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Design And Construction Of Microcontroller Time Socket Outlet
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PROJECT MOTIVATION
Since the advent of socket outlet manufacturing in
developing countries like Nigeria, solution has been found for power
conservation or regulation. There is yet to be an effective socket
outlet for timing domestic socket outlets. The failure to have an
operational timer for the socket outlets has
caused a lot of
electrical hazards. This has claimed lives and properties of many
people. The user often forgets to look after what he/she had connected
and due to incessant power outages, he/she often forgets to switch off
appliances earlier connected to power when leaving his/her home or due
to carelessness of the user. Due to this negligence, the connected
appliances continue to build up, when power is restored, even after
completing their purpose of connection and when it gets beyond control,
it damages the appliances. Repeated occurrences of these hazards have
led to the loss of valuable things worth millions of naira.
However,
with the help of a timer socket outlet, an effective solution is
provided to these problems. An effective control timer for the socket
outlet makes it safer and easier to use and also helps to reduce hazard
rate. The use of a microcontroller comes to play in this motivation.
Every microcontroller has a timer unit inside. A timer is nothing more
than a time counting device fabricated inside the microcontroller unit. A
wide range of practical applications require a timer in action. For
example, we need to turn a motor ON for 5 minutes and then turn it OFF,
how will we do that? A timer inside a microcontroller unit aids us in
implementing this perfectly.
METHODOLOGY
The circuit employs the
use of various electrical and electronic components like resistors,
capacitors, light emitting diode (LED), switches, piezoelectric buzzer,
13-amp socket outlet, jumper wires, 7-segment display, battery, relay,
Vero board and most importantly, the Peripheral Interface
Microcontroller 16F877 microcontroller (PIC 16F877).
The microcontroller is programmed usingâ€softwarethe“MikroC.Itis prog to communicate with all the other components on the board.
The switches are used to input instructions into the microcontroller. The instructions are basically
the SET TIME, START, RESET and STOP.
The SET TIME instructions are displayed on the 7-segment display.
The START button signifies the beginning of the entire timing process.
If a wrong time is set in, the RESET button helps to restore it to default.
The
STOP button helps to stop the timing process, this is necessary as
there could be a change of mind after the process has started.
The
battery serves as a temporary memory holder. If during the process,
there is power outage and the set instruction has not been reached, it
will help the circuit start from where it stops when power is restored.
For example, a 12,000-litre reservoir fills to the brim in 30minutes,
the set instruction will be 30minutes and if there is power outage after
the 23rd minute, the battery helps to continue from where it stopped
(23rd minute) to the 30th minute. However, a major limitation to this is
in the use of a boiling ring, or for the purpose of boiling. If
experimentally, pure water boils in exactly 10mins, and power outage
occurs in the 7th minute for as long as 30minutes, when power is
restored, the water cannot boil in 3minutes again. So this is where the
STOP button comes to play.
The buzzer and the LED serve as audio and
visual indicators respectively. They indicate the completion of the
timing process. They indicate that the process was completed according
to the set instruction. After completion, the circuit automatically
shuts the relay off which stops the supply of power to the circuit
thereby conserving power.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 2]
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