Overcurrent Protection system Using Microcontroller

Minor Project Report Submitted

In
Electrical Engineering
Of
Biju Patnaik of University of Technology
By
Anup Kumar Mahato-1601104105
Sudeepta Sahoo-1601104148
Manoranjan Mohapatra-1721104010
Sritam Kumar Dey- 1721104015

Guided By
Dr. Yogesh Kumar Nayak

Department of Electrical Engineering

Government College of Engineering, Keonjhar
Keonjhar-758002
(Biju Patnaik of University of Technology, Odisha)
NOVEMBER-2019
 Contents:

I. Abstract ………………………………………………………. 01
II. Introduction …………………………………………………... 01
III. Solution Methodology ………………………………….......... 02-05
IV. Working ……………………………………………………… 06-08
V. Result ………………………………………………………… 08
VI. Conclusion …………………………………………………… 09
VII. Future Scope …………………………………………………. 09
VIII. References …………………………………………………… 10
Page 1 of 11

1. Abstract:

It is of significant academic interest to develop cheap, dependable and robust protection

systems for simple electrical circuitries for both academic and commercial usage. In this project

we have to propose and implement a prototype overvoltage and overcurrent protection scheme

of single phase two terminal passive circuits utilizing the Arduino Uno microcontroller and the

Arduino Software (IDE). The proposed scheme would acquire and process conditioned analog

input values of voltage and current of a system in real time and the implemented Arduino

programmes would monitor whether those values exceed a predefined threshold; exceeding

that will trip a relay to protect the system. The scheme would have three major segments that

are the current sensing segment, the voltage sensing segment and the relay module and these

segments shall be properly interfaced with the Arduino Uno Microcontroller and the load. The

scheme is tested on a resistive and a lamp load and an analysis of the obtained data through

experimentation on these electrical loads suggest that the proposed scheme is essentially

feasible with moderate sensitivity.

2. Introduction:

Electrical circuitries with the addition of electronic components have become more complex

in nature and anomalies might arise due to even very slight fluctuations in the circuit

parameters. The successful and efficient operation of these circuitries is often attributed to the

relays and switchgears that monitor the anomalies in various parameters of the system and

isolate the faulty segments from the normal to ensure that the equipment is properly protected.

In electrical & electronic engineering laboratories and industrial circumstances, it is extremely

desirable to offer ample protection to the elementary circuitries & costly equipment that are

used for various purposes. Any aberration in the parameters of these circuitries can result in

instability in voltage and current levels and it may be detrimental to the equipment in use &

supply lines. In this decade with the accelerating developments in engineering & technology,

it has become imperative to analyse, monitor and synthesize numerical values of various

intrinsic parameters of different complex systems in order to ensure the optimal and reliable

functionality of those. Arduino Uno microcontroller board can be utilized to devise a form of

digital relay with Arduino programming for real time protection of single & poly phase AC &
DC systems.

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When a fault occurs, a current or voltage many times higher the ‘rated’ value is encountered

which in turn harms lifetime of electrical machines or appliances and causes interruption of

services consequence. Reports of fire in home structure is found to be factored to 55,000 from

45,000 incidents since 2000, where the incidents account for death, injuries and almost Rs.10

billion worth directly involved property damage between 2007 and 2012 alone.

3. Solution Methodology:

Due to these problem statements a lot of money and life damage occurs every year. So,to

prevent this we use a overcurrent relay using Arduino UNO microcontroller and the Arduino

software(IDE) which is auto-resettable i.e. doesn’t need of any manual operation all functions

are donned automatically and we also used a siren to indicate that overcurrent fault occurred.

3.1 Arduino:

Arduino is open-source hardware. The hardware reference designs are distributed under

a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.5 license and are available on the Arduino

website. Layout and production files for some versions of the hardware are also available.

Although the hardware and software designs are freely available under copyleft licenses

the developers have requested the name Arduino to be exclusive to the official product and not

be used for derived works without permission. The official policy document on use of the

Arduino name emphasizes that the project is open to incorporating work by others into the

official product. Several Arduino-compatible products commercially released have avoided the

project name by using various names ending in-duino.

An early Arduino board with an RS-232 serial interface (upper left) and an Atmel

ATmega8 microcontroller chip (black, lower right); the 14 digital I/O pins are at the top, the 6

analog input pins at the lower right, and the power connector at the lower left.

Page 3 of 11
 [Fig (1): Arduino description]

3.1.1 USB:

The USB port is used to power the board from the computer's USB port and also to transfer the

program code from computer into the Arduino microcontroller.

3.1.2 External Power:

It is used to power the board if the USB connector is not used. An AC adapter (9 volts,2.1mm

barrel tip, centre positive) could be used for providing external power. If there is no power at

the power socket, then the Arduino will use power form the USB socket. But it is safe to have

power at both the power socket and USB socket.

3.1.3 Digital Pins(I/O):

The Arduino Uno has 14 digital pins (0 to 13) of which the 6 are PWM (~). This pin can be

either inputs or outputs. But we need to mention it in the Arduino sketch (Arduino

programming). The PWM (Pulse Width Modulated) pins acts as normal digital pins and also

used to control some functions. Say for example, control the dimming of LED and control the

direction of servo motor. Both digital inputs and digital outputs can read one of the two values

either HIGH or LOW

Page 4 of 11

3.1.4 Analog Pins:

The Analog pins (0 to 5) acts as inputs which is used to read the voltage in analog sensors such

as temperature sensor, gas sensor, etc. Unlike digital pins which can only read one of the two

values (HIGH or LOW), the analog inputs can measure 1024 different voltage levels.

3.1.5 AT mega Microcontroller:

The Arduino uses ATmega328 microcontroller. It is a single chip microcontroller created by

Atmel. This chip works well with Arduino IDE. If damaged, this controller can be easily

replaced. The Atmega328 has 32 KB of flash memory for storing code (of which 0,5 KB is

used for the bootloader). It has also 2 KB of SRAM and 1 KB of EEPROM.

3.1.6 3.3V Pin:

A 3.3-volt supply generated by the on-board regulator. Maximum current draw is 50 mA.

3.1.7 5V Pin:

The regulated power supply used to power the microcontroller and other components on the

board. This can come either from an on-board regulator, or be supplied by USB or another

regulated 5V supply.

3.1.8 Reset Button:

It is used to reset the microcontroller. Pushing this button will temporarily connect the reset

pin to ground and restart any code that is loaded on the Arduino.

3.2 Relay Driver:

The relay driver is design by using a BC547 transistor. The relay used here having the

specification as follows

 Coil resistance =400ohm

 Coil voltage=12Vdc

 Contact capacity=230V, 7A

The above specification indicates that the coil requires 12V dc and 200mA current dc. The

Microcontroller can’t supply more then 10mA current. So, driver section is very much required.

Page 5 of 11

BC547 has a typical current gain of 200 and maximum current capacity of 1A. So, a typical

base current of 200 A can trigger to on the relay.

3.2.1 Electromagnetic Relay:

These are very much reliable devices and widely used on field. The operating frequency of

these devices are minimum 10-20ms.That is 50Hz – 100Hz.The relay which is used here

can care 25mA currents continuously. The electromagnetic relay operates on the principle

magnetism. When the base voltage appears at the relay driver section, the driver transistor

will be driver transistor will be driven into saturation and allow to flow current in the coil of

the relay, Which in turn create a magnetic field and the magnetic force produced due to that

will act against the spring tension and close the contact coil. Whenever the base voltage is
withdrawn the transistor goes to cutoff. So, no current flow in the coil of the relay. Hence

the magnetic field disappears so the contact point breaks automatically due to spring

tension. Those contact points are isolated from the low voltage supply, so a high voltage

switching is possible by the help of electromagnetic relays.

[ Fig (2): Relay Driver Circuit ]

10uF

1.5K

BC547

DATA

INPUT

IN 4007

RELAY SPDT

VCC

Page 6 of 11

3.3 Stepdown transformer:

A Step-Down Transformer is a device which converts high primary voltage to a low secondary

voltage. In a Step-Down Transformer, the primary winding of a coil has more turns than the

secondary winding.

3.4 Rectifier:

Diodes are widely used semiconductor device. A rectifier diode is a two-lead semiconductor
that allows current to pass in only one direction. Generally, P-N junction is formed by joining

together n-type and p-type semiconductor materials. The P-type side is called the anode and

the n-type side is called the cathode. Many types of diodes are used for a wide range of

applications. Rectifier diodes are a vital component in power supplies where they are used to

convert AC voltage to DC voltage.

[Fig (3): Bridge Rectifier]

3.5 Regulated IC:

A voltage regulated ICs one of the most widely used electronic circuitry in any device. A

regulated voltage (without fluctuations & noise levels) is very important for the smooth

functioning of many digital electronic devices. A common case is with micro controllers, where

a smooth regulated input voltage must be supplied for the micro controller to function

smoothly. We have used here two types of ICs i.e. 7805 and 7812.

3.6 Capacitor: Capacitor used here for filtering the pulsating DC output of rectifier bridge

to pure DC.

3.7 LED: LEDs are used here to indicate whether current is coming to ICs or not and for

this purpose two resistors are also connected in series with the LEDs.

Page 7 of 11

4. Working:

When ac signal is given to the primary of the transformer, due to the magnetic effect of the coil

magnetic flux is induced in the coil(primary) and transfer to the secondary coil of the

transformer due to the transformer action.” Transformer is an electromechanical static device

which transformer electrical energy from one coil to another without changing its frequency”.

Here the diodes are connected in a bridge fashion. The secondary coil of the transformer is

given to the bridge circuit for rectification purposes.

During the +ve cycle of the ac signal the diodes D2 & D4 conduct due to the forward

bias of the diodes and diodes D1 & D3 does not conduct due to the reversed bias of the diodes.

Similarly, during the –ve cycle of the ac signal the diodes D1 & D3 conduct due to the forward
bias of the diodes and the diodes D2 & D4 does not conduct due to reversed bias of the diodes.

The output of the bridge rectifier is not a power dc along with rippled ac is also present. To

overcome this effect, a capacitor is connected to the o/p of the diodes (D2 & D3). Which

removes the unwanted ac signal and thus a pure dc is obtained. Here we need a fixed voltage,

that’s for we are using IC regulators (7805 & 7812).” Voltage regulation is a circuit that

supplies a constant voltage regardless of changes in load current.” This IC’s are designed as

fixed voltage regulators and with adequate heat sinking can deliver output current in excess of

1A. The o/p of the bridge rectifier is given as input to the IC regulator through capacitor with

respect to GND and thus a fixed o/p is obtained. The o/p of the IC regulator (7805 & 7812) is

given to the LED for indication purpose through resistor. Due to the forward bias of the LED,

the LED glows ON state, and the o/p are obtained from the pin no-3.

4.1 Block Diagram:

[ Fig (4): Block diagram of Kit]

Page 8 of 11

4.2 Circuit Diagram:

[ Fig (5): Circuit diagram of Kit]

4.3 Arduino program used:

int redLed = 12;

int greenLed = 11;

int oc = A0;

void setup() {

pinMode(redLed, OUTPUT);

pinMode(greenLed, OUTPUT);

pinMode(oc, INPUT);

Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {

int analogSensor = analogRead(oc);

Serial.print("Pin A0: ");

Page 9 of 11

Serial.print("Current Data = ");

Serial.println(analogSensor);

delay(200);

if (analogSensor >=420)

digitalWrite(redLed, HIGH);

digitalWrite(greenLed, LOW);

else

digitalWrite(redLed, LOW);

digitalWrite(greenLed, HIGH);

delay(100);

5. Result:

In our project we were protected the load home appliances (here lamp load) when overcurrent

occurs. When overcurrent flows the lamp connected with the current sensor which it senses the

signal and a siren (here a bulb load) is connected which alerts i.e. alarms and the relay is

connected with the Arduino was tripped and hence this shows the light bulb load or home

appliances were get protected by the overcurrent. A photograph of the circuit after the

connection of the loads is shown here:

[Fig(6):Project kit]
Page 10 of 11

6. Conclusion:

An overcurrent relay was designed using Arduino Uno microcontroller. Thus, the proposed

prototype protection system has been devised and implement to trip the load elements

successfully at different overcurrent conditions within a margin of error that might further be

ameliorated upon future iterations of this scheme.

This scheme is simple, moderately sensitive and reliable and may further be improved

based upon this prototype to implement overcurrent protection simultaneously and improve the

simplicity and efficiency of it. It can also be extended and reprogrammed to offer further

protection schemes such as undervoltage, undercurrent and earth fault protections and could

offer protection to single phase AC motors and other electrical machineries. It can also be

devised and programmed to offer comprehensive protection to three phase systems and it may

be regarded as a future scope of work of this prototype.

7. Future Scope:

 It can also be devised and programmed to offer comprehensive protection to three

phase system.

 It can be also used for overvoltage protection system.

8. References:

[1] G. R. Gunasekari, DR. D. Mary, and DR. Kishoreraja, “Performance evaluation of a

modern NPR for over current protection with the application of microcontroller technology in

power system,” International journal of Eng. Research and development, vol. 10, no. 3,2014.

[2] A. Rafa, S. Mahmod, N. Mariun, W. Z. Wan Hassan, and N.F. Malilah, “protection of

power transformer using Microcontroller based relay ” IEEE Proc. Student Conference on

Research and Development, 2002.

Page 11 of 11

[3] "NFPA report - Electrical Fires", Nfpa.org, 2018. [Online]. Available:

https://www.nfpa.org/news-and-research/fire-statistics-and-reports/fire-statistics/fire-

causes/electrical-and-consumer-electronics/electrical. [Accessed: 25- Jan- 2018].

[4] Griffin, C.H., and Pope, J.W., “Generator Ground Fault Protection Using Over-Current

Overvoltage, and Undervoltage Relays” IEEE Transactions on Power app. Systems vol. PAS

101, pp. 4490-4501, Dec1982.

[5] Bhat, Aakanksha, Snigdha Srivastava Swarnim, Shivani Verma, and G. V. Ramanarao.

"Automation of Power Measurement using Integrated Architecture."

[6] Monk, Simon. Programming Arduino. United States of America: McGraw-Hill

Companies, 2012.

[7] Bayle, Julien. C programming for Arduino. Packt Publishing Ltd., 2013.

[8] Gurevich, Vladimir. "Reliability of microprocessor-based relay protection devices:

Myths and reality." Serbian Journal of Electrical Engineering 6, no. 1 (2009): 167-186

[9] Shneerson, E. M. "Digital relay protection." Énergoatomizdat, Moscow (2007).

Figure:

[1] https://www.elprocus.com/what-is-arduino-uno-r3-pin-diagram-specification-and-applications/

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSHVg9Cdg1s

Guide signature:-
 Contents:

IX. Abstract ………………………………………………………. 01

X. Introduction …………………………………………………... 01
XI. Solution Methodology ………………………………….......... 02-05Working

……………………………………………………… 06-08
XII. Result ………………………………………………………… 08
XIII. Conclusion …………………………………………………… 09
XIV. Future Scope …………………………………………………. 09
XV. References …………………………………………………… 10