




































 

 

                  ISSN : 2693 6356 

2020 | Vol 3 | Issue 6 

 
SOLAR PANEL WITH SOLAR TRACKING DEVICE THAT 

DOESN'T REQUIRE ELECTRICAL POWER 
Mr. B. Kishor 

1
,M. Anjali  

2
 ,H. Srikanth 

3
,C. Chaithanya

4
 

1,2,3,4
 Assistant professor,  

 Srinivasa  Institute of Science and Technology (SNIST) , Hyderabad,Telangana,India,  

 
ABSTRACT: 
The goal of this project is to use Arduino to design and build a solar tracker system that 

automatically adjusts to the sun's position during the day in order to extract the greatest possible 

energy for use in solar-powered devices.The difficulty of balancing energy production and 

consumption has grown in recent years. Optimizing solar energy use is the greatest option for 

resolving this unbalanced equation. To maximize solar energy production, solar panels must be 

placed in direct sunlight. With a stationary solar panel, the strength of the sun's rays vary throughout 

the day. Changing the orientation of the solar panel increases the amount of energy it collects from 

the sun.A few light sensors and a motorized mechanism to turn the panel toward the sun make up 

this project. The motor and light detection are handled using an Arduino-based control system. There 

are no breaks in the operation of this system.The project's primary controller is an Arduino uno 

microcontroller, to which a series of light-dependent resistors (LDRs) and a servo motor have been 

connected via a control panel. The microcontroller receives data from the LDR sensors about the 

direction of the sun, processes the data, and directs the servo motor to move the solar panel. The 

battery stores this solar power for later use. The system is battery-operated. Embedded C, a very 

effective programming language, is used to instruct the Microcontroller 

Keywords: LED, Light-Dependent Resistor, Solar Panel, and Microcontroller 

 

 

 

 

 
 

1. INTRODUCTION.
 

The goal of this arduino-based project is to 

build a solar tracker system that tracks the 

sun's movement to maximize energy harvest 

for use in solar-powered devices. 

The difficulty of balancing energy production 

and consumption has grown in recent years. 

Optimizing solar energy use is the greatest 

option for resolving this unbalanced equation. 

To maximize solar energy production, solar 

panels must be placed in direct sunlight. With 

a stationary solar panel, the strength of the 

sun's rays vary throughout the day. Changing 

the orientation of the solar panel increases the 

amount of energy it collects from the sun. 

A few light sensors and a motorized 

mechanism to turn the panel toward the sun 

make up this project. The motor and light 

detection are handled using an Arduino-based 

control system. This system operates non-

stop and without any downtime.The project's 

primary controller is an Arduino uno 

microcontroller, to which a series of light-

dependent resistors (LDRs) and a servo 

motor have been connected via a control 

panel. The microcontroller receives data from 

the LDR sensors about the direction of the 

sun, processes the data, and directs the servo 

motor to move the solar panel. The battery 

stores this solar power for later use. 

Systematic Thisuses a battery to operate. 

Embedded C, a very effective programming 

language, is used to instruct the 

Microcontroller. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

Objectives: 

 
 

• Design a single axis solar tracker. 

• Conservation of Non-Renewable 

energy sources. 

• Maximum output can be obtained. 

• Using of arduino to archive this task. 

Motivation 

An embedded system 

is a combination of software 

and hardware to perform a 

dedicated task. Some of the 

main devices used in 

embedded products are 

Microprocessors and Microcontrollers. 

Microprocessors are commonly referred to as general purpose processors as they simply accept the inputs, process it and give the output. In contrast, a microcontroller not only accept the data as inputs but also manipulates it, interfaces the data with various devices, controls the data and thus finally gives the result. 

 

The   “SOLAR   PANEL   WITH 

SOLAR TRACKING DEVICE 

WITHOUT 

POWER CONSUMPTION” using 

ARDUINO microcontroller is 

an exclusive project which is 

used to move the solar cell 

panel in the direction of sun 

and can increase the 

solar energy generated from the solar 

cell which is stored into the battery. 

 

 

 

 

The main blocks of this project are: 1.Power 

supply. 
2. 

Arduino uno. 

3. 
Sun light Sensor to sense the sun 

direction. 

 
4. 

Motorized mechanism to control the 

position of solar panel. 

5. 
Servo motor. 

Advantages: 

• They have no 

moving parts and 

hence require 

little 

maintenance 

and work quite 

satisfactorily 

without any 

focusing device. 

• It does not cause any 

environmental pollution 

like the fossil fuels and 

nuclear power. 

 

• Solar cells last a longer 

time and have low running 

costs 

 

• Low power consumption. 

 

• Conservation of Non-

Renewable energy sources. 

 

• Maximum output can be obtained. 

 

• Efficient and low-cost design. 

 

• Low power consumption. 

 

• Fast response. 

 
Disadvantages: 

 
Monitoring and Maintenance is 

required. 

A drastic environmental change 



 

 

cannot be tolerated by the 

equipment. 

Applications: 

 This energy can be utilized for 

simple house hold appliances. 

 This energy can be stored and 

utilized as backup power supply 

mainly in industry 

 
Method

ology 

Feature

s 

•High Performance, Low Power AVR® 

8- Bit Microcontroller 

•Advanced RISC Architecture 
 

–131 Powerful Instructions – Most Single 

Clock Cycle Execution 

–32 x 8 General Purpose Working Registers 
 

–Fully Static Operation 

 

–Up to 20 MIPS Throughput at 20 MHz 
 

–On-chip 2-cycle Multiplier 
 

•High Endurance Non-volatile Memory 

Segments 

–4/8/16/32K Bytes of In-System Self- 

Programmable Flash progam memory 

(ATmega48PA/88PA/168PA/328P) 

– 256/512/512/1K Bytes EEPROM 

(ATmega48PA/88PA/168PA/328P) 

–512/1K/1K/2K Bytes Internal SRAM 

(ATmega48PA/88PA/168PA/328P) 

 

 
–Write/Erase Cycles: 10,000 Flash/100,000 

EEPROM 

–Data retention: 20 years at 85°C/100 years 

at 25°C(1) 

–Optional Boot Code Section with 

Independent Lock Bits In-System 

Programming by On-chip Boot Program 

True Read-While-Write Operation 
 

–Programming Lock for Software Security 

 

Peripheral Features 
 

–Two 8-bit Timer/Counters with Separate 

Prescaler and Compare Mode–One 16-bit 

Timer/Counter with Separate Prescaler, 

Compare Mode, and Capture Mode 

–Real Time Counter with Separate 

Oscillator 

–Six PWM Channels 
 

–8-channel 10-bit ADC in TQFP and 

QFN/MLF package Temperature 

Measurement 

–6-channel 10-bit ADC in PDIP 

Package Temperature Measurement 

–Programmable Serial USART 
 

–Master/Slave SPI Serial Interface 
 

–Byte-oriented 2-wire Serial Interface 

(Philips I2C compatible) 

 

 
–Programmable Watchdog Timer with 

Separate On-chip Oscillator 

–On-chip Analog Comparator 
 

–Interrupt and Wake-up on Pin Change 

 

Special Microcontroller Features 
 

–Power-on Reset and Programmable 

Brown-out Detection 

–Internal Calibrated Oscillator 
 



 

 

–External and Internal Interrupt Sources 
 

–Six Sleep Modes: Idle, ADC Noise 

Reduction, Power-save, Power-down, 

Standby, and Extended Standby 

• I/O and Packages 
 

–23 Programmable I/O Lines 

–28-pin PDIP, 32-lead TQFP, 28-pad 

QFN/MLF and 32-pad QFN/MLF 

•Operating Voltage: 
 

– 1.8 - 5.5V for 

ATmega48PA/88PA/168PA/328P 

• Temperature Range: 
 

– -40°C to 85°C 
 

•Speed Grade: 
 

– 0 - 20 MHz @ 1.8 - 5.5V 
 

•Low Power Consumption at 1 MHz, 1.8V, 

25°C for ATmega48PA/88PA/168PA/328P: 

–Active Mode: 0.2 mA 
 

–Power-down Mode: 0.1 μA 
 

–Power-save Mode: 0.75 μA (Including 32 

kHz RTC) 

Implementation 

 
The project “SOLAR PANEL WITH 

SOLAR TRACKING DEVICE 

WITHOUT 

POWER CONSUMPTION” is 

designed such that it used to construct 

a solar tracker system that follows the 

sun direction for producing maximum 

output of solar energy which can be 

used to charge the battery. 

 
 

A photo resistor or light 

dependent resistor or cadmium 

sulfide (CdS) cell is a resistor whose 

resistance decreases with increasing 

incident light intensity. It can also be 

referenced asa photoconductor. 

A photo resistor is made of 

a high resistance semiconductor. 

If light falling on the device is of 

high enough frequency, photons 

absorbed by the semiconductor 

give bound electrons enough 

energy to jump into the 

conduction band. The resulting 

free electron (and its hole partner) 

conduct electricity, thereby 

lowering resistance. 

 

A photoelectric device can 

be either intrinsic or extrinsic. An 

intrinsic semiconductor has its 

own charge carriers and is not an 

efficient semiconductor, e.g. 

silicon. In intrinsic devices the 

only available electrons are in the 

valence band, and hence the 

photon must have enough energy 

to excite the electron across the 

entire band gap. Extrinsic devices 

have impurities, also called 

dopants, and added whose ground 

state energy is closer to the 

conduction band; since the 

electrons do not have as far to 

jump, lower energy photons (i.e., 

longer wavelengths and lower 

frequencies) are sufficient to 

trigger the device. If a sample of 

silicon has some of its atoms 

replaced by phosphorus atoms 

(impurities), there will be extra 



 

 

electrons available for 

conduction. This is an example of 

an extrinsic semiconductor. 

The schematic symbol of a solar cell 

1. Photons in sunlight hit the solar 

panel and are absorbed by semi 

conducting materials, suchas 

silicon. 

 

2. Electrons (negatively charged) 

are knocked loose from their 

atoms, allowing them to flow 

through the material to produce 

electricity. Due to the special 

composition of solar cells, only 

allow the electrons to move in a 

single direction.

 The complementary 

positive charges that are also 

created (like bubbles) are called 

holes and flow in the direction 

opposite of the electrons in a 

silicon solar panel. 

 

3. An array of solar panels 

converts solar energy into a usable 

amount of direct current 

(DC)electricity. 

 
Compilation and simulation 

steps: Step 1: Parts 

Step 1: Parts 

 

1 x Arduino on a Breadboard 1 x 

Arduino UNO Connecting Wires 

Arduino IDE installed on your 

PC Step 2: The Approach 

We use the Arduino UNO to bootload the 

ATmega328 that is sitting on the Arduino- 

on-a- Breadboard. This is fairly 

straightforward having an ATmega328P-

PU, 

but needs an extra step for an 

ATmega328- PU 
 
 

 

Step 3: Program your Arduino UNO 

as an ISP 

 

We need to program the Arduino 

UNO to act as an ISP (In-System 

Programmer), so that it can burn the 

bootloader onto the Breadboard 

chip. 

 
1. Open the Arduino IDE 

2. Open the ArduinoISP sketch (under 

File, Examples) 



 

 

3. If you’re using version 1.0 of the 

IDE: 

 
Search for void heartbeat and change 

the line that reads: 

 
delay(40); 

to 

delay(20); 

Connect your UNO to the PC, making sure 

it’s not connected to the Arduino on a 

Breadboard. 

 
Ensure your UNO is selected under the 

Boards menu option, and upload the sketch. 

 
Step 4: Connect your ATmega328 

 

 
 

 

 
 

Now connect your ATmega to your 

UNO as follows: 

 
 UNO 5v ---> ATmega pin 7 (VCC) 

 UNO GND ---> ATmega 

pin 8 (GND) 

 UNO pin 10 ---> ATmega 

pin 1 (RESET) 

 UNO pin 11 ---> ATmega 

pin 17 (MOSI) 

 UNO pin 12 ---> ATmega 

pin 18 (MISO) 

 UNO pin 13 ---> ATmega 

pin 19 (SCK) 

 
 

In your Arduino folder, find 

the 

subfolder.\hardware\tools\avr\



 

 

etc 

 
1. Make a backup copy of the file: 

avrdude.conf 

2. Open the file avrdude.conf in a 

text editor 

3. Search for: “0x1e 0x95 0x0F” 

(this is the ATmega328P 

signature) 

4. Replace it with: “0x1e 0x95 

0x14” (this is the ATmega328 

signature) 

5. Save the file 

6. Restart the Arduino IDE 

7. Continue with the rest of the 

steps in the instructable, and 

once bootloading is complete 

restore the backup copy you 

made. 

 

 

 

In the Arduino IDE, from the Tools menu: 

 
 under the Board option choose 

Arduino UNO 

 under the Serial Port option 

ensure the correct port is selected 

 under the Programmer 

option choose Arduino as 

ISP 

 
To burn the Bootloader, choose 

Burn Bootloader from the Tools 

menu 

You should see a message “Burning 

bootloader to I/O Board (this may 

take aminute)" 

Once the bootloader has been 

burned, a message of confirming 

the success gets displayed. 

Conclusion: 

 
Integrating 

features of all the hardware 

components used have been 

developed in it. Presence of 

every module has been reasoned 

out and placed carefully, thus 

contributing to the best working 

of the unit. Secondly, using 

highly advanced ICs with the 

help of growing technology, the 

project has been successfully 

implemented. Thus, the project 

has been successfully designed 

and tested. 

 
References 

[1] Nader Barsoum and Pandian 

Vasant, “Simplified Solar Tracking 

Prototype,” Transaction in Controllers 

and Energy, (2010). 

 
[2] Kh.S. Karimov, et al., “A simple 

photo- voltaic tracking system,” Solar 

Energy Materials & Solar Cells, pp. 

49-59 (2004). 

 
[3] Shubhajit RoyChowdhury and 

HiranmaySaha, “Maximum power 

point tracking of partially shaded solar 

photovoltaic arrays,” Solar Energy 



 

 

Materials & Solar Cells, pp. 1441-1447 

(2010). 

[4] Yie-Tone Chen and Cing-Hong Chen, “A 

DC-DC Buck Converter Chip with 

Integrated PWM/PFM Hybrid-Mode 

Control Circuit,” Department of Electrical 

Engineering, pp. 181 – 186 (2009). 

 
[5] Vibhor Gupta, “Working and Analysis of 

the H – Bridge Motor Driver Circuit 

Designed for,” University Institute of 

Engineering and Technology, pp. 441-444 

(2010). 

 
[6] Aung Zaw Latt and Ni Ni Win, 

“Variable Speed Drive of Single Phase 

Induction Motor Using Frequency Control 

Method,” Education Technology and 

Computer, pp. 30-34 (2009). 

The sites which were used while doing 

this project: 

1.www.wikipedia.com 

2.www.allaboutcircuits.com 

3.www.microchip.com 

4.www.howstuffworks.com 

Books referred: 

1. Raj kamal –Microcontrollers Architecture, 

Programming, Interfacing and System 

Design. 

2. Mazidi and Mazidi –Embedded Systems. 

3.PCB Design Tutorial –David.L.Jones. 

4. PIC Microcontroller Manual – Microchip. 

5. Embedded C –Michael.J.Pont. 

http://www.wikipedia.com/
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/
http://www.microchip.com/
http://www.microchip.com/
http://www.howstuffworks.com/
http://www.howstuffworks.com/

