Automatic Three Phase Load Balancing System by
Using Fast Switching Relay in Three Phase
Distribution System
Sajid Ul Haq
Department of Electrical Engineering
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology
Islamabad Pakistan
engrsajid857@gmail.com
Asif Khan
Department of Electrical Engineering
ABASYN University Islamabad Campus
Islamabad Pakistan
khanasif109@gmail.com
Abstract—In three phase distribution system the unbalance
phenomenon occurs due to single-phase loads and unequal shar-
ing of loads in each phase. To overcome this problem, distribution
systems require equal sharing of load in each phase. This is
possible by automatic three phase load balancing technique. The
automatic three phase load balancing system is possible by the
proposed hardware which is micro-controller and relay based
hardware. This hardware is installed in the incoming of three
phase lines and will accordingly switch the domestic load to the
least loaded phase using fast switching relays. The single full
house load is connected to the phase that is least loaded by
relay switching ON/OFF. The result of the proposed hardware
and simulation shows that microcontroller and relays switching
is effective in reducing the unbalancing in three phase lines and
also reducing the current in the neutral wire of the system. In
addition, it retains voltage regulation and stability in the all three
phase.
Keywords:Voltage unbalance, electric spring, electric vehi-
cle, STATCOM.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Many domestic loads and small industries are supplied by
a single phase AC with a phase and neutral wire. However,
power is generated and transmitted in 3-phase AC. A single
phase generator has single coil rotating in magnetic field, while
3-phase generators have fixed coils that are separated by 120◦
from each other. These three voltages are out of phase from
each other by 120◦ . A set of balance 3-phase voltages form,in
terms of the time domain as,
√ load balancing is the process to avoid the power systems from
VRed = 2Vm cos(wt + φ) (1)
√
VY ellow = 2Vm cos(wt + φ − 120◦ ) (2)
√ ◦
VBlue = 2Vm cos(wt + φ − 240 ) (3)
In three phase balance system the neutral current will be zero.
I N = IR + I Y + I B , I N = 0 (4)
978-1-5386-5482-8/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
1
Bilal Arif
Department of Electrical Engineering
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology
Islamabad Pakistan
bilalarifmail@gmail.com
Junaid Ahmed
Department of Electrical Engineering
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology
Islamabad Pakistan
junaid@comsats.edu.pk
The phases are normally called red, yellow and blue. Three
phases distribution systems suffer from power fluctuations
and non-zeros neutral currents due to unbalanced loads. The
unbalanced loading in distribution systems mostly occur due
to the following reasons.
• Overloading of single phase.
• Manual switching of the phases.
• Unequal sharing of single phase loads on 3-phase system.
• Unbalanced three phase loads.
• Asymmetrical transmission impedance.
When there is a phase imbalance, due to the basic laws of
circuits, current increases in the neutral wire of three phase
system. The flow of neutral wire current is a hazard, it creates
safety problems and can cause fire. In addition it also decreases
the electrical power system efficiency, tripping (relays) protec-
tion devices of the system, and damaging network equipment.
The grids are designed as three phase electrical power systems.
Various problems arise in the electrical power distribution
grids because consumer loads are not perfectly predictable
and do not balance out when different loads are distributed
over the three phases. Faults in the distribution system can
cause over-loading in some areas and under-loading in others.
So to prevent these unbalance conditions, power and loads are
required to be controlled in real time. This real time controlling
technique is called load balancing technique. In other words,
overloading and underloaded situation.
In [1] an intelligent consumers load transfer scheme is
proposed that dynamically reduces voltage unbalance (VU).
In this scheme to minimize VU in the distribution feeders,
consumers loads are transferred from one phase to another
without disconnection of phases. In [2] Scott transformers are
used in a low voltage radial feeder to balance the distribution
system. In this scheme, unbalanced 3 phase power supply is V L i2
PLi = (6)
converted to unbalanced 2 phase supply and then converted R

back to a balanced 3 phase power supply using Scott trans- PT otal = PLi (7)
formers. In the scheme proposed by [3] the unbalancing of i
a three phase system can be controlled by electric vehicle 3Vp2
(EV) chargers and photovoltaic (PV) inverters. A new 3- PT otal = (8)
phase electric spring (ES) circuit can also be used to de- 2R
creases power unbalance in a 3-phase system as proposed By changing phase voltage to RMS votage,
√
by [4]. In [5] a high realization control method is proposed Vrms = 2Vp (9)
using cascade Static compensator (STATCOM) with (star)Y 2
3V
configuration under unbalanced three phase conditions. In PT otal = (10)
conventional distributions, single-phase electrical loads are R
equally distributed among three phases. However, daily load- 2) Power for Non-Resistive loads: When the load is non
flow variation is ignored, causing unbalancing in the three resistive, it may be written as,
phase distribution system. In [6] a new method is proposed Z = Zejϕ (11)
for equal sharing of load and balancing the three phases in
a 0.4 KV distributions grid. They also simulated daily load The peak value of the current,
flow using MATLAB/Simulink models. In [7] a new phasing Vp
Ip = (12)
identification system is proposed that measures voltage phase |Z|
of underground distribution transformers at the secondary The instantaneous current of all phases are given as,
side to determine the phase load and indicate unbalancing.
However, no proposal is given to reduce the unbalancing. In IR = Ip sin(θ − ϕ) (13)
[8] a new technique is developed for identifying automatically 2
IY = Ip sin(θ − π − ϕ) (14)
the phase each domestic loads is connected to, this information 3
can be used by the distribution systems for phase rebalancing. 4
In this technique voltage information from the energy meters IB = Ip sin(θ − π − ϕ) (15)
3
and phase information from the transformers is collected over Calculating power from the above current equations,
time and then correlated to determine each customer’s phase.
In [9] a stochastic method is proposed to calculate the increas- PR = VR IR = Vp Ip sin(θ)sin(θ − ϕ) (16)
ing of a single-phase photovoltaic inverter (PVI) to voltage 2 2
PY = VY IY = Vp Ip sin(θ − π)sin(θ − π − ϕ) (17)
unbalancing in LV distribution networks. The ambiguity in 3 3
location and phase is included in a serial number of stochastic 4 4
indicators. This technique is used in induction motors, electric PB = VB IB = Vp Ip sin(θ − π)sin(θ − π − ϕ) (18)
3 3
vehicle charging (EVC) and single-phase loads. Using trigonometric functions we simplified the above power
In this paper we present an automatic 3-phase load balanc- equtions, can be simplified as,
ing device that balances 3-phase load using microcontrollers
Vp Ip
and relays. This paper explains the details of automatic three PR = [cos(θ) − cos(2θ − ϕ)] (19)
load balancing system and steps for how to design and 2
implement an automatic load balancing in power distribution V p Ip 4
PY = [cos(θ) − cos(2θ − π − ϕ)] (20)
network. 2 3
V p Ip 8
PB = [cos(θ) − cos(2θ − π − ϕ)] (21)
II. BALANCE AND UNBALANCE LOAD 2 3
DEFINITION Adding equations (19-21) we obtain,
3Vp Ip
In 3-phase distribution sytem, electical loads are distributed PT otal = cos(ϕ) (22)
between the phases. The parameter power, voltage and current 2
3Vp Ip
are balanced among all 3-phases. The flow of the current in PT otal = 2 [cos(3ϕ) − [cos(2θ)
the neutral wire is zero in balance condition. (23)
+cos(2θ − 43 π − ϕ) + cos(2θ − 83 π − ϕ)]]
A. BALANCE LOADS
In a three-phase balanced power system, the voltage phasor 3Vp2
PT otal = cos(ϕ) (24)
components have same magnitudes but are 120 degrees differ 2
from each other. By changing phase voltage to RMS votage,
1) Power for Resistive loads: In case of resistive loads the √
Vrms = 2Vp
instantaneous powers is constant all time,
3V 2
P =VI (5) PT otal = cos(ϕ) (25)
Z

2
 3) No neutral current in Balance 3-phase system: No
neutral current be obtained by equal sharing of loads on each
of the 3-phases. Therefore the net current is zero in the neutral
wire of the three phase balnce system,
VR − N
IR = (26)
R
VY − N Fig. 1. Transposition of 3-phase System
IY = (27)
R
VB − N 3) Neutral phase shift: Neutral phase shift is created when
IB = (28)
R unbalanced phenomena occurs in current of the power system.
−IN = IR + IY + IB (29) In this case, the distribution phases are not balanced to
each other; at load side the line to neutral voltages have
As we know non-dimensionalized current, can be written as different magnitudes and phases. The magnitudes of current
IN R in this situation in all three phases are different, which results
i= in different voltage drops which further cause the neutral
Vp
phase shift. Arcing and dielectric breakdown of insulation is
2 2 produced by neutral phase shifts.
inon−dimension = sin(θ) + sin(θ − π) + sin(θ + π)
3 3
(30) III. DECOMPOSITION OF ASYMMETRICAL
2
inon−dimension = sin(θ) + 2sin(θ)cos( π) (31) COMPONENTS IN LV DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
3
In an unbalanced 3-phase system, the magnitudes and
inon−dimension = sin(θ) − sin(θ) (32) phases of the voltage phasor components are different from
inon−dimension = 0 each other in LV network. Decompsing the voltage phasor
component into a complete set of symmetrical component
B. UNBALANCED LOADS helps evaluate the system as well as any imbalance.
When the amplitude of three phase voltages and current is A vector of three phase voltage is,
⎡ ⎤
different and the angle between the phases is shifted by 120◦ Vr
it is called unbalanced or asymmetrical. The power system is Vryb = ⎣ Vy ⎦
called unbalanced or asymmetrical. In balanced condition no Vb
neutral current flows. Unbalance system occurs due to non- ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
linear loads. Vr Vr,0 Vr,1 Vr,2
1) Neutral Current: By adding the three phase currents ⎣ Vy ⎦ = ⎣ Vy,0 ⎦ + ⎣ Vy,1 ⎦ + ⎣ Vy,2 ⎦
together as complex numbers and then converting form rect- Vb Vb,0 Vb,1 Vb,3
angular to polar co-ordinates form which determined neutral The subscripts 0, 1 and 2 shows respectively 0, +ive and -ive
current of the 3-phase unbalanced system . If the three-phase sequence components. The zero sequence components have
root mean square (RMS) currents are, same magnitude and are phase with each other,
I R , IY , IB V0 = Vr,0 = Vy,0 = Vb,0
the neutral RMS current is: But phase sequences of the positive and negative sequences
IN = IR + IY cos( 23 π) + jIY sin( 23 π) have the same magnitudes, but their phases difference by 120◦
(33)
+IB cos( 43 π) + jIB sin( 32 π) V1 = Vr,1 = αVy,1 = α2 Vb,1

which simplify to V2 = Vr,2 = α2 Vy,2 = αVb,2

√
1 1 3 alpha is a phasor rotation, which rotates a phasor vector by
IN IR − IY − IB + j (IY − IB ) (34) 120◦ with counterclockwise,
2 2 2
2
2) Asymmetrical transmission impedances: The impedance α = e 3 πi (35)
of the transmission line varies therefore faults occur in
the balance three phase power system. Due to this fault after decomposition the vector in three symmetrical compo-
the system goes to unbalanced condition. Without trans- nents gives the following form,
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
position of the transmission line, asymmetrical phenomena V0 V1 V2
increases which creates asymmetrical impedance in power Vryb = ⎣ V0 ⎦ + ⎣ α2 V1 ⎦ + ⎣ αV2 ⎦
systems.Transposition show in given ”Fig. 1”. V0 αV1 α 2 V2

3
 ⎡ ⎤⎡ ⎤
1 1 1 V0
Vryb =⎣ 1 α2 α ⎦ ⎣ V1 ⎦
1 α α2 V2
= AV012
where,
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
V0 1 1 1
Vryb = ⎣ V1 ⎦ , A = ⎣ 1 α2 α ⎦
V2 1 α α2
⎡ ⎤
1 1 1
1
A−1 = ⎣ 1 α2 α ⎦
3
1 α α2
by these equations we convert an asymmetrical set of three
phasors to symmetrical components set of three phasors. By
this conversion VU phenomene is rare in symmetrical com-
ponents. Three phase connected load are efficiently working
during symetrical conditon and flow of neutral current in the
neutral wire is vanish and the stability of the power system is
attained.
Fig. 3. Proteus simulation Design
IV. P ROPOSED H ARDWARE
The design of the proposed hardware will made using
Proteus software. First of all we implemented this automatic loaded among it. The display show any instant of the parameter
three phase load balancing system in Proteus simulation and variation like voltage, current and connected output status of
took the results from it and then designed hardware of the phases. This hardware is prototype and experimental design
proposed system which is shown in ”Fig. 3”. The hardware for three phase distribution system show in ”Fig. 4”. In cur-
is divided into three main circuits and each circuit consists of rently this hardware design is very helpful to overcome three
electrical components which are given in ”Fig. 2”, phase unbalancing, near distribution transformer. In nowadays
• Current sensing circuit mostly urban area is feeding a long radial distribution network,
• Relay operating circuit LV side is connected with single full house loads which creates
• Controller circuit the problem. By this hardware our single phase load is swiping
In ”Fig. 3” shows the whole simulation of automatic three to the least loaded phases among three phase in LV network,
phase load balancing system and also shows each compo- maintain the power system stability and also improve the
nent and his electrical symbol and names. The simulation is efficiency of the distribution transformer.
possible with proteus software This simulation is start from
three phases input and terminated with single phase output.
Our desired to swiping the three phase loads and our single
phase full house load is connected to that phase which is least

Fig. 4. Hardware Design

Fig. 2. Proposed Design

4
 V. C ALCULATION OF R ELAY OPERATION Where PS is plug sitting, so PS is 200%,when the fault current
The relay used in hardware design is Inverse Definite is 1000A in the CT primary. Hence, fault current is calculated
Minimum Time (IDMT) overcurrent relay. In an over current on the secondary side of CT is,
relay, the ideal inverse time characteristics can not be achived. 1000 * 5/200 = 25A,
The secondray current of current transformer (CT) is directly 25
P SM = = 12.5. (44)
proportionally to the system current. The actuating quantity 2
in IDMTis only current, there is current operated element An electromechanical relay when we set the time of travelling
in the relay, no voltage coil are required to construct this distance is called time setting. This adjustment is commonly
protective relay. In IDMT,near pick-up value the operating known as time setting multiplier (TMS) of relay. The TMS
time is inversely proportional to the fault current of the calibrated range is from 0 to 1 in steps 0.05 sec .The fastest
relay. Above the pickup value of relay becomes considerably operation is obtaind when TMS is selected as 0.1. Putting the
slightly constant, as shown in the ”Fig. 5”. This is obtained values in equation no (2).
when current slightly greater than the pick-up current and
using a core of the electromagnet which gets saturated. The (0.14) ∗ (0.1)
toperating = = 0.27sec (45)
mathematical relation between the the operating time and (12.5)0.02 − 1
current of IDMT characteristic can be written as The operating time of the relay is most important because
0.14 ∗ (T M S) when the domestic load switched to the least loaded phase, it
toperating = 0.02 (36) required sufficient delay time for its operation. The 0.27s is
(P M S) −1
more suitable relay operating time and the power system will
where PSM is plug-sitting multiplier, TMS is time multiplier be stable during this time.
sitting The maximum load current of IDMT is 10A, assuming
25 % overload, maximum overload can be calculated as VI. R ESULTS

10A + (0.25 + 10A) = 12.5A (37) The single phase output load is keept constant and the loads
of three phase input line varied. The single full house load
The value of IDMT is 10A; the CT ratio is 200:5 the PSM is connected to that phase which is least loaded by relays.
and TMS is given below, The varying loads range from 0 W to 1000 W in each phase.
We continuously checked the display phase swiping between
P ick up current = 10A, (38)
output load and incoming three phases according to load
pick up current situation at different loads and noticed different phase swiping
PS = ∗ 100%, (39)
Rated secondray current of CT at different loads. Tables given below show the phase swiping,
pick up current and load currents of each phase. Table I and table II show
Current sitting = , (40) results. We took experimental data from display show in ”Fig.
Rated secondray current
6”, our single phase full house load is connected by default
F ault current in relay coil Red phase show in display denoted by phase1 and A1, A2,
P SM = ,
Rtaed CT secondray current ∗ current sitting A3 show load of each phase.
(41)
10 In ”Fig. 7” the load connected in each phase is given, this
PS = ∗ 100% = 200%, (42) load variation is sensing by Arduino nano and give signal to
5
the fast switching relay to connect our desired single full house
10A
Current sitting = = 2, (43) load to least loaded phase among three phase LV network.
5A There is no flow of neutral current to variation of load from
0W to 1000W on each phase, in ”Fig. 8” load variation is

Fig. 5. Various characteristics of over current relays Fig. 6. Result on Display

5
 TABLE I
C ONNECTED LOADS ON EACH PHASE .

No Red(W) Yellow(W) Blue(W)

1 0W 0W 0W
2 400W 315W 320W
3 100W 215W 60W
4 300W 215W 260W
5 100W 315W 120W

Fig. 8. Three Phase Current (A)

loaded phase using fast switching relays. The single full house
load is connected to that phase which is least loaded by relay
switching ON/OFF. The hardware and simulation result shows
that the microcontroller and relays switching is effective in
reducing the unbalancing in three phase line. In addition, it
retains voltage regulation and stability in the all three phase.
Fig. 7. Connected loads on each pahse
R EFERENCES
TABLE II [1] F. Shahnia, P. Wolfs, and A. Ghosh, Voltage Unbalance Reduction in Low
E ACH PHASE CURRENT AND CONNECTED STATUS OF SINGLE PHASE LOAD . Voltage Feeders by Dynamic Switching of Residential Customers among
Three Phases, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 13181327, 2013
[2] Y. Li and P. a Crossley, Voltage balancing in lowvoltage radial feeders us-
No Red(A) Yellow(A) Blue(A) Connected Output Status
ing Scott transformers, IET Gener. Transm. Distrib., vol. 8, no. February,
1 0A 0A 0A Red pp. 14891498, 2014
[3] S. Weckx and J. Driesen, Load Balancing with EV Chargers and PV
2 1.86A 1.41A 1.47A Yellow Inverters in Unbalanced Distribution Grids, IEEE Trans. Sustain. Energy,
3 0.45A 0.97A 0.27A Blue vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 635643, 2015
[4] Q. Wang, M. Cheng, and Y. Jiang, Harmonics Suppression for Critical
4 1.42A 0.96A 1.19A Yellow Loads Using Electric Springs with Current-Source Inverters, IEEE J.
5 0.46A 1.52A 0.54A Red Emerg. Sel. Top. Power Electron., vol. 1, no. c, pp. 18, 2016.
[5] L. Tan, S. Wang, P. Wang, Y. Li, Q. Ge, H. Ren, and P. Song,
High Performance Controller with Effective Voltage Balance Regulation
for a Cascade STATCOM with Star Configuration Under Unbalanced
give with taken by different readings. With the above range of Conditions, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 5, no. June, pp. 110, 2015.
[6] K. Mansouri, M. Ben Hamed, L. Sbita, and M. Dhaoui, Three-phase
variation there will be no neutral flow of current, the system balancing in a LV distribution smart-grids using electrical load flow
will be stable.This hardware is design upto 5A load variation, variation: L.F.B.M., 16th Int. Conf. Sci. Tech. Autom. Control Comput.
we also change equipments and its rating for higher load Eng. STA 2015, no. 1, pp. 427431, 2016
[7] C. S. Chen, T. T. Ku, and C. H. Lin, Design of phase identification
variation, according to our requirements. system to support three-phase loading balance of distribution feeders,
IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 191198, 2012.
VII. C ONCLUSION [8] H. Pezeshki and P. Wolfs, Correlation based method for phase identifi-
cation in a three phase LV distribution network, IEEE ISGT Eur. 2012,
Domestic load is single phase while connected to three no. July 2011, pp. 17, 2012.
phase distribution network. The three phase distribution system [9] M. Osama, B. Shakeel, S. A. Jaffar, M. F. Ali, and S. Sajjad, 74 . LV
Three Phase Automatic Load Balancing System, vol. 2016, no. Eesd,
suffers from unbalancing due to overloading of one phase as 2016.
comparing to the remaining two phases. To overcome this
problem, distribution system requires equal sharing of load
on each phase. When equal sharing is obtained, due to which
in 3-pahse unbalancing, energy losses, overload situation and
return current flow in neutral is reduced. The automatic three
phase load balancing system is possible by the proposed
hardware which is micro-controller and relay based hardware.
The hardware is installed in the incoming of three phase lines
and will accordingly switch the domestic load to the least