CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Solar energy systems have emerged as a viable source of renewable energy over the past two or three decades, and are now widely used for a variety of industrial and domestic applications. Such systems are based on a solar collector, designed to collect the suns energy and to convert it into either electrical power or thermal energy. The literature contains many studies regarding the use of solar collectors to implement such applications as light fixtures, window covering systems, cookers, and so forth . In general, the power developed in such applications depends fundamentally upon the amount of solar energy captured by the collector, for optimal efficiency, solar panels should be perpendicular to sunlight, when the illumination is strongest and thus the problem of developing tracking schemes capable of following the trajectory of the sun throughout the course of the day on a year-round basis has received significant coverage in the literature. For example, various schemes have been proposed for optimizing the tilt angle and orientation of solar collectors designed for different geographical latitudes or possible utilization periods. In general, the results showed that by using mathematical models to optimize the tilt angle and orientation of the solar collector, a yearly gain of more than 5% could be obtained in the captured solar radiation compared to the case in which the collector was fixed on a horizontal surface. Moreover, it has been found that the amount of solar energy captured by a tilted collector could be increased by more than 40% by adjusting the tilt angle on a seasonal basis. The position of the sun with respect to that of the earth changes in a cyclic manner during the course of a calendar year. Tracking the position of the sun in order to expose a solar panel to maximum radiation at any given time is the main purpose of a solar tracking PV system. A diagram1.1 depicting the variation of the movement of the sun on annual basis is shown below. From the diagram depicting the movement of the sun we observe that a single axis of rotation is does not provide good efficiency , since panel needs tilting on both side also a double axis tracking system is much superior and more feasible and adaptive than a single axis tracking system.

Fig1. 1 Variation of the movement of the sun on annual

Fig1. 2 General block diagram of the project. The Solar radiation mechanism represents the panel and the gear mechanism. The panel collects the incident radiation ,the gear mechanism gives the movement and mechanical support to the panel and the whole assembly . Sensors are used to sense the intensity of light. Here two sensor assembly is used .The difference in the intensity sense by the two sensor is used to track the optimum position of the panel. The sensor feed the inputs to microcontroller. The microcontroller Section consists of the control circuit which analyses the inputs form the sensors and then the required signals to the driving circuits. Driving circuits provides the power required by the two stepper motors to run. The driving circuits vary the current to the motors to get the panel in the required position which depends upon the inputs from the microcontroller. The two stepper motors provide the double axis tracking. The two motors make it possible for the panel to track the sun for almost any position in the sky.

CHAPTER 2 SOLAR PANEL

Solar panel converts sunlight directly into electricity by using a semiconductor, usually made of silicon. When the sunlight hits the photovoltaic cells, part of the energy is absorbed into the semiconductor. When that happens the energy loosens the electrons which allow them to flow freely. The flows of these electrons are current and when we put metal on the top and bottom of the photovoltaic cells, we can draw that current to use it externally. All solar cells require a light absorbing material contained within the cell structure to absorb photons and generate electrons via the photovoltaic effect. The materials used in solar cells tend to have the property of preferentially absorbing the wavelengths of solar light that reach the earth surface. Photovoltaic panels are normally made of either silicon or thin-film cells:

2.1 Types of Solar Panels 2.1.1 Monocrystalline Solar Panels

Fig 2. 1Monocrystalline solar panel Monocrystalline solar panels are made from a large crystal of silicon. These type of solar panels are the most efficient as in absorbing sunlight and converting it into electricity, however they are the most expensive. Instead of one large crystal, this type of solar panel consists of multiple amounts of smaller silicon crystals.

2.1.2 Polycrystalline Solar Panels

Fig 2. 2 Polycrystalline solar panel Polycrystalline solar panels are the most common type of solar panels on the market today. They look a lot like shattered glass. They are slightly less efficient then the monocrystalline solar panels and less expensive to produce. Instead of one large crystal, this type of solar panel consists of multiple amounts of smaller silicon crystals.

2.1.3 Amorphous Solar Panels

Fig 2. 3 Amorphous solar panel Amorphous solar panels consist of a thin-like film made from molten silicon that is spread directly across large plates of stainless steel or similar material. These types of solar panels have lower efficiency then the other two types of solar panels, and the cheapest to produce. That means that the solar panel continues to charge while parts of the solar panel cells are in a shadow. These work great on boats and other types of transportation.

2.2 Solar Panel Specification Table

Part No Description Size
5

Weight

Amps/Hr

Amps/Day

STP005 STP010 STP018 STP028 STP043 STP060 STP080 STP120

5 w Solar Panel 10 w Solar Panel 18 w Solar Panel 28 w Solar Panel 43 w Solar Panel 60 w Solar Panel 80 w Solar Panel 120 w Solar Panel

315x215x25mm 397x278x25mm 638x278x25mm 559x407x25mm 634x534x35mm 743x635x35mm 1196x534x35mm 1483x671x35mm

1.0kg 1.6kgs 2.2kgs 2.8kgs 4.3kgs 6.3kgs 7.9kgs 11.5kgs

0.33 0.66 1.21 1.71 2.50 3.49 5.00 7.93

Up to 2.31 Up to 4.62 Up to 8.47 Up to 11.90 Up to 17.50 Up to 24.43 Up to 35.00 Up to 55.51

Table 2.2 Specification of solar panel

CHAPTER 3 GEAR SYSTEM

When an application calls for the transmission of motion and/or power between shafts that intersect at right angles (90-degrees), bevel gears are best suited. A bevel gear is shaped like a section of a cone. Its teeth may be straight or spiral. (If they are spiral, the pinion and gear must be of opposite hand to run together.) Because bevel gears are used to reduce speed, the pinion always has fewer teeth. Bevel gears are useful when the direction of a shaft's rotation needs to be changed. They are usually mounted on shafts that are 90 degrees apart, but can be designed to work at other angles as well. The teeth on bevel gears can be straight or spiral. Straight bevel gear teeth actually have the same problem as straight spur gear teeth -- as each tooth engages; it impacts the corresponding tooth all at once.

Fig 3. 1 Bevel gear

Fig 3. 2 spiral bevel gear

Just like with spur gears, the solution to this problem is to curve the gear teeth. These spiral teeth engage just like helical teeth: the contact starts at one end of the gear and progressively spreads across the whole tooth

Fig 3. 3 Gear system The above figure shows the various parameters that are required to be considered in the selection of the bevel gear. A table depicting the formulas to calculate dimensions of various parts of bevel gears is given below.

3.1 FORMULAS FOR DETERMINING GEAR DIMENSIONS

The following formula on Chart gives the dimensions of various parts of bevel gears

Table 3. 1 Gear parameter calculation

CHAPTER 4 STEPPRR MOTOR SELECTION AND TORQUE CALCULATION

When a stepper motor is selected, eight different things must be considered: 1. Operating speed in steps/second 2. Torque in oz-in. 3. Load inertia in Ib-in.2 4. Required step angle 5. Time to accelerate in ms 6. Time to decelerate in ms 7. Type of drive to be used 8. Size and weight considerations 9. The torque/speed characteristic Some of this information will be provided from application specifications, such as the size and weight considerations, step angle, and the operating speed. Other information must be calculated. A selected stepper motor should provide an output torque larger than load torque and be required to start and stop at a proper step rate against load inertia. Also, when operating the motor at a rate higher than the starting pulse rate, the rate needs to be varied within a proper acceleration time.

4.1 Torque calculation 4.1.1 Obtaining the load torque

Fig 4. 1 Action of torque Where, T: Load torque (kg cm) r: Radius to apply the force F(cm) F: Force to rotate the coupling shaft of a stepper motor (cm)

Fig 4. 2 System torque Where, T: Load torque (kg cm) N2: Number of gear teeth u: Frictional resistance of rubbing surface N1: Number of pinion teeth W: Weight of table and work (kg) P: Pitch of feed screw (cm)

h: Transfer efficiency of the system including feed screw and gear

4.1.2 Obtain load inertia

Fig 4. 3 System inertia where, J0: Load inertia (kgcms2) J2: Inertia of gear (kgcms2) J4: Inertia of work and table (kgcms2) N2: Number of gear teeth d: Table movement per pulse (cm) a: Step angle per pulse () J1: Inertia of pinion (kgcms2) J3: Inertia of feed screw (kgcms2) N1: Number of pinion teeth W: Weight of work and table (kg) P: Pitch of feed screw (cm)

p: Ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter (3.14)

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4.1.3 Calculating Load

The formula for equivalent inertia to overcome friction in the system and enough torque to start or stop all inertia loads is

4.2 Frictional and Rotational Acceleration Consideration

The formula for calculating the torque required to rotationally accelerate an inertia load is

4.3 Accelerate and Decelerate Time

The time required for a stepper motor to rotate without losing synchronism with input pulses when the pulse rate is gradually increased from the starting pulse rate and is gradually decreased from the slewing pulse rate.

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4.4 Torque v/s Speed Characteristics

Characteristics are dependent upon (change with) the motor, excitation mode and type of driver or drive method. A typical speed torque curve is shown in fig.

Fig 4. 4 Torque v/s Speed characteristic

4.4.1 Holding torque

The maximum torque produced by the motor at standstill.

4.4.2 Pull-In Curve

The pull-in curve defines a area refered to as the start stop region. This is the maximum frequency at which the motor can start/stop instantaneously, with a load applied, without loss of synchronism.

4.4.3 Maximum Start Rate

The maximum starting step frequency with no load applied.

4.4.4 Pull-Out Curve

The pull-out curve defines an area refered to as the slew region. It defines the maximum frequency at which the motor can operate without losing synchronism. Since this region is outside the pull-in area the motor must ramped (accelerated or decelerated) into this region.

4.4.5 Maximum Slew Rate

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The maximum operating frequency of the motor with no load applied.

CHAPTER 5 STEPPER MOTOR

The Stepper Motor is an electromagnetic device that converts digital pulses into mechanical shaft rotation. This motor controlled by a series of electromagnetic coils. The center shaft has a
series of magnets mounted on it, and the coils surrounding the shaft are alternately given current or not, creating magnetic fields which repulse or attract the magnets on the shaft, causing the motor to rotate.

Advantages 1. The rotation angle of the motor is proportional to the input pulse. 2. The motor has full torque at standstill (if the windings are energized) 3. Precise positioning and repeatability of movement since good stepper motors have an accuracy of 3 5% of a step and this error is non cumulative from one step to the next. 4. Excellent response to starting/ stopping/reversing. 5. Very reliable since there are no contact brushes in the motor. Therefore the life of the motor is simply dependant on the life of the bearing. 6. The motors response to digital input pulses provides open-loop control, making the motor simpler and less costly to control. 7. It is possible to achieve very low speed synchronous rotation with a load that is directly coupled to the shaft. 8. A wide range of rotational speeds can be realized as the speed is proportional to the frequency of the input pulses. Disadvantages 1. Resonances can occur if not properly controlled. 2. Not easy to operate at extremely high speeds.

5.1 Type of stepper motor

There are three basic stepper motor Variable-reluctance Permanent-magnet Hybrid

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From the above motor permanent magnet stepper motor used because variable reluctance motors are generally noisy, no matter what drive waveform is used. As compared permanent magnet is generally preferred where noise or vibration is issues. Permanent magnet motors can be micro stepped, allowing positioning to a fraction of a step, and allowing Smooth, jerkfree moves from one step to the next. Micro stepping is not generally applicable to variable reluctance motors. These motors are typically run in full-step increments. Complex current limiting control is required to achieve high speeds with variable reluctance motors. Stator of permanent magnet stepper motor is constructed as a stack of two windings enclosed in metal stampings that resemble tin cans and are almost as inexpensive to manufacture. In comparison, hybrid and variable reluctance motors are made using stacked laminations with motor windings that are significantly more difficult to wind. Hybrid motors suffer some of the vibration problems of variable reluctance motors Permanent magnet motor is available with either unipolar, bipolar or bifilar winding; the latter can be used in either unipolar or bipolar configurations. The choice between using a unipolar or bipolar drive system rests on issues of drive simplicity and power to weight ratio. Bipolar motors have approximately 30% more torque than an equivalent unipolar motor of the same volume. The reason for this is that only one half of a winding is energized at any given time in a unipolar motor. A bipolar motor utilizes the whole of a winding when energized. The higher torque generated by a bipolar motor does not come without a price. Bipolar motors require more complex control circuitry than unipolar motors. This will have an impact on the cost of an application. 5.2 Permanent-magnet (PM) Stepper Motors The permanent-magnet stepper motor operates on the reaction between a permanent-magnet rotor and an electromagnetic field. Figure shows a basic two-pole PM stepper motor. The rotor shown in Figure5.1 (a) has a permanent magnet mounted at each end. The stator is illustrated in Figure5.1 (b). Both the stator and rotor are shown as having teeth. The teeth on the rotor surface and the stator pole faces are offset so that there will be only a limited number of rotor teeth aligning themselves with an energized stator pole. The number of teeth on the rotor and stator determine the step angle that will occur each time the polarity of the winding is reversed. The greater the number of teeth, the smaller the step angle.

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Fig 5. 1 Components of stepper motor (a) rotor, (b) stator

When a PM stepper motor has a steady DC signal applied to one stator winding, the rotor will overcome the residual torque and line up with that stator field. The holding torque is defined as the amount of torque required to move the rotor one full step with the stator energized. An important characteristic of the PM stepper motor is that it can maintain the holding torque indefinitely when the rotor is stopped. When no power is applied to the windings, a small magnetic force is developed between the permanent magnet and the stator. This magnetic force is called a residual, or detent torque. The detent torque can be noticed by turning a stepper motor by hand and is generally about one-tenth of the holding torque. Figure5.2 (a) shows a permanent magnet stepper motor with four stator windings. By pulsing the stator coils in a desired sequence, it is possible to control the speed and direction of the motor. Figure 5.2(b) shows the timing diagram for the pulses required to rotate the PM stepper motor illustrated in Figure5.2(a). This sequence of positive and negative pulses causes the motor shaft to rotate counterclockwise in 90 steps. The waveforms of Figure 5.2(c) illustrate how the pulses can be overlapped and the motor made to rotate counterclockwise at 45 intervals.

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Fig 5. 2 PM stepper motor (a) 90 step (b) 45 step

A more recent development in PM stepper motor technology is the thin-disk rotor. This type of stepper motor dissipates much less power in losses such as heat than the cylindrical rotor and as a result, it is considerably more efficient. Efficiency is a primary concern in industrial circuits such as robotics, because a highly efficient motor will run cooler and produce more torque or speed for its size. Thin-disk rotor PM stepper motors are also capable of producing almost double the steps per second of a conventional PM stepper motor. Figure3 shows the basic construction of a thin-disk rotor PM motor. The rotor is constructed of a special type of cobalt-steel, and the stator poles are offset by one-half a rotor segment.

Fig 5. 3 Thin-disk rotor PM motor

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CHAPTER 6 POWER SUPPY

The power supply circuit is used to energize the control circuit system consisting of the controlling and the driving circuit. The control and driving circuit being electronic in nature need DC supply. Following circuit provides the required DC supply.

Circuit for 5v & 12v D.C.Power supply 6.1 Circuit diagram-:

Fig 6. 1 Circuit dig.

Components-:
1.Transformer -1 ph AC to AC,230V/12V,1.5 A. 3.Capacitor-470 uf : 1No. -0.01uf: 1No 5.IC 7805 2.Diode (IN4007)-4 Nos. 4.Resistor - 2.2 kohm:1No. -270ohm:1No.

6.2 Circuit Description-:

1 phase 230v AC supply converted into 12V a AC by using a single phase transformer .A bridge rectifier consisting of 4 diodes converts this AC to pulsating DC.The capacitors are used to remove the ripples contained in output of bridge rectifier. IC 7805 (fixed voltage regulator IC) with the configuration as shown in above circuit, is used to get +5v & +12v supply.

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REFERANCES Solar Panel Maximum Power line (April,may,june 2009) magazine

www.solarshop.co.in www.abetterfocus.com

Stepper motor Stepper motor by v.v Athani Electrical Technology vol II by B.L.Theraja www.premotec.com Gear system Design data book PSG College of Technology www.boostgear.com Power Circuit Power Electronics by Rashid Modern Power Electronics by B.K.Bose

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