure 3: Module Diagram for the Stepper Motor

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 IEEE International Conference on Power, Control, Signals and Instrumentation Engineering (ICPCSI-2017)

The main advantages of this proposed system are as Hardware will be enhanced further with the use of different
follows. By utilizing soil moisture sensors in the field, this sensors. The model developed by us is an integrated system
framework gives water to plants. Further, utilization of this as we have used an arduino as a programmable
sustainable power source is not required due to the use of a microcontroller and also using raspberri pi in interface with
solar powered device. This sustainable power source delivers arduino for control. Thus although the system lacks a
practically zero waste items, for example, carbon dioxide or bootloader and requires an inbuilt bootloader, efficiency of the
other substance poisons, so it has least effect on condition. system will be dependant on the scale of the farm in use. The
The proposed framework controls measure of water use for solar access energy produced using solar panels can also be
water system in the agrarian fields. In this way it lessens given to the grid which small modification in the system,
inordinate weight on agriculturists to pay extra water levy on which can be a source of the revenue of the farmers and local
water. Notwithstanding this controlled water system likewise community and encouraging profitable farming and techno-
spare extra cost for water pumping, decreases the movement innovation in India and same time giving a solution for energy
and circulation problems in the field level. This framework crises.
diminishes keep running off from over watering soaked soils,
abstain from inundating at the wrong time, which will enhance
sufficient water and supplement adjusting in the field at the
time of requirement. Further, it counteracts saltiness of rural
grounds which cause for poor profitability and land fertility
dinnudation through soil moisture level identification. What's
more, this framework helps in efficient, expulsion of human
mistake in modifying accessible soil dampness level and to
boost their net benefit. By utilizing sunlight based following
framework when contrasted with settled boards, vitality yield
is expanded. Principle use of the proposed framework is for
water system of agribusiness fields. Indeed, even we can apply
this framework in agribusiness, especially in nurseries or Figure 5: Designed Solar Tracker System
controlled farming frameworks, high accuracy soil dampness
control can be achieved. Utilization of sunlight based vitality VI. REFERENCES
in the proposed framework enables us to utilize this [1] Arsalan, S. 2013. Sun Tracking System with Microcontroller
framework in remote ranges where power is not accessible. 8051, Intl. J. Sci & Eng. Research, Vol. 4, 2998.
[2] Anuraj, A.,and Gandhi R., 2014, Solar Tracking System Using Stepper
V. CONCLUSIONS Motor, Intl. J. Electronic & Electrical Eng., Vol.7 , 561
[3] Chhatwani, P. K., and Somani, J. S., 2013, Intelligent Solar Tracker
Solar power provides sufficient amount of power to drive System Implemented On 8051 Microcontroller, Intl. J. Eng. Trends
the system. To overcome the necessity of electricity and ease Technol., Vol 4, 4267.
the irrigation system for our farmers, the propose model can [4] Saxena, A. K., and Dutta, V., 1990, A versatile microprocessor based
be a suitable alternative. The designed solar tracker system controller for solar tracking, Photovolt Specialists Conf., 21st IEEE Proc.
could track the movement of the sun in bi directional [5] Nirmal, H. B., and Naveed, S. A., 2013, Microcontroller Based
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Technol., Vol 4, 109.
constant over a period of time when compared with the output
[6] Tudorache, T., and Kreindler, L., 2010, Design of a Solar Tracker
obtained by panel without tracking. Figure 5 shows the System for PV Power Plants, Acta Polytech. Hung., Vol 7, 23.
designed solar tracker system which is actually a working
[7] Barsoum, N., and Vasant, P., 2010, Simplified Solar Tracking
model of the main system. The components used for the Prototype, Global J. Technol. Optim.,Vol. 1,38.
tracker are Microcontroller (Arduino Uno), OPAMP as [8] Wang., J. M., and Lu, C. L., 2013, Design and Implementation of a
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