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In Depth Look at AC Power Control With Arduino

This document provides an in-depth overview of using an Arduino to control AC power through a triac. It describes the circuit schematic which uses a zero-crossing detector on the Arduino to detect the AC sine wave and calculate delays to control the triac firing pulses. This allows adjusting the power output level to the load. Code is included to enable interrupts on the zero crossing pulses and output delayed pulses to the triac via a MOC3011 optocoupler.

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G Jean Manuel Alexandroo
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161 views

In Depth Look at AC Power Control With Arduino

This document provides an in-depth overview of using an Arduino to control AC power through a triac. It describes the circuit schematic which uses a zero-crossing detector on the Arduino to detect the AC sine wave and calculate delays to control the triac firing pulses. This allows adjusting the power output level to the load. Code is included to enable interrupts on the zero crossing pulses and output delayed pulses to the triac via a MOC3011 optocoupler.

Uploaded by

G Jean Manuel Alexandroo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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In Depth Look at AC Power Control

with Arduino
by Lewis Loflin

For related material see:

Hardware Interrupts Demo and Tutorial for ATMEGA168/Arduino

Basic Triacs and SCRs

Solid State AC Relays with Triacs


In the above video and the code below we take an in depth look at the hardware for
using Arduino interrupts to control AC power through a triac. Using a zero-crossing
detector Arduino will detect the pulse then calculate a delay to control the power
output to a load. The complete circuit schematic is here.
For more on basic AC voltage see my video Basic Electronic Power Supplies

Fig. 1
Fig. 1 shows the 5-volt power supply for Arduino but includes blocking diode D2. On
the cathode side we have filtered DC which is regulated to 5-volts through U2. On
the Anode side we have unfiltered raw 120 Hz DC going to the LED in the 4N25
opto-coupler. The output from the photo-transistor collector goes to digital pin 2 of
Arduino to interrupt 0. Potentiometer R3 goes analog pin 0 and is used to calculate
the time delay for the triac firing pulses.

Fig. 2
Fig 2 shows the relationship of the zero-crossing pulse with the AC sine wave. By
detecting the pulse and programming a delay one can control the power output level
to a AC load.

Fig. 3
Fig 3 shows the triac firing circuit. The MOC3011 opto-coupler uses a photo triac as
opposed to a transistor. Pulses synchronized to the AC sinewave half-cycle are
output from Arduino digital pin 5 to the LED in the MOC3011, which also serves to
isolate the high voltage AC from the low-voltage components.
Pressing the power switch will enable trigger pulses to the MOC3011 while the LED
on digital pin 12 is a power on indicator. C1 and R6 form a snubber circuit for
inductive loads. Without a snubber switching noise from inductive loads will cause
miss-firing of the triac.
/*
Purpose: to detect zero crossing pulse at
INT0 digital pin 2, which after delay
switches on a triac.
Power output to triac activated by external switch.
*/
#define triacPulse 5
#define SW 4

#define aconLed 12
int val;
void setup() {
pinMode(2, INPUT);
digitalWrite(2, HIGH); // pull up
pinMode(triacPulse, OUTPUT);
pinMode(SW, INPUT);
digitalWrite(SW, HIGH);
pinMode(aconLed, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(aconLed, LOW);
}
void loop() {
// check for SW closed
if (!digitalRead(SW)) {
// enable power
attachInterrupt(0, acon, FALLING);
// HV indicator on
digitalWrite(aconLed, HIGH);
} // end if
else if (digitalRead(SW)) {
detachInterrupt(0); // disable power
// HV indicator off
digitalWrite(aconLed, LOW);
} // else
} // end loop

// begin AC interrupt routine


// delay() will not work!
void acon()
{
delayMicroseconds((analogRead(0) * 6) + 1000); // read AD1
digitalWrite(triacPulse, HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(200);
// delay 200 uSec on output pulse to turn on triac
digitalWrite(triacPulse, LOW);
}

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