Self-powered solar data logger using ATmega32

Introduction:
My project is a self-powered solar data logger. Put out in the sunlight, it will measure the light level and log this to memory to be later downloaded to a computer. The system is powered by a small solar panel and battery.
Summary:
The solar logger I built uses a photodiode to measure the solar insolation level. It converts the analog signal from the photodiode to a digital value that is stored in flash memory. Every time the system logs a data point, it also logs the time and date so that the data can be analyzed in the future. The logged data is available for a user to download to a computer for analysis.
solar data logger
While the system is logging, real time data is displayed on a small LCD screen as well as information about the battery voltage, the length of time the system has been logging and the length of time it can continue to log before running out of memory.
The logger has a dedicated solar charging system to provide the needed power. A very simple charge controller regulates charging of a small, sealed gel-cell lead-acid battery by a small solar panel. This charge controller is a simple on-off switch that disconnects the PV panel when the battery voltage rises too high.
The user sets the time and date each time the system is reset as well as the frequency with which data is stored. The user can also clear the memory or continue appending data to the previously logged data and extract logged data to a computer for analysis.
High level design:
Rationale and sources of project idea:
There are many reasons for logging solar insolation data for solar electric systems. When planning to install a solar electric power system, one must be able to predict the power output in order to determine the financial costs and benefits of the installation.
When planning an off-grid solar electric power system, the output must be closely matched with the load so as to provide sufficient power without considerable waste. The power output is directly related to the insolation level. While seasonal and annual average insolation levels for most major cities in the United States are available (http://www.solar4power.com/solar-power-insolation-window.html), cloud cover and other weather effects can be very localized depending upon the topography, making extrapolations from the large cities with established data to neighboring areas unreliable. In addition, this data is not available for every part of the world,
For a large installed solar electric system, one would typically install an insolation monitor to determine if the system is performing as expected. If the system output drops below the level expected given the insolation, an alarm would be set off to indicate that the system needs servicing.
Background math:
Power Needs:
Even without optimizing the system for efficiency, the power needs were very small. The absolute maximum power needs from the various components were

Component Current Voltage Power
LCD 1mA 5V 5mW
ATmega32 15mW 5V 75mW
Photodiode 15mA 5V 75mW
Total 31mA 155mW

If all components ran at their maximum power at all times, this would amount to 3.72Wh/day. This does not account for losses in the voltage regulator or other minor components, but as can be seen, there is plenty of power available for the system. A 12V, 5Ah battery could provide 60Wh. However, even with a deep cycle battery one does not want to drain it too low. Five days of solar storage in Ithaca is considered conservative, but due to the reliability needs of an autonomous system such as this, it is worth having a factor of safety. 37Wh of storage allows the system to ride through for ten days with no sun. Even at this level, the battery is not drained to levels that would damage it.
Even with enough storage, it is necessary to be sure that the energy balance of the system is kept positive. Ithaca gets 2.3 sun hours per day in the winter according to http://www.solar4power.com/solar-power-insolation-window.html . What this means is that a solar cell rated at 1W will produce 1Wh of electricity per sun hour. My 3.2W solar panel would therefore be able to produce 7.4Wh of electricity per day during the darkest time of year in Ithaca if kept at its maximum power point. Because there is no maximum power point tracking in this system, it could be expected that my system will get 5.2Wh/day from the panel in the winter, far exceeding the maximum load expected from the system.
How long the system can run:
The flash storage has 264 bytes of storage per page and 1,024 pages. Each time the system logged a data point it used 8 bytes. This allowed the system to log 33,792 data points. The logging interval is user-selectable from one minute to one hour. At an interval of one minute, the system is able to continuously log data for 23.4 days before filling the memory. At an interval of one hour, the system is able to log for 3.8 years.
Logical structure:
The system is run by an interrupt driven program to allow for accurate timing. An interrupt service routine decrements a series of task timers once per millisecond and the main task in the program calls various subroutines at predetermined intervals when their task timers run out and the appropriate flags are set to allow a task to run. Each of the eight buttons is polled separately once every thirty milliseconds. The only button that is not debounced is the LCD wake button as bouncing is not a concern with it. The debouncing routine is based on code written by Bruce Land and provided on the ECE 476 website.
There is one task that prints to the LCD screen that is governed by a state machine indicating which set of messages is to be displayed and a variety of flags indicating which message within the sets is to be displayed. Having all LCD calls within a single task allows for the program to prevent any LCD communication while the LCD is off. If no buttons are pushed for two minutes, the system turns the LCD screen off to conserve power.
The ADC is read once per second through a task called once per second that enables the ADC interrupt and starts a conversion. The ADC interrupt automatically switches between the two channels for the photodiode and the battery voltage, reading the battery voltage once for every five times the photodiode is read. To get an accurate battery voltage reading, the PV panel is disconnected just before the battery voltage reading is taken and then reconnected immediately after if the battery voltage is below 13V. If it is at 13 or above, the PV panel is not reconnected to prevent overcharging.
The instantaneous readings are displayed to the LCD screen and kept in a running average over the logging interval. When the logging interval is complete, a data point is stored in the flash memory.
Hardware/software tradeoffs:
If this system were to be commercialized, the most expensive piece of hardware is the photovoltaic panel. It would therefore be important to increase the efficiency of the system to utilize the PV panel as effectively as possible and reduce its size. This would be done in two ways. The first would be to have a maximum power point tracking charge controller rather than the simple on-off switch used in this project. This would keep the voltage of the solar cells at the maximum power point on the I-V curve and would effectively extract about thirty percent more power from the panel than allowing the battery to determine the voltage. The second way to improve efficiency would be to reduce the power consumption of the system. Because I had plenty of power from my PV panel and sufficient battery capacity, there was no need for this system to do more than turn the LCD screen off when idle. It would however be possible to reduce power needs further by reducing the clock speed of the chip, letting the chip go idle between readings or at night, and eliminating the LEDÕs on the STK500 board.
The STK500 board was used in this project due to the integral flash memory and switches. Buying these components separately and building a custom board for the project would not have saved any money. However, if this system were commercialized, it is fairly obvious that the STK500 would not be used. It has many features that are unnecessary to this project and a much simpler board could be designed.
Due to budget constraints, I used surplus whiteboards in my project as these were budgeted at $0 while solder boards were budgeted at 2.50. While a solder board would be a more reliable means for building the circuit, the budget limit and time constraints led me to use the white boards. Towards the end I found I had just over $6 surplus and was having difficulties with the LCD display not making secure contact with the surplus whiteboard. At this point I added a new whiteboard at a budget cost of $6 for the sole purpose of holding the whiteboard. In the end, a solder board would have been less expensive, but as I was still within my budget and everything was set up, I left the project as is.
 
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About The Author

Ibrar Ayyub

I am an experienced technical writer holding a Master's degree in computer science from BZU Multan, Pakistan University. With a background spanning various industries, particularly in home automation and engineering, I have honed my skills in crafting clear and concise content. Proficient in leveraging infographics and diagrams, I strive to simplify complex concepts for readers. My strength lies in thorough research and presenting information in a structured and logical format.

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