This document describes a solar and thermocouple-powered energy efficient system for vehicles. The system uses a thermocouple to generate electricity from the heat difference between the engine and air duct. It also uses a solar panel to charge a battery. An Arduino board is powered by this system to control vehicle features like GPS, WiFi, radio, and LCD display in order to reduce the load on the vehicle's battery. The system takes advantage of solar and waste heat energy to power vehicle electronics and displays information to the user.

1. Solar based Energy Efficient System
C.Siddharth Chandran
Siddharth110595@yahoo.in
U.Manoj Kumar
manoj5994@gmail.com
V.Rishikumar
rishivasanth19@gmail.com
R.M.K Engineering College SRM Engineering College R.M.K Engineering College
ABSTRACT Nowadays the various features of the
car are being controlled by car batteries which are
basically chemical cells .They need to be replaced
frequently in order to ensure effective
functioning.in order to reduce the load on the car
batteries, we have used a secondary system
charged by a solar panel and thermocouple which
is used for power the features of car like GPS, theft
alarm, Wi-Fi network, video player. The secondary
system consists of an Arduino board powered by a
battery which obtains its energy from the solar
panel and thermocouple. The features of the car
are controlled by the Arduino board.
I INTRODUCTION
This project aims at utilizing the solar energy of
the sun as well as the wasted heat of the
engine using a thermocouple. The energy
obtained from heat difference and the solar
energy are being utilized to power various
features.
A.THERMOCOUPLE
Thermocouple is an electrical device consisting
of two junctions comprising of two different
metals. The two junctions are produced by
welding the two distinct metals together.
Penetration thermocouple probe is being used
in this method. Thermocouple works on the
principle of see beck effect. seebeck effect
states that” when two different junctions of
two different metals are maintained at two
different temperatures, an emf is induced”.
This emf is directly proportional to the
difference in between the two temperatures.
B.SOLAR PANEL
A solar panel is a device that collects and
converts solar energy into electricity.
Photovoltaic panels are used to generate
electricity from sunlight .Solar energy
collection systems are used to generate
electricity through a number of mirror systems
and fluid-filled tubes solar thermal collector,
used to generate heat solar hot water panel,
used to heat water. Each silicon solar cell
produces about 0.5V. Several batteries are
needed to build the voltage up, solar cells are
connected together to produce a higher
voltage that is more useful. A solar power uses
solar cells or solar photovoltaic arrays to
convert light from the sun into electricity.
C.AURDINO BOARD
It is the microcontroller board based on the
ATmega32u4 and the Atheros AR9331 which
supports Linux distribution based on openwrt.
Openwrt is used to implement routing
Protocol. It has a built-in Ethernet and Wi-Fi
support , micro-SD card slot, 20 digital
Input/output pins, a 16 MHz crystal oscillator,
a micro USB connection, an ICSP header, and A
3 reset buttons. If supplied with less than 7V,
however, the 5V pin may supply less than five
volts and the board may be unstable. If using
more than 12V, the voltage regulator May
overheat and damage the board. The
recommended range is 7 to 12 volts.
D.GPS
GPS is the acronym of global positioning
system. Gps is used to locate the position, time
of an object anywhere within the view of gps
satellites. Three GPS satellites are required to
locate the two dimensional position of an
object anywhere within the earth. A separate
GPS module designed for audrino named
Ublox GY-NEO6MV2 GPS Module is being used
in our setup. GPS module along with a LCD is
connected to the audrino which helps us to
navigate.
ISBN:978-1534910799
www.iaetsd.in
Proceedings of ICAER-2016
©IAETSD 201618

2. E.LCD
LCD is the acronym of liquid crystal display.
Liquid crystal display uses the light modulating
property of the liquid crystals. LCD is more
energy efficient than cathode ray tubes and
Arduino can be easily disposed. LCD module
used in Arduino is 2.4inch TFT LCD
SPFD5408 .LCD is connected to the audrino to
which the GPS module is connected. LCD in our
system can be used as a GPS receiver
F.WI-FI
WIFI is an advanced technology that allows
users to get connected to a wireless LAN
network. This WLAN is either password
protected or open for all users. The Wi-Fi
module used in our system is ESP8266 Serial
ESP-01 WIFI Wireless Transceiver Module .A
sim card is connected to the Wi-Fi module
which is in turn connected to the audrino. This
Wi-Fi module supports WEP
and WPA2 Personal encryption, but
not WPA2 Enterprise
G.RADIO
Radio is the use of radio waves to carry
information, such as sound, by
modulating some property of electromagnetic
waves transmitted through space, such as
their amplitude, frequency, phase, or pulse
width. The radio module used in our system is
RDA5807M FM Stereo Radio Module RRD-102
V2.0 Wireless Pro.However in order to control
the sound and frequency LM386 200 Gain
Audio Amplifier Module needs to be used in
the audrino
II WORKING
One junction of the penetration type
thermocouple is kept near the engine cylinder
and the other junction of the thermocouple is
kept near the ac duct. The temperature of the
hot junction is around 1700°c due to
convective heat transfer and the temperature
of the cold junction is around 13°c near the ac
duct. Due to the difference in temperature, a
voltage is created due to the see beck effect.
This voltage created is very low. Hence a
voltage booster is used to step up the voltage.
Apart from thermocouple the battery is also
being powered by solar energy. A single silicon
cells generates about 0.5v. Square arrays 6*6
consisting of 36 cells are being used in the solar
panel. Hence a voltage of about 18 volts is
produced which is used to power the LCD radio
The stepped up voltage is supplied to the
Audrino Board. Various connections like LCD,
GPS module, WIFI module, and radio can be
given to the Arduino audrino board .Audrino
powers and controls the various features of
the car. The GPS module and radio are
connected to the LCD. For Wi-Fi services.
We use Arduino Wi-Fi shield. This shield is
used to connect the handheld devise like
cellular phones laptops inside the coverage
area inside the vehicle which can give access to
internet inside the vehicle. It is also interfaced
with Spark Fun GPS Shield - GPS-10710 so that
it can have the GPS functioning .To be user
friendly we have attached with the display so
that we can see the outcome.
Fig 1. Functional block diagram
ISBN:978-1534910799
www.iaetsd.in
Proceedings of ICAER-2016
©IAETSD 201619

3. III RESULT
To avoid the usage of high powered car
batteries for display and connection purpose
this leads to heavy load.
Fig 2. Display connected to Arduino board containing
information regarding the vehicle.
Fig 3. Displays the fuel content in the tank
We reduce the usage of power from car
batteries instead we generate the power from
the thermocouple which in turn powers the
Audrino board which runs in less power.
Fig 4. Displays a video content played on the screen
ISBN:978-1534910799
www.iaetsd.in
Proceedings of ICAER-2016
©IAETSD 201620