Abstract

Solar energy is fast becoming a very important means of renewable energy resource. With
solar tracking, it will become possible to generate more energy since the solar panel can
maintain a perpendicular profile to the rays of the sun. Even though the initial cost of setting
up the tracking system is considerably high, there are cheaper options that have been
proposed over time. This project discusses the design and construction of a prototype for
solar tracking system that has a single axis of freedom.
Light Dependent Resistors (LDRs) are used for sunlight detection Silicon solar cells
produced an efficiency of 20% for the first time in 1985. Whereas there has been a steady
increase in the efficiency of solar panels, the level is still not at its best. Most panels still
operate at less than 40%. As a result, most people are forced to either purchase a number of
panels to meet their energy demands or purchase single systems with large outputs. There are
types of solar cells with relatively higher efficiencies but they tend to be very costly. One of
the ways to increase the efficiency of solar panels while reducing costs is to use tracking.
Through tracking, there will be increased exposure of the panel to the sun, making it have
increased power output. The trackers can either be dual or single axis trackers. Dual trackers
are more efficient because they track sunlight from both axes. The microcontroller used in
this device is ATMEGA8 which is a variant of AVR series microcontrollers and also program
by arduino uno board.
 Introduction
Solar energy is clean and available in abundance. Solar technologies use the sun for
provision of heat, light and electricity. These are for industrial and domestic
applications. With the alarming rate of depletion of depletion of major conventional
energy sources like petroleum, coal and natural gas, coupled with environmental
caused by the process of harnessing these energy sources, it has become an urgent
necessity to invest in renewable energy sources that can power the future sufficiently.
The energy potential of the sun is immense. Despite the unlimited resource however,
harvesting it presents a challenge because of the limited efficiency of the array cells.
The best efficiency of the majority of commercially available solar cells ranges
between 10 and 20 percent. This shows that there is still room for improvement. This
project seeks to identify a way of improving efficiency of solar panels. Solar tracking
is used. The tracking mechanism moves and positions the solar array such that it is
positioned for maximum power output. Other ways include identifying sources of
losses and finding ways to mitigate them. When it comes to the development of any
nation, energy is the main driving factor. There is an enormous quantity of energy that
gets extracted, distributed, converted and consumed every single day in the global
society. Fossil fuels account for around 85 percent of energy that is produced. Fossil
fuel resources are limited and using them is known to cause global warming because
of emission of greenhouse gases. There is a growing need for energy from such
sources as solar, wind, ocean tidal waves and geothermal for the provision of
sustainable and power. Solar panels directly convert radiation from the sun into
electrical energy. The panels are mainly manufactured from semiconductor materials,
notably silicon. Their efficiency is 24.5% on the higher side.
 Block Diagram

Block Diagram Description

1. Power Supply:
Power supply is the circuit from which we get a desired dc voltage to run the other
circuits. Here we are using 12V DC power supply made from three 4V battery. To
remove the ripples and obtain smoothed DC power filter circuits are used. Here a
capacitor is used. The 12V DC is rated down to 5V using a positive voltage regulator
chip 7805. Thus a fixed DC voltage of 5V is obtained.

2. Controller Unit:
Microcontroller is a single chip micro-computer made through VLSI fabrication. A
microcontroller also called an embedded controller because the microcontroller and its
support circuits are often built into, or embedded in, the devices they control. A
microcontroller is available in different word lengths like microprocessors 4bit, 8bit,
16bit, 32bit, 64bit and 128 bit microcontrollers are available A microcontroller
contains one or more of the following components: Central processing unit (CPU),
Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Input/Output ports,
Timers and Counters, Interrupt controls, Analog to digital converters, Digital analog
converters, Serial interfacing ports, Oscillatory circuits. ATmega16 is an 8-bit high
performance microcontroller of Atmel‟s Mega AVR family with low power
consumption.
working principle of project

This device works on the principle of minimizing the angle of incidence (the angle that a ray
of light makes with a line perpendicular to the surface) between the incoming light and the
panel, which increases the amount of energy, the installation produces. The sun, at an
estimated temperature of 5800 K, emits high amounts of energy in the form of radiation,
which reaches the planets of the solar system. Sunlight has two components, the direct beam
and diffuse beam. Direct radiation (also called beam radiation) is the solar radiation of the
sun that has not been scattered (causes shadow). Direct beam carries about 90% of the solar
energy, and the diffused sunlight that carries the remainder. The diffuse portion is the blue
sky on a clear day and increases as a proportion on cloudy days. The diffuse radiation is the
sun radiation that has been scattered (complete radiation on cloudy days). Reflected radiation
is the incident radiation (beam and diffuse) that has been reflected by the earth. The sum of
beams, diffuse and reflected radiation is considered as the global radiation on a surface. As
the majority of the energy is in the direct beam, maximizing collection requires the sun to be
visible to the panels as long as possible. Types of Solar Trackers are-
Passive Tracking Systems-The passive tracking system realizes the movement of the system
by utilizing a low boiling point liquid. This liquid is vaporized by the added heat of the sun
and the center of mass is shifted leading to that the system finds the new equilibrium position.
Active Tracking Systems-The two basic types of active solar tracker are single-axis and
double-axis.
• Single axis trackers-The single axis tracking systems realizes the movement of either
elevation or azimuth for a solar power system. Which one of these movements is desired,
depends on the technology used on the tracker as well as the space that it is mounted on. This
makes it less complicated and generally cheaper than a two-axis tracker, but also less
effective at harvesting the total solar energy available at a site.

● Double-axis solar trackers, can rotate simultaneously in horizontal and vertical directions,
and so are able to point exactly at the sun at all times in any location. Dual axis tracking
systems realize movement both along the elevation- and azimuthally axes. These tracking
systems naturally provide the best performance, given that the components have high enough
accuracy as well.
Some of the terms that needs to be understood for understanding the system are :

1. Declination Angle-The declination of the sun is the angle between the equator and a line
drawn from the center of the Earth to the center of the sun. The declination is maximum
(23.450) on the summer/winter (in India 21 June and 22 December). The declination angle,
denoted by δ, varies seasonally due to the tilt of the Earth on its axis of rotation and the
rotation of the Earth around the sun. If the Earth were not tilted on its axis of rotation, the
declination would always be 0°.However, the Earth is tilted by 23.45° and the declination
angle varies plus or minus this amount. Only at the spring and fall equinoxes is the
declination angle equal to 0°.

2. Hour Angle-The Hour Angle is the angular distance that the earth has rotated in a day. It is
equal to 15 degrees multiplied by the number of hours from local solar noon. This is based on
the nominal time, 24 hours, required for the earth to rotate once i.e. 360 degrees. Solar hour
angle is zero when sun is straight over head, negative before noon, and positive afternoon
(here noon means 12.00 hour)

3. Solar Altitude(θz)- The solar altitude is the vertical angle between the horizontal and the
line connecting to the sun. At sunset/sunrise altitude is 0 and is 90 degrees when the sun is at
the zenith. The altitude relates to the latitude of the site, the declination angle and the hour
angle.
4.Azimuth(θA)- The azimuth angle is the angle within the horizontal plane measured from
true South or North. The azimuth angle is measured clockwise from the zero azimuth.
For example, if you‟re in the Northern Hemisphere and the zero azimuth is set to South, the
azimuth angle value will be negative before solar noon, and positive after solar noon.
 Circuit Details

1. Solar cell is made up of semiconductor material crystalline silicon, they convert the
absorbed light energy into current.

2. Light Dependent Resistors are the resistors whose resistance values depend on intensity of
the light. As the intensity of light falling on the LDR increases, resistance value decreases.
In dark, LDR will have maximum resistance.

3. LDR gives an analog value as input to microcontroller, which is to be converted to digital.

ATmega 8 has analog to digital convertor internally.

4. Microcontroller then compares the values of LDR‟s and gives an output accordingly to the
motor driver IC, which accordingly rotates the motors , that are connected to the solar
panel.

5. The LCD keeps displaying the voltage that is being converted by the solar panel. The
microcontroller converts the analog value into digital internally and transmit it to LCD for
displaying.
Pcb Layout
 Flowchart

Fig. Flowchart of Solar Tracker

This solar tracking system consists of LDR sensors, dc motors, LEDs and a microcontroller. First
of all, we use a push(toggle) button to bring the Solar Tracking System into operational mode.
The microcontroller always keeps a vigil on the LDR input values to check whether they have
gone up the threshold value and also on the voltage generated by the solar panel. The
microcontroller then reads both the values and converts the analog value to a digital value. Now,
the LCD displaying unit constantly displays the value of voltage generated by the solar panel. It
should be noted that the LDR has a luminous intensity ranging from 0 to 1000, for this particular
system we have used 400 lux as our threshold. Any light falling on the LDR having intensity
greater than 400 lux will only result in one of the led glowing and the motors getting rotated in
north, south, east and west direction respectively. Thus, an intensity of light less than 400 lux
will result in the motor rotating back to its original position and the microcontroller checking, if
there is any change in the values input by the LDRs. Also if the direction of the sun changes, i.e.
If there‟s a change in the values input by the LDRs, the motor rotates, but first to its original
position and then into the new direction of the sun. The
LEDs act only as an indicators to which of the LDR has maximum light falling on it.
 SOFTWARE USE FOR CIRCUIT DESIGN

1:-PROTEUS
SOFTWARE USE FOR PCB LAYOUT DESIGN
1:-CIRCUIT WIZARD
 SOFTWARE USE FOR PROGRAMING
1:-ARDUINO ID
 PCB LAYOUT DESIGN

A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect

electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper

sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring

board (PWB) or etched wiring board. A PCB populated with electronic components is a printed

circuit assembly (PCA), also known as a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA). Printed circuit

boards are used in virtually all but the simplest commercially-produced electronic devices.

PCBs are inexpensive, and can be highly reliable. They require much more layout effort and

higher initial cost than either wire wrap or point-to-point construction, but are much cheaper and

faster for high-volume production; the production and soldering of PCBs can be done by totally

automated equipment. Much of the electronics industry's PCB design, assembly, and quality

control needs are set by standards that are published by the IPC organization.

Chemical etching

Chemical etching is done with ferric chloride, ammonium persulfate, or sometimes hydrochloric

acid. For PTH (plated-through holes), additional steps of electro less deposition are done after

the holes are drilled, then copper is electroplated to build up the thickness, the boards are

screened, and plated with tin/lead. The tin/lead becomes the resist leaving the bare copper to be

etched away.The simplest method, used for small scale production and often by hobbyists, is

immersion etching, in which the board is submerged in etching solution such as ferric chloride.

Compared with methods used for mass production, the etching time is long. Heat and agitation
can be applied to the bath to speed the etching rate. In bubble etching, air is passed through the

etchant bath to agitate the solution and speed up etching. Splash etching uses a motor-driven

paddle to splash boards with etchant; the process has become commercially obsolete since it is

not as fast as spray etching. In spray etching, the etchant solution is distributed over the boards

by nozzles, and recirculated by pumps. Adjustment of the nozzle pattern, flow rate, temperature,

and etchant composition gives predictable control of etching rates and high production rates.

As more copper is consumed from the boards, the etchant becomes saturated and less effective;

different etchants have different capacities for copper, with some as high as 150 grams of copper

per litre of solution. In commercial use, etchants can be regenrated to restore their activity, and

the dissolved copper recovered and sold. Small-scale etching requires attention to disposal of

used etchant, which is corrosive and toxic due to its metal content.

The etchant removes copper on all surfaces exposed by the resist. "Undercut" occurs when

etchant attacks the thin edge of copper under the resist; this can reduce conductor widths and

cause open-circuits. Careful control of etch time is required to prevent undercut. Where metallic

plating is used as a resist, it can "overhang" which can cause short-circuits between adjacent

traces when closely spaced. Overhang can be removed by wire-brushing the board after etching.

Lamination

Some PCBs have trace layers inside the PCB and are called multi-layer PCBs. These are formed

by bonding together separately etched thin boards.

Drilling

Holes through a PCB are typically drilled with small-diameter drill bits made of solid

coated tungsten carbide. Coated tungsten carbide is recommended since many board materials
are very abrasive and drilling must be high RPM and high feed to be cost effective. Drill bits

must also remain sharp to not mar or tear the traces. Drilling with high-speed-steel is simply not

feasible since the drill bits will dull quickly and thus tear the copper and ruin the boards. The

drilling is performed by automated drilling machines with placement controlled by a drill

tape ordrill file. These computer-generated files are also called numerically controlled

drill (NCD) files or "Exelon". The drill file describes the location and size of each drilled hole.

These holes are often filled with annular rings (hollow rivets) to create vias. Vias allow the

electrical and thermal connection of conductors on opposite sides of the PCB.

When very small vias are required, drilling with mechanical bits is costly because of high rates

of wear and breakage. In this case, the vias may be evaporated by lasers. Laser-drilled vias

typically have an inferior surface finish inside the hole. These holes are called micro vias. It is

also possible with controlled-depth drilling, laser drilling, or by pre-drilling the individual sheets

of the PCB before lamination, to produce holes that connect only some of the copper layers,

rather than passing through the entire board. These holes are called blind vi as when they connect

an internal copper layer to an outer layer, or buried vi as when they connect two or more internal

copper layers and no outer layers.

The walls of the holes, for boards with 2 or more layers, are made conductive then plated with

copper to form plated-through holes that electrically connect the conducting layers of the PCB.

For multilayer boards, those with 4 layers or more, drilling typically produces a smear of the

high temperature decomposition products of bonding agent in the laminate system. Before the

holes can be plated through, this smear must be removed by a chemical de-smear process, or

by plasma-etch. Removing (etching back) the smear also reveals the interior conductors as well.
 PARTS USE IN PROJECT
 Electrical resistance
 The electrical resistance of an electrical conductor is the opposition to the passage of an electric
current through that conductor. The inverse quantity is electrical conductance, the ease with
which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual parallels with the
mechanical notion of friction. The SI unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (Ω), while electrical
conductance is measured in Siemens (S).

An object of uniform cross section has a resistance proportional to its resistivity and length and
inversely proportional to its cross-sectional area. All materials show some resistance, except
for superconductors, which have a resistance of zero.
The resistance (R) of an object is defined as the ratio of voltage across it (V) to current through it
(I), while the conductance (G) is the inverse:

For a wide variety of materials and conditions, V and I are directly proportional to each other,
and therefore R and G are constant (although they can depend on other factors like temperature
or strain). This proportionality is called Ohm's law, and materials that satisfy it are called
"Ohmic" materials.
In other cases, such as a diode or battery, V and I are not directly proportional, or in other words
the I–V curve is not a straight line through the origin, and Ohm's law does not hold. In this case,
resistance and conductance are less useful concepts, and more difficult to define. The ratio V/I is
sometimes still useful, and is referred to as a "chordal resistance" or "static resistance", [1][2] as it
corresponds to the inverse slope of a chord between the origin and an I–V curve. In other

situations, the derivative may be most useful; this is called the "differential resistance

 P–n junction diode

A p–n junction is a boundary or interface between two types of semiconductor material, p-type
and n-type, inside a single crystal of semiconductor. It is created by doping, for example by ion
implantation, diffusion of dopants, or by epitaxy (growing a layer of crystal doped with one type
of dopant on top of a layer of crystal doped with another type of dopant). If two separate pieces
of material were used, this would introduce a grain boundary between the semiconductors that
severely inhibits its utility by scattering the electrons and holes.
p–n junctions are elementary "building blocks" of most semiconductor electronic devices such as
diodes, transistors, solar cells, LEDs, and integrated circuits; they are the active sites where the
electronic action of the device takes place. For example, a common type of transistor, the bipolar
junction transistor, consists of two p–n junctions in series, in the form n–p–n or p–n–p.
Properties of a p–n junction

The p–n junction possesses some interesting properties that have useful applications in modern
electronics. A p-doped semiconductor is relatively conductive. The same is true of an n-doped
semiconductor, but the junction between them can become depleted of charge carriers, and hence
non-conductive, depending on the relative voltages of the two semiconductor regions. By
manipulating this non-conductive layer, p–n junctions are commonly used as diodes: circuit
elements that allow a flow of electricity in one direction but not in the other (opposite) direction.
This property is explained in terms of forward bias and reverse bias, where the term bias refers to
an application of electric voltage to the p–n junction.
PN junction operation in forward-bias mode, showing reducing depletion width. Both p and n
junctions are doped at a 1e15/cm3 doping level, leading to built-in potential of ~0.59 V.
Reducing depletion width can be inferred from the shrinking charge profile, as fewer dopants are
exposed with increasing forward bias.
With a battery connected this way, the holes in the P-type region and the electrons in the N-
type region are pushed toward the junction. This reduces the width of the depletion zone. The
positive potential applied to the P-type material repels the holes, while the negative potential
applied to the N-type material repels the electrons. As electrons and holes are pushed toward the
junction, the distance between them decreases. This lowers the barrier in potential. With
increasing forward-bias voltage, the depletion zone eventually becomes thin enough that the
zone's electric field cannot counteract charge carrier motion across the p–n junction, as a
consequence reducing electrical resistance. The electrons that cross the p–n junction into the P-
type material (or holes that cross into the N-type material) will diffuse in the near-neutral region.
Therefore, the amount of minority diffusion in the near-neutral zones determines the amount of
current that may flow through the diode.
Only majority carriers (electrons in N-type material or holes in P-type) can flow through a
semiconductor for a macroscopic length. With this in mind, consider the flow of electrons across
the junction. The forward bias causes a force on the electrons pushing them from the N side
toward the P side. With forward bias, the depletion region is narrow enough that electrons can
cross the junction and inject into the P-type material. However, they do not continue to flow
through the P-type material indefinitely, because it is energetically favorable for them to
recombine with holes. The average length an electron travels through the P-type material before
recombining is called the diffusion length, and it is typically on the order of micrometers.
Although the electrons penetrate only a short distance into the P-type material, the electric
current continues uninterrupted, because holes (the majority carriers) begin to flow in the
opposite direction. The total current (the sum of the electron and hole currents) is constant in
space, because any variation would cause charge buildup over time (this is Kirchhoff's current
law). The flow of holes from the P-type region into the N-type region is exactly analogous to the
flow of electrons from N to P (electrons and holes swap roles and the signs of all currents and
voltages are reversed).
Therefore, the macroscopic picture of the current flow through the diode involves electrons
flowing through the N-type region toward the junction, holes flowing through the P-type region
in the opposite direction toward the junction, and the two species of carriers constantly
recombining in the vicinity of the junction. The electrons and holes travel in opposite directions,
but they also have opposite charges, so the overall current is in the same direction on both sides
of the diode, as required.
The Shockley diode equation models the forward-bias operational characteristics of a p–n
junction outside the avalanche (reverse-biased conducting) region.
Reverse bias mode

A silicon p–n junction in reverse bias.

Connecting the P-type region to the negative terminal of the battery and theN-type region to
the positive terminal corresponds to reverse bias. If a
diode is reverse-biased, the voltage at the cathode is higher than that at the anode. Therefore, no
current will flow until the diode breaks down. Reverse-bias usually refers to how a diode is used
in a circuit. The connections are illustrated in the diagram to the right.
Because the p-type material is now connected to the negative terminal of the power supply, the
'holes' in the P-type material are pulled away from the junction, causing the width of the
depletion zone to increase. Likewise, because the N-type region is connected to the positive
terminal, the electrons will also be pulled away from the junction. Therefore, the depletion
region widens, and does so increasingly with increasing reverse-bias voltage. This increases the
voltage barrier causing a high resistance to the flow of charge carriers, thus allowing minimal
electric current to cross the p–n junction. The increase in resistance of the p–n junction results in
the junction behaving as an insulator.
The strength of the depletion zone electric field increases as the reverse-bias voltage increases.
Once the electric field intensity increases beyond a critical level, the p–n junction depletion zone
breaks down and current begins to flow, usually by either the Zener or the avalanche
breakdown processes. Both of these breakdown processes are non-destructive and are reversible,
as long as the amount of current flowing does not reach levels that cause the semiconductor
material to overheat and cause thermal damage.
This effect is used to one's advantage in Zener diode regulator circuits. Zener diodes have a
certain – low – breakdown voltage. A standard value for breakdown voltage is for instance
5.6 V. This means that the voltage at the cathode can never be more than 5.6 V higher than the
voltage at the anode, because the diode will break down – and therefore conduct – if the voltage
gets any higher. This in effect regulates the voltage over the diode.
Another application of reverse biasing is Varicap diodes, where the width of the depletion
zone (controlled with the reverse bias voltage) changes the capacitance of the diode.

 VOLTAGE REGULATOR IC

A voltage regulator is designed to automatically maintain a constant voltage level. A voltage

regulator may be a simple "feed-forward" design or may include negative feedback control
loops. It may use an electromechanical mechanism, or electronic components. Depending on the
design, it may be used to regulate one or more AC or DC voltages.
Electronic voltage regulators are found in devices such as computer power supplies where they
stabilize the DC voltages used by the processor and other elements. In automobile alternators and
central power station generator plants, voltage regulators control the output of the plant. In
an electric power distribution system, voltage regulators may be installed at a substation or along
distribution lines so that all customers receive steady voltage independent of how much power is
drawn from the line.

The 78xx (sometimes L78xx, LM78xx, MC78xx...) is a family of self-contained fixed linear
voltage regulator integrated circuits. The 78xx family is commonly used in electronic circuits
requiring a regulated power supply due to their ease-of-use and low cost. For ICs within the
family, the xx is replaced with two digits, indicating the output voltage (for example, the 7805
has a 5 volt output, while the 7812 produces 12 volts). The 78xx line are positive voltage
regulators: they produce a voltage that is positive relative to a common ground. There is a related
line of 79xx devices which are complementary negative voltage regulators. 78xx and 79xx ICs
can be used in combination to provide positive and negative supply voltages in the same circuit.

78xx ICs have three terminals and are commonly found in the TO220 form factor, although
smaller surface-mount and larger TO3 packages are available. These devices support an input
voltage anywhere from a couple of volts over the intended output voltage, up to a maximum of
35 to 40 volts depending on the make, and typically provide 1 or 1.5 amperes of current (though
smaller or larger packages may have a lower or higher current rating).

Part Number Output Voltage (V) Minimum Input Voltage (V)

7805 +5 7.3
 7806 +6 8.3

7808 +8 10.5

7810 +10 12.5

7812 +12 14.6

7815 +15 17.7

7818 +18 21.0

7824 +24 27.1

 Light-emitting diode

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a two-lead semiconductor light source that resembles a basic pn-
junction diode, except that an LED also emits light. When an LED's anode lead has a voltage that
is more positive than its cathode lead by at least the LED's forward voltage drop, current
flows. Electrons are able to recombine with holes within the device, releasing energy in the form
of photons. This effect is called electroluminescence, and the color of the light (corresponding to
the energy of the photon) is determined by the energy band gap of the semiconductor.
An LED is often small in area (less than 1 mm2), and integrated optical components may be used
to shape its radiation pattern.
Appearing as practical electronic components in 1962, the earliest LEDs emitted low-intensity
infrared light. Infrared LEDs are still frequently used as transmitting elements in remote-control
circuits, such as those in remote controls for a wide variety of consumer electronics. The first
visible-light LEDs were also of low intensity, and limited to red. Modern LEDs are available
across the visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness.
Early LEDs were often used as indicator lamps for electronic devices, replacing small
incandescent bulbs. They were soon packaged into numeric readouts in the form of seven-
segment displays, and were commonly seen in digital clocks.
Recent developments in LEDs permit them to be used in environmental and task lighting. LEDs
have many advantages over incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption,
longer lifetime, improved physical robustness, smaller size, and faster switching. Light-emitting
diodes are now used in applications as diverse as aviation lighting, automotive headlamps,
advertising, general lighting,traffic signals, and camera flashes. However, LEDs powerful
enough for room lighting are still relatively expensive, and require more precise current and heat
management than compact fluorescent lamp sources of comparable output.
LEDs have allowed new text, video displays, and sensors to be developed, while their high
switching rates are also useful in advanced communications technology.
Technology

The inner workings of an LED, showing circuit (top) and band diagram (bottom)
 Transistor
A transistor is a semi-conductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and
electrical power. It is composed of semiconductor material with at least three terminals for
connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's
terminals changes the current through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled
(output) power can be higher than the controlling (input) power, a transistor can amplify a signal.
Today, some transistors are packaged individually, but many more are found embedded
in integrated circuits.
The transistor is the fundamental building block of modern electronic devices, and is ubiquitous
in modern electronic systems. Following its development in 1947 by John Bardeen, Walter
Brattain, and William Shockley, the transistor revolutionized the field of electronics, and paved

Simplified operation

A simple circuit diagram to show the labels of a n–p–n bipolar transistor

The essential usefulness of a transistor comes from its ability to use a small signal applied
between one pair of its terminals to control a much larger signal at another pair of terminals. This
property is called gain. A transistor can control its output in proportion to the input signal; that is,
it can act as an amplifier. Alternatively, the transistor can be used to turn current on or off in a
circuit as an electrically controlled switch, where the amount of current is determined by other
circuit elements.
There are two types of transistors, which have slight differences in how they are used in a circuit.
A bipolar transistor has terminals labeled base, collector, and emitter. A small current at the base
terminal (that is, flowing between the base and the emitter) can control or switch a much larger
current between the collector and emitter terminals. For a field-effect transistor, the terminals are
labeled gate, source, and drain, and a voltage at the gate can control a current between source and
drain.
The image to the right represents a typical bipolar transistor in a circuit. Charge will flow
between emitter and collector terminals depending on the current in the base. Because internally
the base and emitter connections behave like a semiconductor diode, a voltage drop develops
between base and emitter while the base current exists. The amount of this voltage depends on
the material the transistor is made from, and is referred to as VBE.
Transistor as a switch

Transistors are commonly used as electronic switches, both for high-power applications such as
switched-mode power supplies and for low-power applications such as logic gates.
In a grounded-emitter transistor circuit, such as the light-switch circuit shown, as the base
voltage rises, the emitter and collector currents rise exponentially. The collector voltage drops
because of reduced resistance from collector to emitter. If the voltage difference between the
collector and emitter were zero (or near zero), the collector current would be limited only by the
load resistance (light bulb) and the supply voltage. This is called saturation because current is
flowing from collector to emitter freely. When saturated, the switch is said to be on. Providing
sufficient base drive current is a key problem in the use of bipolar transistors as switches. The
transistor provides current gain, allowing a relatively large current in the collector to be switched
by a much smaller current into the base terminal. The ratio of these currents varies depending on
the type of transistor, and even for a particular type, varies depending on the collector current. In
the example light-switch circuit shown, the resistor is chosen to provide enough base current to
ensure the transistor will be saturated.

 DC motor:-
A DC motor is any of a class of electrical machines that converts direct current
electrical power into mechanical power. The most common types rely on the forces
produced by magnetic fields. Nearly all types of DC motors have some internal
mechanism, either electromechanical or electronic, to periodically change the
direction of current flow in part of the motor. Most types produce rotary motion; a
linear motor directly produces force and motion in a straight line.

DC motors were the first type widely used, since they could be powered from
existing direct-current lighting power distribution systems. A DC motor's speed
can be controlled over a wide range, using either a variable supply voltage or by
changing the strength of current in its field windings. Small DC motors are used in
tools, toys, and appliances. The universal motor can operate on direct current but is
a lightweight motor used for portable power tools and appliances. Larger DC
motors are used in propulsion of electric vehicles, elevator and hoists, or in drives
for steel rolling mills. The advent of power electronics has made replacement of
DC motors with AC motors possible in many applications.

A coil of wire with a current running through it generates an electromagnetic field

aligned with the center of the coil. The direction and magnitude of the magnetic
field produced by the coil can be changed with the direction and magnitude of the
current flowing through it.A simple DC motor has a stationary set of magnets in

 Crystal Oscillators and Applications

A mechanical or electronic device that works on the principles of oscillation is an
oscillator. In other words, oscillator can be defined as the periodic fluctuations
between two things based on changes in energy. The practical applications of
oscillators include Computers, clocks, watches, radios etc. An example for simple
type of mechanical oscillator is a clock pendulum. According to the oscillation
within atoms, the atomic clock keeps time. In order to generate signals in
computers, wireless receivers and transmitters and audio-frequency equipments,
electronic oscillators are mainly used. Particularly it is used in music synthesizers.
Different types of electronic oscillators are available. All the electronic oscillators
operate according to the same basic principle. An oscillator always employs a
sensitive amplifier, whose output signal is fed back to the input signal in phase.
Hence, the signal itself regenerates and sustains. This is called as a positive
feedback. Thus the oscillator uses a positive feedback for working. This is almost
same to the unwanted "howling" in public-address systems.
A quartz crystal determines the frequency at which an oscillator works. When a
direct current is applied, these crystals vibrate at a frequency that depends on its
thickness value and on the manner in which it is cut from the original mineral rock.
To determine the frequency, some oscillators employ combinations of inductors,
resistors, and capacitors. But, the use of quartz crystals gives the best stability
(constancy of frequency) in oscillators.

In a computer the clock serves as a sort of pacemaker for the microprocessor. The
clock is nothing but a specialized oscillator. The clock frequency (also called as
clock speed) is usually specified in megahertz (MHz) frequency. The clock
frequency is an important factor in determining the rate at which a computer can
perform the execution of instructions.
 Figure 1 shows the equivalent electronic circuit diagram of a crystal. The
equivalent diagram of a crystal consists of a resistor, an inductor and two
capacitors. The two capacitors are named as Cs and Cp

 Battery
An electric battery is a device consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external
connections provided to power electrical devices. A discharging battery has a positive terminal,
or cathode, and a negative terminal, or anode. The terminal marked negative is the source of
electrons that when connected to an external circuit will flow and deliver energy to an external
device. When a battery is connected to an external circuit, electrolytes are able to move as ions
within, allowing the chemical reactions to be completed at the separate terminals and so deliver
energy to the external circuit. It is the movement of those ions within the battery which allows
current to flow out of the battery to perform work.[3] Historically the term "battery" specifically
referred to a device composed of multiple cells, however the usage has evolved to additionally
include devices composed of a single cell. Primary (single-use or "disposable") batteries are used
once and discarded; the electrode materials are irreversibly changed during discharge. Common
examples are the alkaline battery used for flashlights and a multitude of portable devices.
Secondary (rechargeable batteries) can be discharged and recharged multiple times; the original
composition of the electrodes can be restored by reverse current. Examples include the lead-acid
batteries used in vehicles and lithium-ion batteries used for portable electronics. Batteries come
in many shapes and sizes, from miniature cells used to power hearing aids and wristwatches to
battery banks the size of rooms that provide standby power for telephone exchanges and
computer data centers.According to a 2005 estimate, the worldwide battery industry generates
US$48 billion in sales each year,[5] with 6% annual growth. Batteries have much lower specific
energy (energy per unit mass) than common fuels such as gasoline. This is somewhat offset by
the higher efficiency of electric motors in producing mechanical work, compared to combustion
engines.

 Light Dependant Resistor Circuit

LDRs or Light Dependent Resistors are very useful especially in light/dark sensor circuits.
Normally the resistance of an LDR is very high, sometimes as high as 1000000 ohms, but when
they are illuminated with light resistance drops dramatically. Electronic onto sensors are the
devices that alter their electrical characteristics, in the presences of visible or invisible light. The
best-known devices of this type are the light dependent resistor (LDR), the photo diode and the
phototransistors. Light dependent resistor as the name suggests depends on light for the
variation of resistance. LDR are made by depositing a film of cadmium sulphide or cadmium
selenide on a substrate of ceramic containing no or very few free electrons when not illuminated
.The longer the strip the more the value of resistance. When light falls on the strip, the
resistance decreases. In the absence of light the resistance can be in the order of 10K ohm to
15K ohm and is called the dark resistance. Depending on the exposure of light the resistance can
fall down to value of 500 ohms. The power ratings are usually smaller and are in the range
50mw to .5w. Though very sensitive to light, the switching time is very high and hence cannot
be used for high frequency applications. They are used in chopper amplifiers. Light dependent
resistors are available as discs 0.5cm to 2.5cm. The resistance rises to several Mega ohms under
dark conditions. The device consists of a pair of metal film contacts separated by a snakelike
track of cadmium sulphide film, designed to provide the maximum possible contact area with
the two metal films. The structure is housed in a clear plastic or resin case, to provide free
access to external light. Practical LDRs are available in variety of sizes and packages styles, the
most popular size having a face diameter of roughly 10mm. When an LDR is brought from a
certain illuminating level into total darkness, the resistance does not increase immediately to the
dark value. The recovery rate is specified in k ohm/second and for current LDR types it is more
than 200k ohm/second. The recovery rate is much greater in the reverse direction, e.g. going
from darkness to illumination level of 300 lux, it takes less than 10ms to reach a resistance
which corresponds with a light level of 400 lux. A LDR may be connected either way round and
no special precautions are required during the time of soldering. Darkness: Maximum
resistance, about 1Mega ohm. 16 Very bright light: Minimum resistance, about 100 ohm. The
LDR is a variable resistor whose resistance decreases with the increase in light intensity. Two
cadmium photoconductive cells with spectral response are very similar to that of the human eye.
The cell resistance falls with increasing light intensity
 16×2 CHARACTER LCD
An LCD is an electronic display module which uses liquid crystal to produce a visible image.
The 16×2 LCD display is a very basic module commonly used in DIYs and circuits. The
16×2 translates o a display 16 characters per line in 2 such lines. In this LCD each character is
displayed in a 5×7 pixel matrix.

16X2 LCD pinout diagram

Pin
Function Name
No.

1 Ground (0V) Ground

2 Supply voltage; 5V (4.7V – 5.3V) Vcc

Contrast adjustment; the best way is to use a variable

resistor such as a potentiometer. The output of the

3 potentiometer is connected to this pin. Rotate the Vo / VEE

potentiometer knob forward and backwards to adjust the
LCD contrast.

Selects command register when low, and data register RS (Register

4
when high Select )
Low to write to the register; High to read from the
5 Read/write
register
Sends data to data pins when a high to low pulse is given;
Extra voltage push is required to execute the instruction
and EN(enable) signal is used for this purpose. Usually,
6 Enable
we make it en=0 and when we want to execute the
instruction we make it high en=1 for some milliseconds.
After this we again make it ground that is, en=0.
7 DB0
8 DB1
9 DB2
10 DB3
8-bit data pins
11 DB4
12 DB5
13 DB6
14 DB7
 15 Backlight VCC (5V) Led+
16 Backlight Ground (0V) Led-

RS (Register select)

A 16X2 LCD has two registers, namely, command and data. The register select is used to switch
from one register to other. RS=0 for command register, whereas RS=1 for data register.

Command Register: The command register stores the command instructions given to the LCD.
A command is an instruction given to LCD to do a predefined task. Examples like initializing it,
clearing its screen, setting the cursor position, controlling display etc. Processing for commands
happens in the command register.

Data Register: The data register stores the data to be displayed on the LCD. The data is the
ASCII value of the character to be displayed on the LCD. When we send data to LCD it goes to
the data register and is processed there. When RS=1, data register is selected.

Important command codes for LCD

Sr.No. Hex Code Command to LCD instruction Register

1 01 Clear display screen

2 02 Return home

3 04 Decrement cursor (shift cursor to left)

4 06 Increment cursor (shift cursor to right)

5 05 Shift display right

6 07 Shift display left

7 08 Display off, cursor off

8 0A Display off, cursor on

9 0C Display on, cursor off

 10 0E Display on, cursor blinking

11 0F Display on, cursor blinking

12 10 Shift cursor position to left

13 14 Shift cursor position to right

14 18 Shift the entire display to the left

15 1C Shift the entire display to the right

16 80 Force cursor to beginning ( 1st line)

17 C0 Force cursor to beginning ( 2nd line)

18 38 2 lines and 5×7 matrix

Displaying Custom Characters on 16X2 LCD

Generating custom characters on LCD is not very hard. It requires the knowledge about custom
generated random access memory (CG-RAM) of LCD and the LCD chip controller. Most LCDs
contain Hitachi HD4478 controller.

CG-RAM is the main component in making custom characters. It stores the custom characters
once declared in the code. CG-RAM size is 64 byte providing the option of creating eight
characters at a time. Each character is eight byte in size.

CG-RAM address starts from 0x40 (Hexadecimal) or 64 in decimal. We can generate custom
characters at these addresses. Once we generate our characters at these addresses, now we can
print them on the LCD at any time by just sending simple commands to the LCD. Character
addresses and printing commands are below
In the table above you can see starting addresses for each character with their printing
commands. The first character is generated at address 0x40 to 0x47 and is printed on LCD by
just sending simple command 0 to the LCD. The second character is generated at address 0x48 to
0x55 and is printed by sending 1 to LCD.
 Future Scope and Applications
Solar Energy is one of the most popular renewable sources nowadays. It is being widely used
also, and within some more years it will be very popular that it will be used for many purposes,
in industries and household as well.
So it is most important fact to utilize the maximum energy of the sun so that maximum power
can be generated. The thought behind this project is also derived from this fact. In many places
experiment is being done on this fact how it is possible to make full use of the day light. In many
places application of this project can be seen also. This project has got a bright future scope
further. Accuracy of this solar panel can be increased further and number of steps can be
increased as well to get more accurate desired output. Timer circuit can also be integrated with
this so that this system responses more accurately. Even in a cloudy day when intensity of
sunlight may vary at different time of a day, the timer circuit can be more that handy to drive the
solar panel correctly in that low light. As per energy concerned solar energy is one of the most
promising energy which is going to be a main source of energy in near future.

Results and Conclusion

In conclusion, the Solar tracking system was successfully able to increase the efficiency of the
solar panel. A threshold condition of 400 lux was set above which the system would turn on, and
motor would be rotated in the direction of the sun accordingly. When the device is turned on,
reading displayed on the LCD screen is the voltage generated by the solar panel without tracking.
After the initialization of the device, it starts showing the voltage readings on the LCD screen
when the sun is being tracked. As the intensity of light decreases to zero (i.e. dark) since the
threshold condition is not being met, motor rotates to its original position and remains in it until
the threshold gets crossed again. After examining the information obtained by the real time
testing of the prototype, it can be said that the proposed way of a dynamic solar tracking system,
is a practicable method of maximizing the mean intensity of sunlight received by a solar energy
system. The location of the sun was successfully tracked down and thus increasing the efficiency
of the solar panel.

Fig Results and Conclusion

Table :- Results and Conclusion

Even though the system is over-designed, appropriate reductions in dimensions such as frame
length and shaft diameter, would decrease the raw material required; thus, an even cheaper
product can be created. Otherwise, the device achieved what it was aiming.
 References
1.A. K. Saxena and V. Dutta, “A versatile microprocessor based controller for solar tracking,‟‟
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, vol. 2, pp. 1105-1109, 1990

2.B. Koyuncu and K. Balasubramanian, “A microprocessor controlled automatic sun tracker,‟‟

IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 913-917, 1991.

3. Automatic Solar Tracking System, Parasnis N.V., Tadamalle A. P International Journal of

Innovations in Engineering Research and Technology [IJIERT] ISSN: 2394-3696 volume 3,
issue 1, JAN.-2016

4. http://www.solar-facts.com/panels/panel-types.php

5.“7805‟‟ datasheet. [Online].Available: http://www.electrokits.com/ Datasheets/ 7805-

Datasheet

6.“Microcontroller”datasheet.[Online].Available:http://www.datasheetcatalog.com/datashee
ts_pdf/A/T/M/E/ATMEGA 32.shtml.

7.“Photosensor”datasheet.[Online].Available:http://www.ladyada.net/learn/sensors/cds.ht ml.