International Journal of Power Electronics and Drive Systems (IJPEDS)

Vol. 12, No. 3, September 2021, pp. 1431∼1438

ISSN: 2088-8694, DOI: 10.11591/ijpeds.v12.i3.pp1431-1438 ❒ 1431

Vision based solar tracking system for efficient energy

harvesting
Kanhaiya Kumar1 , Lokesh Varshney2 , A. Ambikapathy3 , Inayat Ali4 , Ashish Rajput5 , Anant
bhatnagar6 , Sajal omar7
1,2
School of Electrical Electronics & Communication Engineering, Galgotias University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh,
India
3-7
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Galgotias College of Engineering & Technology, Greater Noida,
Uttar Pradesh, India

Article Info ABSTRACT

Article history: Electricity is a major source of energy for fast growing population and the use of non-
renewable source is harmful for our environment. This reason belongs to devastating
Received April 15, 2021
of environment, so it is required to take immediate action to solve these problems
Revised July 2, 2021 which result the solar energy development. Production of a solar energy can be maxi-
Accepted July 12, 2021 mizing if we use solar follower. The major part of solar panels is microcontroller with
arrangement of LDR sensor is used to follow the sun, where the sensors is less efficient
Keywords: to track the sun because of the low sensitivity of LDR. We are proposing a method to
track sun more effetely with the help of both LDR sensors and image processing. This
Azimuth angle type of mechanism can track sun with the help of image processing software which
Digital image processing combines both result of sensors and processed sun image to control the solar panel.
Light dependent resister The combination of both software and hardware can control thousands of solar panels
Micro-controller in solar power plants.
Servomotor
Solar follower
This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license.
Vision sensor

Corresponding Author:
Kanhaiya Kumar
School of Electrical Electronics & Communication Engineering
Galgotias University
Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Email: [email protected]

1. INTRODUCTION
The development of a nation depends on energy but their scarcity continuously increasing. Require-
ment of enormous amount of energy will need to develop a nation and these required energy can be obtain from
the non-renewable sources. Today nearly 85% of energy produced from the fossil fuel but this energy is limited
and is major cause of a global warming [1]. That is why we propose this work which offers a sustainable power
source to safe grade our world and solve energy crisis & pollution problem. Solar energy is a best renewable
source of energy which is environmental pollution free & economical to additional source of energy. Photo-
voltaic modules are the best way to obtain solar energy and convert it into electric energy. There are different
types of material which is used to form a solar panel. If we use Si panel then the panel is 24.5% [2] more
efficient then a normal solar panel. Solar tracker is a scheme by which solar panel can track the sun to increase
the power efficiency [3], [4]. There are various application of photovoltaic power like robot farming [5] , irriga-
tion [6], hybrid energy [7] and smart home system [8] which reduced the dependency upon traditional energy
system. Primary aim of my work is to develop a vision sensor, DIP and LDR based solar tracking system using

Journal homepage: http://ijpeds.iaescore.com

1432 ❒ ISSN: 2088-8694

the programming language C++ consist of simultaneous sensor. Therefore it can improve the effectiveness of
a sun panel tracking compare to the fixed system [9].

2. PHOTO-VOLTAIC DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE

To maximize the output power of solar panel we propose Vision based solar tracking system. Maxi-
mum power is achieved at sunshine hour during the tracking of sun and the characteristics of current vs voltage
and power vs voltage [10] of photovoltaic cell is indicated in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Photo Voltaic response Isc-V and P-V

Researchers have developed many MPPT algorithms to increase the power output of solar panel.
Sun follower can improve the performance of the sun tracker by 22% to 56% compared to fixed panel. Sun
direction tracing method obtains the azimuth and altitude changes with respect to Sun azimuth and altitude
point. Astrophysical equation can also calculate the sun azimuth and altitude [11] point at any time. The Sun
azimuth β and the height point Φ [12] can be determined utilizing as shown (1) and (2) respectively.
Where
ρ = latitude angle
µ = Declination angle
η = Solar hour angle
sin Φ = sin ρ sin µ + cos Φ cos µ cos η (1)

cos µ sin η
sin β = (2)
cos Φ
Declination angle is calculated by (3).
360◦ (284 + d)
µ = 23.45◦ (3)
365
Where d = date and Sun hour angle calculated by (4).

η = (H + E)x15 + Ψ − 300◦ (4)

Where
Ψ = local longitude
H = Beijing time
E = Jet lag Let, Sun current position is (βT, ΦT) at time t. After time period T, β & Φ changes to (βt + T, Φt +
T) and new position given by (5) and (6).

∆β = βt + T − βt (5)

∆Φ = Φt + T − Φt (6)
The panel rotates ∆ β in the horizontal direction and ∆ Φ in the vertical direction. In this method, Sun
direction can be investigated.

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3. PROJECTED SYSTEM
The block diagram of the system is shown in Figure 2, where LDR [13] sensor give their output
to microcontroller and camera take Sun image to find Sun center coordinate (AC, BC) by applying image
processing [14] algorithm. Finally the refine Azimuth and altitude is calculate given to motor driver which set
the Solar panel to focus straight towards the Sun center and cause improve in performance output.

Figure 2. System block diagram

4. DESIGN OF HARDWARE
The system includes 2 servo motor, 4 LDR sensor and Arduino UNO. The LDR sensor [15] sense the
intensity of solar light and Arduino UNO control the orientation of panel as Pre-processing [16]. The LDR
based tracker circuit diagram shown in Figure 3. The PCB (Printed Circuit Board) design and simulation of
project is carried out by Fritzing software shown in Figure 4. The Arduino Uno board, 4 LDR, connecting
resistance, Two DC motor and their connection with Arduino board shown in Figure 5.

Figure 3. System circuit diagram

Figure 4. System PCB design Figure 5. Circuit connection

Vision based solar tracking system for efficient energy harvesting (Kanhaiya Kumar)
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The above given hardware component list for the system shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Assembly List

Label Part type Properties
J1 Basic Servo 12 volt ,10RPM
J2 Basic Servo 12 volt ,10RPM
Part1 Arduino Uno (Rev3) type Arduino UNO (Rev3)
R1,R2,R3 & R4 Photocell (LDR) dark 300 kOhms@ 10 seconds; package THT;resistance@ luminance 16 kOhms@ 10 lux
R5,R7 & R8 220Ω Resistor bands 4; pin spacing 400 mil; package THT; resistance 220Ω; tolerance ±5%
R6 220Ω Resistor package 2512 [SMD]; resistance 220Ω; tolerance ±5%

5. METHODOLOGY
Proposed system worked on two stages of tracking. The first stage use LDR sensor and second cor-
rected measure taken from Image sensor tracking. Initially the solar tracker performs tracking on Sun intensity
by LDR sensor and set panel accordingly. In this tracking there may be error because of partial shadow and out
of track condition. This condition is eliminated by second tracking scheme called image tracking. Image track-
ing use camera near the panel and it takes picture of the Sun with sky is threshold to get Sun image. This sun
image [17] is use to find circumference and from this circumference the centroid (AC, BC) of sun is calculated
by different image processing algorithm. The calculated centroid will instruct the driver called second track to
move the panel direct towards the Sun center. So this two stage tracking improve the tracking accuracy of the
sun follower [18] .
5.1. Intensity sensor tracking
In this tracking scheme the resistance value of LDR decrease as the sun light intensity increase and its
value nearly in mega ohm [19] when sun light is completely vanish. We adjust the LDR’s in such a way that if
the one side of the LDR focusing Sun then the other side of the LDR remains in dark as shown in Figure 6. The
decrease resistance can increase current flow to operate drivers. The sun position change the intensity of light
incidence direction on panel because of that the four LDR get different proportion of light cause the vertical
and horizontal motion.

Figure 6. LDR shadow principal

5.2. Image sensor tracking

In this tracking different image processing steps uses to track sun trajectory were discussed in section.
5.2.1. Image processing
The proposed modal calculates the Sun centroid co-ordinate [20] by image processing (IP) technique
by using different Sun following steps is given in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Steps in image processing

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5.2.2. Image conversion and noise reduction

The RGB image taken by camera is converted to gray scale image which reduces the complicity of
algorithm and take less time in processing. The converted image is contrast starch and the Gaussian filter [21]
is used to remove noise from image. RGB and Gray image is shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8. Sun RGB and Gray image

5.2.3. Sun identification

The gray image having some bright spot which represent the cloud. These spots were removed by
applying binary thresholding on gray image shown in Figure 9. Some unwanted dot still present in image, were
removed by finding largest contours [22].

Figure 9. Binary thresholding of gray image

5.2.4. Estimation of Sun following trajectory

The Sun boundary is segmented [23] and their centroid is calculated from centroid formula. The
image center is also calculated and both Image and Sun center [24] were compared to calculate the exact Sun
center co-ordinate which instructs the driver [25] to track the Sun.

6. RESULT OF DIFFERENT SCHEME OF SOLAR TRACKER

The proposed model, LDR based and Fixed panel single day reading is taken for 17 hour Sun time
were tabulated in Table 2. Comparison of power generation from Fixed, LDR and proposed modal is analyzed
in Figure 10 and observed that proposed system generate more power compare to rest two system. Short circuit
current graphical representation of all the three system is shown in Figure 11 and evaluated that ISC is same
in the entire given modal. VOC of all above said model is calculated and analyzed in Figure 12 and remarked
that LDR and IP based system Voc is more compare to Fixed and LDR system. The result state that LDR and
IP based tracker produce more power than rest two schemes and their combined parameter analysis is shown
in Figure 13.

Table 2. Result of different Scheme of solar tracker

Variable LDR & IP based Solar follower Fixed Panel LDR based Solar follower
Solar Time Pout (W) Isc (A Voc (V) Pout (W) Isc (A) Voc (V) Pout (W) Isc (A Voc (V)
07:00 1.35 0.1 17.3 0.92 0.1 15.7 1.23 0.1 17.1
08:00 2.32 0.1 18.9 1.39 0.1 15.8 1.75 0.1 17.7
09:00 2.73 0.1 19.0 1.91 0.1 16.3 2.53 0.1 18.1
10:00 3.43 0.2 19.9 2.46 0.1 18.0 2.83 0.2 18.4
11:00 4.13 0.2 20.5 2.96 0.2 18.3 3.53 0.2 19.1
12:00 4.96 0.2 20.2 4.57 0.2 19.0 4.89 0.2 20.0
13:00 4.83 0.2 19.7 4.64 0.2 19.2 4.74 0.2 19.4
14:00 4.75 0.2 19.0 3.85 0.2 18.0 4.32 0.2 18.3
15:00 3.81 0.2 18.9 2.75 0.2 16.0 3.26 0.2 17.3
16:00 1.75 0.1 18.7 0.97 0.1 15.3 1.24 0.1 17.0
17:00 1.30 0.1 17.7 0.77 0.1 14.1 1.11 0.1 16.5

Vision based solar tracking system for efficient energy harvesting (Kanhaiya Kumar)
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Figure 10. Power comparison of all three Figure 11. Short circuit current comparison
systems of all three systems

Figure 12. Open circuit voltage comparison Figure 13. Power, ISC and VOC analysis of
of all three systems all three systems

7. CONCLUSION
Investigating the entire scheme we come to point that LDR and IP based solar tracker produce most
fruitful result than other two. Individually LDR is consider best when limited panel have to track, but in
condition where hundreds or thousands panel have to track than IP and LDR is best choice because it is cost
effective. The efficiency of solar panel will be more if we use the higher resolution camera. Thousands of
solar panel trackers of power plant can be controlled by IP and LDR based with the use of PLC. The power
generated by solar panel will be used for operating all passive component of system (microcontroller, and
servomotor).There are many fields where the vision sensor is prominently used to make system cost effective
and free from ambiguous error. Soft computing and vision technique using in robot farming, irrigation system,
smart home automation and harvesting of hybrid energy. So in future the Vision technique with soft computing
can apply to use in Solar energy farming with least tracking error by maximising panel efficiency.

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BIOGRAPHIES OF AUTHORS
Kanhaiya Kumar received his Diploma in Electronic Engineering from Government polytechnic
Ghaziabad, Ghaziabad (UP) India in 2006, B.E. Degree in Instrumentation Engineering from Sant
Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology (S.L.I.E.T), Sangrur (Punjab) India in 2009 and
M. Tech. Degree in Instrumentation & Control Engineering from Sant Longowal Institute of Engi-
neering& Technology (S.L.I.E.T), Sangrur (Punjab) India in 2011. He is working as an Assistant
Professor in the Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Galgotia College of Engineer-
ing & Technology (GCET), Grater Noida (UP) India. Currently, he is a doctoral research scholar in
the Department of Electrical Engineering, Galgotias University, Grater Noida (UP) India. His field
of interest includes Renewable Energy, Image processing and soft computing.

Vision based solar tracking system for efficient energy harvesting (Kanhaiya Kumar)
1438 ❒ ISSN: 2088-8694

Lokesh Varshney received B. E. degree in electrical engineering from Shri G. S. Institute of Tech-
nology and Science, Indore (MP), India in 2004 and M. Tech. degree with specialization in Electrical
Machines and Drives from Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi (UP), India in 2009, and
the Ph. D. degree with specialization in electrical machines and drives in the department of Electri-
cal Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi (UP) India. His research interest
includes electrical machines and drives, self excited induction generator, MATLAB / Simulink, relia-
bility engineering and renewable energy systems. He has published many papers in the peer reviewed
international journals and reputed conference proceedings.

A. Ambikapathy is currently a Professor with the department of Electrical & Electronics Engineer-
ing, Galgotia College of Engineering & Technology (GCET), Grater Noida (UP) India. She holds
PhD degree in the field of Renewable Energy. Having 18 years of teaching experience in reputed
origination with authored National level Engineering books in the field of Electrical Engineering and
edited book from International publishers. She has Patents, published many research papers in differ-
ent reputed Journals & working in various govt and non govt funded projects. Her filed of interests
are Power system, Control system, AI, renewable Energy, Power converters.

Inayat Ali pursuing his B.Tech degree in in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) department
from Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology (GCET) , Greater Noida (UP) India. Her field
of interest includes Renewable Energy, Image Processing, and Soft Computing

Ashish Rajput pursuing his B.Tech degree in in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) de-
partment from Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology (GCET) , Greater Noida (UP) India.
Her field of interest includes Renewable Energy, Image Processing, and Soft Computing

Anant Bhatnagar pursuing his B.Tech degree in in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE)
department from Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology (GCET) , Greater Noida (UP)
India. Her field of interest includes Renewable Energy, Image Processing, and Soft Computing

Sajal Omar pursuing his B.Tech degree in in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) depart-
ment from Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology (GCET) , Greater Noida (UP) India.
Her field of interest includes Renewable Energy, Image Processing, and Soft Computing

Int J Pow Elec & Dri Syst, Vol. 12, No. 3, September 2021 : 1431 – 1438