CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

The project is designed for power supply applications. It involves automatic changeover

between the main power supply and an auxiliary power supply, such as a generator. The circuit

of the project consists of logical control unit and relay switches. The basic operation of the

project is to switch ON an auxiliary power supply (like a generator). This operation connects the

power supply from the generator to the load after a predetermined time interval. Switching is

possible through the use of the relays. The system was designed to automatically change power

supply back to the main supply moments after the A.C. mains are restored and to switch OFF the

generator. The device removes the stress of manually switching ON the generator when power

failure occurs. The operation allows electric current to flow through the motor/starter. It is noted

that one of the motors terminals is already connected to 12V+ terminals. The switching of the

relay allows the other terminal to be grounded thereby completing the circuit of the electric

motor.(Hammed and Mohammed, 2006).

Power supply instability in developing countries creates a need for automation of

electrical power generation or alternative sources of power to back up the utility supply. This

automation becomes necessary as the rate of power outage becomes predominantly high. Most

industries and commercial processes are partly dependent on generators and public power supply

which is epileptic especially in tropical Africould countries where Nigeria forms a part.

However, if the starting of the generator is automatically done by a relay which switches the

battery voltage to ignition coil of the generator while the main power relay switches the load to
either public supply or generator, the down time would greatly be reduce thereby maintaining the

tempo of production in such industries. The approach used in this work is the modular approach

where the overall design is first broken into functional blocks. Each of these blocks carries out a

specific function in the entire system by the interconnections between the block (Kolo, 2007).

Electricity (energy), which plays a major role in economic development of a nation,

forms the basis of this study, with interests in human, infrastructural and economic development.

In most developing and underdeveloped parts of the world, the supply of electricity for

industrial, commercial and domestic use is highly unstable. This gives rise to the frequent use of

alternative sources of power supply to meet up with the energy demands. The introduction of

these alternative sources of supply brings forth the challenge of switching smoothly and timely

between the mains supply and the alternative sources whenever there is a failure on the mains

source. There is also the need to reduce drudgery from switching between the two sources on the

human side. Solving these challenges forms the focus of this work. The Automatic Change-over

switch, automatically switches over to the alternative source of power supply (generator) when

there is a power outage. It equally switches over to the mains supply when power is restored and

turns off the generator automatically. Therefore automatic power change-over switch is a device

that links the load and mains supply or the alternative supply together. This enables the use of

either the mains supply or an alternative source when there is outage on the mains source. This

could either come in with three phase or single phase. This device maintains constant power

supply

to the load by automatically activating the generator when there is need. (Boylestad and

Nashelsky, 2012).
1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Due to inconsistent supply of power, there is a growing need for an alternative source of

power supply. The analysis of this project cannot go without enumerating the goals meant to be

achieved in the pursuit of this work. This include:

1. To develop a simple low-cost device aimed at easing constant power outage faced by industry,

hospitals, schools and homes.

2. To minimize power interruption.

An Engineering Author, “Tony Rudkin” said in his book titled “Upgraded Signal Source

with Improved Performance and Reliability” that the cost and depredation associated with

breakdown vary from one application to the other, and in some cases, the user has little choice

but to ensure that a stand-by unit is available to take over on event of failure of primary system.

If some of these big firm do not make provisions for stand-by power source, frustration

could set in which may lead to the closure of business and thus throwing workers into

unemployment. Also in the case of hospital, undergoing a surgical operation and power supply

suddenly go off, the patient might loose his or her life due to the power outage.

In his book, Tony Rudkin also said that the depredation caused by such reduce efficiency

of the organization and leads to a great deal of frustration. Sequel to the rate at which more

sophisticated electrical/electronics gadgets are being procured and installed in our homes,

hospitals and business premises, there is a justifiable need for a faster and more reliable change

over system in an event of power outage.

In view of these considerations, this project is aimed at designing and constructing a

workable automatic change over switch with a phase failure detecting circuit also known as
“Automatic Mains Failure” which switches on the head from power Holding Company (PHCN)

to a generator when power fails and from generator to PHCN when power comes back.

1.3 SCOPE AND LIMITATION

The automatic changeover switch, the switch aimed at achieving the following automatic

actions;

a) To change power over to generator

b) To change back to PHCN

The automatic change over unit could be operated in single or three phase system. The automatic

changeover switch has the following advantages;

a) It minimizes damages to lives/equipment since it has its own monitoring system and

its switching requires no human contact with the switch, thus eliminating human

error.

b) It reduces its change over timing to the minimum due to its fast response to power

outage.

c) It maintains high quality of service through its fast and prompt response.

Moreover, the size and captivity of the unit would depend upon the load for which it would be

used. The unit is also portable, easy, convenient and safe to install. Figure 1.0 shows the working

principle of automatic changeover switch

Figure 1.0: Block diagram showing the working principle of automatic changeover switch
 CHAPTER TWO
2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW
Uninterrupted continuous power supply is essential to the industrial sector,

university operations, and residential sector. These standby power supply systems are used to

supply power to several types of loads such as:

 Essential Loads particularly in industrial processes where they require high restarting

times or high shut down times. So the automatic transfer from the main supplies to the

standby generator must be available.

 Critical Loads such as elevators, or lighting in the buildings where the automatic

changeover is very important especially in hospitals, malls, and public places.

 Sensitive Loads such as computers, equipment and appliances in hospitals,

microprocessor, controlled industrial machines, and the monitoring system where it is

costly to shut them down and may be required to use of Uninterrupted Power Supply

(UPS) system until the automatic changeover happens. If a power failure occurs in

any hospital or factory, it is essential to switch between the main supplies and the

standby generator and make the transition as smooth and safe as possible.

A changeover system is an active and pivotal system. When there is a main electrical

failure, the changeover system would switch to standby alternative power supply (generator), and

return back to the main supply when it is restored. Meanwhile an automatic changeover

system allows a smooth and automatic transfer of electrical current between multiple sources

of power to loads. The automatic changeover system would ensure that all power sources

synchronized before connecting the loads with any source to prevent any feedback current

from any source to the load when any one of them takes over. The changeover would
sense the interruption if the main supply remains as unavailable the changeover is sensitive

to the fluctuations as voltage drops below a particular level within a specified time in the

main power supply line. In this case the automatic changeover would switch on the

generator and starts feeding the load through a relay that switches the battery voltage to the

ignition of the generator. In a few seconds the generator starts producing full power. During

this time, the relays would disconnect the load from the other power supplies

simultaneously and connect it to the generator. The changeover senses the main power supply

continuously. If it is restored, the changeover would return back the connection between the load

and the main supply because of its priority. Then, the generator would shut down after a few

seconds. The automatic changeover switch that is being designed would be a complete system

with various subsystems and components arranged and linked to function primarily as a

means of manipulating the supply of electrical power to any desired load.

The switching that is obtainable from the ordinary changeover system is usually manual,

that is, the user would have to move a lever to change from one source to another. This is usually

associated with time wasting as well as some health hazards like electric shock. In order to

eliminate this human intervention as well as introduce some speed and precision, there is a need

for an automatic changeover switch. The switching system selects the available power source

without the intervention of the user; hence, ensuring the availability of supply at all times

provided that at least one power source is available. The change from one source to another

could only be achieved by device or a system that determines when the change should

actually take place and which source is to be given preference to supply the load.

Preference would be given to the power sources such that only one source supplies the load

at a time and when the (first utilities) source fails, the link immediately connects the (second
utilities) source to the load. When the (second utilities) source fails, the link immediately

connects the generator to the load. The paper deals with single-phase power source instead of

three-phase source. The three-phase was left for future work. Under/over voltage relays with

timers to delay the start-up operation until the power supply is stable were used. A delay

associated with the automatic changeover system could reach 5Sec. An uninterruptable Power

Supply (UPS) could be used to cover this period. The design problem could be subdivided into

basically two parts: the power part and the control power. The power part would supply and

handle all the power requirements of the automatic changeover switch. The two input power

sources would be handled by this subunit as well as the final output to be supplied to the load. It

would also provide the necessary control voltage needed by the control section of the unit as a

whole. The control part is actually the brain of the automatic changeover switch. It is the part

of the unit that would perform the necessary switching based on the prewired

configuration of the relaying and triggering system to be developed. This would ensure that

only one source actually supplies the load at all times and the required preference for the

power sources would be achieved by this subunit. Majlesi Journal of Energy Management

(Vol. 3, No. 2, June 2014). Figure 2.1 shows the block diagram of a single phase automatic

changeover switch
Figure 2.1: The block diagram of the system
2.2 REVIEW OF EXISTING WORK

To ensure the continuity of power supply, many commercial/industrial facilities depend

on both utility service and on-site generation (generator set). And because of the growing

complexity of electrical systems it becomes imperative to give attention to power supply

reliability and stability. Over the years many approaches have been implored in configuring a

changeover system. Some of them are discussed below.

2.2.1 MANUAL CHANGEOVER SWITCH BOX

Manual changeover switch box separates the source between a generator and public

supply. Whenever there is power failure, changeover is done manually by human and the same

happens when the public power is restored and this is usually accompanied with loud noise and

electrical sparks.

Limitations of Manual Changeover Switch Box

Below are some of the limitations of manual changeover switch box.

(i) Time wasting whenever there is power failure

(ii) It is strenuous to operate

(iii) It is causes device, process or product damage

(iv) It could cause fire outbreak

(v) It makes a lot of noise.

(vi) Maintenance is more frequent as the changeover action causes wears and tears.

Figure 2.2 is a diagram of manual changeover switch box

Figure 2.2: Diagram of manual changeover switch box
2.2.2 Automatic Changeover System with Electromechanical Relays (EMRs)

A relay is an electromagnetic device that is activated by varying its input in order to get a

desired output. Recently, electromechanical relays (EMRs) have been used with other

component to implement automatic changeover. Such components could be logic gates,

transistors, opto-coupler, microcontroller etc. Most of these components make use of 5v since

they are Transistor Transistor Logic (TTL) based. Such control system must be properly isolated

from the relay as shown in figure 2.3 to avoid the flow back of ac signal into the control

electronics.
Figure 2.3: Block diagram of automatic changeover system with electromechanical relay.
Figure 2.4: Diagram of electromechanical relays.
This type of changeover system is better than the manual changeover with switch box because it

is automatic and faster, but has its limitations which are listed below:

• Noise associated with switching of relays.

• Wear and tear.

• Arching which could cause fire outbreak.

• High Component count making the system more prone to failures.

2.2.3 CHANGEOVER WITH AUTOMATIC TRANSFER SWITCH

This type of changeover system has an automatic transfer switch which monitors the

alternating current (AC) voltage coming from the utility company line for power failure

conditions. Upon detection of power failure for predetermined period of time, the standby

generator is activated (started), after which the load is transferred from utility to the standby

generator. Then, on return of the utility feed, the load is switched back after some time and the

generator is stopped. The limitations of this approach are more or less the same thing with

automatic changeover system with electromechanical relays.

2.3 DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW SYSTEM

In view of the limitations of the above previous works, this paper proposes and

implements a changeover systems that drastically reduced the shortcomings. The noise, arching,

wear and tear associated with EMRs are eliminated totally by the introduction of solid state

relay. Digital components were also used to make the work more reliable unlike the previously

existing ones that make use of circuit breakers. Also an AT89C52 microcontroller was also

incorporated to help improve the speed of automation. The system is controlled by a software
program embedded in the microcontroller. This work is handy and portable compared to the

bulky works done previously. It also have some important features like liquid crystal

display (LCD) which makes the system user friendly, an alarm system for indicating generator

failure, automatic phase selector for selecting most appropriate phase, over-voltage and under-

voltage level monitoring. Economically, this project is of low cost due to the use of ICs in place

of discrete components.

2.4 DESCRIPTION OF SOLID STATE RELAYS

With emergence of semiconductor technology the production of solid state relays were made

possible which in many applications out perform their predecessors. A typical solid state relay

consists of a light emitting diode (LED) optically coupled to a photovoltaic device such as a

Field Effect Transistor (FET). Light from the LED creates a voltage across the photovoltaic array

and activates the output FET. FET is the preferred switching element in a solid state relay

because it presents comparatively less electric resistant when it is in a conductive state than a

triac in the same state and therefore generates less heat. As a result of this, FET requires smaller

heat dissipating fins and could reduce the overall size of the solid state relay. The internal

circuitry of a typical solid state relay is shown figure 2.5 while figure 2.6 is a solid state relay

from FOTEK:
Figure 2.5: The internal circuitry of a typical solid state relay

Figure 2.6: Solid state relay from FOTEK

 Advantages of Solid State Relay over Electromechanical Relay

Solid state relay has the following properties which gave it an edge over the EMR:

(1) It has no moving coil part.

(2) It has long operating life.

(3) Bounce-free operation.

(4) It has immunity to electromagnetic interference.

(5) It has high switching speed

(6) It could be controlled by a low signal (3v).

(7) Multi function integration

(8) No arching or sparking.

(9) No acoustical noise.

(10) High reliability.

(11) Resistance to shock and vibration.

(12) Wide input voltage range.

(13) High input-output isolation.

Because of the low signal control feature, solid state relays could be driven directly by the

microcontroller the use of interface drivers. This could save space, time and money, reduce

component count as well as improve product life, performance and reliability.