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Smart sun tracking system

Conference Paper · December 2015

DOI: 10.1109/IRSEC.2015.7455033

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Chogueur Djilali Said Bentouba

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 Smart Sun Tracking System
Djilali Chogueur*, Said Bentouba Amraoui Merouane
Sustainable Development & Computing Laboratory, LDDI Department of Electrical Engineering
Adrar University Biskra University
Adrar, Algeria Biskra, Algeria
[email protected], [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract— Southern Algeria is the favorite field of solar energy

II. POSITION OF THE SUN [4]
in general and photovoltaics in particular. More energy is
produced by tracking the solar panel to remain aligned to the sun Any solar application requires knowledge of the apparent
at a right angle to light rays [1]. This paper describes a smart movement of the sun for a given point of the earth surface,
prototype for solar tracking system based on a PIC16F877A which is characterized by its latitude (positive for the northern
microcontroller and an extremal servo-control. Because the sun hemisphere) and longitude (defined relative to the Greenwich
does not dramatically change its vertical position during the day, meridian, positive eastward).
this system is designed with one degree of freedom to detect the
sunlight using a photovoltaic cell. Driven by a smart algorithm, The angular coordinates of the sun represent the apparent
the PIC16F877A microcontroller is programmed to detect direction of the sun on its trajectory, for a fixed observer on the
sunlight through photovoltaic cells by moving the photovoltaic Earth, in a given moment. These coordinates are expressed in
panel to the optimum position with maximum sunlight. azimuth and height, respectively noted A and H. The azimuth
A is the angle of the sun azimuth plane with the meridian plane
of the place forms, if one defines the azimuth plane of the sun
Keywords- PIC; sun tracking; photovoltaic cell component like the vertical plane (orthogonal to the local horizontal plane)
containing the presumed specific sun and the point of
I. INTRODUCTION observation. The azimuth is measured starting from the
direction of the South (azimuth 0 or solar midday - the sun
Generally, under various conditions, photovoltaic panels are passes in the meridian line of the place), positively towards the
installed according to a fixed slope and orientation. The West and negatively towards the East [9]. The height H of the
orientation is selected towards the south or the north according sun is the angle, which forms the apparent direction of the sun
to the geographical location of the site to the equator. with the horizontal plane of the place in the azimuth plan of the
Therefore, the panel can absorb maximum of energy around sun. It varies between the height at sunrise and sunset
midday, where the height of the sun is with the zenith and the (intersection of the place horizon plane with the celestial
values of the illumination to the solar radiation are maximum. sphere), and the maximum height, depending on the latitude of
In addition, to be able to answer energy requirements, the panel the observation. The variables considered are the latitude,
must on one hand have a large surface and on the other hand which depends on the place, the variation which depends on
have the best physical characteristics. However, nowadays, the the day, and the time angle. During the day, the moment when
cost of solar equipment and materials is very high which the sun passes by the meridian line of the place of the observer,
induces more research to optimize methodologies to gain i.e. where it is in the south in our hemisphere is “true” midday.
efficiency in generating energy at lower cost without
incidences on performances of the system. Among these For one unspecified moment, time angle AH is the angle,
parameters, slope and orientation of the field of sensors are projected in the field of the equator, between the sun and true
most important. One of the best suggested solutions is to direct midday; it is worth 15° par hour (360°/24:00). It is null at solar
the panel towards the south and to incline its structure midday the true (12h TSV), negative morning (-90° to 6:00
according to a pre–optimal angle calculated for considered site. TSV), positive the afternoon (-90° to 18:00 TSV).
However, this method remains limited, without additional Several parameters can be calculated such as the apparent
contribution for the first and the last hours of the day [1,10]. direction of the sun for the moment, the day and the place
Another methodology to overcome this drawback is considered, the height to midday, and the azimuth with the
tracking systems to minimize incidence angle between the solar sunrise and sunset for the day, and the considered latitude as
radiation and the surface. In solar applications using plane well. These three last data are sufficient to determine the
panels, using a solar tracker allows to increase the equipment apparent day trajectory of the sun and the latitude. They indeed
output. Economically, these systems are beneficial if additional allow to determine three points on the celestial sphere (sunrise,
costs relating to the tracker mechanism (e.g. motor, circuits, culmination and sunset) which are enough with the geometrical
maintenance, etc.) are lower than the new global cost so it does or analytical characterization to the circular trajectory to the
not lead to the same power production as a fixed system [3,8]. sun for the day and the considered latitude.

978-1-4673-7894-9/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE

 V. PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS [6]
The sun tracker uses a photovoltaic cell for light detection.
Photovoltaic cells are devices that directly produce electricity
from sunlight. Many photovoltaic cells are assembled together
to form a solar array also known as solar panel. These cells
convert light into electricity by converting energy resulting
from photons from sunlight knock electrons into a higher state
of energy, within the cell itself. Photovoltaic cells are
composed of layered materials that include two types of
silicon, an anti-reflective coating, and a glass cover.
Absorption of a photon by a semiconductor generates a pair
of electron hole when its energy is higher than that of the
Figure 1. Azimuth A and height H of the sun
prohibited bandwidth of material. The internal electric field
with the junction, then involves the hole towards the area P and
the electron towards the area N.
III. THE SOLAR PANORAMA By din of the semi-conductor of area of type P and N, the
The solar panorama is a Cartesian representation of solar cell is thus a junction P-N with various parts represented
apparent trajectories of the sun for a given latitude. The on the diagram of Figure 4.
azimuths are carried there in X-coordinates and heights in Y-
coordinates; this representation allows an immediate reading of
angular coordinates of the sun for a given date and a moment.
Calculation are carried out within PVSYST software.

Figure 4. Operating principle of a PV cell [2]

When a photon comes to strike the zone of transition, it

tears off an electron with the silicon atom, which will move
with dimensions NR. While the “hole” thus created by this
wrenching will move with dimensions P. Therefore, it appears a
as a voltage at the boundaries of the device. If one closes the
cell on an external circuit, a current circulates. This cell, which
behaves as a battery, which is sensitive to photons, is called
Figure 2. Trajectories of the sun in Adrar (27°52′N, 0°17′W) solar time.
photovoltaic cell.
The circuit of Figure 5 may schematically represent a
IV. OPERATING PRINCIPLE photovoltaic cell.
Our system is composed of a voltage regulator, a sensor,
oscillator, a PIC microcontroller, an amplifier, a protection Ip
circuit, an H bridge, and a DC motor.
The system measures the voltage delivered by the ID
photovoltaic cell and converts it into a digital value. According Iph Vp
to the developed program, it will decide which direction will be
followed by the motor. A reset button is used to reinitialize the
system.
Figure 5. Equivalent model of a PV cell
Photovaltaïc PIC
cell microcontroller Motor Ip: current from a photovoltaic cell (A)
Iph : the photo current (A)
ID: current diode (A)
Figure 3. Schematic of voltage regulator Vp : photovoltaic cell voltage (V)
 VI. THE MICROCONTROLLER CIRCUIT[3] Containing all these components ensures a long life span at
The choice of a PIC microcontroller is directly related to the minimum current leakage.
considered application. The ULN2003 is able to run out a maximum current of
500mA by transistor and can afford a maximum voltage of
 Is necessary in the first time to determine the number
50V. Thus, we can directly easily connect relays needed for the
of inputs/outputs necessary for the application. This
application.
number of inputs/outputs gives us a first family of PIC.
 Is necessary then to determine if the application
requires an Analog-to-digital converter (ADC) which
will yields more specific choices within PICs families.
 Calculation time is an important feature, which can be
checked from datasheet of the PIC microcontroller to
ensure compatibility between the selected PIC and the
assembly.
 Internal RAM and EEPROM.
 Length of the application program determines the
memory size of the required PIC.
According to the above requirements, we used the
PIC16F877 microcontroller. The PIC16F877, in addition to its
simple programming, contains an analog-to-digital converter, Figure 7. Pinout of the ULN2003
which is practical during measurements achieved on the
photovoltaic cell. Figure 6 illustrates the used PIC16F877 as a VIII. THERMAL RELAYS (H BRIDGE)
DIL case DIL with 40.
To drive the direction of rotation of a motor with D.C.
current or step-by-step, polarity should be inverted. Moreover,
it is generally advisable to be able to vary the engine speed.
The solution is to use an H bridge [2].

Figure 6. Pinout of the PIC 16F877

 RA0 to RA5 are inputs/outputs of port A.

 RB0 to RB7 are inputs/outputs of the port B. Figure 8. Principle of the H bridge
 RC0 to RC7 are inputs/outputs of the port C.
 Individually, each pin of the ports A, B and C cannot In diagrams of Figure 8, the rotation direction of the
output more than 20 mA or absorb more than 25 mA. The engine: on diagram A; the engine is stopped .On diagram B; it
total of output intensities by the port cannot exceed 50 mA turns in the opposite direction of that of diagram C, and finally
and 100 mA for port B. The total of received intensities by on diagram D; it is braked [2].
the port cannot exceed 80 mA and 150 mA for port B.
 OSC1/CLOCKIN and OSC2/CLOCKOUT are pins of the TABLE I. TABLE OF THE VARIOUS SEQUENCES
clock. Quartz or RC circuits can be used as complementary
IN1 IN2 Motor state
circuits for the clock. Quartz circuits are preferred for their
0 0 STOP
better precision than RC oscillators.
0 1 direction 1
VII. MOTOR DRIVER [2] 1 0 direction 2
1 1 STOP
The ULN2003 allows us to drive thermal relays. It
comprises two transistors, two diodes and two resistances.
 IX. VOLTAGE REGULATOR illustrates a block diagram of the developed project while
The PIC16F877 requires a regulated 5V supply voltage, Figure 11 provides a complete hardware schematic of the
which has been provided by a LM7805 voltage regulator. The project.
circuit shown in Figure 8 converts an unregulated supply of 12
volts to 5 volts.

Figure 10. Hardware Block Diagram

Figure 9. Schematic of the voltage regulator

X. SIMULATION AND ROUTING

Firstly, we checked operating of the program we developed
before transferring it into the microcontroller. That will enable
us to save time and increase the lifespan of our PIC. Figure 10

Figure 11. Hardware Schematic Diagram

 XI. SYSTEM OPERATION
Once the tracker has set its initial position to the sun, the
device seeks the optimal position and delivers a signal to the
panel driving system, which corrects the orientation and
continue tracking the sun. First, the tracker measures light
intensity at its present location. It then moves left, the position
reached and then exceeded a prefixed angular value α. The
drive direction is then changed, the device returns to the other
direction by the maximum position and the angular position
exceeds a value -α. This process is repeated continuously. If
any of the values are equal, the tracker will return to the center
position and check again later. The tracker will wait the sun to
move one degree, which corresponds to 4 minutes, before
checking the next positions again. Once the tracker has moved
180 degrees, which corresponds to 9 hours, it will return to its
starting point and enter into sleep mode [3][7].
The actuators for the repair panel position are activated
whenever the angular deviation θ reaches the set value θC as
illustrated in in Figure 12.
a) The orientation is correct; the sensor oscillates
between either sides of the sun position;
b) The sun being virtually moving westward, the panel
axes and the sensor are at an angle θ.
Soon as θ value reaches θC, the driving motor is activated
by establishing a contact in the supply circuit of the solar panel,
which is thus reoriented. Figure 13 shows the software flow
diagram.

Figure 13. Software Flow Diagram

Cnt: counter of steps;

Memo, RA: registers;
MVB: move backward one step procedure;
MVF: move forward one step procedure;
Thr: Threshold;
Figure 12. Panel position relative to the sun (a) correct, (b) deviation of θ° XII. CONCLUSION
The high cost of the photovoltaic generators can justify the
addition of additional equipment, even sophisticated, making it
possible to increase the output of solar systems. Several studies
show that solar tracker systems operate during the year with
great energetic and economic performances definitely higher
compared to a fixed slope.
The traditional sun tracker systems are often disorientated
when there is an imbalance between the sensor constituent
elements [7]. Because of the obstruction partial or total surface
of the sensor. Natural impurities can easily distort the stability
of the traditional systems [5]. Our system has the advantage of
being practically insensitive to these impurities.
 Only the maximum voltage generated by the photovoltaic [6] A. Hill, “What are Photovoltaic Cells?,” C. Wilborn. 2015., in press.
cell is considered to generate the control signal of the sun [7] A. Chermitti, B. Benyoucef , “Dispositif d’Orientation de Panneaux
tracker. Solaires,” Rev. Energ. Ren. Vol. 5.pp 129-138, 2002.
[8] D.Chogueur, S.Bentouba and O.Chogueur, " Identification and
It can be very useful in the distant sites where maintenance correction of a solar tracking system". ICESD14 Conf , Adrar
is not frequent. University, Algeria , 2014.
[9] Gerro Prinsloo, "Practical Solar Tracing Design". eBook, ISBN : 978-0-
To ensure a good follow-up of the sun, it is necessary that 620-61576-1 , Feb 2015.
the mobile system swivels on two axes, the first ensures a [10] Gerro Prinsloo, "Combined Solar Heat and Power With Microgrid
follow-up in azimuth and the second in height but as the Storage and Layered Smartgrid Control Towards Supplying Off-Grid
movement in this last is far from variable during the day, it is Rural Villages". Energy Sience and Engineering, Jan 2015.
enough to change it manually.

REFERENCES

[1] Nader Barsoum and Pandian Vasant, “Design Of A Traditional Solar

Tracking System,” . AIP Conf. Proc. 1239, 151 ,2010.
[2] H. Ben Jaffel and A. Riahi, “ Design and realization of a sun tracker,”
Project Graduation, ISET Siliana, Tunis, 2009.
[3] Bill Lane, “Solar Tracker,”. DECE. Cleveland State University. Ohio,
April 30, 2008.
[4] John A. Duffie, William A. Beckman, “Solar Engineering of Thermal
Processes,”. Jhon Wiley and sons.inc; New Jersey. 4th edition, pp. 3–5,
April, 2013.
[5] D. Chogueur, T. Boussoukaia et A.Chikh, " Realization of an automatic
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