Here we provide solutions to the common problems faced by people who installed solar panels. Also as an enhancement we provide real time monitoring system to the panels so that the current output from the panels can be monitored by using a mobile application. The lack of sunlight consumption is addressed through this solution.

1. Automated solar panel with
cooling, Self-cleaning & Real
time monitoring
FC-2

2. Problem Statement
 With the increasing demand for renewable energy, solar (photovoltaic technology)energy is
highly dependable and Nowadays Most of the houses and companies use solar panels.
 But there are certain limitations faced by the solar panels:-
 > unable to track the sunlight.
 > overheating of the cells.
 > accumulation of dust and dirt on the panel.
 > unable to measure the amount of energy produced.
 Etc.. Are some of such problems.

3. Solution 1 – AUTOMATED SOLAR PANEL
This project presents an open hardware/software test bench for tracker. The proposed prototype is based on a dual-
axis solar tracker controlled with adruino unowhich is an open-source prototyping platform based on easy-to-use
hardware and software. The solar tracker can be controlled automatically with the help of Light Dependent Resistor
(LDR) sensors.
It is based on a solar tracker that can rotate automatically to track the sun with the help of 4 LDR sensors and 2
servo motors (SM1 and SM2) as shown in the figure.

4. The value measured by the LDRs are used to control the servo
-motors. According to the data obtained from the LDRs, servo-motors rotates and tracks the sun. The rotation
movements occur in 2 axes, according to the daily sun’s path and in elevation from south to north according to
the seasonal sun’s path as shown in the figure.

5. Solution 2 - COOLING SYSTEM
This project also proposes a cooling mechanism for Solar Panel. 50% of a day the solar Panel is exposed to
the hot sun, If the solar panel get too hot they can in fact overheat and causes damage to the cells. So when
the solar panel overheats, its efficiency also drops drastically. Moreover cleaning of dust from the surface of
the panel is also possible through this. One of such cooling system is shown in the figure. A simple frame of
PVC pipes are used. Through which water is brought and sprayed to the surface of the panel using a water
sprinkler. Water is pumped through a 12v dc pump which can be operated manually.

6. Solution 3 – SMART SOLAR PANEL CLEANING
SYSTEM
With the increasing demand for renewable energy, solar photovoltaic technology is being a topic of concern.
However, due to the accumulation of dust and dirt over the panel surface, the performance of the photovoltaic
system degrades to a noticeable number. This project presents the design and fabrication of a prototype able
to clean the panel surface.
The prototype of this system comprises of a cleaning robot and a cloud interface: the cleaning robot is mobile
and able to clean the entire solar array back and forth, with it’s separately driven cleaning rotatory brush. The
solar panel can be cleaned in every 24 hour time period.

7. Solution 4 – REAL TIME MONITORING
The output voltage and current obtained from the solar panel can be monitored using mobile app.
For this we use Node MCU module.(figure is shown below)
The output of the panel is step down ( by using step down transformer) and connected with the
Node MCU module. Which can be sent to the mobile app over Wi-Fi. The app shows the current
and voltage output from the solar panel every time. Main layout of the mobile application is shown
in the figure:-

8. Project includes:-
 Fully automated sun tracking solar panel.
 Automated cooling system.
 Automated cleaning system.
 Real time monitoring mobile application.

9. SEP
2020
IDEA
PRESENTATION
OCT
2020
REAL TIME
SURVEY
JAN
2021
THEORY
WORK ON THE
TOPIC
APR
2021
PROTOTYPE
MAY
2021
FINAL
PRODUCT
2021-
FUTURE
DEVELOPMEN
TS
MILESTONES

10. Impact
 Automatically tracking the sun improves the efficiency of the panel.
 Automatic cooling system improves efficiency and also increases the life
span of the panel.
 Automatic cleaning system protects the surface of the panel from dust and
dirt.
 Real time monitoring helps to track the output from the solar panel using
mobile application.

11. CONCLUSION
Through this project we are proposing certain ideas that will increase the efficiency of the solar panels.
Nowadays most of buildings depend upon the solar energy. So it is necessary to maintain the solar panels
without any damage because replacing or servicing a single panel itself is very costly. It is also important to
get maximum energy from the solar panels. T The amount of energy produced from the panel can be
increased by automatically tracking the sunlight. Also, any kind of dust or dirt on the surface of the panel
can be reduced by the automatic cleaning mechanism. Damaging of the cells through overheating can be
avoided by automatic cooling system. Finally we are able to monitor the output from the Solar panel 24
hours (real time monitoring) via our mobile application. So as a conclusion by this project some of the
problems faced by the solar panels can be overcome and limitations are rectified.