Browsing by Author "Chathuranga, K.W.S."
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Item Automatic Sun Tracking Solar Panel(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2018) Anuradha, U.A.D.N.; Chathuranga, K.W.S.People are considering to use alternative energy sources due to impending scarcity of nonrenewable resources. From all other resources available, solar energy is the most abundant and it is relatively easy to convert to electric energy. Using solar panels to convert solar energy to electricity is very popular, nevertheless fixed solar panels cannot generate optimum energy due to the east-to-west transition of the sun. To maximize energy, the solar panel must be perpendicular to the sun's rays. If it deviates from this optimum angle, the energy generation efficiency from the panel decreases. The active tracker relies on the detection circuit to detect the light intensity and align the panel as the sun using a motor. This project was designed and implemented for a polar single axis solar panel tracker. It has a fixed vertical axis and an adjustable horizontal motor control axis. The tracker actively tracks the sun and changes its position to maximize energy output. This system solves the problem by arranging solar panels to track the sun. This tracking movement is accomplished by using a servomotor on the solar panel so that the panel always keeps its face perpendicular to the sun to generate maximum energy. This is accomplished by using a programmed Arduino board according to the light sensor (LDR) signal, the servo motor sends a signal to rotate the attached panel as needed. Subsequent, the interface with the sensor, the control of the motor, and the power supply function are performed by the energy generated from the solar panel. This is a far more cost effective solution than purchasing additional solar panels when dealing with large panel arrays. This project develops an automatic tracking system which will keep the solar panels aligned with the sun in order to maximize efficiency, which is capable of enhancing production of power by 20-30%. It has been estimated that the use of a tracking system, over a fixed system, can increase the power by 30-60%. Keywords: Arduino, Solar Energy, Servo motor, LDRItem Control the Temperature of an Electric Iron Using Fuzzy Logic Technique(Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2016) Chathuranga, K.W.S.; Ekanayake, R.M.T.C.B.The paper presents a fuzzy logic control technique which gives a major contribution to solve the problems those are categorized as difficult to solve with conventional control techniques. In addition, the fuzzy logic control technique delivers solutions faster than the conventional system. Temperature controlling is a very important task in many fields such as food preparation, cloths preparation, incubators, refrigerators systems that are used in experiments. As the outcome of the study, a fuzzy logic based-temperature control system was developed which is more appropriate for an electric iron. The system consist of a microcontroller, temperature sensor, a user interface circuit, display interface circuit and an output interface circuit. Fuzzy logic technique was implemented to achieve a controlled temperature output function. The temperature was measured with respect to time for the system comprised of the fuzzy logic based- temperature control system using the LM35 sensor. It was observed that, the time consumed to reach the stable temperature, which is defined according to a preferred set of values, was heavily depending upon the temperature value to be achieved itself. The same LM35 temperature sensor was used to obtain the final output of observable temperature. According to the results, the entire system was capable of achieving the stable value for the set temperatures. It can be concluded that, the achievement is because of using a fuzzy logic based-temperature control system for an electric iron. Keywords: Electric iron, Fuzzy logic, Temperature control, Temperature sensor, microcontroller