Tracking Solar Concentrators by Zafrullah Jagoo

Author:Zafrullah Jagoo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht

3.7 Circuit Implementation

Sections 3.6 and 3.6.4 have described the independent building blocks of the tracker circuit. The various subsystems were assembled and this consisted of interfacing the embedded systems, namely the PIC microcontroller with the LCD, the real-time clock and the motor controller. The complete schematic of the circuit is shown in Fig. 3.18. The design must ensure that the high current devices like the power resistors, HEXFETs or motors are secluded from the sensitive devices; fluctuations in current can cause inaccuracies in the measurement of time. In short, the analogue components are powered separately from the digital counterparts.

After the circuit design was completed, a computer prototyping software (FreePCB 1.358) was used to produce the printed circuit board (PCB) artwork output file in gerber format (). This file was subsequently fed to a Bungard Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machine which milled the PCB out of a double-sided copper clad epoxy board. A complete step-by-step description of the whole procedure is given in Appendix B. Finally the components were soldered in place by hand using a temperature-controlled soldering iron. The microcontroller was not soldered directly on the PCB, but mounted on IC holders affixed to the circuit board. Adopting this approach ensured that no damage is done to the microcontroller and most importantly, the computer-on-a-chip could be removed for programming/debugging tasks.

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