Proceedings of the 7th Asian Control Conference,
2
Hong Kong, China, August 27-29, 2009
A Solar Panels Automatic Tracking System Based on OMRON PLC
Weiping Luo, Wuhan University of Science and Engineering,
College of Electronics & Information Engineering
Abstract—Aiming at low density of solar energy, intermittent
of solar ray, changing light intensity and direction with time, the
paper studies maximum power point of photovoltaic module
based on OMRON PLC. The system designed the hardware and
software, and the hardware included PLC I/O configuration,
the signal processing unit, the comparison circuit of
photosensitive resistance for detecting ray strength,
photovoltaic modules and switch power supply; and the
software included PLC programs for monitoring, and PC
programs for monitoring and handling data. The photovoltaic
module in the system can track the sun simultaneously, then the
maximum sun energy will be obtained, which has effectively
improved the utilization ratio of solar energy and efficiency of
photovoltaic power generation system, and has reduced the cost
of grid-connected PV power generation with significances of
theories research and application values of applications
promotion.
I. INTRODUCTION
I N recent years, solar energy is a new development way with
utilization, and is an ideal green energy with the strategy of
sustainable development. Inexhaustible solar energy and its
environmental advantages at home and abroad have become
one of the most promising new energy[1]. Interconnected
electric power generation of photovoltaic(PV) solar power is
the most important application. However, there are some
problems about a low density of solar energy, intermittent of
solar ray, changing light intensity and direction with time,
which put forward higher requirements about devices of
collecting and using solar energy. At present, a lot of solar
cell panel arrays are basically been fixed and can not make
full use of solar energy resources, so power generation
efficiency is lower[2]. If vertical direction can always be kept
between solar cell panels and light, in order to maximize the
solar energy received, which it can take full advantage of
abundant solar energy resources. According to experiments
about solar power generation, under the same conditions, the
generating power of tracking automatically power generation
equipment increases about 35% than fixed ones, power
generation equipment to increase about 35%[3]. As a result, it
is a very valuable research about designing and developing
control system of tracking automatically sun light.
The project researched a new sun light tracking
The Protect is Supported by Hubei Provincial Department of Education
(D20081705).
Weiping luo Author is with Wuhan University of Science and Engineering,
College of Electronics & Information Engineering. Wuhan, China, 430073.
phone: 86-027-62163433. (e-mail: cwp8@yahoo.cn)
978-89-956056-9-1/09/©2009 ACA
SaB2.
automatically system based on programmable logic controller
PLC. It not only can automatically adjust the orientation of
the solar cell panels according to sun light direction, but also
can member and correct automatically coordinate location
with different time during tacking, without human
intervention. It fits particularly for more complicated changes
in weather and unattended state with simple structure and
lower cost, and improves effectively the utilization rate of
solar energy, and has better spread value and market
applications prospect. In this study, the research foundation
and platform are based on Ⅰ and Ⅱ projects of “State
Ministry of Science and Technology of Grid-connected PV
Demonstration Projects” in our university, and output for the
solar power generation is 75kWp.
II. COMPOSITION AND PRINCIPLE OF AUTO-TRACKING
SYSTEM
The auto-tracking control system based on solar cell panels
was composed by the PLC MCU, sensors and signal
processing units, photovoltaic modules, electromagnetic and
mechanical motion control modules and power supply
modules. The block diagram of the system is shown in Fig. 1.
analog input 1 signal
sensor SB1 SB2
analog input 2 processing unit
switching 24V(DC)
PV PLC
panel
power supply
DC motor 44V(DC)
analog output Q0
M relay cell
analog output Q1
Fig.1 The composition system block-diagram
It is used to detect the sunlight strength to photosensitive
detecting heads(sensors) of solar PV generation power
equipment in auto-tracking system. When a straggling
parameter occurred, PLC control unit(microcontroller)
followed straggling parameter signal through comparing with
differential voltage analog variable, and carried out
operations, comparison and issued instructions, in order that
the electric actuator operated, which rotation-driven
mechanical device drove the entire device rotation, and
adjusted straggling parameter in order to ensure that PV
panels are perpendicular to the sunlight to sunlight tracked
automatically. Solar cell square arrays under sunlight
radiation generate photovoltaic power, and charge to battery
through the controller. There is an automatic protection
circuit to start automatically when the wind reaches 8, while
1611
7th ASCC, Hong Kong, China, Aug. 27-29, 2009 SaB2.2

cutting off the sunlight tracking system for resetting rapidly reset button forward movement output
PV panels, on the contrary, when wind is down, 10 minutes is position sensor of PV panel
delayed, cancel windbreaker system and restore tracking. It is backward movement output
mandatory forward button
collected to fixing sunlight intensity, tracking sunlight, OMRON
mandatory backward button
battery temperature and nature wind speed by computer, and PLC memory overflow indication
charging and discharging batteries are controlled through photoelectric sensor 1
grading. photoelectric sensor 2 PC RS-232 interface

There are two types of automatic and manual control

Fig.2 PLC hardware I/O configuration
modes in system, control buttons SB1 and SB2 are for manual
operation, Q0 or Q1 through PLC output were connected and relative method of sunlight strength to photoresistance
respectively to two relay coils to control the PV panels of the for detect sunlight strength[4]. After comparing and
two sport directions of frontal and reverse surfaces. Under screening to four methods, it is thought that timing method is
automatic operation model, PLC compared with two input simpler, but the precision of control system is inferior due to
analog parameters from signal processing units first, then season impact; and coordinates method has the complexity of
made a decision on output Q0 or Q1. the control circuit though the precision of control system is
A. Programmable Logic Controller PLC Unit superior; and relative method of sunlight strength makes the
utilization efficiency of solar energy not be optimal; relative
Tracking controller is used to programmable logic
method of sunlight strength to photoresistance has achieved
controller PLC, it is a system core of the tracking system of
the simplest hardware circuit and the maximum utilization
PV panel, at the same time, is the focus of research system.
efficiency of solar energy. For the reasons, relative method of
The α series PLC produced by OMRON is used to MCU in
sunlight strength to photoresistance was chosen to project of
recent years, the machine type is medium-sized between
the system detection for superior precision of control system
large-sized and small-sized, the largest control I/O points are
and achieved easily circuit. photosensitive detecting
1184 points. The C200HX-CPU43-E with its own
heads(sensors) was the optical signal receiver of solar panels
programming and RS-232C ports is used for the central
in tracking system, and made used of principle that resistance
processing unit(CPU) in the application, and the CPU has a
value to photoresistance changes with different sunlight
abundant programmable functions, so programming is very
strength, and two duplicate photoresistances were placed
convenient; The C200H-ID212 is used for switch input
respectively downside edges on the East and West
module; The C200H-OC225 is used for switch output unit;
orientations of the same solar panels. When sunlight
The telecommunication is finished with the host
exposured vertically solar panels, the two duplicate
computer(PC) through C200HW-COM06-E with RS232C
photoresistances received the same sunlight strength, so their
and RS-422/485 inserted the CPU slot, and there is a high
resistances values were fully equal, electromotor did not
data transmission speed, a small series mode interference and
rotate at this time. When there was an angular separation
transmission distance up to 500m because balanced-sent
between sunlight orientation and vertical direction to solar
model is used through RS-422 interface. Specially, there are
panels, the resistances values of photoresistances receiving
the advantages of centralized control through PLC fieldbus to
sunlight more reduced to drive electromotor rotating, till
the tracking system of PV batteries arrays of series-parallel
sunlight strength of the two duplicate photoresistances were
connection synchronization network. After researching and
equal. The grade of control sensitivity impacted directly on
optimizing the design, tracking controller has the advantages
level of tracking accuracy, The advantages of relative method
of high tracking accuracy, wide operating range and returning
of sunlight strength to photoresistance lied in accurate control
automatically through comparing with differential voltage
and circuit design to achieve easily. After experimental
analog variable. The limit position device has an utmost
studies, lightweight, aesthetic, and corrosion-resistant
position of the East and the West, the upper and the lower
aluminum alloy materials was chosen, and photoelectricity
four position. The devices were ensured work reliably after
receiving tube was located accurately through rigorous
using dual limit control structure, that is, control signals limit
calculation in order to ensure its detection sensitivity.
and motor drive limit. Fig. 2 shows the PLC I/O hardware
As shown in Fig. 3 is the overhead view drawing of
configuration.
photoelectricity detecting circuit in solar photovoltaic
B. Sensors Detecting And Signal Processing Unit locating device, and it was consist on nine photoelectricity
With different observation location and observation time, transistors, that is, one was center and the other were circle
the sunlight direction is different, therefore, sun’s position around. The top center of the cylinder opened the same
must be tested and located first if sunlight needs be tracked. diameter hole with photodiode so that sunlight passed. The
There are four methods of timing method, coordinates whole photoelectric detection devices were installed on the
method, relative method of sunlight strength to solar panels solar PV panels, and photodiode detection surface is parallel
to the PV panels. The photodiode was also installed in

1612
7th ASCC, Hong Kong, China, Aug. 27-29, 2009
no-hiding place outside cylinder, and the face was the same
with photodiode inside cylinder in order to detect
environmental brightness, and constitute a comparison circuit
on photodiodes and transporting circuitry inside cylinder.
When photodiodes inside cylinder have not irradiated by
sunlight, transporting circuitry will output low level linked to
PLC input to detecting, and each photodiode inside cylinder
was input to PLC. So it can detect the sunlight face to
determine which motor rotated and which direction rotated to.
In addition, in order to increase the photodiode detection
scope, according to actual requirement, photodiodes could
also been arranged in a circle of close photodiode, the
photodiodes on outer ring were parallel with inner ring
photodiodes on corresponding location.
D7 D8
D9
D6
D1
D2
D5
D4 D3
Fig.3 Photoelectric detecting arrange
Fig. 4 shows the signal processing unit circuit, when the
intensity of sunlight irradiated increased, photoresistance
value decreased, and voltage of 1k variable resistor increased,
thus the voltage signal was produced relating to sunlight
irradiation intensity directly. The output signals produced by
two sensors were linked with PLC analog input, and two
analog signals were compared and operated so as to output
correct signal, in order to drive electromagnetic mechanism
of solar panels in tracking system.
C. Photovoltaic(PV) Modules
The photovoltaic modules used PV intelligent power
modules PV-IPM(PM50B4LA060) of Mitsubishi, and it’s
main technical parameters have peak power 85W, and the
optimal working voltage 17.5V, these parameters were tested
under the standard experimental condition(sunlight intensity
1,000W/m3, solar panels temperature 25℃, air quality 1.5).
D. Electromagnetic Mechanical Motion Control Modules
The function of putting down sail automatically for
anti-wind is to ensure to track power generation devices, and
1613
SaB2.2
to start up the anti-wind system when the wind power reaches
a certain intensity, to adjust automatically the extent to
prevention from wind, and to avoid equipment bad by wind.
After the experiment studies, anti-wind sensors used
Germany imported products, and the work mode of anti-wind
system had priority, once it was started, the system would cut
off the tracking solar system to put down sail automatically.
Mechanical transmission gear is the implementation
mechanism for tracking control system, and not only bear the
weight and wind power of the device, but also affect directly
the accuracy of the whole machine. After research, horizontal
driving used motor, and harmonics reducer and two-stage
worm wheel and worm gear reducer. The angle of altitude
driving used motor, and harmonics reducer and ball screws in
order to ensure machining accuracy and transmission
efficiency.
E. System Power Module
Power circuit used switching power design with
characteristics of high efficiency and low loss. The chip
L4960 used to switch could provide 5.1~40V output voltage
and 2.5A output current. Through adjusting the resistance,
which produced 12~24V DC voltage, 24V(DC) for the PLC
power, 44V(DC) is output directly from bridge rectifier in
order to provide to DC motor. If the inverter for photovoltaic
systems tracking system was used, 220V(AC) can be taken
directly from the photovoltaic inverter power.
III. SOFTWARE DESIGN OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM
The software design of grid-connected network
photovoltaic power generation system used to modularization
design, including two main parts of PLC control and
monitoring programs, PC monitoring and data processing
programs.
A. PLC control and monitoring programs
PLC control statements were the important constituent of
entire solar panel tracking system, and the software
programming used OMRON’s CX-Programmer 7.1, CX-P
ladder diagram programming software supports for users to
full Chinese operating environment from operating interface
to program notes, and there are functions of comprehensive
search and frequent standard input, and created a high
efficient programming operating environment for users.
Through linking PC’s RS-232C and PLC’s RS-232C, the
PLC was monitored data in real-time, was modified and
edited on-line, and so on, and the programs were transferred
to PLC and the data were read from PLC conveniently. PLC
completed the following major tasks:
(1)PLC controlled the movement in tracking system, and
control logic is as shown in Fig. 5.
(2)The function of subroutine is to copy states of PLC
input and output to the specific memory, known as the mark
region, and PC monitoring programs could read directly
7th ASCC, Hong Kong, China, Aug. 27-29, 2009
status of input and output from the memory at any time.
(3)The sampling data stored. It was a process of sampling
and storing online, and read the photoresistance value per
hour. Data sampling were finished during the day, and were
stopped in the evening until sunrise the next day. Sampling
time (hour and minute) is stored in a different matrix memory,
then is displayed on the screen in the PC. When RAM
memory was full, it would no longer store data until the reset
operating cleared the stored data. The data sampling were
programmed through sequential functioning chart(SFC), the
algorithm was shown in Fig. 6.
B. PC monitoring and data processing programs
The visual basic 6.0 of object-oriented high-level
programming language was used to achieve the following
functions:
(1)Detecting automatically RS232 serial port of PC and
connection state of PLC.
(2)Monitoring systems. It determined the actual location
and movement orientation of photovoltaic modular, and
showed photoresistance reading and the memory overflow
mark.
(3)The mandatory forward and backward movements of
modulars. Through the program interface, the instruction was
issued to control PLC. If the system location appeared
abnormality, solar panels could be forced to recovery initial
state in accordance with the operation requirements.
(4)Setting up display system. The system showed
institution stored in the PLC memory in the PV tracking
system, such as forward and backward movement limits, the
sunlight darkness limit, the forward and backward stop limits,
1614
SaB2.2
and modifying directly the parameters set.
IV. CONCLUSION
Based on OMRON PLC, the study used relative method of
sunlight strength to photoresistance and established a model
of automatic tracking system to keep vertical between solar
panels and sunlight. The system could be used not only
independent photovoltaic power generation, but also applied
to series and parallel network in grid-connected PV power
generation(fieldbus controlling). It improved the utilization
rate of solar energy and efficiency of photovoltaic power
generation system to study the system of solar panels tracking
sunlight automatically, and has increased the output power of
power generation yearly, and has reduced costs of the
grid-connected PV power generation in overall, and meet the
developing demand of building environment-friendly and
energy-saving social with higher economic returns and better
social impact, thus have the research meanings in theory and
promotion prospects in application.
REFERENCES
[1] Salah Abdallah. Two axes sun-tracking system with PLC control[J].
Energy Conversion and Management, 2004, 45: 1931-1939.
[2] Behzad Moshiri, Farzan Rashidi. Self-tuning Based Fuzzy PID
Controllers: Application to Control of Nonlinear HVAC Systems.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 2004:217.
[3] Li Yi. Technical Digest of the International PVSEC-14[C]. p.537,
Bangkok, Thailand, 2004.
[4] Liu Zuming etc. Technical Digest of the International PVSEC-14[C].
Bangkok, Thailand, 2004: 1055.
[5] Xu Honghua etc. Technical Digest of the International PVSEC-14[C].
Bangkok, Thailand, 2004:1081.
[6] Arnulf Jager-Waldau. PV Status Report 2003[R]. Europe an
Commission Joint Research Center, 2003.
[7] Arnulf Jager-Waldau. PV Status Report 2004[R]. European
Commission Joint Research Center, 2004.
[8] Shi Dinghuan. Proceeding of 15thInternational Photovoltaic Science
and Engineering Conference[C]. Shanghai, China, 2005.
[9] ZHANG Bo-quan, YANG Yi-min. Status and trend of wind &
photovoltaic power development [J], Electric Power, 2006, 39(6):
65-69.
[10] DUFO-LOPEZ R, BERNAL-AGUSTIN J L. Design and control
strategies of PV-diesel systems using genetic algorithms[J], Solar
Energy, 2005(79): 33-46.