International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Research ISSN 2348-6988 (online)

Vol. 4, Issue 2, pp: (158-163), Month: April - June 2016, Available at: www.researchpublish.com

Design of a Microcontroller Base Three-Phase

Automatic Change-Over Switch
Anaza S.O.1, Abdulazeez M.S.2, Sayeed M.S3, Abdullahi K.U4
1, 3, 4
Technical service, Power Equipment and Electrical Machinery Development Institute,
(PEEMADI) Okene, Kogi State, NIGERIA
2
Engineering Research and Development, Power Equipment and Electrical Machinery Development Institute,
(PEEMADI) Okene, Kogi State, NIGERIA

Abstract: The process of switching the electrical load, that is been powered by two alternative sources (utility and
generator), from one source to the other forms part of a change-over process. This process which further includes
the monitoring of the supply from utility and the starting/ stopping of the generator to certain extent could be
rigorous. To ease such difficulty, the design of an automatic change-over switch has been realized and tested as
presented in this paper. Success was recorded as the above processes were automated. This was achieved with the
combination of discrete electrical and electronics components which includes PIC16F877A, relays, transistors,
diodes, resistors and a liquid crystal display (LCD) for displaying the system status.

Keywords: electrical load, utility, generator, electrical and electronics components.

1. INTRODUCTION

It is an undisputed fact that the supply of electric power in Nigeria and most developing countries of the world are erratic
in nature. This is however unhealthy for most processes or systems which are dependent on electric power. Hence an
alternative electricity source is essential for improved efficiency. To harmonize this electricity source with that of the
utility, certain processes has to be initialized. These include the monitoring of the supply from utility, the starting/
stopping of the generator, the switching of the load to and from the generator as the case may be. These entirely sum-up
together to make the change-over process which to a reasonable extent is rigorous. The most common type of the change-
over switch is the manual change-Over switch which basically consists of a switch box, switch gear and a cut-out or
connector fuse. As such, the manual change-over switch system requires the use of one‟s energy in starting the generator
and switching over from utility supply to generator in cases of utility power failure as well as when the supply is restored.
With the intervention of electronics, these entire processes can be achieved in a faster and more efficient manner with
little or no risk of damage to equipments.

This paper presents a proposed design of a device that executes this change-over process automatically. This device will
possess the following features:

 Monitoring of the power supply from utility in other to detect power outage, phase failure, over or under voltage
supply in the most earnest time.

 Uses of the corresponding signal to self actuate the change-over system.

 Automatic switching on/off of the generator

 a near seamless transition between the mains supply and an alternative standby source

Page | 158
Research Publish Journals
 International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Research ISSN 2348-6988 (online)
Vol. 4, Issue 2, pp: (158-163), Month: April - June 2016, Available at: www.researchpublish.com

 Protection of the system against under/ over voltage

 An updated system status display

 Easy installation and operation

 The rating is 200A, 3ph/50hz

2. METHODOLOGY
The methodology is illustrated in flow chart as shown in fig 1.

Start

NO using proteus
Designing and drawing of circuit

Writing and building of program codes using mikro C

YES Build?

Linking the drawn circuit in proteus to the hex file generated in mikro C
and simulate.

YES Simulate?

Designing of other circuit

Programming of µC & planning of circuit board

Arrangement of component

Casing design and construction; Assembling

Stop

Figure.1: flow chart

Page | 159
Research Publish Journals
 International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Research ISSN 2348-6988 (online)
Vol. 4, Issue 2, pp: (158-163), Month: April - June 2016, Available at: www.researchpublish.com

The complete circuit diagram is as shown in figure 2.

B1

12V

U1 LCD1
D10 7805 LM016L
D9 1N4001
1 3
VI VO

GND
BR1
C5 SW1
phase1 1uF 1N4001 SW-SPST D11

2
DIODE-LED

VDD
VSS

VEE
R10

RW
RS

D0
D1
D2
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
E
PHASE1 10k
R2

1
2
3

4
5
6

7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
RV1
BRIDGE
10k

D19 C7
100 1N4732A

BR2 22p
X1 U2
phase2
R9 C6 CRYSTAL 13 OSC1/CLKIN RB0/INT
33
10k 14 34
PHASE2 OSC2/CLKOUT RB1
35
RB2
2 36
RV2 RA0/AN0 RB3/PGM
22p 3 37
RA1/AN1 RB4
4 38
RA2/AN2/VREF-/CVREF RB5
5 39
RA3/AN3/VREF+ RB6/PGC
BRIDGE 6 40
RA4/T0CKI/C1OUT RB7/PGD
D18 7
RA5/AN4/SS/C2OUT
1N4732A RC0/T1OSO/T1CKI
15 RL1 GEN START
R1 8
RE0/AN5/RD RC1/T1OSI/CCP2
16 RLY-SPNO
100 10k 9
RE1/AN6/WR RC2/CCP1
17 D12
10
RE2/AN7/CS RC3/SCK/SCL
18 R3 Q1 1N4001
23 BC547
RC4/SDI/SDA
1 24 10k
BR3 MCLR/Vpp/THV RC5/SDO
R8 RC6/TX/CK
25
10k 26
RC7/RX/DT
phase3 19
RD0/PSP0
20
PHASE3 RV3 RD1/PSP1 GEN STOP
RD2/PSP2
21 RL2
22 RLY-SPNO
RD3/PSP3
RD4/PSP4
27 R4 Q2 D13
28 BC547 1N4001
RD5/PSP5
BRIDGE 29 10k
RD6/PSP6
30
UTILITY
RD7/PSP7
D17
100 1N4732A PIC16F877A

BR4
RL3 RL5
gen test signal R5 Q3 RLY-SPNO RLY-SPNO
GEN TEST BC547 D14
10k 1N4001

R7
10k
BRIDGE
LOAD
RV4

R6 Q4 RL4 RL6
BC547 RLY-SPNO RLY-SPNO
10k D15
D16 1N4001
1N4732A
100

V1
V3PHASE

GENERATOR

Figure.2: complete circuit diagram

3. DESIGN
Calculation of Power for a Three Phase System:
Generator rating ⁄ , operating at and a power factor of .
To determine rating of contactor to be used as well as cable size
Recall
Apparent powers ( ) : Line voltage
Phase voltage : Active power “P” Apparent power power factor
Assuming a balanced load on the system

: ( )
The contactor required will have a minimum current rating of
For increased efficiency, a tolerance of about + will be given
Page | 160
Research Publish Journals
 International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Research ISSN 2348-6988 (online)
Vol. 4, Issue 2, pp: (158-163), Month: April - June 2016, Available at: www.researchpublish.com

Thus contactor rating will be

( ) or nearest allowable.
As such a 200A contactor was selected.
Below is the consideration for cable selection:
Required cable should carry a current of at least
( )
However, if the operating environment is very hot, a larger cable size will be required
The power supply unit:
The power supply unit is designed to consist of a full wave rectifier, a filtering capacitor, a potentiometer, a voltage
regulator and a 12V back-up battery.
: : :
√

For a ripple factor of 1%; :

( √ )

( ( )

On the voltage divider circuit, : ( )

Then a „7805‟ regulated is used to regulate :Thus a 5V power supply unit.

The Central Processing Unit:
This unit is designed to be implemented using a PIC microcontroller (PIC 16f877a) and some complimentary components
whose choices are based on specifications by the manufacturer on the data sheet. These components include a crystal
oscillator of rating 8 MHz, a 10k pull-up resistor and two stabilizing capacitors. The PIC is programmed using the basic
programming language to take charge of most control in the system. The program is developed in C language using the
micro C pro. The flowchart of the program is shown in figure 4.
The Display Unit:
For effective display, this unit is designed to be implemented using a LCD display with the following features and
specification:
Table.1: LCD specification

Parameter Value
supply voltage for LCD 3VDC
Input voltage 3.3VDC
Supply current 1.5mA
The Switching Unit:
The switching unit of this design comprise a two no. of Electro-mechanical contactor with the following specifications
whose choice is based on the proposed design specification of the automatic change-over switch. Its trigger signal is
outputted from the CPU via a 12V relay.
RL1 and RL2 are 3 phase electrical contactors which are connected as an interlock to switch the load between the
generator and utility. They are rated 200A each which is competent to conveniently switch a 100KVA load as specified
for this design.
( )
RL3 and RL4 are relays that control the actuating signals of the contactors. They are rated 12V DC. Q1 and Q2 are transistors
configured to operate as a switch as well as pass sufficient current to switch the relay.

Page | 161
Research Publish Journals
 International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Research ISSN 2348-6988 (online)
Vol. 4, Issue 2, pp: (158-163), Month: April - June 2016, Available at: www.researchpublish.com

The Sensor Unit:

This unit is to comprise of three sensing circuit each of which contains a bridge rectifier, a voltage divider circuit and a
shunt zener diode to regulate the signal as depicted below. This unit is connected to each phase in order to send
appropriate test signals to the CPU. Fig. 3 below presents a circuit for the sensor unit‟s circuitry.
The design of this unit is same with that of the power supply except for the introduction of D1, D2 and D3 respectively
which are zener diodes connected as shunt regulator to regulate the test signal voltage between (0-5)V.
On the voltage divider circuit,

( )

VZ of the diode is 4.8V, this implies that the 10V the line is regulated to 4.8V maximum.
Component List:
C1 & C2 - 3 phase and neutral (4 pole) 250v, 50Hz contactor with extra
Normally close contact
D1-D15: Delay switch
RV1-RV4: variable resistor
C1-C7: capacitors
R1-R6: resistors
X1: crystal oscillator
U1: 5V regulator
RL - 250v, 50Hz A.C Relay
S1, s2, S3 - 250V, push and hold switches

4. WORKING PRINCIPLE OF THE AUTOMATIC CHANGE-OVER SWITCH

The 3 phase automatic change over with generator control mechanism is designed to select between two available sources
of power i.e utility and generator with preference to the earlier. The system monitors the utility mains supply and checks
for complete failure as well as phase failure upon which it automatically start the generator, run it on idle for a minute,
then switch the load to it. The system keeps monitoring the utility source for power restoration, it also monitor the
generator output for failure upon any of which it switches back the load to utility supply and automatically switch off the
generator.
Once power is restored, the system delays for two minute before transferring the load to the utility supply.

5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATION

The prototype of the 3 phase automatic power change-over switch has been designed and implemented. This functioned in
accordance to its specification. The device is quite cheap, reliable, easy to install, self operative and useful in any system
that utilises standby source of electrical energy. However the above design is still subject to improvement as more
features could be added.
REFERENCES
[1] Ahmed M.S., Mohammed A.S. and Agusiobo O.B. (2006), Development of a Single Phase Automatic Change-Over
Switch,AUJ.T.10 (1):68-74 Federal University of Technology Minna, Nigeria Amos, S.W.; and James, M. (1981)
Principles of transistor circuit: Introduction to the design of amplifiers, receivers and digital circuits 6th ed.,
Hartnolls ltd , bodmin.UK.
[2] Ezema L.S., Peter B.U., Harris O.O. (2012), Design of automatic change over switch with Generator control
mechanism. SAVAP international
Page | 162
Research Publish Journals
 International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Research ISSN 2348-6988 (online)
Vol. 4, Issue 2, pp: (158-163), Month: April - June 2016, Available at: www.researchpublish.com

[3] Faissler, W.L. (1991). An introduction to modern Electronics, Willey, New York, NY, USA.
[4] Horowitz, P. and Winfield, H. (2002). The Art of Electronics, 2nd ed. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK
[5] Owen, B. (1995). Beginner‟s Guide to Electronics 4th Ed. A Newness Technical Book, McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.
New York, N.Y, USA.
[6] Rocks G. and Mazur G., (1993). Electrical motor controls. American Technical Publication, New-York, N.Y, USA.
[7] Ragnar, H. (1958). Electric Contacts Handbook. 3rd Edition, Springer-Verlag, Berlin / Göttingen /Heidelberg. pp.
331-342.
[8] Theraja, B.L.; and Theraja, A.K. (2002), Electrical Technology, 21st ed. Ranjendra Ravida, New Delhi, India.

Page | 163
Research Publish Journals