Solar Tracking System using Real Time Clock

By H.Mahesh Kumar (06-09-4081) N.Mahesh (06-09-4082) B.Mukesh (06-09-4088)

Aim of the Project

The main objective of this project is to track the sun and

rotate the solar panel accordingly, to receive sunlight to the fullest extent always during the day time
This movement is achieved by interfacing a stepper motor to

the solar panel that changes its direction according to the positioning of the sun.
This is achieved using time reference that controls the

movement time for 12 hours by a program written in such a way that for every given time the solar panel faces to the sun to generate maximum power

Introduction
We are using microcontroller 89S52 for controlling the

panel so that panel is rotated according to the suns position

A Stepper motor is used and it control and rotation is

done by the microcontroller

We also use KEIL software to simulate the program

which is written in embedded C

Block diagram of project

MICRO CONTROLLER
LCD POWER SUPPLY

RTC Motor driver Stepper Motor

Why AT 89s52?
Coming to the question of why to use AT89s52 of all

the 8-bit Microcontroller available in the market the main answer would be because it has 8 Kb on chip flash memory which is just sufficient for our application. The on-chip Flash ROM allows the program memory to be reprogrammed in system or by conventional non-volatile memory Programmer. Moreover ATMEL is the leader in Flash technology in todays market place and hence using AT 89s52 is the optimal solution.

Software used
KEIL Vision3 is an IDE (Integrated Development

Environment) that helps you write, compile, and debug embedded programs.
Embedded C is used in this project

Power supply

Description of power supply

The circuit uses standard power supply comprising of a step-

down transformer from 230v to 12v and 4 diodes forming a Bridge Rectifier that delivers pulsating dc which is then filtered by an electrolytic capacitor of about 470microf to 100microF.
The filtered dc being un regulated IC LM7805 is used to get 5v

constant at its pin no 3 irrespective of input dc varying from 9v to 14v

The regulated 5volts dc is further filtered by a small capacitor

of 10 micro f for any noise so generated by the circuit

Microcontroller AT89S52
Compatible with MCS-51 Products
8K Bytes of In-System Programmable (ISP) Flash

Memory 256 x 8-bit Internal RAM Three 16-bit Timer/Counters

Real Time Clock

The RTC chip is a specialized chip that just keeps track of

time. It runs on a battery and keeps time for you even when there is a power outage. Using an RTC, you can keep track of long timelines, even if you reprogram your microcontroller or disconnect it from USB or a power plug. The RTC we'll be using is the DS1307 . It's low cost, easy to solder, and can run for years on a very small coin cell.

Motor Driver ULN2003

ULN2003 is a relay driver
It is used to drive the Stepper motor It gives a low output to Stepper motor coil which

drives the gear of stepper motor

It functions as inverter and it is cost effective

Stepper Motor
A stepper motor (or step motor) is a brushless synchronous

electric motor that can divide a full rotation into a large number of steps.
To make the motor shaft turn, first one electromagnet is given

power, which makes the gear's teeth magnetically attracted to the electromagnet's teeth.
So when the next electromagnet is turned on and the first is

turned off, the gear rotates slightly to align with the next one, and from there the process is repeated

LCD Display
The LCD panel is used in interfacing with micro-

controller to display the Time and Solar Tracker

This is a 16 character x 2 lines LCD module capable of

displaying numbers and characters

Schematic Diagram

Procedure: Survey
First we studied about all components like

microcontroller,lcd,steppermotor
And we decided to modify project such that we are

using RTC DS1307 instead of LDRs

Procedure
We bought all the components needed for our project We soldered all components according to the

schematic We wrote the code and created hex file in keil software We dumped hex file with the help of willarprogrammer to the micro controller

Software Programming
KEIL
Vision3 is an IDE (Integrated Development

Environment) that helps you write, compile, and debug embedded programs.
Embedded C is used in this project