Dual Axis Solar Panel Tracking for Smart Irrigation

Through this project you are going to build an innovative project where smart irrigation technique with maximum power tracking technique through dual axis solar panel application.

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You will need Arduino to interface the microcontroller with the Soil moisture sensor, Wi-Fi module, pump and solar panel. You will programme the micro controller in such a way that whenever the soil moisture sense the moisture content less than certain value, the pump will be automatically turned on and the as soon as the soil moisture sense the moisture content more than particular value, the pump will be turned off automatically. Now the power taken by the pump to supply water will be taken from the Solar Panel itself. The position of the sun changes from time to time. In order to get the maximum power, we need to implement Maximum Power Tracking Technique.

So using LDR you can actually detect the sun’s position. Using DC Motors you can tilt the Solar panel along with the movement of the Sun. You can innovate the system to upload the data regarding pump status and moisture content status into a remote server for further analysis.

Project Description:

1. Arduino Uno: Arduino Uno: The digital and analog input/output pins equipped in this board can be interfaced to various expansion boards and other circuits. Serial communication interface is a feature in this board, including USB which will be used to load the programs from computer.
2. Wi-Fi Module: ESP8266 Wi-Fi module is generally used to establish the wireless communication between the devices. But this module is not capable of 5-3V logic shifting and will require an external logic level converter
3. Soil Moisture Sensor: The soil moisture sensor is a sensor designed to measure the moisture content present in the soil.
4. Water Pump: Generally a water pump pumps water from one place to other place using centrifugal force.
5. Solar Panel: The devices which converts the solar energy into electric energy is called Solar Panel.

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1. Motor Driver: Generally the Arduino board is not capable of providing required amount of current for running the motors. So we use a device called Motor Driver which will provide sufficient current for driving the motors.
2. LDR (Light Dependent Resistor): An LDR can be called as variable resistor controlled by intensity of light. Whenever the LDR is in very low light, the resistance value of the LDR will be very high (in Mega Ohms). Similarly Whenever the LDR is under normal light the resistance value of the LDR will be very less comparatively (in order of 10^2 Ohms).
3. DC motors: These motors works with DC power as name indicates itself. So these motors will convert the DC Electric power in Rotating Mechanical Power.

Project Implementation:

1. Interface the soil moisture, Wi-Fi module Solar Panel and water pump with Arduino
2. Interface LDR, DC Motors to Arduino
3. Power the components and upload the code
4. As soon as the soil moisture sensors detects less moisture content in the soil, the motor starts running immediately
5. As soon as the moisture content reaches sufficiently high, the motor stops pumping the water
6. The power required for the operation is taken from Solar Panel
7. The Solar Panel will be tilted by DC motors based on which direction the sun is moving and the direction of will be given based on the value of LDR
8. All the data regarding Pump Status, Moisture content can be update in the remote server for analysis

Software requirements:

1. Arduino IDE : You will be needing Arduino IDE software to write and upload the programming logic onto the Arduino Uno board
2. Thingspeak : Also, you need to create an account in the ThinkSpeak IoT platform to integrate the system onto the cloud and store the data online

Programming language: Arduino Programming (C++)

• Arduino Uno
• WiFi
• Soil Moisture Sensor
• Water Pump
• Solar Panel
• Motor Driver
• LDR(Light Dependent Resistor)
• DC motor

• Smart System
• Maximum Power Point Tracking Technique
• Solar Panel

Dual Axis Solar Panel Tracking for Smart Irrigation