Real Time Clock Based Multilevel Sun Tracking Solar

Panel System
Implementation and Verification

A Thesis Submitted to the

Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering of BRAC University

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering

By

Siam Bin Khurshid

Tanmoy Debnath
Syed Fakir Nawaz
Syed Nafiz Imtiaz

August 2016

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 DECLARATION

We do hereby declare that the thesis titled Real time clocked based multilevel solar system
submitted to the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of BRAC University in
fulfillment of the Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, is our original
work and was not submitted elsewhere for the award of any other degree or any other
publication.

Date:

Supervisor

Dr. Md. Mosaddequr Rahman

Siam Bin Khurshid
Student ID: 12121110

Tanmoy Debnath
Student ID: 12121136

Syed Fakir Nawaz

Student ID: 12121157

Syed Nafiz Imtiaz

Student ID: 12321056

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 ACKNOWLWDGEMENT

We would like to extend our vivid gratefulness to our thesis supervisor Dr. MD. Mosaddequr
Rahman, Professor of BRAC University who has supported us with his kind assistance and
dedicated involvement in every step throughout the accomplishment of this paper and our project
work. We are immensely grateful for his help, professionalism, precious guidance and
encouragement throughout the course of this work. Moreover, we are thankful to our parents and
friends for encouraging us.

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 ABSTRACT

Solar energy has originated to be a feasible source of renewable energy over the past two or three
decades as this has been used to power up our industrial and domestic applications and gain
desired national production. Bangladesh, like some other third world countries, has higher
demand of energy than production met by the power sector, even after considering only 70% of
the population who are hitherto under electricity coverage of national grid. An inevitable
consequence of this shortage is load-shedding, and people of urban areas are major sufferer of it
because of their dependency on electricity for quotidian activities. Although solar energy has the
promise and potential to solve the energy crisis of Bangladesh, the limited space for setting
enough solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to meet the demand of city dwellers emerges as a
constraint in implementing solar energy system in densely populated urban areas. In the
proposed system, a modified structure equipped with a sliding mechanism holds three solar
panels. The panels are stacked one above another in a rack to minimize the floor area, and track
the sun using a sun tracking system to maximize power generation. This work focuses on the
implementation of the proposed system and verification of its claims. The implementation has
been carried out by constructing a physical structure equipped with servo motors controlled by a
microcontroller to rotate the panels on a horizontal axis. The Microcontroller determines the
appropriate position of the panels for maximum power absorption for a particular time using a
real time clock and a set of equations. The data of current and voltages of each panel are
collected using a data logger device developed for this purpose. The collected data are then
analyzed, which show a high level of conformity to the theoretically calculated values. The
Microcontroller determines the appropriate position of the panels for maximum power
absorption for a particular time using a real time clock and a set of equations. The panels are
supported by a metal rod fixed at a tilted angle equal to the latitude among north-south direction
facing south (23). The panels rotate throughout the day from sunrise to sunset through servo
motors controlled by microcontroller. It allows rotation of the three panels on a fixed horizontal
axis to track the sun at hourly intervals and maximize power generation. The entire position of
the three panels is changed by the actuator after midday when the sun moves from east to west.
The projected system will give a worthwhile solution to electricity problems in urban areas
where space is inadequate.

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 Table of Contents
DECLARATION ..................................................................................................2
ACKNOWLWDGEMENT ..................................................................................3
ABSTRACT ...........................................................................................................4
CHAPTER 1........................................................................................... 10
Introduction .........................................................................................................10
1.1 Motivation ....................................................................................................................... 10
1.2 Project Outline ................................................................................................................. 11
1.3 Scope of the project ......................................................................................................... 13
1.4 Project Objective ............................................................................................................. 13

CHAPTER 2........................................................................................... 15
System Description .............................................................................................15
2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 15
2.2 Photovoltaic Technology ................................................................................................. 16
2.3 Solar Panel ....................................................................................................................... 16
2.4 Servo Motor-MG 995 ...................................................................................................... 18
2.5 Servo Controller (Pololu Mini Maestro) ......................................................................... 20
2.6 Arduino ............................................................................................................................ 23
2.6.1 Arduino Uno ............................................................................................................. 23
2.6.2 Arduino Mega ........................................................................................................... 24
2.7 Real Time Clock (DS3231) ............................................................................................. 26
2.7.1 Wiring It Up with the Arduino.................................................................................. 28
2.7.2 CR2032 Lithium Battery........................................................................................... 29
2.8 Actuator ........................................................................................................................... 30
2.9 Relay Breakout Board ..................................................................................................... 32
2.10 Sun tracker ..................................................................................................................... 34
2.10.1 Need of a Sun Tracker ............................................................................................ 34
2.10.2 Solar Tracker Fundamentals ................................................................................... 34
2.10.3 Different Types of Tracking ................................................................................... 35
2.10.4 Types of Solar Tracker............................................................................................ 36

CHAPTER 3........................................................................................... 39
Calculations of System Size ................................................................................39
3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 39
3.2 Solar Panel Calculations .................................................................................................. 39

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 3.3 Calculating the distance between panels ......................................................................... 41
3.4 Solar Angle Calculation: ................................................................................................. 43
3.5 Finding the torque to rotate ............................................................................................. 47
3.5 Calculation of Sunrise and Sunset Time.......................................................................... 48

CHAPTER 4........................................................................................... 51
Hardware Implementation ................................................................................51
4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 51
4.2 Mechanical Construction ................................................................................................. 51
4.3 Control Circuit Diagram .................................................................................................. 52
4.4 States of the sun tracking solar panels throughout the daytime ...................................... 54
4.5 Solar Panel Indoor Testing .............................................................................................. 56
4.6 Data logger ...................................................................................................................... 62
4.6.1 Current Sensor .......................................................................................................... 63
4.6.2 Voltage Sensor .......................................................................................................... 66
4.6.3 SD card slot for saving data ...................................................................................... 67

CHAPTER 5........................................................................................... 69
Software Implementation ..................................................................... 69
5.1 Software used for programming ...................................................................................... 69
5.2 Algorithm for coding ....................................................................................................... 70

CHAPTER 6........................................................................................... 72
Data Collection and Analysis .............................................................................72
6.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 72
6.2 Circuit Configuration of the System for Data Collection ................................................ 72
6.3 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................... 74
6.3.1 Analysis of single day data ....................................................................................... 74
6.3.2 Comparing the performance of the system using graphs .......................................... 80

CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 84
Reference ................................................................................................ 85
Appendix ................................................................................................ 86

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 List of Figures

Figure 1.1: 2-D Physical structure of the rack of solar panels.

Figure 1.2: Positions of the solar panels throughout different times of the day.
Figure 2.1: Block diagram of the system.
Figure 2.2: I vs. V and P vs. V curve

Figure 2.3: (a) Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cells (b) Thin-Film Solar Cells (TFSC)
(Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells) (c) Polycrystalline Silicon solar cells

Figure 2.4: Servo Motor Mg 995.

Figure 2.5: The way servo motors are attached with the solar panels in the system

Figure 2.6: Different types of servo controller of Pololu

Figure 2.7: Mini Maestro 12-channel USB servo controller (fully assembled) labeled top view

Figure 2.8: (a) Arduino Uno (b) Arduino Mega

Figure 2.9: Connection of Arduino Uno with Pololu Mini Maestro 12.

Figure 2.10: DS3231 (RTC)

Figure 2.11: RTC DS 3231 connected to Arduino

Figure 2.12: An electronic actuator in our system

Figure 2.13: Relay and its symbols.
Figure 2.14: 2 Relay Module.
Figure3.1: 18W Solar Panel

Figure 3.2: Finding distance between two panels

Figure 3.3: Solar Angles used in power calculations for PV panels

Figure 3.4: The variation in the declination angle throughout the year

Figure 3.5: Finding the torque needed to rotate

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Figure3.6: The time correction ET

Figure 4.1: Mechanical alignment of our system

Figure 4.2: The control circuit diagram

Figure 4.3: Connection diagram of Solar Panel for indoor testing

Figure 4.4: I-V curve for Panel 1 of indoor testing.

Figure 4.5: I-V curve for Panel 2 of indoor testing

Figure 4.6: I-V curve for Panel 3 of indoor testing

Figure 4.7: I-V curve for 20W Panel of indoor testing

Figure 4.8: Arrangement of top and bottom panel in parallel with ammeter, voltmeter, rheostat,
current sensor and voltage sensor

Figure 4.9: Arrangement of middle panel with ammeter, voltmeter, rheostat, current sensor and
voltage sensor

Figure 4.10: Arrangement of fixed panel with ammeter, voltmeter, rheostat, current sensor and
voltage sensor.

Figure 4.11: Block Diagram of Data Logger

Figure 4.12: Relationship between analog voltage and input current (when input current is
increasing)

Figure 4.13: ACS 714 current sensor's pin diagram

Figure 4.14: Connection of ACS 714 with Arduino Controller.

Figure 4.15: 25V voltage sensor.

Figure 4.16: Connection between voltage sensor and Arduino Controller.

Figure 4.17: Arduino SD card slot.

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Figure 4.18: Connection between Arduino and SD card slot.
Figure 5.1: Empty sketch book of the Arduino 1.6.4 version

Figure 5.2: Flow chart of the algorithm used in the microcontroller programming to control the
horizontal gliding and rotational motion of the panels to track the sun [1].

Figure 6.1: Connection diagram of top and bottom panel for data collection.

Figure 6.2: (a) Connection diagram of middle panel of multilevel sun tracking system

(b) Connection diagram of conventional fixed panel.

Figure 6.3: Amount of power generated from 8:00am-6:00pm on 14th July, 2016

Figure 6.4: Amount of power generated from 8:00am-6:00pm on 7th August, 2016

Figure 6.5: Amount of energy generated from 8:00am-6:00pm on 14th July, 2016

Figure 6.6: Amount of energy generated from 8:00am-6:00pm on 7th August, 2016

Figure 6.7: Comparison of currents generated by the top PV panel and the fixed PV panel from
8:00am-6:00pm on 14th July, 2016

Figure 6.8: Comparison of currents generated by the top PV panel and the fixed PV panel from
8:00am-6:00pm on 7th August, 2016

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 CHAPTER 1
Introduction
1.1 Motivation

Solar energy is considered to play an instrumental role in the infrastructure of a country as a

distributing source. Country like Bangladesh which has added several natural grids to the
national power grids but still that is not enough. In 2015, despite the requirement of 10000 MW
on an average, the installed capacity has reached to 12071 MW of which only 75% is available.
The consequence of this shortage is nothing but load shedding. People of urban areas are major
sufferers of it because of their dependency on electricity for daily activities. Solar energy is
something that has the promising potentiality to make our country getting rid of electrical energy
crisis. It is shown by theoretical calculations that the system harnesses 18% to 64 % more energy
based on season than that of conventional fixed panel system at the same time occupying 33%
less space [1]. The proposed system is easy to implement, but has a potential to be of immense
benefit for the dwellers of large cities like Dhaka, where not only electricity is short in supply but
also availability of rooftop space to install solar panels is also very limited. The position of
Bangladesh is between 20.30 - 26.38 degrees north and 88.04 - 92.44 degrees east which
indicates an ideal location for solar energy consumption. In our country 4 to 6.5 KWh per square
meter and maximum amount of radiation is available in summer. Therefore Bangladesh is the
suitable place for installation and testing our system efficiently.

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1.2 Project Outline

Figure 1.1: 2-D Physical structure of the rack of solar panels.

The system of this project is designed in such a way that automatically tracks sun from sunrise to
sunset and converts it into solar energy. Each of the three panels is fitted with a servo motor that
is controlled by the microcontroller in the Arduino. In our system, we have used both Arduino
Mega and Arduino Uno microcontroller boards. Arduino Uno is based on the ATmega328P. It
has 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16
MHz quartz crystal, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. The
Arduino Mega board is based on the ATmega1280. It has 54 digital input/output pins (of which
14 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), a 16 MHz
crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button. A simple
side view of the proposed system is depicted in figure 1 where three identical panels are
supported by a bar with a mechanism so that the panels can rotate on a horizontal axis. This bar
along with the panels is mounted on another vertical bar fixed to a base in such a way that the
former bar can rotate around a certain pivot. In order to maximize the average solar irradiance on
the panels further throughout the year, the panels are tilted by an angle equal to the latitude along
north-south direction facing south (not shown in Fig). Here we have used The Mini Maestro
which is a highly versatile (and compact) servo controller and general-purpose I/O boards. Mini
Maestro 12-Channel Servo Controller controls and provides power to the three servo motors. The

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channels can be organized as servo outputs making this servo controller well suited for high-
precision animatronics, and built-in speed and acceleration control make it easy to achieve
smooth, seamless movements without requiring the control source to constantly compute and
stream intermediate position updates to the Mini Maestro. The panels will be reset to their
original position at sunset for the following day along with the actuator.

The gliding bar faces east in the morning with an angle that the axis of top and bottom panels are
away from each other in the horizontal plane by a distance equivalent to the width of a panel;
three panels, thus, occupy the space of two in that plane. The gliding bar, thus, creates an angle
of 67.5 degree. When the sun starts to move to west at noon, the panels need to be repositioned
with the top panel moved to east and bottom panel to west, so that all the panels can experience
maximum sun exposure. This is done by pushing lower part of the panel holding bar to west with
the aid of an actuator by a certain angle so that the top panel takes place of the bottom panel in
the horizontal plane and vice versa. The gliding process will allow the top and bottom panels to
rotate throughout noon but the middle panel will stay vertically stationary from 1 hour before the
midday till 1 hour after the midday so that shading over the bottom panel can be eradicated.
According to the theory, the proposed distance between two consecutive panels is selected to be
1.5 times of the panel width .This will allow the top and bottom panels get the full sun exposure
during noon, as shown in Fig. 2. The angular separation between the vertical bar and the
mounted solar panel stack will be 67.5 at sunrise. The total height of the structure will be
(1.5+1.5+0.5) or 3.5 time the panel width, as can be seen from Fig. 1.

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 Figure 1.2: Positions of the solar panels throughout different times of the day.

1.3 Scope of the project

As it was already been proposed to construct a prototype multilevel solar panel and it has already
been constructed. The next plan will be increasing the efficiency of panel as much as possible.
For that we have to use the same component those we have used for constructing this solar panel
and which includes Arduino, Mini Maestro (motor shield), RTC(Real Time Clock), Relay Break
out board, 12V actuator and battery for power supply. To increase the efficiency, the panels that
will be used further should generate much more power.

1.4 Project Objective

The consumption of energy is growing everyday as the technology is developing day by day.
Hence adequate sources of electricity are necessary for ultimate living standard and well-being
of a country. At present power generation in Bangladesh is not enough to meet the growing

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consumers demand. So it is impossible to guarantee an endless supply of electric power to all
consumers throughout the country. The sun can deliver us with unlimited solar energy. It is big
task and matter of wisdom, that how we can make the efficient use of solar energy. The sun is
providing with solar energy every hour in same amount and the entire nation is using that. So we
could use this huge amount of resources by employing solar photo-voltaic systems. But the
conventional PV modules are less efficient and they require a lot of floor space. A developing
country like Bangladesh which is facing the scarcity of electricity where only 62 percent people
are somehow been sheltered under the shade of electricity and in the meantime where there is a
big shortage of space. It is such a big questions that where and how we can implement the idea of
setting a solar panel. So plenty space is a chief issue for establishing solar PV modules in cities
where rooftop space is less and that is why our project and paper shows and depicts the way that
how we can set up systems built on photovoltaic in a modern and scientific way.

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 CHAPTER 2
System Description
2.1 Introduction

Figure 2.1: Block diagram of the system.

Fig. 3 shows the block diagram of the multilevel solar panels system. In the system, three solar
panels mounted on stack transform energy from the sun into electrical energy. The rotation of the
solar panels and the linear movement of the actuator are controlled by a control circuit that reads
the time from the Real Time Clock as an input. A battery accumulates the electrical energy from
where the load draws necessary power. The voltages and currents generated by the panels are
also passed through the voltage and current sensors of a predesigned data logger for recording
those values in a memory card. The paper targets at the design and execution of physical
construction of the rack of the solar panels and control circuit.

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2.2 Photovoltaic Technology

Something which is very much well known for being most plentiful and suitable source of
energy is known as solar energy. The solar panel comprises of photovoltaic cells. PV acquires its
name from the process of converting light (photons) to electricity (voltage), which is called the
photovoltaic effect. Photo means light and Voltaic means producing electricity. So photo
voltaic process is making electricity directly from sunlight. Generally the output of the power
of a solar cell or photovoltaic cell is dependent on projected light on the cell. Time of the day,
season, panel position and alignment are also the major issues behind the output power. The
Current (I), Voltage (V) and the power (P) features of photovoltaic cell are shown in the figure
below:

Figure 2.2: I vs. V and P vs. V curve.

2.3 Solar Panel

Solar panels are devices which converts light into electricity. They are called "solar" panels
because most of the time, the most powerful source of light available is the Sun, called Sol by
astronomers. Some scientists call them photovoltaic which means, basically, "light-electricity. It
is a form of photoelectric cell, defined as a device whose electrical characteristicse.g. current,
voltage, or resistancediffer when subjected to light. When the numbers of the photovoltaic

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cells are gathered together, it will create a solar module which will produce electric power from
sunlight. A solar photovoltaic panel is in the combination of multiple cells in one plane. The
efficiency of most solar panel is from 11-15 percent. The efficiency rating measures what
percentage of sunlight striking a panel gets converted into electricity that can be used. The
higher efficiency, the fewer surface area well need in our solar panels. Though the average
percentage may be tiny, we can effortlessly fit a typical roof with enough power to cover our
energy needs. There are a number of different types of panel and there are variations in
properties among those panels as well. There are mostly three different categories of solar panel:

1. Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

2. Thin-Film Solar Cells (TFSC) (Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells)
3. Polycrystalline Silicon solar cells

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 2.3: (a) Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cells (b) Thin-Film Solar Cells (TFSC) (Amorphous Silicon Solar
Cells) (c) Polycrystalline Silicon solar cells.

Mono crystalline photovoltaic electric solar energy panels have been the go-to choice for many
years. They are among the ancient, most efficient and most reliable ways to yield electricity from
the sun. Since cost efficiency is one of the major issues to be taken into consideration, so it does
not make it appropriate for the system to be designed.

A thin film solar cell is a second generation solar cell that is produced by dropping one or more
thin layers or thin film (TF) of photovoltaic material on a substrate, such as glass, plastic or

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metal. Since the output of electrical power is little, solar cells built using amorphous silicon have
usually only been used for small-scale uses, example- calculators. But, new advances have made
them more attractive for few large-scale uses too. By using amorphous silicon, mass production
is easy but amorphous solar panels are usually not very beneficial for maximum residential sites.
These Panels are very low-cost but at the same time, they also need enormous space and the
efficiency of amorphous modules to produce sunlight to electricity is half polycrystalline and
half mono crystalline .Therefore, this will be not a sensible decision to choose the amorphous
silicon.

The current benefits that have been presented in polycrystalline solar panel have made it more
alike in efficiency as we get in monocrystalline panels. Among all the advantages, it does have
one advantage that is something extra ordinary, and that is, it is not affected by the shades of
nearby buildings and shaded trees. Furthermore, we will acquire it in smaller rate and is much
more efficient. So, for our usage, as we will attempt to use our panels in urban areas like Dhaka
city, it is highly advised to use polycrystalline solar panel because of its efficiency.

2.4 Servo Motor-MG 995

Servo motors (or servos) are self-contained electric devices (see Figure 2.3 below) that rotate or
drive parts of a machine with great accuracy. A Servo is a small device that uses a two wire DC
motor, a gear train, a potentiometer, an integrated circuit, and an output shaft. Of the three wires
that stick out from the motor casing, one is for power, one is for ground, and one is a control
input line. The rating of servo is 6 volts and delivers 66.7 oz-in. of maximum torque at 70r/min.
They are fitted with a servo mechanism for accurate control of angular position. The RC servo
motors typically have a rotation limit from 90 to 180. Few servos do have rotation limit of
360 or more. But servos do not rotate continually. Their rotation is limited in between the fixed
angles. We are using three servo motors in our system which consequently rotates the upper,
middle and bottom panel as time goes on. The servo motors are not directly connected to the
arduino but to the pololu mini maestro 12. The pololu will run the three servo motors of our
system.

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Features:
Voltage: 4.8-6.0 Volts
Torque: 45.8/66.7 oz-in. (4.8/6.0V)
Speed: 60/70 r/min (4.8/6.0V)
Rotation: 360
Dual Ball Bearing
4 Plastic Gears + 1 Metal Gear
25T Spline
Rest point adjustment

Figure 2.4: Servo Motor Mg 995.

Servo controllers have three wires- Brown, Red and Orange. Brown connects to the ground of
the Arduino. Red connects to the 5V on the Arduino. Orange connects to the I/O pin on the
Arduino, in this case digital pin 9. Jumper wires are used to connect between the female
connectors on the servo cable and Arduino headers.

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 Figure 2.5: The way servo motors are attached with the solar panels in the system.

In this planned project servo motors are used to rotate the panel. Sun rises in the east and sets in
the west. So our panels will start rotating from east to the west. At the initial period all the panels
are oriented and faced towards east, it will then start rotating from east by 15 degree towards
west and it will take total 12 steps to complete the whole rotation part.

2.5 Servo Controller (Pololu Mini Maestro)

The Mini Maestros or servo controllers are highly adaptable servo controllers and general-
purpose I/O boards. They support three control methods:

1) USB for direct connection to a computer

2) TTL serial for use with embedded systems and

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 3) Internal scripting for self-contained, host controller-free applications. The channels can
be configured as servo outputs for use with radio control (RC) servos or electronic speed
controls (ESCs), as digital outputs, or as analog/digital inputs.

A free configuration and control program is available for Windows and Linux, making it simple
to configure and test the device over USB, create sequences of servo movements for
animatronics or walking robots, and write, step through, and run scripts stored in the servo
controller. The Mini Maestros 8 KB of internal script memory allows storage of up to
approximately 3000 servo positions that can be automatically played back without any computer
or external microcontroller connected.

There are number of Pololus servo controllers with different number of channels such as:

1. Micro Maestro 6

2. Mini Maestro 12-Channel USB Servo Controller

3. Mini Maestro 18-Channel USB Servo Controller

4. Mini Maestro 24-Channel USB Servo Controller

Figure 2.6: Different types of servo controller of Pololu.

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For our system we have chosen Mini Maestro 12 channels USB controller which can run 12
servo motor at a time. In our system there are total 3 panels and we have used total three servo
motors so we have used mini maestro 12. High current flow is needed to be supplied to run the
servo which is provided by the mini maestro other if arduino was used to provide such high
current it would damage.

If we use Mini Maestro, it will reduce the usage of wiring of the system and it will be much
easier to make the programming code by putting the exact pin numbers in the program of that
specific servo motor.

Figure 2.7: Mini Maestro 12-channel USB servo controller (fully assembled) labeled top view.

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2.6 Arduino

For constructing electronics projects, we use an open-source platform which is known as

Arduino. It can be used to write and upload computer code to the physical board. The board
consists of all the components that a miniature microcontroller requires to run. Arduino contains
a physical programmable circuit board (often referred to as a microcontroller and a piece of
software, or IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that runs on our computer. A very
significant feature of the Arduino is the typical way that connectors are all visible, which permits
the CPU board to be linked to different interchangeable add-on modules which is termed as
shields. Certain shields communicate with the Arduino board directly over several pins, but
numerous shields are separately addressable through an IC serial bus, letting many shields to be
arranged and used.
There are generally two types of Arduino for this sort of system:

1. Arduino UNO
2. Arduino MEGA

2.6.1 Arduino Uno

Arduino/Genuino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328P. It has 14 digital

input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz
crystal, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. It simply consists of
everything required to support the microcontroller. We can attach it to a computer with a USB
cable or power it with an AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started. In other words, it can be
attached to a computer with a USB cable or powered it with an AC-to-DC adapter or a battery to
get started.

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2.6.2 Arduino Mega

The Arduino Mega is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega1280. It has total 54 digital
input/output pins (of which 14 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs,
4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack,
an ICSP header, and a reset button. It contains each and everything that are needed to support the
microcontroller; simply we need to connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with
an AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started.

(a) (b)

Figure 2.8: (a) Arduino Uno (b) Arduino Mega.

Application Ideas
LED display/LCD controller
Pulse width modulation driver
Robot controller
Data acquisition systems
Alarm systems
Programmable logic controllers
Embedded Web servers
Control Systems

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At present, the Arduino hardware platform has the power and reset circuitry setup as well as
circuitry to program and transfer data over USB. Moreover, the I/O pins of the microcontroller
are usually already provided out to sockets/headers for very easy access (This can differ a little
bit with the particular model). Arduino and 8051 are almost similar. This is because, one is a
microcontroller and while the other one is an improvement platform. Arduino runs (quite
originally) on Atmel's AVR microcontroller series. The main variations are the major variations
in the architecture of the controllers. Thinking from the perspective of user, AVR is richer in
peripheral. It consists of in-built ADC and numerous timer based peripherals. It is very easy to
program when compared to microcontroller. Thinking from the software side, Arduino does
offers numerous libraries making the microcontroller programming easier. The easiest of these
are functions to regulate and read the I/O pins rather than having to use the bus/bit masks
generally used to interface with the Atmega I/O (This is a slight problem). More suitable are
factors such as being able to set I/O pins to PWM at a particular duty cycle using a single
command or performing Serial communication. The highest benefit is to have the hardware
platform set up already, especially the circumstance that it permits programming and serial
communication over USB. This saves the problem of having to do PCB (whose value is more
than an Arduino) or breadboarding. The main benefits are the speed as well as ease of
development. The open source nature of Arduino has caused the accessibility of various
shields" (i.e. daughter cards) that promote advantages, such as, as Internet access, wireless
networking, data logging and device control. Another big benefit is the Arduino IDE which
permits software development on every main platform (Mac, PC, and Linux) with an easy-to-use
subset of C/C++.

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 Figure 2.9: Connection of Arduino Uno with Pololu Mini Maestro 12.

2.7 Real Time Clock (DS3231)

The component which permits microcontroller to keep track of time even if it is reprogrammed,
or if the power is lost, that component is known as RTC(Real Time Clock). The RTC is ideal for
different purposes, such as-
1) Data logging
2) Clock-building
3) Time stamping
4) Timers and
5) Alarms etc.
The DS3231 is a low-cost, extremely accurate IC real-time clock (RTC) with an integrated
temperature-compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO) and crystal. The device incorporates a
battery input, and maintains accurate timekeeping when main power to the device is interrupted.
The integration of the crystal resonator enhances the long-term accuracy of the device as well as

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reduces the piece-part count in a manufacturing line. The DS3231 is available in commercial and
industrial temperature ranges, and is offered in a 16-pin, 300-mil SO package.

The RTC maintains seconds, minutes, hours, day, date, month, and year information. The date at
the end of the month is automatically adjusted for months with fewer than 31 days, including
corrections for leap year. The clock operates in either the 24-hour or 12-hour format with an
active-low AM/PM indicator. Two programmable time-of-day alarms and a programmable
square-wave output are provided. Address and data are transferred serially through an IC
bidirectional bus.

A precision temperature-compensated voltage reference and comparator circuit monitors the

status of VCC to detect power failures, to provide a reset output, and to automatically switch to
the backup supply when necessary. Additionally, the active-low RST pin is monitored as a
pushbutton input for generating a P reset [4].

Key Features

Highly Accurate RTC Completely Manages All Timekeeping Functions

o Real-Time Clock Counts Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Date of the Month, Month,
Day of the Week, and Year, with Leap-Year Compensation Valid Up to 2100
o Accuracy 2ppm from 0C to +40C
o Accuracy 3.5ppm from -40C to +85C
o Digital Temp Sensor Output: 3C Accuracy
o Register for Aging Trim
o Active-Low RST Output/Pushbutton Reset Debounce Input
o Two Time-of-Day Alarms
o Programmable Square-Wave Output Signal
Simple Serial Interface Connects to Most Microcontrollers
2
o Fast (400kHz) I C Interface
Battery-Backup Input for Continuous Timekeeping
o Low Power Operation Extends Battery-Backup Run Time
o 3.3V Operation
Operating Temperature Ranges: Commercial (0C to +70C) and Industrial (-40C to
+85C)

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 Figure 2.10: DS3231 (RTC).

DS3231 has been chosen because of its convenient characteristics compared to its nearest
competitor DS1307. While using DS1307, the external temperature can affect the frequency of
the oscillator circuit which drives the DS1307s internal counter. This will usually result with the
clock being off by around five or so minutes per month. The DS3231 is much more accurate, as
it has an internal oscillator which isnt affected by external factors and thus is accurate down to
a few minutes per year at the most [5].

2.7.1 Wiring It Up with the Arduino

SCL pin of DS323 is to be plugged into A5 port of Arduino Uno

The SDA pin plugs into the A4 port
The VCC pin plugs into the 5V port of the Arduino
GND plugs into the GND port.

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 Figure 2.11: RTC DS 3231 connected to Arduino.

2.7.2 CR2032 Lithium Battery

Specifications of CR2032 battery is given below [6]:

Item Performance Characteristics
Nominal Voltage 3V
Nominal Capacity 220 mAh
Continuous Standard Drain 0.2 mA
Diameter 20 mm
Height 3.2 mm
Approx. Weight 2.9 g
Operating temperature -30 to 60 degree C

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2.8 Actuator

An actuator is one type of motor that plays an important role for controlling and moving a
structure. It normally functions by the influence of an energy source, for example- electric
current, hydraulic fluid pressure, or pneumatic pressure, and converting the input energy into
motion. An actuator is the device by which a control system acts depending on the surrounding.
The control system can be very simple. It can be software-based, a human, or any other input.
There are different categories of actuators .Example- Mechanical actuators, Hydraulic actuators,
Pneumatic actuators, Electro-mechanical and Linear motor etc. In our multilevel sun tracking
solar panel, we have used linear actuator because of the fact that, motion is created in a straight
line in linear actuator, compared to the circular motion of a conventional electric motor.

Advantages and Disadvantages:

Actuator Advantages Disadvantages
Type
Mechanical Inexpensive, repeatable, no need of power Operated manually.
No need of automation.
actuators source, self-sufficient, similar behavior
extending or retracting.

Hydraulic Possible to create very high forces. It can leak under some
actuators circumstances.
For repeatability, there is need
of position feedback.
There is need for external
hydraulic pump. Few designs
are suitable in compression
only.

Linear motor Very simple design. Low to medium force.

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 Minimum moving parts. Achieving high
speeds is possible.
Self-sufficient.
Similar behavior when extending or
retracting.
Electro- Cheap, repeatable and operation can be Many moving parts prone to
mechanical automated. Self-contained. Identical behavior wear
extending or retracting. DC or stepping
motors. Position feedback possible.
Pneumatic Strong, light, simple and fast. Precision position control
actuators impossible except at full stops

The main role of the actuator in our system is to move our whole system back and forth in a day.
Initially the actuator remains inactive from the morning to the noon. When it is noon the actuator
becomes active and shifts the whole system to just opposite alignment compared to its initial
position. Initially the panels remain in such a position to capture maximum sunlight so the
actuator operation is not required here. At noon when the sun is just at the top of the system the
panels do not receive much energy so the actuator needs to shift the system towards its opposite
direction to get the full exposure of the sunlight to the panels.

Figure 2.12: An electronic actuator in our system.

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The actuator in our system will be provided with power from a battery source rather than a
power source because the power rating of the actuator is huge which is 12V compared to the
power rating of other components used. It is seen that when the actuator is getting power supply
from the power source the real time clock in our system gets reset. The real time clock gets its
power from a lithium battery and is grounded to a common point where all the components are
grounded. The real time clock gets reset because its power rating is small and when this huge
power flows through it real time clock gets reset. When the actuator in active it creates magnetic
flux around it so the interference between the magnetic flux and the electric flux also reset the
real time clock and this interference also causes problems to other circuitry of the system so the
entire actuator operation and circuitry is separated from the whole system.

2.9 Relay Breakout Board

A relay is an electrically operated switch. Current flowing through the coil of the relay creates a
magnetic field which attracts a lever and changes the switch contacts. The coil current can be on
or off so relays have two switch positions and they are double throw (changeover) switches. The
relays switch connections are usually labeled COM (POLE), NC and NO. The operating voltage
of relay is 6v.

COM/POLE= Common, NC and NO always connect to this; it is the moving part of the switch.
NC = Normally Closed, COM/POLE is connected to this when the relay coil is not magnetized.
NO = Normally Open, COM/POLE is connected to this when the relay coil is MAGNETIZED
and vice versa.

Figure 2.13: Relay and its symbols.

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There are 5 Pins in a relay. Two pins A and B are two ends of a coil that are kept inside the relay.
The coil is wound on a small rod that gets magnetized whenever current passes through
it.COM/POLE is always connected to NC (Normally connected) pin. As current is passed
through the coil A, B, the pole gets connected to NO (Normally Open) pin of the relay. In our
system, we used a 2 relay module.

Figure 2.14: 2 Relay Module.

The two relays are used to toggle the positive and negative power to the actuator in order to
determine the direction of piston travel. 12V power supply is given to the NC pin and the NO pin
is grounded when the actuator is inactive. When NC pin is grounded and NO pin is given 12V
the relay switch is pressed and the code reads the current position, and then determines which
direction to drive the piston to reach the goal position. Once the goal position is reached, it shuts
off the power to the motor.

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2.10 Sun tracker

A solar tracker is a device that orients a payload toward the sun. Payloads are photovoltaic
panels. There are different types of sun trackers. These are used for special purposes. Some of
these tracking systems are discussed below:

2.10.1 Need of a Sun Tracker

Each day, the sun rises in the east, moves across the sky, and sets in the west. Whenever the sun
is shining on us, it is sending energy in our direction. We can feel the heat from the sun, and we
can see objects that are illuminated by the light from the sun as it moves across the sky.
However, if we could get a solar cell to turn and look at the sun all day, then it would be
receiving the maximum amount of sunlight possible and converting it into the more useful
energy form electricity. If we are located in the tropics, we see that the sun appears to follow a
path that is nearly directly overhead. However, for locations north or south of the tropics (e.g.,
latitudes greater than 23.5 degrees), the sun never reaches a position that is directly overhead.
Instead, it follows a path across the southern or the northern part of the sky.

2.10.2 Solar Tracker Fundamentals

A solar tracker is a device that is used to align a single P.V module or an array of modules with
the sun. Although trackers are not a necessary part of a P.V system, their implementation can
dramatically improve a systems power output by keeping the sun in focus throughout the day.
Efficiency is particularly improved in the morning and afternoon hours where a fixed panel will
be facing well away from the suns rays. P.V modules are expensive and in most cases the cost
of the modules themselves will outweigh the cost of the tracker system. Additionally a well-
designed system which utilizes a tracker will need fewer panels due to increased efficiency,
resulting in a reduction of initial implementation costs.

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2.10.3 Different Types of Tracking

Active tracker:
These trackers use motors and gear trains in directing the tracker as commanded by a controller
responding to the solar direction. Active two axis trackers are used to orient heliostats. Light
sensing type of trackers has two photo sensors, photodiodes, configured differentially so that
they output a null when receiving the same light flux. They are supposed to be flat and are 90
degrees apart. Since the motors consume energy, use them only when necessary. Now if the light
is below some threshold level, there may not be enough power available for reorientation.
Precaution should be taken so as not waste energy during cloudy days when there is not enough
light.

Passive tracker:
This type of tracker works on the principle of creating a gas pressure by using a low BP
compressed gas fluid. This fluid is then driven to one side or the other due to solar heating thus
creating gas pressure. This causes the tracker to move in response to an imbalance. These kinds
of trackers are provided with Viscous Dampers to prevent excessive motion in response to wind
gusts and Shader or Reflectors to reflect the early morning light to start the panel tilting towards
the sun.

Open loop trackers:

Open loop trackers determine the position of the sun using computer controlled algorithms or
simple timing systems.

Altitude/Azimuth Trackers:
Use astronomical data or sun position algorithms to determine the position of the sun for any
given time and location. Tracker location, date and time are used by a microcontroller to fix the
position of the sun. Once the position has been calculated, the modules are moved using servo
motors and the position is measured by encoders built into the tracker frame. There are many
types of solar trackers, of varying costs, sophistication, and performance.

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2.10.4 Types of Solar Tracker

There are many different types of solar tracker which can be grouped into single axis and double
axis models.

Single axis tracker:

Features
Track the sun from east to west using a single pivot point
Increase solar yield up to 34%
Simple, effective design
Low maintenance
Lower cost compared to dual axis
Minimal points of failure

Horizontal single axis tracker:

Single axis horizontal trackers may be oriented by either passive or active mechanisms. In these,
a long horizontal tube is supported on bearings mounted upon pylons or frames .The axis of the
tube is on a north-south line. Panels are mounted upon the tube, and the tube will rotate on its
axis to track the apparent motion of the sun through the day. Since these do not tilt toward the
equator they are not especially effective during winter midday (unless located near the
equator),but add a substantial of productivity during the spring and summer seasons when the
solar path is high in the sky. These devices are less effective at higher latitudes .The principal
advantage is the inherent robustness of the supporting structure and the simplicity of the
mechanism. Since the panels are horizontal, they can be compactly placed on the axle tube
without danger of self-shading and are also readily accessible for cleaning. For active
mechanisms, a single control and motor may be used to actuate multiple rows of panels.

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Vertical single axis tracker:

A single axis tracker may be constructed that pivots only about a vertical axle, with the panels
either vertical or at a fixed elevation angle. Such trackers are suitable for high latitudes, where
the apparent solar path is not especially high, but which leads to long days in summer, with the
sun travelling through a long arc.

Polar single axis tracker:

This method is scientifically well known as the standard method of mounting a telescope support
structure. The tilted single axis is aligned to the polar star. It is therefore called a polar aligned
single axis tracker (PASAT). In this particular implementation of a tilted single axis tracker, the
tilt angle is equal to the site latitude. This aligns the tracker axis of rotation with the earths axis
of rotation.
Tilted single axis tracker:

All trackers with axes of rotation between horizontal and vertical are considered tilted single axis
trackers. Tracker tilt angles are often limited to reduce the wind profile and decrease the elevated
end height. Field layouts must consider shading to avoid unnecessary losses and to optimize land
utilization. With backtracking, they can be packed without shading perpendicular to their axis of
rotation at any density. However, the packing parallel to their axes of rotation is limited by the
tilt angle and the latitude. Tilted single axis trackers typically have the face of the module
oriented parallel to the axis of rotation. As a module tracks, it sweeps a cylinder that is
rotationally symmetric around the axis of rotation.

Dual axis tracker:

Features
Track the sun from east to west and north to south using two pivot points
Increase solar yield up to 37%
Complex design-more motor and sensors
Higher maintenance

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 Higher cost due to additional parts and installation time
Additional points of failure

Tip-tilt dual axis tracker (TTDAT):

A tiptilt dual axis tracker is so-named because the panel array is mounted on the top of a pole.
Normally the east-west movement is driven by rotating the array around the top of the pole. On
top of the rotating bearing is a T- or H-shaped mechanism that provides vertical rotation of the
panels and provides the main mounting points for the array. The posts at either end of the
primary axis of rotation of a tiptilt dual axis tracker can be shared between trackers to lower
installation costs. Other such TTDAT trackers have a horizontal primary axis and a dependent
orthogonal axis. The vertical azimuthal axis is fixed. This allows for great flexibility of the
payload connection to the ground mounted equipment because there is no twisting of the cabling
around the pole. Field layouts with tiptilt dual axis trackers are very flexible. The simple
geometry means that keeping the axes of rotation parallel to one another is all that is required for
appropriately positioning the trackers with respect to one another. Normally the trackers would
have to be positioned at fairly low density in order to avoid one tracker casting a shadow on
others when the sun is low in the sky. Tip-tilt trackers can make up for this by tilting closer to
horizontal to minimize up-sun shading and therefore maximize the total power being collected.
The axes of rotation of many tiptilt dual axis trackers are typically aligned either along a true
north meridian or an east west line of latitude. Given the unique capabilities of the Tip-Tilt
configuration and the appropriated controller totally automatic tracking is possible for use on
portable platforms. The orientation of the tracker is of no importance and can be placed as
needed.

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 CHAPTER 3
Calculations of System Size
3.1 Introduction

This part of the chapter explains the calculation of the entire solar system. Hence, calculations
are now needed to be done in order to determine the parameters for a photovoltaic system to
generate electricity. The system will require solar panel for the collection of sun energy and
servo motors to run them. The torque speed of the motors will determine the angle and speed at
which the panels will rotate. Furthermore, the total calculation of the energy used in the system
also depends on each components power utility.

3.2 Solar Panel Calculations

In our system we have selected polycrystalline semi flexible solar panel for its low price
availability in the market and they are easy to work with.

Type of Cell Polycrystalline

Maximum Power (Pmax) 18 W
Maximum Power Voltage (Vmp) 19.4 V
Maximum Power Current (Imp) 0.9 A
Open Circuit Voltage (Voc) 23.7 V
Short Circuit Current (Isc) 1.0 A

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 Figure3.1: 18W Solar Panel.

It is necessary to estimate the panel separation that will enable harnessing enough solar energy
without making the system size too large. The distance between two panels is proportional to the
time span of solar irradiance without shadow. If the distance is increased, longer time of no
shadow will occur and vice versa. As horizontally two consecutive panels are separated by a
fixed distance of half of the panel width, the sun angle at which shading of the lower panel
begins will depend on the vertical separation between the panels. The greater is the vertical
separation, the greater will be the sun angle and the higher will be the position of the sun in the
sky for which shading of the lower panel will begin. That is the panels will get more sun
exposure for a longer time with harnessing more solar energy if the panels separation is greater.

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3.3 Calculating the distance between panels

Figure 3.2: Finding distance between two panels.

But the increase in the panel separation will result the increase in the overall size and the cost of
the system well. So that in our system we have come up with a detailed analysis where the
panels separation will not be too high but it will also be able to collect the high solar energy.
Panel separation=d, is chosen to be 1.5 times of panel width in our design which corresponds to
an angular position =67.5.With this panel separation, the total height of the structure will be
(1.5+1.5+0.75) or 3.75 times the panel width. d3

w = width of the panel = 165mm

l = length of the panel = 225mm

An overall height of the structure = 3.75w = 3.75*165mm = 618.75cm

= . . h = 90

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Now,

d1 =

d2 =

( )=

d3 = =

And finally we get,

Total distance between two panels, D = d1 + d2 - d3

= +

It is estimated that with this panel separation, about 68% of total solar irradiation will fall on the
middle panel. It can be noted here that if we want to increase energy collection from 68% to 75%
for the middle panel, the minimum panel separation needed will be 2.5 times the panel width
requiring the overall height to be (2.5+2.5+0.5)w = 3674 mm, which is about 57% larger than the
previous size for an increase of just 7% in incident energy.

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3.4 Solar Angle Calculation:

Below is an overview of the angles involved in calculating the amount of solar radiation that a
PV panel receives at any given time. The angle at which the sun hits a PV panel is the basis for
understanding how to design the most efficient PV array for a specific location.

Figure 3.3: Solar Angles used in power calculations for PV panels.

Solar Zenith Angle: This is the angle between the line that points to the sun and the vertical
basically, this is just where the sun is in the sky. At sunrise and sunset this angle is 90.

Solar Altitude Angle, : This is the angle between the line that points to the sun and the
horizontal. It is the complement of the zenith angle. At sunrise and sunset this angle is 0.

Solar Azimuth Angle: This is the angle between the line that points to the sun and south. Angles
to the east are negative. Angles to the west are positive. This angle is 0 at solar noon. It is

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probably close to -90 at sunrise and 90 at sunset, depending on the season. This angle is only
measured in the horizontal plane; in other words, it neglects the height of the sun.

Angle of Incidence, i: This is the angle between the lines that points to the sun and the angle
those points straight out of a PV panel (this is also called the line that is normal to the surface of
the panel). This is the most important angle. Solar panels are the most efficient when pointing at
the sun, so engineers want to minimize this angle at all times. To know this angle, you must
know all of the angles listed and described next.

Hour Angle: This is based on the sun's angular displacement, east or west, of the local meridian
(the line the local time zone is based on). The earth rotates 15 per hour so at 11am, the hour
angle is -15 and at 1pm it is 15.

Surface Azimuth Angle: This is the angle between the line that points straight out of a PV panel
and south. It is only measured in the horizontal plane. Again, east is negative and west is
positive. If a panel pointed directly south, this angle would be 0.

Collector Slope, : This is the angle between the plane of the solar collector and the horizontal.
If a panel is lying flat, then it is 0. As you tip it up, this angle increases. It does not matter which
direction the panel faces.

Declination, : This is the angle between the line that points to the sun from the equator and the
line that points straight out from the equator (at solar noon). North is positive and south is
negative. This angle varies from 23.45 to -23.45 throughout the year, which is related to why we
have seasons.

Latitude: This is the angle between a line that points from the center of the Earth to a location
on the Earth's surface and a line that points from the center of the Earth to the equator. This can
be easily found on a map.

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Angle Calculation :

Declination angle calculation:

The equation used to calculate declination angle in radians on any given day can be calculated by
the following equation [3]:

Where,

= declination angle (rads);

n = the day number (e.g. for 1st January n = 1)

Figure 3.4: The variation in the declination angle throughout the year.

The declination angle is the same on the earth on a given day. Figure 18 shows the difference in
the declination angle throughout a year. Because the period of the Earths complete revolution
around the Sun does not coincide exactly with the calendar year the declination varies slightly on
the same day from year to year.

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The Hour Angle Calculation:

The hour angle is positive during the morning, zero at noon and becomes negative increasingly
as the afternoon advances. Two equations can be used to calculate hour angle when different
angles are known [3]:

sin

Where,

= the hour angle

= the altitude angle

Az = the solar azimuth angle

= the declination angle

= observers latitude

It is to be mentioned that the hour angle equals zero at the noon and since this angle changes by
15 every hour, it is very simple to calculate the hour angle at any time of the day. The hour
angles at sunrise and sunset ( s) are very important to be familiar with. They are basically of the
same value. However, the sunrise angle is negative and the sunset angle is positive. Both can be
calculated from:

s =

The Altitude Angle Calculation:

The altitude angle can be calculated from the following equation [3]:

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The Azimuth Angle Calculation:

The equation to calculate the azimuth angle is the following [3]:

The azimuth angle at sunrise (ASR) can be calculated from:

sin ASR = S

The Incidence Angle Calculation:

The angle of incidence ( i) of the Sun on a surface tilted at an angle from the horizontal ( ) and
with any surface azimuth angle (AZS) can be calculated from the following equation [3]:

i= ZS +

SZ ZS

3.5 Finding the torque to rotate

Figure 3.5: Finding the torque needed to rotate.

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Mass of the panel, m = 0.3 kg

g = 9.8 ms-2

R = w/4 = 27.7 cm/4 = 6.925cm = 0.06925m

We know,

Torque, = fR

= (0.3 )/2

= 0.1017975 Nm

Now, we need find a suitable stepper motor to supply this amount of power. Therefore we need
to calculate the power needed to supply this torque.

Lets consider a motor of = 60

Power, P= (2RPM)/60 watt

= (0.1017975260)/60 watt

3.5 Calculation of Sunrise and Sunset Time

Microcontroller will take reading of the local time and date from a digital clock and check for the
sunrise and sunset times. Sunrise time in actual solar time (AST) can be calculated from the
sunrise angle s using the followings [7]:

AST = 720 mins s (4 mins/deg) .......(1)

Sunrise time in AST can be converted in local standard time (LST) using the following relation
[8],

LST = (2)

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Local Standard Time Meridian (LSTM)

The Local Standard Time Meridian (LSTM) is a reference meridian used for a particular time
zone and is similar to the Prime Meridian, which is used for Greenwich Mean Time. The LSTM
is illustrated below:

The (LSTM) is calculated according to the equation,

LSTM = 15( )round to interger (3)

Equation of Time (ET)

The equation of time (ET) (in minutes) is an empirical equation that corrects for the
eccentricity of the Earth's orbit and the Earth's axial tilt.

ET (4)

Where,

D= (5)

Where n denotes the nth day of the year

Similarly, the LST of the sunset can be calculated with s being the sunset angle.

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 Figure 3.6: The time correction ET.

Time Correction Factor (TC)

The net Time Correction Factor (in minutes) accounts for the variation of the Local Solar Time (LST)
within a given time zone due to the longitude variations within the time zone and also incorporates the ET
above [2].

TC =

The factor of 4 minutes comes from the fact that the Earth rotates 1 every 4 minutes.

Local Solar Time (LST)

The Local Solar Time (LST) can be found by using the previous two corrections to adjust the
local time (LT) [2].

Page 50 of 96
 CHAPTER 4
Hardware Implementation
4.1 Introduction

This chapter is dedicated to reflect how we used our research and design to build our prototype
of the sun tracking system. After an intensive research on all the available techniques and
components, to meet the requirement of the desired sun tracking system and to satisfy the prime
objective of the project, suitable methods and components were selected and implemented
through electrical circuits. In our system we have a control circuit controlled by the
microcontroller in Arduino. The microcontroller sends signal to the polulu mini maestro
calculating and comparing time with the help of RTC and the motor rotates the panel.

4.2 Mechanical Construction

While doing the mechanical construction a iron bar was connected vertically with the heavy
weight iron base through gas welding, the stack that contains the solar panels is made of stainless
steel (SS) bar and it is connected to the vertical bar through ball bearing so that the stack of solar
panel can easily rotate along a horizontal arc throughout the day time with the operation of the
linear actuator.

For connecting the solar panels with the SS bar stack, 3 holes have been made on the SS bar by
drilling it and 3 iron rods were mounted on the SS bar through those holes with small ball
bearing so that the iron rods can rotate easily around the horizontal axis. The iron rods are
mounted on the main stack in such manner that they are bit tilted downwards and each of the
rods contains two rectangular sized long iron plate in transverse manner so that the flexible solar
panel can easily be attached to these iron rods. The end of the iron rod that remains on the other
side of the ball bearing is connected with servo motor through the servo horns for a better grip on
them for rotating through the whole day. Theoretically it has been proposed that the distance

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between two consecutive holes containing iron rods is 1.5 times of the width of the solar panel.

Figure 4.1: Mechanical alignment of our system.

4.3 Control Circuit Diagram

In our proposed system we have implemented our circuit by using one Arduino Mega, three
MG995 Servo Motors, two Real Time Clock, one 12V Actuator, a 2 Relay Module , one 3V
Lithium battery, one Pololu Mini Maestro 12 and some male to male and female to male
connectors.

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 Figure 4.2: The control circuit diagram.

Arduino is connected with the PC or laptop via an USB cable. The Arduino gives supply to all
the other components used in our circuitry design except the relays and the actuator. Arduino has
a fixed 5V power supply which is supplied to the components. The pololu mini maestro12 is
connected to Arduino in pin number 10 and 11 via its RxD and TxD pins respectively for
transmission and reception of the signals. The real time clock is connected to the Arduino in pin
SCL and ground through its pin number 5 and 6. The real time clock gets its power supply from
a 3V lithium power supply.

Due to interference between the electric field and the magnetic field created by the actuator the
circuitry of the actuator is fully separated from the above circuit. The result of this interference
causes a huge problem in the whole system. Firstly, the real time clock gets reset; it has a very
small power rating so it cannot tolerate the huge power of the actuator which is 12V so it gets

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reset. Secondly, the other components in the circuit with low power might get burn due to huge
power supply. So the power is provided to the actuator externally via a battery.

4.4 States of the sun tracking solar panels throughout the daytime

The sun tracking process of this multilevel solar panel system works with the joint actions of
servo motors rotating the solar panels and the actuator that moves the iron bar containing the
panels in an horizontal arc. In this system 12 positions for the panels have been programmed for
following the coordinates of the sun throughout the whole day as the microcontroller reads the
time from the Real Time Clock and sends signals to the servo motor driver and to the relay of the
actuator so that the panels can be aligned properly facing the sun with certain changes of angular
position after predetermined regular time gap. These positions are distinguished from one
another by the positive angles created by the panels with the vertical line due to their rotation and
these positions have been defined as the states of the sun tracking solar panels in our project
report.

The states have been described below:

1. State '1': This state begins at 6:00 am in the morning when all the servo motors start working
as they take the panels at an angular distance of +7.5 from the vertical line by rotating their
shaft connected with the panels. At the beginning the linear displacement of the actuator shaft is
kept 0mm as the iron stack carrying the solar panels remain tilted towards the east till 12pm.

2. State '2': This state begins at 7:00am when the angular distances of the panels from the
vertical line goes up to +22.5 .

3. State '3': This state begins at 8:00am when the angular distances of the panels from the
vertical line goes up to +37.5

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4. State '4': This state begins at 9:00am when the angular distances of the panels from the
vertical line goes up to +52.5

5. State '5': This state begins at 10:00 am when the angular distances of the panels from the
vertical line go up to +67.5

6. State '6': This state begins at 11:00 am when the angular distances of the top and bottom
panel increases up to +82.5 but the middle panel is taken to a position of -180 angular
displacement with the vertical line and this position is maintained up to 12:00pm for avoiding
it's shading over the bottom panel and again this middle panel cannot convert solar energy
efficiently during this period due to the shading of top panel over it as the sun radiates energy
from the angular position of approximately 90 with the horizon during this time span.

7. State '7': This state begins at 12:00 pm when the 10mm linear movement of actuator shaft tilts
the iron stack carrying the solar panels towards the west. In this state, the angular displacement
of top and bottom panels with the vertical line reaches +97.5 and the middle panel goes through
a rotation of 180 comparing to its previous position for avoiding further shading.

8. State'8': This state begins at 1:00pm when all the panels get aligned at an angular
displacement of +112.5 with the vertical line.

9. State '9': This state begins at 2:00pm when all the panels get aligned at an angular
displacement of +127.5 with the vertical line.

10. State'10': This state begins at 3:00pm when all the panels get aligned at an angular
displacement of +142.5 with the vertical line.

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11. State'11': This state begins at 4:00pm when all the panels get aligned at an angular
displacement of +157.5 with the vertical line.

12. State'11': This state begins at 5:00pm and continues till 6:00pm. In this state all the panels
get aligned at an angular displacement of +172.5 with the vertical line. According to the
seasonal daytime length of this country, this system will stop working at 6:00pm and it will again
retain state '1' in the next morning.

Note: During each state the generalized angular displacement is +15 ,which has been determined
by the calculations of some parameters related to the motor driver for the convenience of the
system.

4.5 Solar Panel Indoor Testing

We tested three panels indoor and provided the maximum illumination in order to calculate the
short circuit current, open circuit voltage and maximum power for the three panels separately.

Figure 4.3: Connection diagram of Solar Panel for indoor testing.

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We need to measure the maximum power point in a solar panel and the figure above shows how
it was done. There are two switches S1 and S2. S1 is connected in parallel with voltmeter and S2
is connected in series with ammeter.

S1 is close and S2 is open to get the short circuit current, Isc.

S1 and S2 both are open to get the open circuit voltage, Voc.

S1 is open and S2 is close to get the current and terminal voltage of the solar panel.

The current is then varied by varying the value of the rheostat.

For Panel 1:

Open Circuit Voltage, Voc=20.1V

Short Circuit Current, Isc=210mA

2.5

2
(Watts)
Power

1.5

0.5

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Voltage(Volts)

Figure 4.4: I-V curve for Panel 1 of indoor testing.

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For Panel2:

Open Circuit Voltage, Voc=19.5V

Short Circuit Current, Isc=205mA

2.4

2.2

1.8

1.6
Power(Watts)

1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Voltage(Volts)

Figure 4.5: I-V curve for Panel 2 of indoor testing.

For panel 3: Open Circuit Voltage, Voc=20.5V

Short Circuit Current, Isc=205mA

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 2.5

1.5
Power(Watts)

0.5

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Voltage(Volts)

Figure 4.6: I-V curve for Panel 3 of indoor testing.

For 20Watt
Panel: Open Circuit Voltage, Voc=20V

Short Circuit Current, Isc=280mA

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 4

3.5

3
Power(Watts)

2.5

1.5
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Voltage(Volts)

Figure 4.7: I-V curve for 20W Panel of indoor testing.

Figure 4.8: Arrangement of top and bottom panel in parallel with ammeter, voltmeter, rheostat, current sensor and
voltage sensor.

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Figure 4.9: Arrangement of middle panel with ammeter, voltmeter, rheostat, current sensor and voltage sensor.

Figure 4.10: Arrangement of fixed panel with ammeter, voltmeter, rheostat, current sensor and voltage sensor.

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Three panels-top, middle and bottom will be rotating. Since the top and bottom panel rotates in
similar fashion, they were connected in parallel. There was a fixed panel with which we can
compare the efficiency with respect to the rotating panels.

4.6 Data logger

A data logger is an electronic device that records data over time or in relation to location either
with a built in instruments or sensors or via external instruments and sensors. Increasingly, but
not entirely, they are based on a digital processor (or computer). In our project we used both
current sensors and voltage sensors as parts of our data logger to record the currents and voltages
generated by our multilevel automated solar panel system.

System Description of the data logger:

The figure below shows the system overview of the data logger, where we can see that the top
and bottom solar panels are connected parallelly to the same current and voltage sensors as they
remain in the same alignment throughout the day for tracking the sun. Again the middle panel is
connected to the second pair of voltage and current sensors and the third pair of voltage and
current sensors is used for reading a standard fixed panel. The microcontroller reads the data
from the voltage and current sensors through its analog input pins and align them with the
receiving time taken as input from the Real Time Clock. Then the microcontroller records the
data in a memory card which has been connected with it through the digital output pins.

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 Figure 4.11: Block Diagram of Data Logger.

4.6.1 Current Sensor

A current sensor is a device that detects electric current (AC or DC) in a wire, and generates a
signal proportional to it. The generated signal could be analog voltage or current or even digital
output.

In this data logger "ACS714 Current Sensor" has been used for sensing the changing current
which is a Hall effect-based linear current sensor that operates at 5V and has an output
sensitivity of 185 mV per Ampere .The sensor requires a supply voltage of 4.5 V to 5.5 V to be
connected across the Vcc and GND pins in the Figure 1. The ACS714 outputs an analog voltage
which is linearly proportional to the input current. When Vcc is 5 V, this output voltage is
centered at 2.5 V and changes by 185 mV per amp of input current, with positive current
increasing the output voltage and negative current decreasing the output voltage [1].

A Hall effect sensor is a transducer that varies its output voltage in response to a magnetic
field. Hall effect sensors are used for proximity switching, positioning, speed detection, and
current sensing applications. In its simplest form, the sensor operates as an analog transducer,
directly returning voltage.

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 Figure 4.12: Relationship between analog voltage and input current (when input current is increasing).

The current sensor board features:

Bidirectional measurement from -5 to 5 V (though the robust sensor IC can survive up to

five times the over current condition).
The sensor's conductive path internal resistance is typically 1.2 m (just over 1/1000 of
an ohm), and the PCB is made with 2-oz copper, so very little power is lost in the board.
Use of a Hall effect sensor means the IC is able to electrically isolate the current path
from the sensors electronics (up to 2.1 kV RMS). This means it can be used anywhere
along the current path, and still offers good electrical isolation!
80 kHz bandwidth that can optionally be decreased by adding a capacitor across the
board pins marked filter.
High accuracy and reliability. With a typical total output error of 1.5% (at room
temperature with factory calibration), an extremely stable output offset voltage, and
almost zero magnetic hysteresis.
Automotive grade operating temperature range of -40C 150C [1].

Note: This current sensor should be used below 30V

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 Figure 4.13: ACS 714 current sensor's pin diagram.

Vout pin from ACS 714 should be connected with Analog input (A0, A1, A2, A4 or A5). In
Figure 3 Vout from ACS 714 is connected with Analog input A3 of Arduino Controller.

Figure 4.14: Connection of ACS 714 with Arduino Controller.

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4.6.2 Voltage Sensor

A voltage sensor is electrical device that can read voltages in certain range and sends these
values to the analog input pins of the system's micro controller. In this system, conventional
voltage sensors of 25V, available in local markets has been used for sensing the continuous
voltage change and record then through the analog pin in a memory. We used SEN-00101 as
voltage sensor for our data logger.

Figure 4.15: 25V voltage sensor.

The Vout pin from Voltage Sensor can be connected with Analog input (A0, A1, A2, A4 or A5). In
Figure 5 Vout pin from Voltage Sensor has been connected with Analog input pin A1.

Figure 4.16: Connection between voltage sensor and Arduino Controller.

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Note: We have used three current sensors and three voltage sensors. The top and bottom panel shares a common
current sensor and voltage sensor. The other two current sensors and voltage sensors is for our middle panel and
fixed panel.

Equation for output reading of Voltage and Current sensors:

I=0.028496*(v)-14.629
V=0.023647*(v)-1.0186
Here, v is the output parameter bits from arduino MCU ranging from 0 to 1023.

4.6.3 SD card slot for saving data

The card slot that has been used in our data logger is known as Arduino SD card slot, which has
been shown in Figure 6.

Figure 4.17: Arduino SD card slot.

The communication between the microcontroller and the SD card uses Serial Peripheral Interface
bus, which takes place on digital pins 11, 12, and 13 (on most Arduino boards) or 50, 51, and 52
(Arduino Mega). Additionally, another pin must be used to select the SD card. This can be the
hardware SS pin - pin 10 (on most Arduino boards) or pin 53 (on the Mega) [2].
The connections have been shown in Figure 7, where we can see that Digital pins of MCU have

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been connected to the SDCS, MOSI, SCK and MISO pins of the SD card sold. The slot holds an
8GB micro SD card for saving our system's data.

Figure 4.18: Connection between Arduino and SD card slot.

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 CHAPTER 5

Software Implementation

5.1 Software used for programming

In our proposed system we have used Arduino 1.6.4 version for programming. That is an open
project that allows writing and debugging codes efficiently which is also immensely supported
by vast library files. The library files assisted us in designing algorithms from a sketch books and
examples directory. Verification and compilation of error is smooth and easily accessible. By
opening Arduino Uno sketch book we can select specific board and upload programming codes.

Figure 5.1: Empty sketch book of the Arduino 1.6.4 version.

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5.2 Algorithm for coding

The flow chart in Figure 5.2 shows the algorithm used in the micro-controller programming to
control the horizontal gliding and rotational motion of the panels to track the sun. The
microcontroller reads the real time t and nth day from a digital clock and determines the sunrise
(TSR) and sunset (TSS) times using the set of Eq. (1)-(5) mentioned in section 3.5. It then
calculates the time interval T = (TSS TSR)/12 at which the panels should be rotated.

The panels are rotated at every instance t = TSR + N.T, where N is number of instances the
panels should be rotated and varies from 1 to 12.

When t = T, the time that relates to the maximum position of the sun in the sky until which
lower panels get full sun exposure, the middle panel is turned in vertically upright position and
kept disabled until t = TSS -T .

At t = TSR + (TSS TSR)/2, i.e. at noon, the upper and lower panels are glided and realigned.
At t = TSS, the sunset time, the panels are reset to their original position and angle.

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Figure 5.2: Flow chart of the algorithm used in the microcontroller programming to control the horizontal gliding
and rotational motion of the panels to track the sun [1].

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 CHAPTER 6
Data Collection and Analysis

6.1 Introduction

After the mechanical construction of the multilevel sun tracking solar system, it was setup on a
rooftop for data collection during this summer season. When we collected the data for several
days of June, July and August, we could analyze the energy and power generation characteristics
of the system during typical summer days.

6.2 Circuit Configuration of the System for Data Collection

For collecting data we connected the top and bottom panels parallelly as the rotational movement
and alignment of these two panels remain similar throughout the day. For measuring currents and
voltages we used conventional instruments like ammeter and voltmeter along with the current
and voltage sensors of our data logger.

Figure 6.1: Connection diagram of top and bottom panel for data collection.

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The middle panel has been connected with a single set of ammeter and voltmeter and a single
pair of current and voltage sensors as it remains disabled through the midday. For comparing the
systems data with the single level solar system, we used a fixed PV panel with same
characteristics and size for generating same parameters.

(a)

(b)

Figure 6.2: (a) Connection diagram of middle panel of multilevel sun tracking system

(b) Connection diagram of conventional fixed panel.

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6.3 Data Analysis

6.3.1 Analysis of single day data

Data collected on July 14 and August 07 of 2016 have been used for analyzing the efficiency of
our system. The whole day data of August 07 has been shown below when the temperature was
33 C and it was a moderate sunny day [9].

The parameters are named accordingly:

Top and Bottom Panel (Parallelly connected) Current= I1

Top and Bottom Panel (Parallelly connected) Voltage= V1

Middle Panel Current= I2

Middle Panel Voltage= V2

Voltage across the Battery connected to the multi-level sun tracking system= V4

Power from top and bottom panel= P1

Power from middle panel= P2

Fixed Panel Current= I3

Voltage across the Battery connected to the fixed panel= V3

Fixed Panel Power= P3

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Data taken on August 07, 2016

I1(A) V1(V) I2(A) V2(V) V4(V) P1(W) P2(W) I3(A) V3(V) P3(W)
08.00am 1.23 12.9 0.60 12.80 12.01 15.867 7.68 0.33 12.13 4.0029
08.15am 1.36 12.7 0.62 12.72 12.04 17.272 7.8864 0.37 12.19 4.5103
08:30am 1.43 12.7 0.63 12.65 12.07 18.161 7.9695 0.38 12.21 4.6398
08:45am 1.47 12.8 0.64 12.64 12.09 18.816 8.0896 0.41 12.29 5.0389
09:00am 1.52 12.4 0.73 12.51 12.12 18.848 9.1323 0.39 12.30 4.797
09:15am 1.53 12.3 0.76 12.49 12.15 18.819 9.4924 0.40 12.33 4.932
09:30am 1.51 12.1 0.72 12.53 12.18 18.271 9.0216 0.42 12.37 5.1954
09:45am 1.49 12.2 0.74 12.51 12.22 18.178 9.2574 0.41 12.39 5.0799
10:00am 1.42 12.0 0.71 12.54 12.25 17.04 8.9034 0.44 12.43 5.4692
10:15am 1.37 12.2 0.67 12.64 12.27 16.714 8.4688 0.48 12.48 5.9904
10:30am 1.39 12.3 0.71 12.61 12.29 17.097 8.9531 0.49 12.51 6.1299
10:45am 1.40 12.5 0.69 12.63 12.32 17.5 8.7147 0.46 12.53 5.7638
11:00am 1.42 12.4 0.20 NT 12.36 17.608 0 0.49 12.37 6.0613
11:15am 1.37 12.6 0.20 NT 12.38 17.262 0 0.51 12.62 6.4362
11.30am 1.39 12.5 0.20 NT 12.42 17.375 0 0.52 12.67 6.5884
11.45am 1.38 12.3 0.20 NT 12.48 16.974 0 0.54 12.69 6.8526
12.00pm 1.42 12.1 0.20 NT 12.53 17.182 0 0.57 12.71 7.2447
12.15pm 1.43 12.0 0.20 NT 12.57 17.16 0 0.58 12.74 7.3892
12:30pm 1.51 12.2 0.20 NT 12.60 18.422 0 0.61 12.78 7.7958
12:45pm 1.54 12.1 0.20 NT 12.64 18.634 0 0.63 12.81 8.0703
01:00pm 1.55 12.0 0.20 NT 12.69 18.6 0 0.68 12.86 8.7448
01:15pm 1.54 12.3 0.79 12.59 12.73 18.942 9.9461 0.69 12.89 8.8941
01:30pm 1.52 12.4 0.76 12.62 12.78 18.848 9.5912 0.71 12.92 9.1732
01:45pm 1.47 12.7 0.72 12.65 12.83 18.669 9.108 0.68 12.94 8.7992
02:00pm 1.48 12.6 0.73 12.63 12.87 18.648 9.2199 0.69 12.97 8.9493
02:15pm 1.43 12.8 0.76 12.64 12.89 18.304 9.6064 0.65 13.02 8.463
02:30pm 1.41 12.9 0.71 12.69 12.93 18.189 9.0099 0.63 13.08 8.2404
02:45pm 1.40 13.1 0.72 12.67 12.97 18.34 9.1224 0.61 13.12 8.0032
03:00pm 1.38 13.31 0.69 12.70 13.03 18.3678 8.763 0.58 13.16 7.6328
03:15pm 1.35 13.33 0.68 12.72 13.08 17.9955 8.6496 0.57 13.21 7.5297
03:30pm 1.33 13.35 0.67 12.75 13.12 17.7555 8.5425 0.53 13.26 7.0278
03:45pm 1.29 13.37 0.64 12.79 13.17 17.2473 8.1856 0.49 13.31 6.5219
04:00pm 1.26 13.40 0.62 12.80 13.22 16.884 7.936 0.48 13.34 6.4032
04:15pm 1.19 13.41 0.59 12.83 13.26 15.9579 7.5697 0.44 13.39 5.8916
04:30pm 1.11 13.43 0.58 12.86 13.29 14.9073 7.4588 0.41 13.40 5.494
04:45pm 1.04 13.47 0.54 12.91 13.34 14.0088 6.9714 0.39 13.43 5.2377
05:00pm 0.96 13.48 0.54 12.96 13.39 12.9408 6.9984 0.32 13.44 4.3008
05:15pm 0.91 13.51 0.51 13.05 13.42 12.2941 6.6555 0.31 13.46 4.1726
05:30pm 0.86 13.53 0.51 13.05 13.47 11.6358 6.6555 0.29 13.47 3.9063
05:45pm 0.86 13.53 0.47 13.09 13.52 11.6358 6.1523 0.28 13.48 3.7744
06:00pm 0.82 13.59 0.42 13.10 13. 54 11.1438 5.502 0.26 13.49 3.5074

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NT: When the middle panel was inactive, we did not measure the voltage across it.

Now, the analysis about the difference of energy generation between the multilevel sun tracker
and the conventional fixed panel has been stated below.

Let,

Energy produced by parallelly connected top and bottom panel= E1

Energy produced by middle panel= E2

Time interval= 15 minutes = 900 seconds

Time E1(KJ) E2(KJ) Es=E1+E2(KJ)

08.00am 14.2803 6.912 21.1923
08.15am 15.5448 7.09776 22.64256
08:30am 16.3449 7.17255 23.51745
08:45am 16.9344 7.28064 24.21504
09:00am 16.9632 8.21907 25.18227
09:15am 16.9371 8.54316 25.48026
09:30am 16.4439 8.11944 24.56334
09:45am 16.3602 8.33166 24.69186
10:00am 15.336 8.01306 23.34906
10:15am 15.0426 7.62192 22.66452
10:30am 15.3873 8.05779 23.44509
10:45am 15.75 7.84323 23.59323
11:00am 15.8472 0 15.8472
11:15am 15.5358 0 15.5358
11.30am 15.6375 0 15.6375
11.45am 15.2766 0 15.2766
12.00pm 15.4638 0 15.4638
12.15pm 15.444 0 15.444
12:30pm 16.5798 0 16.5798
12:45pm 16.7706 0 16.7706
01:00pm 16.74 0 16.74
01:15pm 17.0478 8.95149 25.99929
01:30pm 16.9632 8.63208 25.59528
01:45pm 16.8021 8.1972 24.9993
02:00pm 16.7832 8.29791 25.08111
02:15pm 16.4736 8.64576 25.11936
02:30pm 16.3701 8.10891 24.47901
02:45pm 16.506 8.21016 24.71616
03:00pm 16.53102 7.8867 24.41772

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 03:15pm 16.19595 7.78464 23.98059
03:30pm 15.97995 7.68825 23.6682
03:45pm 15.52257 7.36704 22.88961
04:00pm 15.1956 7.1424 22.338
04:15pm 14.36211 6.81273 21.17484
04:30pm 13.41657 6.71292 20.12949
04:45pm 12.60792 6.27426 18.88218
05:00pm 11.64672 6.29856 17.94528
05:15pm 11.06469 5.98995 17.05464
05:30pm 10.47222 5.98995 16.46217
05:45pm 10.47222 5.53707 16.00929
06:00pm 10.02942 4.9518 14.98122
Total Energy 863.755 KJ

Let,

Energy produced by single fixed panel= E3

Time E3(KJ) 3 E3(KJ)

08.00am 3.60261 10.80783
08.15am 4.05927 12.17781
08:30am 4.17582 12.52746
08:45am 4.53501 13.60503
09:00am 4.3173 12.9519
09:15am 4.4388 13.3164
09:30am 4.67586 14.02758
09:45am 4.57191 13.71573
10:00am 4.92228 14.76684
10:15am 5.39136 16.17408
10:30am 5.51691 16.55073
10:45am 5.18742 15.56226
11:00am 5.45517 16.36551
11:15am 5.79258 17.37774
11.30am 5.92956 17.78868
11.45am 6.16734 18.50202
12.00pm 6.52023 19.56069
12.15pm 6.65028 19.95084
12:30pm 7.01622 21.04866

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 12:45pm 7.26327 21.78981
01:00pm 7.87032 23.61096
01:15pm 8.00469 24.01407
01:30pm 8.25588 24.76764
01:45pm 7.91928 23.75784
02:00pm 8.05437 24.16311
02:15pm 7.6167 22.8501
02:30pm 7.41636 22.24908
02:45pm 7.20288 21.60864
03:00pm 6.86952 20.60856
03:15pm 6.77673 20.33019
03:30pm 6.32502 18.97506
03:45pm 5.86971 17.60913
04:00pm 5.76288 17.28864
04:15pm 5.30244 15.90732
04:30pm 4.9446 14.8338
04:45pm 4.71393 14.14179
05:00pm 3.87072 11.61216
05:15pm 3.75534 11.26602
05:30pm 3.51567 10.54701
05:45pm 3.39696 10.19088
06:00pm 3.15666 9.46998
Total energy of 1 fixed panel 232.7899 KJ
Total energy of similar 3 fixed 698.37 KJ
panels

Percentage of energy difference in each span of 15 minutes:

Time (Es-3E3)/3E3 [(Es-3E3)/3E3]*100%

08.00am 0.960828 96.08284
08.15am 0.859329 85.93294
08:30am 0.877272 87.7272
08:45am 0.779859 77.98594
09:00am 0.944292 94.42916
09:15am 0.91345 91.34496
09:30am 0.751075 75.10747
09:45am 0.800259 80.02585
10:00am 0.581182 58.11819
10:15am 0.401287 40.12865
10:30am 0.416559 41.65593
10:45am 0.516054 51.60542
11:00am -0.03167 -3.16709
11:15am -0.10599 -10.5994

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 11.30am -0.12093 -12.093
11.45am -0.17433 -17.4328
12.00pm -0.20945 -20.9445
12.15pm -0.2259 -22.5897
12:30pm -0.21231 -21.2311
12:45pm -0.23035 -23.0347
01:00pm -0.29101 -29.1007
01:15pm 0.082669 8.266904
01:30pm 0.033416 3.341618
01:45pm 0.052255 5.225475
02:00pm 0.037992 3.79918
02:15pm 0.099311 9.931073
02:30pm 0.100226 10.02257
02:45pm 0.143809 14.38091
03:00pm 0.184834 18.48339
03:15pm 0.179556 17.95556
03:30pm 0.247332 24.7332
03:45pm 0.299872 29.98717
04:00pm 0.292062 29.20623
04:15pm 0.331138 33.11381
04:30pm 0.357002 35.70016
04:45pm 0.335204 33.52044
05:00pm 0.545387 54.53869
05:15pm 0.513812 51.38123
05:30pm 0.560838 56.08376
05:45pm 0.570943 57.09428
06:00pm 0.58197 58.19696

Total energy difference with the conventional 3 fixed panels in a day = (863.755-698.37) KJ

= 165.385 KJ

Total percentage difference = 23.68 %

So, we can state that after implementation of the proposed multilevel sun tracking system, more
energy can be produced compared the conventional single level fixed panels.

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6.3.2 Comparing the performance of the system using graphs

Figure 6.3: Amount of power generated from 8:00am-6:00pm on 14th July, 2016.

Figure 6.4: Amount of power generated from 8:00am-6:00pm on 7th August, 2016.

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Figure 6.5: Amount of energy generated from 8:00am-6:00pm on 14th July, 2016.

Figure 6.6: Amount of energy generated from 8:00am-6:00pm on 7th August, 2016.

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Figure 6.7: Comparison of currents generated by the top PV panel and the fixed PV panel from 8:00am-6:00pm on
14th July, 2016.

Figure 6.8: Comparison of currents generated by the top PV panel and the fixed PV panel from 8:00am-6:00pm on
7th August, 2016.

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From the analysis of the graphs stated above, it can be stated that if the RTC based multilevel
sun tracking system is implemented and maintained properly, it could work efficiently in a
country like Bangladesh.

Page 83 of 96
 CONCLUSION

The proposed system contains 3V PV solar panel stacked above one another on a single iron bar
with a fixed distance in between each of them to minimize the floor space and maximize the
energy accumulation from solar radiation as the panels can accurately track the sun being
controlled by servo motors. Data analysis part shows that 18-24% more solar energy can be
collected with the proposed system compared to the conventional single level fixed panels of
same size. The proposed system with three panels can be operated within the space of two fixed
panels of single level system as the tracking and sliding mechanisms of solar panels and the solar
panel stack will make it more efficient. The solar power sun tracking system is more efficient
because solar radiation can be an infinite source of renewable energy in our country as it is
situated near the equator. If the idea of this sun tracking system can be implemented, the system
will greatly reduce the electricity problem of our country. An automated microcontroller based
solar tracker system with three levels of solar panel has been developed that uses a set of
equations to calculate the sunrise and sunset times and send signals to the servo motors to rotate
the panels by a fixed angle at pre-determined time intervals. Instead of continuous tracking, the
developed system rotates the panels only 12 times a day, in a step of 15 in each rotation. As the
motors are operated only for a small fraction of the total time for rotating the panels, the energy
consumed by the motors will be only a small fraction of the energy collected by the system.

Future Work:

1) Specially designed solar concentrator can be used to further enhance the output of the system.

2) This system can be an off grid solution if we use transparent glass-made large houses to keep
hundreds of these sun trackers and control all the sun trackers using a central server supported
by global weather update and GPS system. This configuration can supply electrical energy to the
national or local grid also.

Page 84 of 96
 Reference
[1] Moniruzzaman, H. M., Patwary, M., & Rahman, M. (2014, May). A three level solar panel
system with an automated solar tracker. In Developments in Renewable Energy Technology
(ICDRET), 2014 3rd International Conference on the (pp. 1-7). IEEE.

[2] Solar Time | PVEducation. Retrieved August 03, 2016, from

http://www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom/2-properties-sunlight/solar-time.

[3] Part 3: Calculating Solar Angles|ITACA. Retrieved August 04, 2016, from
http://www.itacanet.org/the-sun-as-a-source-of-energy/part-3-calculating-solar-angles/.

[4] DS3231 Extremely Accurate I2C-Integrated RTC/TCXO/Crystal Maxim. Retrieved August

04, 2016, from https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/products/digital/real-time-
clocks/DS3231.html/tb_tab0.

[5] Tutorial Using DS1307 and DS3231 Real-Time Clock Modules with Arduino. Retrieved
August 05, 2016, from http://tronixstuff.com/2014/12/01/tutorial-using-ds1307-and-ds3231-real-
time-clock-modules-with-arduino/.

[6] CR2032 : Coin type lithium batteries (CR series) | Industrial devices & Solutions | Panasonic.
Retrieved August 06, 2016, from http://industrial.panasonic.com/ww/products/batteries/primary-
batteries/lithium-batteries/coin-type-lithium-batteries-cr-series/CR2032.

[7] A.W. Culp, Principles of Energy Conversion, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, 1991, pp. 98-107.

[8] Christopher Gronbeck, SunAngle, [Online]. Available: http://www.susdesign.com/sunangle/.

[9] Dhaka August Weather 2016 AccuWeather Forecast for Dhaka Bangladesh. Retrieved
August 10, 2016, from http://www.accuweather.com/en/bd/dhaka/28143/august-weather/28143.

Page 85 of 96
 Appendix
Codes used in Arduino:
Code for the system running:
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Time.h>
#include <DS1307RTC.h> (library for real time clock)
#include <PololuMaestro.h> (microchip servo controller with 6 channels)
#include <SoftwareSerial.h> (for the other board)
maestro servo controller using
SoftwareSerial maestroSerial(5, 4);
pololu maestro library
MiniMaestro maestro(maestroSerial);
//These variables are used to scroll LCD, change
//the value of sn to adjust the scroll level
int sn = 14,si=0,sl=0;

//tm stores time and date information for RTC

tmElements_t tm;

//seconds,minute,hour,day,month,year
int s,mi,h,d,mo,y;

//day Number
int N;
int actuator1 = 8;8th pin is actuator 1
int actuator2 = 9;
9th pin is actuator 2
double panPos = 0;
int newPos = 0;
int actst = 0;

//SRT = Sun rise time, SST= Sun set time

double SRT, SST;
double longitude = 90.35; double is to get 8 byte (64) bit precision
double lattitude = 23.7;
const float pi = 3.14159265359;
void setup() {
pinMode(actuator1, OUTPUT); pin of actuator 1 acts as output
pinMode(actuator2, OUTPUT); pin of actuator 2 act as output
digitalWrite(actuator1, LOW); pin is off
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
actst = 0; pin is off
delay(15000); 15 seconds
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
Serial.begin(9600); serial begin with speed of 9600 bits per second
while (!Serial) ; // wait for serial
delay(200);
maestroSerial.begin(9600);
maestro.setSpeed(0, 2);

Page 86 of 96
 speed and accelerations have been set quite small to move
maestro.setSpeed(3, 2); slowly and smoothly
maestro.setSpeed(6, 2);
maestro.setAcceleration(0, 127);
maestro.setAcceleration(3, 127);
maestro.setAcceleration(6, 127);
}
void loop() { read the current date and time as time elements variables
if (RTC.read(tm)) {
updateTime();
numberOfDay();
sunriseTime();
sunsetTime();
rotatePanels();
} else {
if (RTC.chipPresent()) {
Serial.println("The DS1307 is stopped. Please run the SetTime");
Serial.println("example to initialize the time and begin running.");
Serial.println();
} else {
Serial.println("DS1307 read error! Please check the circuitry.");
Serial.println();
}
delay(9000);
}
delay(1000);
}

void print2digits(int number) {

if (number >= 0 && number < 10) {
Serial.write('0');
}
Serial.print(number);
}

void updateTime(){
s = tm.Second;
mi = tm.Minute;
h = tm.Hour;
d = tm.Day;
mo = tm.Month;
y = tmYearToCalendar(tm.Year);
print2digits(h);
Serial.print(":");
print2digits(mi);
Serial.println();
}
void numberOfDay(){
int N1 = floor(275 * mo / 9);
int N2 = floor((mo + 9) / 12);
int N3 = (1 + floor((y - 4 * floor(y / 4) + 2) / 3));
N = N1 - (N2 * N3) + d - 30;
}
void sunriseTime(){
double del = 23.45*sin(360*pi/180/365*(N+284));

Page 87 of 96
 double Ws = acos(-tan(lattitude*pi/180)*tan(del*pi/180))*180/pi;
double AST = 720-Ws*4;
double LSTM = 15*round(longitude/15);
double D = 360*pi/180*(N-80)/365;
double ET = 9.87*sin(2*D)-7.53*cos(D)-1.5*sin(D);
SRT= AST-4*(LSTM-90.25)-ET;
//SRT = 13*60+55;
}
void sunsetTime(){
double del = 23.45*sin(360*pi/180/365*(N+284));
double Ws = -acos(-tan(lattitude*pi/180)*tan(del*pi/180))*180/pi;
double AST = 720-Ws*4;
double LSTM = 15*round(longitude/15);
double D = 360*pi/180*(N-80)/365;
double ET = 9.87*sin(2*D)-7.53*cos(D)-1.5*sin(D);
SST= AST-4*(LSTM-90.25)-ET;
//SST = 14*60+19;
}

int stat[] = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0};

void rotatePanels(){
double delT = (SST-SRT)/12;
double currentTime = h*60+mi;
if(currentTime-SRT>=0){
if (currentTime == SRT+5.5*delT){
panPos = 5.5;
}else if (currentTime == SRT+7.5*delT){
panPos = 7.5;
}else{
panPos = (currentTime-SRT)/delT+1;
}
if(panPos>12){
panPos = 0;
}
}else{
panPos = 0;
}
Serial.print("State Number: ");
Serial.println(panPos);
if (panPos<=5){
newPos = (int) panPos;
}else if(panPos == 5.5){
Serial.println("Now 5.5");
newPos = 6;
}else if(panPos <=7){
newPos = (int) panPos + 1;
}else if(panPos == 7.5){
newPos = 9;
}else {
newPos = (int) panPos + 2;
}
if(!stat[newPos]){
reposPanels(newPos);

Page 88 of 96
 }
if (newPos>14){
newPos = 0;
}
}

void reposPanels(int panPos){

double top, bottom, middle;
switch (panPos) {
case 0:
digitalWrite(actuator1, LOW);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
delay(15000);
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
actst = 1;
Serial.println("no state");
top = 848*4;
middle = 2224*4;
bottom = 2304*4;
break;
case 1:
top = 848*4;
middle = 2224*4;
bottom = 2304*4;
if(actst == 0){
digitalWrite(actuator1, LOW);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);

delay(15000);
}
actst = 1;
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, HIGH);

delay(5500);
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);

Serial.println("state 1");
break;
case 2:
if (actst == 0){
digitalWrite(actuator1, LOW);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
delay(15000);
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, HIGH);
delay(5500);
}

digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
actst = 1;

Page 89 of 96
 top = 955.5*4;
middle = 2043.25*4;
bottom = 2162.25*4;
Serial.println("state 2");
break;
case 3:
digitalWrite(actuator1, LOW);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
delay(15000);
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
actst = 1;
top = 883.75*4;
middle = 2101*4;
bottom = 2196.25*4;
Serial.println("state 3");
break;
case 4:
if (actst == 0){
digitalWrite(actuator1, LOW);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
delay(15000);
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, HIGH);
}
actst = 1;
top = 1079.00*4;
middle = 1952.5*4;
bottom = 2032.5*4;
Serial.println("state 4");
break;
case 5:
if (actst == 0){
digitalWrite(actuator1, LOW);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
delay(15000);
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, HIGH);
}
actst = 1;
top = 1247*4;
middle = 1762.25*4;
bottom = 1977*4;
Serial.println("state 5");
break;
case 6:
if (actst == 0){
digitalWrite(actuator1, LOW);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
delay(15000);
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, HIGH);
}
actst = 1;

Page 90 of 96
 top = 1247*4;
middle = 624*4;
bottom = 1977*4;
Serial.println("state 5.5");
break;
case 7:
if (actst == 0){
digitalWrite(actuator1, LOW);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
delay(15000);
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, HIGH);
}
actst = 1;
top = 1396.75*4;
middle = 624*4;
bottom = 1848.5*4;
Serial.println("state 6");
break;
case 8:
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, HIGH);
delay(15000);
digitalWrite(actuator1, LOW);
digitalWrite(actuator2, HIGH);
actst = 1;
top = 1984*4;
middle = 2224*4;
bottom =1220*4;
Serial.println("state 7");
break;
case 9:
top = 1984*4;
middle = 1113.75*4;
bottom = 1220*4;
Serial.println("state 7.5");
break;
case 10:
top = 2077.25*4;
middle = 1113.75*4;
bottom = 1118*4;
Serial.println("state 8");
break;
case 11:
top = 2350.5*4;
middle = 919.25*4;
bottom = 1004*4;
Serial.println("state 9");
break;
case 12:
top = 2437*4;
middle = 802.75*4;
bottom = 865.5*4;
Serial.println("state 10");

Page 91 of 96
 break;
case 13:
if (actst == 0){
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, HIGH);
delay(15000);
digitalWrite(actuator1, LOW);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
delay(5000);
}
actst = 1;
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);

top = 2349.25*4;
middle = 802.75*4;
bottom =1006.5*4;
Serial.println("state 11");
break;
case 14:
if (actst == 0){
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, HIGH);
delay(15000);
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
}
actst = 1;
digitalWrite(actuator1, LOW);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);
delay(5000);
digitalWrite(actuator1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(actuator2, LOW);

top = 2528*4;
middle = 624*4;
bottom = 768*4;
Serial.println("state 12");
break;
}
stat[newPos] = 1;
if (!newPos){
stat[12] = 0;
}else{
stat[newPos-1] = 0;
}
maestro.setSpeed(0, 2);
maestro.setSpeed(3, 2);
maestro.setSpeed(6, 2);
maestro.setAcceleration(0, 2);
maestro.setAcceleration(3, 2);
maestro.setAcceleration(6, 2);
maestro.setTarget(0, top);
maestro.setTarget(3, middle);

Page 92 of 96
 maestro.setTarget(6, bottom);
delay(2000);
maestro.setTarget(0, 0);
maestro.setTarget(3, 0);
maestro.setTarget(6, 0);
Serial.print("Top Panel: ");
Serial.println(round(0.029532*(top)-90.407));
Serial.print("Middle Panel: ");
Serial.println(round(0.029532*(middle)-90.407));
Serial.print("Bottom Panel: ");
Serial.println(round(0.029532*(bottom)-90.407));
}

Code for data logger:

#include <SPI.h>
#include <SD.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Time.h>
#include <DS1307RTC.h>
File myFile;

int currentSensor1 = A0;

int currentVal1;
int voltageSensor1 = A1;
int voltageVal1;
int currentSensor2 = A2;
int currentVal2;
int voltageSensor2 = A3;
int voltageVal2;
int currentSensor3 = A4;
int currentVal3;
int voltageSensor3 = A5;
int voltageVal3;
int changeFile = A6;
double sumV1, sumV2, sumV3, sumI1, sumI2, sumI3;
int c;
double pc1, pc2, pc3, pv1, pv2, pv3;
void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:
Serial.begin(9600);
Serial.println("Current sensing started!");
Serial.print("Initializing SD card...");

if (!SD.begin(53)) {
Serial.println("initialization failed!");
return;
}
Serial.println("initialization done.");
sumV1 = 0;
sumV2 = 0;
sumV3 = 0;

Page 93 of 96
 sumI1 = 0;
sumI2 = 0;
sumI3 = 0;
c = 0;
pc1 = 0;
pv1 = 0;
pc2 = 0;
pv2 = 0;
pc3 = 0;
pv3 = 0;
}

void loop() {
tmElements_t tm;

// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:

while(c<200){
currentVal1 = analogRead(currentSensor1);
voltageVal1 = analogRead(voltageSensor1);
currentVal2 = analogRead(currentSensor2);
voltageVal2 = analogRead(voltageSensor2);
currentVal3 = analogRead(currentSensor3);
voltageVal3 = analogRead(voltageSensor3);

sumI1 += currentVal1;
sumV1 += voltageVal1;
sumI2 += currentVal2;
sumV2 += voltageVal2;
sumI3 += currentVal3;
sumV3 += voltageVal3;
c++;
delay(10);
}

double result = round(sumI1/c);

double current1 = floor((0.028496*result - 14.629)*1000);
result = round(sumV1/c);
double voltage1 = 0.023647*result-1.0186;

result = round(sumI2/c);
double current2 = floor((0.026189*result - 13.463)*1000);
result = round(sumV2/c);
double voltage2 = 0.056733*result-1.7727;

result = round(sumI3/c);
double current3 = floor((0.029002*result - 14.601)*1000);
result = round(sumV3/c);
double voltage3 = 0.055008*result-1.5791;
if ((pc1!=0 && abs(current1-pc1)>0.02)|| (pv1!=0 && abs(voltage1-
pv1)>0.05)||
(pc2!=0 && abs(current2-pc2)>0.02)|| (pv2!=0 && abs(voltage2-
pv2)>0.05)||
(pc3!=0 && abs(current3-pc3)>0.02)|| (pv3!=0 && abs(voltage3-
pv3)>0.05)){

Page 94 of 96
 //Serial.println("Broken");
}else{
RTC.read(tm);
Serial.print(tm.Hour);
Serial.print(":");
Serial.print(tm.Minute);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("c1: ");
Serial.print(current1);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("v1: ");
Serial.print(voltage1);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("c2: ");
Serial.print(current2);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("v2: ");
Serial.print(voltage2);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("c3: ");
Serial.print(current3);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("v3: ");
Serial.println(voltage3);
myFile = SD.open("data.txt", FILE_WRITE);
RTC.read(tm);
if(myFile){
myFile.print(tm.Hour);
myFile.print(":");
myFile.print(tm.Minute);
myFile.print(" ");
myFile.print("c1: ");
myFile.print(current1);
myFile.print(" ");
myFile.print("v1: ");
myFile.print(voltage1);
myFile.print(" ");
myFile.print("c2: ");
myFile.print(current2);
myFile.print(" ");
myFile.print("v2: ");
myFile.print(voltage2);
myFile.print(" ");
myFile.print("c3: ");
myFile.print(current3);
myFile.print(" ");
myFile.print("v3: ");
myFile.println(voltage3);
}
myFile.close();
}

c = 0;
sumI1 = 0;

Page 95 of 96
 sumV1 = 0;
sumI2 = 0;
sumV2 = 0;
sumI3 = 0;
sumV3 = 0;

pc1 = current1;
pv1 = voltage1;

pc2 = current2;
pv2 = voltage2;

pc3 = current3;
pv3 = voltage3;
}

Page 96 of 96