DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A MICROCONTROLLER BASED SOLAR TRACKER

Transcription

1 DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A MICROCONTROLLER BASED SOLAR TRACKER CHARLES ASENOKHAI OTONO 2004/18860EE A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, MINNA. DECEMBER 2009.

2 DEDICATION This final year project is dedicated to God almighty, the fountain and arbiter of my life. II

3 ATTESTATIONIDECLARA TION I Charles Asenokhai Otono, declare that this work was done by me and has never been presented elsewhere for the award of a degree. I also hereby relinquish the copyright to the Federal University of Technology, Minna. Charles Asenokahai Otono (Name of student) (Name of (Signature and date) (Signature and date) Dr. YA.Adediran (Name of external examiner) III

4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I want to acknowledge God almighty for his love and grace from the beginning this academic journey to this point in time. May his name be blessed for ever. Similarly, I want to acknowledge my Father Chief Palmer Otono, my elder brothers Mr. Francis Otono, Mr. Lawrence Otono and to my sweet sister Miss Gladys Otono for their financial and moral support especially during the period of this project. Victoria Otono you are also remembered. I acknowledge my able project supervisor Suleiman Zubair and his assistance Mallam Isiaku for their great contribution to this work especially for awakening the giant within me, guiding me and finding time to go through this work despite their tight schedule. I am quite indebted to many people numerous to mention especially my friends: Benjamin Ufaruna, Kingsley Ononachi, Galaxy, my dear Chinel, classmates, project group members, who affected me positively in one way or the other, I say a big thanks to you all. IV

5 ABSTRACT Solar tracking allows more energy to be produced by the solar panels directly incident to the sun. The proj ect includes the design and construction of a microcontroller based solar tracking system using two photocells that are separated with an opaque divider. The cells are connected to the microcontroller which reads its output and moves the tracker in the direction of brightest light. v

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Title page Dedication Declaration! Attestation Acknowledgement Abstract List of figures List of tables 1I 1I1 IV v ix x Chapter one: Introduction 1.1 Tracking the sun 1.2 The solar tracker 1.3 Tracker mount types 1.4 Types of solar trackers Active trackers Types of active tracker control systems Closed loop Open loop Passive Tracker Chronological Tracker Thin- Film Tracker 1.5 Aims and Objective 1.6 Methodology 1.7 Scope of work VI

7 Chapter two: Literature review 2.1 Historical background Chapter three: Design and construction 3.1 Overview 3.2 System description Power unit Calculations involved Comparator unit Operation of a Comparator Light sensor Creating a varying voltage using an LDR The Comparator circuit How this is used to accomplish tracking Control unit Software and system control unit description Relay unit Operation of the relay to rotate the D.C motor Chapter four: Construction, Testing and Results 4.1 Construction tools and materials 4.2 Construction details 4.3 Construction Precaution 4.4 Limitations Chapter five: Conclusion and Recommendations 5.1 Conclusion Vll

8 5.2 Recommendations References Appendix Yill

9 LIST OF FIGURES Fig 3.1 block diagram of the system Fig 3.2 Power unit circuit Fig 3.3 Connection Diagram of LM324 Fig 3.4 circuit symbol of a Comparator Fig 3.5 circuit Symbol of an LDR Fig 3.6 How the LDRs are connected in the circuit Fig 3.7 The Comparator circuit Fig 3.8 diagram of the LDRs on a platform Fig 3.9 circuit diagram of the control and relay unit Fig 3.10 Pin connection of the AT89S51 microcontroller Fig 3.11 Program flow chat Fig Complete circuit diagram IX