Solar Energy Measurement System with Multiple Data Acquisition

Abstract

The major objective of this work is advancing the existing solar power generation technique by the measurement of different solar cell parameters with the help of different sensors. This technique is commonly known as data acquisition .For monitoring the sunlight we are using a solar panel which will also fulfill our power requirements. The authors are particularly emphasizing on the basic parameters of the solar panel such as light intensity, voltage, current, and most importantly the temperature. With the help of a microcontroller of PIC16F8 family, the data acquisition technique can be easily done. The authors are using different sensors for measuring different parameters. The sensor used for measuring the light intensity is an LDR which a light dependent resistor and voltage can be simply measured by using voltage division principle, and we can design one circuit also for keeping the track of the current. The temperature is similarly measured using one temperature sensor. The data acquired from all the sensors are displayed on a 16×2 LCD which is interfaced with the microcontroller. The authors have used a regulated 5 V dc for powering the circuit. The power supply circuit is formed using a step down transformer 230/12 V, the stepped down 12 V voltage is converted to dc using a bridge rectifier. For eliminating the ripples a capacitor is used as a filter, and to regulate this voltage we have simply used one voltage regulator. The microcontroller is fed a regulated 5 V supply for its operation.

Keywords: Solar energy, data acquisition, embedded system, LCD

Cite this Article

Hirak Barua, Nituraj Gogoi. Solar Energy Measurement System with Multiple Data Acquisition. Journal of Instrumentation Technology and Innovation. 2015; 5(3): 37–42p.