Design and Fabrication of a Prototype Automated Solar Lawn Mower

Project Title

Design and Fabrication of a Prototype Automated Solar Lawn Mower

Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject Summary

The solar lawn mower is an automated robotic grass cutting vehicle. It is programmed to run and the device is powered through solar energy. Ultrasonic sensors also be used to avoid obstacles in its path. The solar panel will be used to charge the device and also a battery will be connected to the lawn mower. The Atmega32 Avr microcontroller with C programming. Ultrasonic sensor will be connected to detect the object. The current grass-cutting machines are electrical, requiring electricity to work, and need continuous supervision for their work. Automated and renewable base devices can easily replace these (Md. Rawshan Habib, Koushik Ahmed, Naureen Khan, Mahbbubur Rehman Kiran, Md. Ahsonul Habib, Md. Tanvir Hasan, and Omar Farrok Conference paper, 2019). It uses solar energy that avoids air pollution; the size is compact compared to conventional machines, the maintenance is less ( Rubentheran Sivagurunathan, Linkesvaran Sivagurunathan, Jeremy Chia Jun Hao, 2020). The solar lawn mower is an automated robotic grass cutting vehicle. It is programmed to run and the device is powered through solar energy. Ultrasonic sensors also be used to avoid obstacles in its path. The solar panel will be used to charge the device and also a battery will be connected to the lawn mower. The Atmega32 Avr microcontroller with C programming. Ultrasonic sensor will be connected to detect the object. The current grass-cutting machines are electrical, requiring electricity to work, and need continuous supervision for their work. Automated and renewable base devices can easily replace these (Md. Rawshan Habib, Koushik Ahmed, Naureen Khan, Mahbbubur Rehman Kiran, Md. Ahsonul Habib, Md. Tanvir Hasan, and Omar Farrok Conference paper, 2019). It uses solar energy that avoids air pollution; the size is compact compared to conventional machines, the maintenance is less ( Rubentheran Sivagurunathan, Linkesvaran Sivagurunathan, Jeremy Chia Jun Hao, 2020).

Project Objectives

• The main purpose is to design and fabricate the prototype of automated solar lawn mower
• Solar panels will be used to extract solar energy
• The solar charging battery will be used
• The recent microcontroller will be added to program the device
• Reduce operating and maintenance cost of by making it to use solar (renewable) energy source.

• The solar lawn mower has to differentiate between grass and other materials.

Project Implementation Method

The automated solar lawn mower prototype will be designed in this project. The project is designed to use solar energy and store the energy to the DC battery. The device will use 12V battery to power the motor and also grass cutting motors. Unlike the tradition grass cutters, it does not use fossil fuel for energy consumption; using solar energy adds the best feature to the machine because of the abundance of solar energy crisis in Pakistan. The project is consist of the following components.

1. Solar Panel
2. Battery
3. Atmega32 Avr Microcontroller
4. Ultrasonic sensor
5. Grass cutter blade
6. Dc motors
7. Robot chassis
8. Charge Controller

Newpowa 10W Solar Panel 10watts 12 volts Polycrystalline with 3ft wire RV Marine Boat Off Grid Solar panel is used to extract solar energy from the sun and convert into electrical energy. Power LP 12V-65 Ah Dry batter are used to store the extracted energy. The programming will be done in Atmega32 Avr Microcontroller to give the robot instructions. The sensor will be used to sense the physical quantities and convert into electrical quantities to avoid obstacles in its path. The blades will be used for cutting run by the dc motors. The charge controller will be used charging the battery, showing charging status and save the device from reverse current.

Benefits of the Project

• Reduce the workforce
• Make the solar energy commercialized
• Avoid the disadvantages of old lawn mowers
• Reduce the maintenance and operating cost
• Reduce the environmental and noise pollution

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The design needs technical skills of programming, PCB fabrication and design of the components. The device is powered through solar energy and some sensor detectors to avoid the obstacle in its path. The cost effective and efficient components according to the requirement will be used precisely. The machine needs negligence in human interaction to work that operates the machine. It uses a 12V battery to power the motor and also grass cutting motors. There is the use of solar panels to charge the battery so that there would be no need to set those externally. ATmega32 AVR Microcontroller with required embedded C programming is used to control the working of the motors. The microcontroller is also used to interface the ultrasonic sensor for object detection.

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry Energy Other Industries Health Core Technology RoboticsOther Technologies Clean TechSustainable Development Goals Affordable and Clean EnergyRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	54980
Solar Panel	Equipment	1	6000	6000
Battery	Equipment	1	9000	9000
Ultrasonic	Equipment	6	120	720
Microcontroller	Equipment	3	400	1200
Blades	Equipment	3	500	1500
Chassis	Equipment	1	1500	1500
Motors	Equipment	6	350	2100
Miscellaneous	Miscellaneous	2	1500	3000
Solar Panel	Equipment	1	6000	6000
Battery	Equipment	1	16000	16000
Ultrasonic	Equipment	8	120	960
Microcontroller	Equipment	3	400	1200
Blades	Equipment	3	500	1500
Chassis	Equipment	1	1500	1500
Motors	Equipment	8	350	2800