JIMMA UNIVERSITY

JIMMA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
INTRODUCTION TO MECHATRONICS
ARDUINO PROJECT- SOLAR TRACKER

Group Members [Link]

1. Zelalem Esubalew RU 1530/12
2. Sirawudink Getachew RU 2197/12
3. Natinael Gebeyehu RU 1298/12
4. Tariku Buzayew RU 3988/11
5. Surafel shetie RU 0662/12
Solar Tracker
Solar tracker is a device that follow the sun’s angle of radiation to capture the
maximum solar energy. It uses Light dependent resistor (LDR) sensors to measure
light intensity and adjust itself to the direction which has high light intensity. The
solar tracker can be controlled automatically using LDR or manually using
potentiometer.

Components

Name Quantity

Arduino Uno board 1

Micro-servo Motor 2

Rpot1 1

Resistor (330 ohm) 4

Rotary potentiometer 2
Pushbutton 2

LDR 4

Working principle
It is based on a solar tracker that can be rotate automatically to track the sun with help of four LDR
sensors and two servomotors or manually using a potentiometer. To switch between the two modes, a
push button is used. Another push button is used to link either the up-down servo meter or left-right
servo meter to the potentiometer to control their movement. Moreover a computer is used as virtual
instrument to visualize the mode and current, voltage and power of the pv panel. Arduino Uno board is
utilized to implement all software requirement of the system.

Code

#include <Servo.h>

//Servo motor library

#include <Servo.h>

//Initialize variables

int mode = 0;

int axe = 0;

int buttonState1 = 0;

int buttonState2 = 0;

int prevButtonState1 = 0;

int prevButtonState2 = 0;

int ldrtopr= 0; // top-right LDR

int ldrtopl = 1; // top-left LDR

int ldrbotr = 2; // bottom-right LDR

int ldrbotl = 3; // bottom-left LDR

int topl = 0;

int topr = 0;

int botl = 0;

int botr = 0;
//Declare two servos

Servo servo_updown;

Servo servo_rightleft;

int threshold_value=10; //measurement sensitivity

void setup()

[Link](9600); //serial connection setup //opens serial port, sets data rate to
9600 bps

[Link]("CLEARDATA"); //clear all data that’s been place in already

[Link]("LABEL,t,voltage,current,power,Mode"); //define the column headings (PLX-DAQ

command)

pinMode(12, INPUT); //Mode switch Button

pinMode(11, INPUT); //Axis switch

pinMode(A4, INPUT); //Potentiometer for right-left movement and for up-down movement

servo_updown.attach(5); //Servo motor up-down movement

servo_rightleft.attach(6); //Servo motor right-left movement

void loop()

// pv_power();

char Mode;

float volt = analogRead(A5)*5.0/1023;

float voltage = 2*volt; // Volt=(R1/R1+R2)*Voltage / R1=R2=10Ohms => voltage=2*volt)

float current = voltage/20; // I=voltage/(R1+R2)

 float power = voltage*current;

[Link]("DATA,TIME,"); // PLX-DAQ command

[Link](voltage); //send the voltage to serial port

[Link](",");

[Link](current); //send the current to serial port

[Link](",");

[Link](power); //send the power to serial port

[Link](",");

// [Link](Mode);

buttonState1 = digitalRead(12);

if (buttonState1 != prevButtonState1) {

if (buttonState1 == HIGH) {

//Change mode and ligh up the correct indicator

if (mode == 1) {

mode = 0;

} else {

mode = 1;

prevButtonState1 = buttonState1;

delay(50); // Wait for 50 millisecond(s)

if (mode == 0) {

Mode='M';

[Link](Mode); //send Mode "Manual" to serial port

manualsolartracker();

} else { // mode automatic

 Mode = 'A';

[Link](Mode);

automaticsolartracker(); //send Mode "Automatic" to serial port

void automaticsolartracker(){

//capturing analog values of each LDR

topr= analogRead(ldrtopr); //capturing analog value of top right LDR

topl= analogRead(ldrtopl); //capturing analog value of top left LDR

botr= analogRead(ldrbotr); //capturing analog value of bot right LDR

botl= analogRead(ldrbotl); //capturing analog value of bot left LDR

// calculating average

int avgtop = (topr + topl) / 2; //average of top LDRs

int avgbot = (botr + botl) / 2; //average of bottom LDRs

int avgleft = (topl + botl) / 2; //average of left LDRs

int avgright = (topr + botr) / 2; //average of right LDRs

//Get the different

int diffelev = avgtop - avgbot; //Get the different average betwen LDRs top and LDRs bot

int diffazi = avgright - avgleft; //Get the different average betwen LDRs right and LDRs left

//left-right movement of solar tracker

if (abs(diffazi) >= threshold_value){ //Change position only if light difference is bigger then the
threshold_value

if (diffazi > 0) {
 if (servo_rightleft.read() < 180) {

servo_rightleft.write((servo_updown.read() + 2));

if (diffazi < 0) {

if (servo_rightleft.read() > 0) {

servo_rightleft.write((servo_updown.read() - 2));

//up-down movement of solar tracker

if (abs(diffelev) >= threshold_value){ //Change position only if light difference is bigger then
thethreshold_value

if (diffelev > 0) {

if (servo_updown.read() < 180) {

servo_updown.write((servo_rightleft.read() - 2));

if (diffelev < 0) {

if (servo_updown.read() > 0) {

servo_updown.write((servo_rightleft.read() + 2));

void manualsolartracker(){
 buttonState2 = digitalRead(13);

if (buttonState2 != prevButtonState2) {

if (buttonState2 == HIGH) {

//Change mode and ligh up the correct indicator

if (axe == 1) {

axe = 0;

} else {

axe = 1;

prevButtonState2 = buttonState2;

delay(50); // Wait for 50 millisecond(s)

if (axe == 0) { //control right-left movement

servo_rightleft.write(map(analogRead(A4), 0, 1023, 0, 180));

} else { // //control up-down movement

servo_updown.write(map(analogRead(A4), 0, 1023, 0, 180));