Description
ABSTRACT
Electronic devices are made to operate on very low voltage; therefore a means of proper protection against overloading, over voltage or under voltage should always be of uttermost priority to the designers. A well designed electronic device with proper protective device would definitely lead to economic benefit, time saver, and less energy to re-construction. This paper reports the design and construction of an Ultra Fast Circuit Breaker (UFCB) for domestic and industrial purposes.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
An electronic circuit breaker mainly consists of automatic operation switch which is controlled by the feedback from the load. It is based on the fact that when the current is too much drawn by the loads or being too much flowing in the line due to overload, the switch is automatically closed. The switch is an electromechanical switch like a relay, which is controlled by arduino microcontroller through a current sensing element.
The project is designed to shut down a power supply when it is overloaded, under-voltage or over voltage by using a ultra-fast electronic circuit breaker. The concept of electronic circuit breaker came into focus realizing that the conventional circuit breakers such as MCBs take longer time to trip. Therefore, for sensitive loads, it is very important to activate a tripping mechanism at the shortest possible time, preferably instantaneously.
The electronic circuit breaker is based on the voltage drop across a series element proportional to the load current, typically a low-value resistor. This voltage is sensed and rectified to DC, and then is compared with a preset voltage by a level comparator to generate an output that drives a relay through the to trip the load. The relay use in place of a semiconductor switch is preferred because such solid state switches would invariably fail in case of accidental short circuits. The unit is extremely fast and overcomes the drawback of thermal type. It uses an ardino uno board.
Ultra-fast circuit breaker using arduino is for electrical protection and is a current sensor based project. This project is core electrical based project
Ultra-fast circuit breaker using arduino for overload protection is an easy project and idea for the electrical core electrical, degree and diploma base students.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Electrical components make up the devices we use in our day to day activities. When these devices are used within the specified ratings, they last longer and their chances of failure are reduced. Although electrical faults such as Overload and short circuit causes early failures of electrical components, over-voltage and under-voltage. Overloading of electric circuit describe the fact that the current circulating in the circuit operates more than the capacity of the rated components in the circuit. The resistance of these components produces heat. The latter has a direct relationship with double the current passing the circuit. With this over load, the components get overheated due to presence of high current, thereby leading to the damage of these components. Just like over load fault condition, short circuit also causes flow of large current that can lead to damage of electrical components but at zero voltage. Therefore there is need to improve the life span of electrical components by protecting them from these electrical faults (Meyer et al., 2016). This work seeks to design a microcontroller based ultrafast Electronic Circuit Breaker. This paper is intended to fast protection of electric circuit from over load, a short circuit fault, over voltage and under voltage which is happens into the power system. So here for protection electric circuit from short circuit or over load, current over voltage and under voltage we introduce the UECB (ultrafast Electronic Circuit Breaker) which has less trip time of circuit whenever abnormal condition occur as compared to mechanical or convectional circuit breaker such as MCB (Miniature Circuit Breaker) which takes longer time to trip the circuit because of very slow action thermal bimetal lever mechanism that used in MCB (Miniature Circuit breaker).
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main aim of this study is to build an ultrafast electronic circuit breaker with over load, over voltage and under voltage using arduino. The objectives of the study are:
- To build the system prototype
- To protect appliances from overload, fault, overvoltage and under-voltage
- To protect electric circuit from short circuit or over load current.
- To provide a cost effective and reliable circuit breaker that response to very little over current that can damage some of our electronics if not properly
- To provide solution to the high rate of damage to our appliance in remote areas of
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
As a student of electrical and electronic engineering, working on this project have expose my knowledge to function and working principle of many electronics hardware such as arduino microcontroller, current sensor etc.
This study has made me to understand the application and the need for having a protecting device in our homes, offices or industries.
1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The scope of this study covers building an ultrafast electronic circuit breaker with over load, over voltage and under voltage using arduino.
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 CONCLUSION
A general view of the different types of the circuit breakers has been presented. It is observed that the benefits offered by the ultrafast circuit breaker for electronics is more than that of some other circuit breakers like low voltage circuit breakers, medium voltage circuit breakers, miniature circuit breakers, oil circuit breakers and fuses. This UFCB designed has been proven to be very reliable and can be of great use in houses, offices, industrial settings and all environments where constant power supply are of great importance. With improved rating of the generator more percentage of loads can be placed on them.
In this system instantaneous tripping of load takes place in case of overload condition. This system has been a great advantage compared to the conventional circuit breakers with longer tripping time. Time taken by the circuit breaker to break the circuit is approximately 0.023 sec.
5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS
The UFCB has performed as desired according to the design objectives. We hereby make the following recommendations for improving on this UFCB for further studies on it:
- The use of a good current sense could be employed on the circuit alongside a arduino microcontroller to obtain the same ultrafast attribute of the circuit breaker.
- Solid state switches can also be used for the Ultra Fast Switching. d. For larger load capacity the choke resistor can be increased.
- For more load to overload ratio the reference voltage set by the controller can be increased, while the overload voltage can also be increased are required.
