This project is designed to monitor the production of green energy in real time . I have always dreamed of being energy independent, but I did not know how much energy I could produce with one, two or ten photovoltaic panels, if I have enough sun in my area, if the wind blowing quite hard , so I decided to monitor the energy systems already installed to give my opinion. I wanted before investing in an energy system to know exactly how much energy can produce and how long can recoup the investment so I started looking at some ready installed and working systems. I would like to point out that the technical data of photovoltaic panels and wind turbines are not always sufficient to achieve an energy system because there are many factors ( geographical area, season, weather, obstacles in the area, etc. ) that influence on the performance of such an energy system.
In my project data taken from the arduino by the sensors is transmitted to an online web server to be saved and read. I used non-invasive current sensors for measuring currents from photovoltaic panels and wind turbine, battery voltage sensor and two DS18B20 digital temperature sensors.
Currently two locations are monitored, containing mixed wind and photovoltaic energy systems and the data is stored on the web server.
Now I can watch any time porduce the amount of energy my photovoltaic and wind turbine both at home and at work from any computer connected to the Internet, even on my smartphone.
In this way data can be saved for years and shows how such a system is useful and also differences between photovoltaic system and wind turbine system, I can way calculate annual energy produced and can follow the behavior of both energy systems in every season.
Step 3: Components and Costs
- 2013 version ATmega32U2 ATmega328P UNO R3 Free Board & USB Cable for Arduino DIY – aprox. $10 (ebay);
- Arduino UNO R3 Mega 2560 Shield W5100 Ethernet Network Expansion Board – aprox. $7 (ebay);
- Hall Effect Current Sensor for Hobbyist, Arduino Compatible, DC AC 75A 100A – $9 (ebay)
- Octopus Voltage Divider Electronic Module Arduino Bricks $5 (ebay);
- DS18B20 waterproof temperature sensors hv2n thermistor temperature – 2$ (ebay);
- 1602 LCD Keypad Shield Blue Backlight for Arduino Expansion Board – $4 (ebay);
Step 4: Mode of operation Description – how it works.
The module reads the values of the analog inputs which are connected the current sensors (one for photovoltaic panels and a wind turbine), the sensor voltage (for bench batteries) and a digital camera input for temperature sensors (for the temperature measurement bench batteries and the outside environment), web server transmits (POST method) and calls a PHP script that inserts data into a database. Data transmitted are average values after readings at 10ms interval for 2 seconds (200 samples), which results in insertion into database at 2-3s interval, 1200 tests per hour.
The input data are read the analog values of the voltages across the sensors (0-5V), they are converted into digital values (0-1023) from analog to digital and depending on the type of sensor applies a formula in which the final value results in measured V(volts) for voltage or A(amps) for currents.
EX1: sensorValue = analogRead(A5); Read analog inputs
U = (float) ((sensorValue) * 25) / 1023; Read voltage calculation
EX2: sensorValue = (analogRead(A4)-507); Read analog inputs
If (sensorValue == 1 or sensorValue == – 1) sensorValue = 0; error correction
If = (float) sensorValue * 0215; Read present value calculation
Step 5: Arduino Software
Arduino program is loaded in the attachment “monitorizare_securiceni.ino”.
Real time data energy monitor with arduino uno: http://free-energy-monitor.com/index.php/energy/li…
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