You are on page 1of 9

Energy Saving - Motion Activated Smart Fan Design and

Implementation
Jian Rong Fan, Muhammad Syafieq Abd Razak, Nur Amirah Mohamad Mohayadin, Wan Amir Fuad
Wajdi Othman*
School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang,
Malaysia

*
Corresponding E-mail: wafw_othman@usm.my

Abstract— Nowadays, the weather is getting hot and the global warming keeps increasing. There are many
factors that led to the global warming. One of the factors is air conditioning that produces CFC. Instead of
using air conditioning, using a fan is safer to our environment. Therefore, we created smart fan that can
overcome all those problems. Besides, our smart fan also can reduce the energy by lowering the power
consumption. There are two main features in our smart fan which includes able to sense the presence and
follow the user motion. Smart fan will turn on when it detects the presence of the user and it will follow
the user motion whether to the left or right. With the detection of user presence, it will help reduce the
energy usage and by following the user motion it will helps to focus on one user and reduce the
temperature around its user. In this work, we use two sensors for the main features. We use Ultrasonic
sensor to follow the user motion and IR sensor to detect the presence of the user. Smart fan has managed
to reduce energy by 11.47 % than the normal table fan.

Keywords— Mechatronic; smart fan; motion activated; Arduino

building lab to conduct smart control of energy


I. INTRODUCTION saving on available fan in the space to explore the
This work focuses on the exploration of the future development and direction for intelligent
smart controlled fan, using the lab of intelligent building by means of energy saving efficiency.
building, in order to achieve the objective of
energy saving. Although each country has Most of the living rooms are not well arranged
different definition about intelligent building, all with air conditioning. So, fan is the main way of
their basic objectives are about the same. cooling down and is used in most of the houses.
Intelligent building combines structure, system, But when it is desired to change the direction of
service and operation management to create the air flow, the fan doesn't have any automatic or
most optimal combination and process for the efficient feature. Conventional fans have usually
construction of highly efficient, excellent function two options for directing air flow.
and comfortable buildings.
Firstly, fan is static, and we physically redirect it
Therefore, intelligent building must be able to to direct air flow in the desired direction. This
satisfy users’ needs, control easily, save energy, option is not user friendly because when one
improve management effectiveness and clarify wants to change the location in the room, he must
information. This study focused on the role of redirect the fan's air flow. The physical effort
energy saving in intelligent building. In view of which is required to redirect the airflow may be
this, our study tried to use established intelligent

International Journal of Engineering Creativity and Innovation ( IJECI ) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Libraries Resource Directory. We are listed under Research Associations category.
International Journal of Engineering Creativity and Innovation, 2019, 1 (1), 24-32
difficult if the fan is heavy or the user is of elderly motor. They showed that the servo motor speed
age. can be adjusted with analog value between 1 and
255.
It may also require multiple attempts to redirect
the fan in the desired direction. So, we have Robotix [4], published on 4 February 2015,
designed a circuit which will solve the above two had used the IR sensor module to test as a switch
problems and make the use of fan more user for an LED on Arduino. They showed that when
friendly by making the process smart. This fan is the IR sensor [5] had analog read the voltage less
only running when it detects people in a room, and than 500 (which in the range of 1 to 1024), the
automatically follows the motion of humans to LED will light up. The voltage reference can also
give the best feeling of cooling. be adjusted from the potentiometer on the module.

With the rise in global warming and increasing


in the electrical usage, it is becoming essential to III. MATERIALS & METHODOLOGY
find an alternative way to reduce the usage of the All the aforementioned problems can be solved
electric. The aim of this work is to create a device by using a smart fan. In order to help the problems,
that eco-friendly and give benefits to our earth at a concept of multifunctional fan can be applied to
the same time save more energy. Smart fan can the machine so that it can reduce the electricity
reduce the usage of electric by control the on and cost. Instead of using air conditioning in this high
off device. The device will only operate when temperature weather, fan can help to reduce the
there is a presence of human. This will cut the cost global warming because it does not produce CFC
for the electrical devices too. Nowadays, weather like air conditioning.
in our country can be considered quite hot and the
temperature are also quite high. Therefore, with Therefore, it is helping in reducing the global
the presence of this device hopefully it could warming. It is also helping to reduce the energy by
reduce the room temperature by following the following the user motion and detect the presence
human motion. of the user which reduce energy waste as the fan
only functions when there are people, which
Furthermore, a short brief introductory video of solves the problem of forgetting to switch off the
this work has been uploaded to the YouTube with fan.
the following link:
https://youtu.be/XX5XnSqZCoM. In this work, we have used two PING)))
ultrasonic sensors as motion detector; Arduino
Uno as a microcontroller; one IR sensor as to
II.RELATED WORKS detect the presence of human in vicinity; a servo
To be able to design a smart fan, we had done motor to turn the fan to the right or left; and a DC
research on related works which can be used in motor to rotate the fan.
our work. MagicByCalvin from Instructables [1]
had used 2 ultrasonic sensors and a servo motor to Arduino microcontroller is a single-board
produce a motion following robot. The motion of microcontroller meant to make the application
servo motor was very fast and vigorous, and the more accessible which are interactive objects and
motion following only available to the moving its surroundings [6]. The hardware features with
object, but not stationary object, where the an open-source hardware board designed around
ultrasonic sonic sensors keep making the servo an 8-bit Atmel AVR microcontroller or a 32-bit
motor move left and right simultaneously. There Atmel ARM. Arduino is proven to be one of the
was only motion following function without any easiest to use microcontrollers. There are many
significant function [1]. works had used Arduino in their design as
reported in literatures, such as robotics related
AGU Robot Lab [2], published on 29 March research [7-25], or just for mini-projects for
2014 (on YouTube), had used the VarSpeedServo hobbyist [26-28].
Arduino Library [3] to control the speed of servo

Available online: http://technical-journals.org/index.php/IJECI/ P a g e | 25


International Journal of Engineering Creativity and Innovation, 2019, 1 (1), 24-32
Fig. 1 shows PING))) ultrasonic sensors [30]. It light received. This is the underlying principle of
is used as motion detector by placing both sensors working of the IR sensor. With the ability of
together side by side in an angle. This sensor varying resistance in IR sensor, signal received by
communicates with servo motor through Arduino the sensor can be toggle from HIGH to LOW or
microcontroller and is important as it checks the from LOW to HIGH.
distance from it to an object on either in left or
right direction so that the fan can follow an object
motion to the left or right. An object is said
located on the left if the left ultrasonic sensor
measured less distance compared to the sensor on
the right, and vice versa. The Ping))) Ultrasonic
sensor, is a device that can be used with
microcontrollers like Arduino or BASIC Stamp to
measure distance between the sensor and other
objects [30]. Figure 2: Infra-Red (IR) sensor used in this work

A servo motor is used to rotate the “fan tower”


to the right or to the left by communicating with
the ultrasonic sensors through Arduino
microcontroller. Fig. 3 shows the timing diagram
of servo motor for angles of 0°, +90° and -90°
with its respective pulse wave diagram. To turn a
(a) Front view servo motor into certain angle, a pulse width
modulation (PWM) signal had to send to the data
pin of servo motor. Each angle is represented by
the duty cycle of pulse width modulation [31]. The
0.7ms to 1ms PWM widths will make the servo
motor to turn clockwise (CW), the 1.7ms to 2ms
(b) Back view PWM width will make the servo motor to turn
Figure 1: PING)) Ultrasonic Sensor. [30] counterclockwise (CCW). For the standard servo
the 1.5ms PWM width will turn the servo motor to
One IR sensor is installed in the base of the its center.
Smart Fan to detect the presence of a person in
front of it within 5 cm. In this work, the IR sensor As previously stated, a brushed DC motor is
is said to be the “fan activator” as it senses any used to rotate the propeller, generating torque
object within the distance mentioned earlier. If the from DC power supply by using an internal
IR sensor does not sense anything, a LOW signal mechanical commutation. Stationary permanent
will not be sent to the Arduino microcontroller magnets form the stator field. Torque is produced
hence, the fan is off i.e. the DC motor is inactive. by the principle that any current-carrying
conductor placed within an external magnetic field
An IR sensor (Fig. 2) consists of an emitter, experiences a force, known as Lorentz force [32].
detector and associated circuitry. The circuit In a motor, the magnitude of this Lorentz force,
required to make an IR sensor consists of two and thus the output torque, is a function for rotor
parts; the emitter circuit and the receiver circuit. angle, leading to a phenomenon known as torque
The emitter is simply an IR LED (Light Emitting ripple. Since this is a single phase two-pole motor,
Diode) and the detector is simply an IR the commutator consists of a split ring, so that the
photodiode which is sensitive to IR light of the current reverses each half turn (180 degrees) [32].
same wavelength as that emitted by the IR LED.
When IR light falls on the photodiode, its Since the Arduino microcontroller supplies
resistance and correspondingly, its output voltage, small voltage to its output (5V) with small current,
change in proportion to the magnitude of the IR motor driver was needed to drive the DC motor. A

Available online: http://technical-journals.org/index.php/IJECI/ P a g e | 26


International Journal of Engineering Creativity and Innovation, 2019, 1 (1), 24-32

Figure 3: Timing diagram of servo motor

motor driver is a little current amplifier; the Figure 4: Illustrative figure of the components and
function of motor drivers is to take a low-current connection
control signal and then turn it into a higher-current
signal that can drive a motor [32-33]. In this work, Another sensor used is IR sensor which its
we have used L293D Motor Driver that works Signal pin is connected to pin A0 of Arduino Uno.
with Arduino Uno like a charm. For the actuators, we use servo motor and DC
motor. The signal pin of servo motor is connected
Fig. 4 shows an illustrative diagram of to pin9 and a motor driver L293D is used to
components and connection on breadboard; control the DC motor as it used up more than 5V
however, it is not the final circuit connection. A for faster speed. Since we only make the fan turns
circuit was constructed as shown in Fig. 5. There in one single direction, the input pin from motor
are 2 Ultrasonic sensors where the Signal (SIG) driver is connected to pin7 while another input pin
pin of left ultrasonic sensor is connected to pin 11 for motor is grounded. 2 LEDs are connected at
at Arduino, while another right Ultrasonic sensor pin5 and pin6 respectively. An external power
SIG pin is connected to pin 13. supply is given to the motor driver pin8 to power
up the DC motor. The operating system of the
project is shows in Fig. 6 with block diagram
showing the mechanism and flow of the process in
this work.

Available online: http://technical-journals.org/index.php/IJECI/ P a g e | 27


International Journal of Engineering Creativity and Innovation, 2019, 1 (1), 24-32

Figure 5: Schematic Diagram of the system

Figure 6: Block diagram of the system

Fig. 7 shows the overall working flowchart for nearer object and moved towards that direction,
the system. From the flowchart, it shows that Red making a motion following mechanism.
Indicator will light up for showing switched on. IR
sensor will first sense whether there was object in
the range of 5cm. If it sensed inside the range, fan IV. RESULTS
or DC motor will start turning and indicated by a Fig. 8 shows the prototype of in this work is
Green Led, else motor and led will turn off if more made from recycled materials: such as food casing
than 5cm. For object following, left and right and cardboard, of course with DVD disc as the
ultrasonic sensors were used, with sensing range propeller. The prototype is mainly to test the
of 10cm. working operation of mechatronics system
completes with sensors, actuators and
If left sensor sensed less than threshold distance microcontroller. Therefore, the sensing region of
(10cm) and Right sensor sensed more than 10cm, the sensors had been set to as short as possible to
the servo motor will turn left by 2 degree, enable stable sensing capability.
indicating left side sensed nearer object. In the
other hand, if right sensor sensed less than 10cm For energy saving comparison, we had chosen a
and left sensor sensed more than 10cm, the right product sample from internet to compare its
side now was sensing nearer compared to left side, energy consumption with our prototype. We had
thus the servo motor will turn right by 2 degree. chosen a mini electric fan with 2 lithium ion
Therefore, the left side and right side of ultrasonic batteries with total of 7.4V and rated power of 4W
sensor will keep comparing which side sensed which is shows in Fig. 9.

Available online: http://technical-journals.org/index.php/IJECI/ P a g e | 28


International Journal of Engineering Creativity and Innovation, 2019, 1 (1), 24-32

Figure 7: Flowchart of the system

Figure 8: Prototype of motion following smart fan Figure 9: Mini Electric Fan
for energy saving

Therefore, power consumed by the proposed


Energy consumption can be calculated using the system the following equation is used:
following equation:

To calculate the energy consumption of the


While for calculation of the power consumed by proposed system, using the same equation:
the system, we had used 2 lithium ion batteries
with total voltage of 7.4V, and the rated current
for the DC motor we used was referred as 0.47A. By assuming the fan is used for 12 hours per
day, from the calculation, it has shown that the

Available online: http://technical-journals.org/index.php/IJECI/ P a g e | 29


International Journal of Engineering Creativity and Innovation, 2019, 1 (1), 24-32
proposed motion activated smart fan can save
energy by 11.76% as compared to mini electric fan. The LOW signal will also read by Arduino
microcontroller to indicate there are person or
V.DISCUSSION object nearby. The IR sensor was set to detect
Upon constructing the smart fan, our team have object effectively within 5 cm. If there was object
faced and solved some problems that would make presence within 5 cm, the fan (DC motor) will turn
the smart fan works as intended. By analyzing and on. The maximum sensing distance available for
troubleshooting all the components used in this the IR sensor had been found out to be 16-18cm.
work, we had understood and able to deal with the Thus, we had limited the sensing region to be 5cm
problems as follow: for stable sensing capability.
A. Ultrasonic Sensors
Two ultrasonic sensors were attached on the C. Servo motor
side of the fan tower below the fan and both The servo motor can turn left or right with an
ultrasonic sensors were placed side by side with an angle of 90°. However, the motion speed of the
approximately exterior angle of 210°. The servo motor initially was too vigorous and too fast
ultrasonic sensors were used as a motion follower when we used Servo.h library in Arduino coding.
by comparing the distance sensed on the right or Thus, we have to make the motion slow by using
left. We had set the threshold region of sensing to another library for servo motor which is
be 10 cm as the limitation of IR sensor we had set VarSpeedServo.h [5] library. This library enabled
5cm, which enables a stable sensing capability. us to control the speed of servo motor by adjusting
While one side sensed less than threshold distance the analog write values from 0 to 255 that
and another sensed more, the servo motor will turn represents digital 0 volt and 5 volts.
towards the nearer sensing region.
The speed of servo motor is directly
The problem we had faced was the vigorous proportional to the voltage supplied by the
motion of servo motor as 2 ultrasonic sensors kept Arduino microcontroller. By considering Equation
comparing both sides in a very fast pace, making below, Analog write = 51 × Desired voltage [31],
the servo motor turned left and right we can determine the value of analog write that
simultaneously. After some correction, we corresponds with desired voltage value to lower
discovered that the priority of motion in the the voltage supplied so that motion speed of the
coding should be emphasized where all the servo motor become steadier. Note that the
different conditions should be the interrupt so that maximum voltage that Arduino microcontroller
the program will straight jump into another can supply is 5V.
conditions function if another condition was met,
which meant using if function instead of if-else D. DC motor and Motor Driver
function for all condition. This will make the
response faster. It is not enough power to drive the DC motor
only 5V supplied by Arduino microcontroller. To
deal with this problem, we have incorporated a
B. IR Sensor motor driver L293D with external power from
When there was no object nearby that the IR lithium ion battery into pin 8 of the motor driver.
sensor can detect, the resistance across the
transmitter of sensor will be lower and therefore E. Energy Saving
the voltage node at the transmitter pin will be
HIGH. This HIGH signal will be read by Arduino From the result, it was clearly shown that there
microcontroller to indicate there are no person or was a power consumption difference between a
an object nearby. If there was object near to the IR mini electric fan and our prototype smart fan. The
sensor, resistance across the transmitter will be difference in daily energy usage was 0.02MJoules
increased and therefore voltage node at the which had saved about 11.67% of energy. This
transmitter pin will be LOW. had achieved our objective which was energy
saving.

Available online: http://technical-journals.org/index.php/IJECI/ P a g e | 30


International Journal of Engineering Creativity and Innovation, 2019, 1 (1), 24-32
Even though the battery power was not forever 2014. [Online]. Available:
lasting, but it was rechargeable this made it eco- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4KRksxj
friendly and waste reducing. The presence P6k. [Accessed 12 12 2018].
detecting function could even save more energy as [3] Github, "VarSpeedServo," [Online].
it only ran when there was a person in front. This Available:
prevented the waste of energy, not to mention the https://github.com/netlabtoolkit/VarSpeedSer
motion following function will also reduce the vo. [Accessed 4 12 2018].
wasted energy by blowing at the user’s direction [4] Youtube, "Infra Red Obstacle Detector,"
all the time and not at the other place which was Robotix, 4 2 2015. [Online]. Available:
happened on the normal electric fan without https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRtdcxO
sensor switch. Xojo&t=20s. [Accessed 10 12 2018].
[5] Henry's Bench, "Arduino IR Obstacle Sensor:
Tutorial and Manual," [Online]. Available:
VI. CONCLUSION http://henrysbench.capnfatz.com/henrys-
Motion activated smart fan consists of some bench/arduino-sensors-and-input/arduino-ir-
important components such as IR sensor, obstacle-sensor-tutorial-and-manual/.
ultrasonic sensor, servo motor etc. Each [Accessed 7 12 2018].
component performs its functional characteristics [6] "Arduino Uno Rev3," Arduino, [Online].
and the components work dependently with each Available:
other. For ultrasonic sensor, it was used as motion https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-uno-rev3.
detector while the servo motor turns right or left. [Accessed 1 12 2018].
By combining these two components we can [7] Ahmad MF, Alhady SSN, Kaharuddin S, et al
appreciate and apply a motion follower (2015). "Visual based sensor cart follower for
mechanism. IR sensors were used to check the wheelchair by using microcontroller". In.
presence of object or person nearby within a Proc. 2015 IEEE International Conference on
designated range so that it can be used as Control System, Computing and Engineering
automatic switch for the fan. (ICCSCE), IEEE, pp. 123-128.
[8] Ahmed, B. J. S. A. A. (2018). Design and
In conclusion, the Motion Activated Smart Fan Analysis Mini CNC Plotter Machine.
was successful built. This work has given us the [9] Basyal, L., Kaushal, S., & Singh, G. (2018).
chance to come out with an innovation not just to Voice Recognition Robot with Real Time
help save our world’s energy but also to help Surveillance and Automation. International
people cut their electrical bills. Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 6(1),
2320-2882.
[10] Bisht, R. S., Pathak, P. M., & Panigrahi, S. K.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT (2018, September). Development of Magnetic
All authors have disclosed no conflicts of Adhesion Based Wheel-Driven Climbing
interest, and authors would like to thank the Machine for Ferrous Surface Applications. In
Universiti Sains Malaysia for supported the work ASME 2018 Dynamic Systems and Control
by Research University Grant Scheme (Grant Conference (pp. V001T04A016-
number: 1001/PELECT/8014113). V001T04A016). American Society of
Mechanical Engineers.
[11] Faisal, R. H., & Chisty, N. A. (2018). Design
REFERENCES and Implementation of a Wall Climbing
Robot. International Journal of Computer
[1] Instructables, "Motion Following Robot,"
Applications, 179(13), 1-5.
[Online]. Available:
[12] Faizal MIN, Othman WAFW, Syed Hassan
http://www.instructables.com/id/Motion-
SSNA (2015). "Development of pole-like tree
Following-Robot/. [Accessed 2 12 2018].
climbing robot", In. Proc. 2015 IEEE
[2] Youtube, "Servo Speed Control using
International Conference on Control System,
Arduino Uno," AGU Robot Lab, 29 March

Available online: http://technical-journals.org/index.php/IJECI/ P a g e | 31


International Journal of Engineering Creativity and Innovation, 2019, 1 (1), 24-32
Computing and Engineering (ICCSCE), IEEE, [24] Sivakumar, B. G., & Sudhagar, K. (2018). An
pp. 224-229. independent situating &navigation system for
[13] Hirani, A. (2018). Design of cost effective stair climbing robotic wheelchair. Mental,
CNC using Arduino Uno. 5(5.8), 5-4.
[14] Hirani, A. (2019). Design of mini CNC using [25] Vital, J. P., Ferreira, N. F., & Valente, A.
arduino uno. (2018, September). Educational Humanoid
[15] Khan, M., Ahmed, M. K., Ulay, N. A. A., Robot Using A Sensoring Fusion Through
Sarwar, M., & Islam, N. (2018). Custom CNC Arduino. In Memorias de Congresos UTP (pp.
milling machine (Doctoral dissertation, 235-242).
BRAC University). [26] Cheong, C. K., Iskandar, A. M. K., Azhar, A.
[16] Koo, Y. C., Elmi, A. B., & Wajdi, W. A. F. S., & Othman, W. A. F. W. (2018). Smart
(2012). Piston mechanism based rope Aquaponics System: Design and
climbing robot. Procedia Engineering, 41, Implementation using Arduino
547-553. Microcontroller.
[17] Lau, S. C., Othman, W. A. F. W., & Bakar, E. [27] Wong K.K., Abu Samah N.A., Sahimi M.S.,
A. (2013, November). Development of slider- Othman W.A.F.W. (2019). Development of
crank based pole climbing robot. In 2013 Reverse Vending Machine using Recycled
IEEE International Conference on Control Materials and Arduino Microcontroller.
System, Computing and Engineering (pp. International Journal of Engineering
471-476). IEEE. Creativity and Innovation, (accepted).
[18] Mustapa MA, Othman WAFW, Abu Bakar E [28] Goon L.H., Md Isa A.N.I., Choong C.H.,
et al. (2018). "Development of Pole-Like Tree Othman W.A.F.W. (2019). Development of
Spiral Climbing Robot". In: Hassan M. (eds) Simple Automatic Floor Polisher Robot using
Intelligent Manufacturing & Mechatronics. Arduino. International Journal of Engineering
Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Creativity and Innovation, (accepted).
Springer, Singapore, pp. 285-293. [29] Tan N.D., Lee J., Yazid M.R., Othman
[19] Rajasekhar, T. M. K., & Sugadev, M. (2018). W.A.F.W. (2019). Mechatronic System:
Arduino Controlled Special Stair Climbing Automated Window Curtain using LDR.
Wheel- chair Bot. International Journal of International Journal of Engineering
Pure and Applied Mathematics, 118(24). Creativity and Innovation, (accepted).
[20] Saad, W. H. M., Karim, S. A. A., Azhar, N., [30] "PING))) Ultrasonic Distance Sensor
Manap, Z., Soon, Y. Y., & Ibrahim, M. M. (#28015)," [Online]. Available:
(2018). Line Follower Mobile Robot for https://www.parallax.com/sites/default/files/d
Surveillance Camera Monitoring System. ownloads/28015-PING-Sensor-Product-
Journal of Telecommunication, Electronic and Guide-v2.0.pdf. [Accessed 1 12 2018].
Computer Engineering (JTEC), 10(2-7), 1-5. [31] Ermicroblog, "Basic Servo Motor
[21] Sani NA, Syed SSNA, Othman WAFW, et al. Controlling," [Online]. Available:
(2012). "Cordless Cart Follower for http://www.ermicro.com/blog/?p=771.
Wheelchair User", Trends in intelligent [Accessed 3 12 2018].
robotics, automation, and manufacturing, [32] wikipedia, "DC Motor," [Online]. Available:
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 252-262. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_motor.
[22] Sathyakumar, N., Balaji, K. P., Ganapathi, R., [Accessed 3 12 2018].
& Pandian, S. R. (2018). A Build-Your-Own [33] Robotix, "Motor Driver IC," [Online].
Three Axis CNC PCB Milling Machine. Available:
Materials Today: Proceedings, 5(11), 24404- https://www.robotix.in/tutorial/auto/motor_dri
24413. ver/. [Accessed 4 12 2018].
[23] Singh, D., Das, S. K., Das, E., Agrawal, M.,
& Patel, V. (2018). Arduino And Sensors
Based Fire Fighting Robot. i-Manager's
Journal on Instrumentation & Control
Engineering, 6(2), 37.

Available online: http://technical-journals.org/index.php/IJECI/ P a g e | 32

You might also like