Arduino based solar street light

Arduino Based Solar
Street Light

http://www.edgefxkits.com/
Introduction
Arduino Based Solar Street
Light
The project is designed for LED based street lights with auto
intensity control by an Arduino board using solar power from
photovoltaic cells. As awareness for solar energy is increasing,
more and more individuals and institutions are opting for solar
energy. Photovoltaic panels are used for charging batteries by
converting the sunlight into electricity. A charge controller
circuit is used to control the charging.

Block Diagram
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Hardware Requirements
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 Arduino board
 White LEDs
 MOSFET
 Battery
 ATmega AVR series Microcontroller
 Regulator
 Solar Panel.

Software Requirements
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 Arduino Software
 Language: Arduino Programming Language

Functional block diagram with explanation of
each Block
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Solar Panel:
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 A solar panel is a collection of solar cells. The solar panel converts the
solar energy into electrical energy.
 Output of the solar panel is its power which is measured in terms of Watts
or Kilo watts. Solar power uses multiple reflectors to collect more sun’s
thermal energy.
 Thermal energy collected through the day to perform different operations.
 Performance of the solar panel depends on a number of factors like
climate, conditions of the sky, orientation of the panel, intensity and
duration of sunlight and its wiring connections.

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Charge controller circuit:
 If the battery voltage is below 12V, then the current from LM317 IC
flows to the battery.
 The current flow to the battery stops when the battery voltage rises
to 13.5V. Hence charge controller circuit will prevent the battery to
flow high current through it.

Rechargeable Battery:
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 A rechargeable battery, storage, secondary battery or accumulator is a
type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load,
and recharged many times, while a non-rechargeable or primary battery
is supplied fully charged, and discarded once discharged.
 Several different combinations of electrode materials and electrolytes
are used, including lead–acid, nickel cadmium (NiCd), nickel metal
hydride (Ni-MH), lithium ion (Li-ion), and lithium ion polymer (Li-ion
polymer).

Voltage Divider circuit:
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 A voltage divider is a simple circuit which turns a large voltage into a
smaller one.
 Using just two series resistors and an input voltage, we can create an
output voltage that is a fraction of the input.
 Voltage dividers are one of the most fundamental circuits in electronics
equation of circuit.

Arduino UNO:
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 Micro-controller will control the intensity of light at different time
slots.
 Micro controller circuit will generate PWM waves at a particular time
using RTC (Real Time Clock) these system provide sets of digital and
analog I/O pins that can be interfaced to the street light circuit.
 Operating voltage of Arduino UNO is 5v so that we will convert 12v
from Battery to 5v.

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Solar Panel
 Expose the cell to light, and the energy from each photon (light
particle) hitting the silicon, will liberate an electron and a
corresponding hole.
 If this happens within range of the electric field’s influence, the
electrons will be sent to the N side and the holes to the P one,
resulting in yet further disruption of electrical neutrality

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Solar Panel
 This flow of electrons is a current; the electrical field in the cell
causes a voltage and the product of these two is power

Light Dependent Resistor
(LDR) :
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 Light dependent resistor is used to detect change in light intensity or
as a light sensor. LDR is basically a variable resistor.
 LDR resistance changes with the change in intensity of light. If
intensity of light falling on LDR is high, LDR will have low resistance.
 When intensity of light decreases, LDR offer high resistance. Hence
there is a inverse relationship between intensity of light and resistance
of LDR.

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 The LDR is a resistor, and its resistance varies according to the amount of
light falling on its surface.
Light Dependent Resistor (LDR):

Circuit Diagram Of Light Sensor And Street Light
Control Using Arduino
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Relay :
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 In this project, relay is used to provide isolation between low voltage
circuitry and high voltage circuitry.
 Arduino is also used to provide control signal to relay whenever intensity
of light falls below a certain level.
 Control signal is generated from pin 13 of Arduino which is used as a
output pin. Transistor is used as a switch here.
 If you don’t know how to use input or output pins of Arduino UNO R3,
read following article :

Working Principle
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 Photovoltaic panels are used for charging batteries by converting the
sunlight into electricity.
 A charge controller circuit is used to control the charging. Intensity of
street lights is required to be kept high during night.
 The Solar Street Lights work on the principle of the photovoltaic cell or
solar cell.
 The solar cell converts solar energy to the electrical energy which is
stored in battery.

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 The solar lamp draws the current from this battery and it requires no other
wiring. The solar street lights use solar energy, a form of renewable
energy.
 The project design is developed using solar panel and a rechargeable
battery.
 The project is designed for LED based street lights with scheduled ON time
control by an Arduino board using solar power from photovoltaic cells and
the rechargeable battery.
Working Principle

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Through this system, the following result can be observed on
the streets:
 Greater visibility of the streets on the scheduled time.
Turning OFF of the streetlights during dawn wherein least
travelers can be noticed.
Working Principle

Advantages:
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 Solar street lights are independent of the utility grid. Hence, the
operation costs are minimized.
 Solar street lights require much less maintenance compared to
conventional street lights.
 Since external wires are eliminated, risk of accidents is minimized.
 This is a non-polluting source of electricity.
 Separate parts of solar system can be easily carried to the remote areas.

Disadvantages:
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 Initial investment is higher compared to conventional street lights.
 Risk of theft is higher as equipment costs are comparatively higher.
 Snow or dust, combined with moisture can accumulate on horizontal pv-
panels and reduce or even stop energy production.
 Rechargeable batteries will need to be replaced several times over the
lifetime of the fixtures adding to the total lifetime cost of the light.
 The batteries have to be replaced from time to time.

Applications:
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 Solar Street Lighting System is an ideal lighting system for Roads, Yards,
Residential Colonies, Townships, Corporate Offices, Hospitals,
Educational Institutions and Rural Electrification.
 To be able to design a device that would add safety in dark areas.
 To be able to design an energy wise or efficient streetlight.
 To be able to promote the use of solar power in any project as a source
of energy during daytime and sunny days.

Conclusion
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 We have been discussing about solar street light system
using Arduino. It is to save the energy, an automatic street
light control is used to control the street lights (Turn on and
off based on the light). It can also be interfaced to a LDR to
follow the switching operation precisely.

Arduino based solar street light

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