SOLAR POWERED ROVER AND

OBSTACLE DETECTOR

Group Members:
Aishwary Mandal
Anjna Sinha
Jayshree Toppo
EC 8th SEM

INTRODUCTION
Solar power is the term for using the sun's energy to
power a device or an electrical system. Solar panels are
made up of a grid of solar cells.
The eco-friendly fuels have not been produced in a large
scale for mass production yet. The nuclear power has not
harnessed in such a way that it can be used in a small
social car.
Solar Powered Vehicle is the future.
Highly efficient solar panels can be established on the
roof and the bonnet of a car. It will provide a gentle
speed.

Solar powered vehicle is an Alternative Energy Vehicle.

The solar vehicle is a step in saving these non renewable
sources of energy.
The basic principle of solar car is to use energy that is stored
in a battery during and after charging it from a solar panel.
The charged batteries are used to drive the motor which
serves here as an engine and moves the vehicle in reverse or
forward direction.
RF control (often abbreviated to R/C or simply RC) is the use
of radio signals to remotely control a device. The term is used
frequently to refer to the control of model vehicles from a
handheld radio transmitter.
Industrial, military, and scientific research organizations
make use of radio-controlled vehicles as well.

OBJECTIVE
To

run a solar powered remote controlled

vehicle. To run the vehicle in sunlight region as
well as in shadow region.

To

detect the obstacle coming in the way of the

vehicle, front as well as back.

MAIN COMPONENTS USED

The main components used in the project are:
Microcontroller AT89S52
RF Decoder-HT12D
RF Encoder-HT12E
Two H-bridges
RF Receiver
Motor Driver (L298N)
Relay Switching Circuit
Obstacle detector

MICROCONTROLLER AT89S52

A microcontroller is a small computer on a

single integrated circuit containing a processor core,
memory, and programmable input/output peripherals.

Microcontroller used is AT89S52 of ATMEL.

The AT89S52 is a low-power, high-performance CMOS

8-bit microcontroller with 4K bytes of In-System
Programmable Flash memory.

AT89S52 is a Low-power, high-performance CMOS 8-bit

microcontroller with 4KB of ISP flash memory.
This microcontroller uses Atmel high-density, nonvolatile
memory technology and is compatible with the industrystandard 80C51 instruction set and pinout.
On-chip flash allows program memory to be reprogrammed
in-system or by a conventional nonvolatile memory
programmer.
By combining a versatile 8-bit CPU with in-system
programmable Flash on a monolithic chip, the Atmel
AT89S52 is a powerful microcontroller which provides a
highly-flexible and cost-effective solution to many embedded
control applications.

RF MODULE
An RF module (radio frequency module) is a (usually)
small electronic circuit used to transmit and/or receive
radio signals on one of a number of carrier frequencies.
It operates on Radio Frequency.
The corresponding frequency range varies between 30
kHz & 300 GHz.
In this RF system, the digital data is represented as
variations in the amplitude of carrier wave.
This kind of modulation is known as Amplitude Shift
Keying (ASK).

Transmission through RF is better than IR (infrared)

because of many reasons.
Firstly, signals through RF can travel through larger
distances making it suitable for long range applications.
Also, while IR mostly operates in line-of-sight mode, RF
signals can travel even when there is an obstruction
between transmitter & receiver.
Next, RF transmission is more strong and reliable than IR
transmission.
RF communication uses a specific frequency unlike IR
signals which are affected by other IR emitting sources.
This RF module comprises of an RF Transmitter and an RF
Receiver.

MOTOR DRIVER (L298N)

It is a high voltage, high current dual full-bridge driver
designed to accept standard TTL logic levels and drive
inductive loads such as relays, solenoids, DC and
stepping motors.
Two enable inputs are provided to enable or disable the
device independently of the input signals.
The emitters of the lower transistors of each bridge are
connected together and the corresponding external
terminal can be used for the connection of an external
sensing resistor.
An additional supply input is provided so that the logic
works at a lower voltage.

FEATURES
Operating supply voltage of up to 46V
4.5-7VDC logic supply voltage
Total DC current of up to 4A
Low saturation voltage
Over-temperature protection
Logical 0 input up to 1.5V (high-noise immunity)

SOLAR POWERED ROVER

A solar tracker is a device that orients a payload toward
the sun. Payloads can be photovoltaic panels, reflectors,
lenses or other optical devices.
In flat-panel photovoltaic (PV) applications, trackers are
used to minimize the angle of incidence between the
incoming sunlight and a photovoltaic panel.
This increases the amount of energy produced from a
fixed amount of installed power generating capacity.
Tracking systems are found in all concentrator
applications because such systems do not produce energy
unless pointed at the sun.

Sunlight has two components, the "direct beam" that carries

about 90% of the solar energy, and the "diffuse sunlight" that
carries the remainder - the diffuse portion is the blue sky on
a clear day and increases proportionately on cloudy days.
As the majority of the energy is in the direct beam,
maximizing collection requires the sun to be visible to the
panels as long as possible.
A solar panel in a fixed orientation between the dawn and
sunset extremes will see a motion of 75 degrees to either
side, and thus, according to the table above, will lose 75% of
the energy in the morning and evening.

RELAY SWITCHING CIRCUIT

It works on the principle that when the rover is in the
sunlight it utilizes the solar panel and as soon as the
rover moves away from the sunlight it switches
automatically to the relays and the battery starts its
functioning.
That is why this dual concept of solar panel and battery
is used.
The relay switching circuit and the battery is very useful
like when there is no sunlight and we have to use the
rover then at that time the battery will start its operation.
This switching between the relay and the solar panel will
continue every time the rover will move in sunlight and
in darkness.

Relay is one of the most important electromechanical

devices highly used in industrial applications specifically in
automation.
A relay is used for electronic to electrical interfacing i.e. it
is used to switch on or off electrical circuits operating at
high AC voltage using a low DC control voltage.
A relay generally has two parts, a coil which operates at the
rated DC voltage and a mechanically movable switch.
Relays can "control" larger voltages and amperes by having
an amplifying effect because a small voltage applied to a
relays coil can result in a large voltage being switched by
the contacts.

OBSTACLE DETECTOR
In this obstacle detector circuit we have used an IR LED,
a Photodiode and a sensor.
Sensor is used so that when the rover detects any
obstacle in its path it senses the obstacle and sends a
signal in the form of a signal and the buzzer makes a
buzzing sound so as to alert the user about the obstacle
that has been detected.
Normally we have only a unidirectional rover but in this
project we will be using 2 obstacle detectors.

The first one will sense the obstacle and the buzzer will blow
indicating about the obstacle but what if the rover gets stuck
at some point which it cant surpass so for this purpose the
second obstacle detector has been used so that when a wall or
a stone comes in the path of the rover and it cannot surpass it
so automatically it will start moving in the backward direction
just as we have seen the movement of an earthworm.
When the rover will move from sunlight region to shadow
region, then the relay will play its switching role and the
source will switch from solar panel to battery and make the
continuous movement of the rover.
When and object comes in front or at the back of the rover
then it is been detected by the obstacle detector and it will
convey the message of detection by glowing of LED and with
a noisy sound from the buzzer.

FUTURE SCOPE
There is a need to save the nonrenewable source of
energy i.e., the fuel which is soon going to get exhausted
due to the rigorous use of the fuel and also due to the
increase in population.
So an alternative source of energy has to be found out
and used which is cheap and cost effective so what else
than solar power which is the future of the generations to
come.
Solar power is being used for generating electricity to
lighten our homes and then slowly vehicles will also
come that will use the solar power for driving their
mopeds and cars or other heavy motor vehicles.

APPLICATIONS

1.
2.
3.
4.

The solar powered rover and obstacle detector is used for

the following purposes:
Spying
Navigation
Space Missions
Heavy and light motor vehicles

REFERENCES
Wikipedia
www.enggjournals.com
www.coregravity.com
www.engineersgarage.com
Electronics for you
Electrosome.com
Telecommunications and electronics project