Solar powered traffic sensitive automated LED street lighting system

Abstract

Production and use of photovoltaic cells to generate electricity is an increasingly popular resource solution in Bangladesh currently. The focus of this project is to make the most efficient use of the energy received from the sun to power street lights in the city. Solar Panels mounted on the street lamps will collect the energy from the sun during day time, driving the LED lamps at night. The system we would be designing includes operation in the main streets of the major cities of Bangladesh which is to be equipped with solar powered street lamps effective in regulating the amount of load voltage depending on the intensity of traffic present. The project is about developing and fabricating the circuit that can charge the lead acid battery during day time by using solar energy as the source. The process, like most other photovoltaic systems theses days, would require the use of a micro-controller, namely PIC16F877A, to control many of the circuit functionalists including switching, controlling driver circuit, and integrating sensor output etc. The preferred lighting source is LED considering its photo-metrics such as efficacy, life span, cost, efficiency and power consumption. Since DC supply is being used, a DC-to-DC converter is employed to implement the LED. Traffic detection will be done through the concept of ultrasonic sensing using the Ping Sensor. In different seasons, the sun is incident on the earth’s surface and thereby on the solar panels in different angles. Thus a mounting angle for the panels has also been determined which will allow optimum efficiency for all four seasons of the year.