Because of the increasing advances in technology, smart systems are increasingly being used. These systems allow technicians, administrators, and managers to monitor and control the performance of devices from a safe distance. A monitoring system is very important when working in the field of three phase systems Moreso in this rainy season and the need to know what is happening around your power source is seminal. These programs can be installed on the user’s smartphone or company computers to allow employers to make decisions if there is an error.
The main objective of my paper this rainy month of April is to create a smart monitoring system based on an intelligent control system. My proposed system is called a smart voltage and current monitoring system or SVCMS. The SVCMS is designed to monitor the performance of a three-phase grid by measuring voltage and current. The SVCMS design consists of two parts; the first is the control system. This system has been designed using the Arduino Nano V3.0 as a microcontroller to read and calculate the RMS voltage and current from sensor units. The Arduino Nano V3.0 is an open-source platform that is very cheap, flexible, and has special-purpose data processing capabilities. Walk in at Nerokas, Thika and you will be sorted. Got mine at 4500/= only. The last part in the control system is the Bluetooth HC-05. This Bluetooth HC-05, is one of several types of wireless communication [20] (ZigBee, Wi-Fi, etc.) unit placed between the control system and the end user (monitoring system).
The aim of this work was to design and implement a low cost and safe three phase measuring system and to design a smartphone application to monitor the data received from the three phase measuring system during these flooding season. My SVCMS has been designed to measure three phase voltages and currents for all three phase systems that have a line to ground voltage of less than 250 VAC with a current value of less than 30 A.
There are more methods for controlling and monitoring a three phase circuit depending on the controller or the type of display for the results of the voltage and current. In my paper, a new method for monitoring and displaying the three phase system is given; this method is called the smart voltage and current monitoring system, or SVCMS, where a smartphone is used instead of traditional methods like an LCD display or an analog method for monitoring and displaying the results. It consists of two major parts which are the control and monitoring parts. The control part has four branches which are: a voltage sensor unit, a current sensor unit, the Arduino Nano V3.0 unit, and wireless communication unit (Bluetooth device), while the second part contains the monitoring part that monitors the voltage and current for three phases using the Android smartphone application which is written using the JKUAT App Inventor 2, an open source software platform available from Google for Android project applications.
Now, the control part I will break it down for the reader(s). It mainly consists of two sensors for measuring the voltage and current. The voltage sensor contains the transformer and two op-amps (LM358). and the voltage sensor circuit in the pic below, the Matlab Simulink simulation of the three phase voltage system is shown below as well. The input voltage sine wave is offset equal to zero and upper with lower voltage of 230 V. The output voltage should range between 0 and 5 V for the microcontroller which is offset around 2.5 V. This circuit is used to reduce the voltage in order to deal with the high voltage.
Matlab/Simulink of a three phase voltage system
Simulation result (both input and output voltages)
My smart voltage and current monitoring system (SVCMS), is designed and implemented to measure and monitor three phase voltages and currents. The SVCMS model is more cost effective than similar models that use heavy current transformers (CTs). It is also safer than having to measure the mains voltages very often. It is a low cost and easily applicable model for measuring and monitoring three phase system performance as compared with other models. Any technician can also work with the domain like virtual reality. The monitoring system uses a new Android smartphone application designed by MIT App Inventor 2. This application receives the three phase RMS voltage and current data from the Bluetooth device (HC-05). The SVCMS has been tested successfully internally at our trial R&D labs in KE, SML, MZQ and US.
The future of smart monitoring system model and applications is to replace the Bluetooth wireless communication system by Internet of Things (IOT) technology. This technology will be used to connect the sensors and devices over the internet by allowing them to talk to us, work in applications, and interact with each other. I hope KPLC & SOMPOWER, team members are taking notes of this nifty idea(which I haven’t patent) as is work meant to improve the lives of every citizen in East and Horn of Africa.
Compiled by : Samwel Kariuki
Date: 30th April 2024
Samwel Kariuki 