Automatic Changeover Switch | Electrical Seminar Topic
Automatic Changeover Switch
Most industrial and commercial processes are dependent on
electrical power. In the event of power interruptions, the change-over from
power supplied by a public utility to a generator is usually performed
manually, often resulting in wasted time. Moreover, machine damage sometimes
occurs because of human errors.
These can cause significant financial losses.
This paper presents the design and construction of an automatic phase
change-over switch that switches electrical power supply from public supply to
generator in the event of a power outage or insufficient voltage. The system
uses an electronic control circuit involving integrated circuits, transistor
and electromechanical devices.
Power instability in developing countries creates a need for
automation of electrical power generation or alternative sources of power to
back up the utility supply. This automation is required as the rate of power
outage becomes predominantly high.
Most industrial and commercial processes are
dependent on power supply and if the processes of change-over are manual, serious
time is not only wasted but also creates device or machine damage from human
error during the change-over connections, which could bring massive losses. The
starting of the generator is done by a relay which switches the battery voltage
to ignition coil of the generator while the main power relay switches the load
to either public supply or generator.
The approach used in this work is the modular approach where the
overall design was first broken into functional block diagrams, where each
block in the diagram represents a section of the circuit that carries out a
specific function.
