Design Topology of A Remote-Controlled Bi-Directio
Design Topology of A Remote-Controlled Bi-Directio
Design Topology of A Remote-Controlled Bi-Directio
net/publication/337889015
Article in International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE) · April 2020
DOI: 10.11591/ijece.v10i2.pp1885-1892
CITATIONS READS
0 2,161
5 authors, including:
All content following this page was uploaded by Fortune Amanze on 11 December 2019.
Boniface O. Anyaka1, Princewill C. Ene2, Amanze C. Fortune3, Luke U. Omeje4, Kenneth C. Chijioke5
1,3,4,5
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
2
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria
Corresponding Author:
Boniface O. Anyaka
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria.
Email: [email protected]
1. INTRODUCTION
The emergence of new technologies in the world of power electronics in recent times cannot be
over-emphasized. Management of electrical equipment in our homes and offices has become easier and
interesting due to the new state-of-the-art in recent research. According to [1], home automation allows every
owner to decide how convenient it is to control his or her own appliances/equipment from any distance of
choice. A home automation system is a combination of hardware and software technologies that enable
control and management of appliances/equipment within an environment [2]. The term “Home Automation”
is also known as “domotics” [3]. More details about home automation system can be seen in [4-15].
One of the electrical appliance used in homes/offices is the AC fan. It is one of the unavoidable
electric appliance in our everyday life. One can harness the knowledge of home automation using power
electronic principles to make life more suitable for a user of this home appliance [1]. The simultaneous
control of speed and bi-directional rotation of an AC fan using Ardiuno microcontrolled remote system is
what this study seek to solve.
This study is significant because it will add comfort to man‟s everyday living thus, removing
the inconvenience of having to move around to operate a stationary fan regulator. More significantly, it will
help the old and physically handicapped persons to operate their fans without getting up from their place of
comfort. As a follow-up to previous studies, a critical analysis of the state-of-art in the theory and design of
remote control fan regulators are discussed in this work. Other recent advances in relevant areas are also
considered along-side with well accepted traditional theories and principles associated with the proposed
design. A simple design and implementation of remote control fan regulator is presented in [1], however
the speed of the fan was in one direction only.
In the work of [16], a fan speed regulator which uses microcontroller to control a dc fan was
presented. One drawback of the design was that the speed of the fan cannot be decided unless by the use of
thermistor judgment in the power supply circuit powering the microcontroller. Also, with the modification of
the circuit to power an AC fan, it was not possible to change the direction of rotation of the fan. In another
study conducted by [17], a microcontroller was used to regulate the speed of an AC fan using input from two
push buttons. One of the push buttons was used for increasing the speed of the fan, while the other one was
used for reducing the speed of the fan.
The pitfall of this work was that the user has to walk all the way to where the push button controls
are before he can operate the fan. This makes it difficult if not impossible for disabled people to use.
Abel [18], in his work used PIC microcontroller to control the Speed of an AC fan by changing the firing
angle of a triac as the room surrounding temperature changed. The temperature change in the surrounding
was observed by a temperature sensor and interpreted by the microcontroller. The microcontroller made
logical decisions about how fast the fan would rotate based on the temperature of the surrounding at
a particular moment. In this work, a standing fan which cannot achieve change in direction of rotation unless
its motor winding assembly is reoriented was used, hence only speed control was achieved. In system
automation, speed control can be classified into four groups: inductive regulator, resistive regulator, phase
angle-controlled regulator and capacitive regulator.
- Inductive regulator
Inductive voltage regulator is a type of electrical device in which the output voltage may vary from
zero to a certain maximum value depending upon the ratio of the turns in the primary and secondary winding.
The primary winding is connected to the circuit which is to be regulated and secondary is connected in series
with the fan. This type of fan regulator has a tapping on the winding of a transformer and the inductive
reactance is varied to achieve variation in speed. From the work of [19], the effective inductive reactance is
the combination of the transformer and the fan inductances which gives a voltage drop across the fan and
therefore, the speed is altered. At the highest speed, the fan is directly connected to the full AC mains supply
and at the lowest speed, there is a high value inductor in series with the load. This method used here has
an advantage of low heat power dissipation but has its disadvantages in giving low power factor, high cost of
implementing and bulkiness due to its excessive components like the transformer. This work also lacks
the function of being bi-directional in the rotation of the fan blades.
- Resistive regulator
Resistive regulator also known as conventional fan regulator consists of a wire wound resistor with
different taps which is connected in series with the motor of the fan. The resistance depends upon
the material of the conductor. The principle of operation is that of a rheostat or a resistance potential divider
arrangement. As the steps (of the knob on the regulator box) decreases, the resistance of the circuit increases
and lower power is applied to the fan [20, 21]. Obviously, the power consumption by the fan will be less at
lower speeds by this arrangement, but this is not an energy saving method. The voltage drop across
the resistance is converted into heat losses (I2R), so the energy is dissipated in the form of heat. This wastage
of energy which is a disadvantage of its usage is more at high resistance and lower speed condition.
- Phase angle-controlled (TRIAC and DIAC) regulator
Due to the advancement in power electronic technology, the alternative design of fan regulator
can be easily implemented to reduce the energy losses that are caused by conventional voltage regulators.
In the work of [22], Phase angle-controlled regulators were used and it employed active devices such as
DIAC (Diode Alternating Current) and TRIAC (Triode Alternating Current). The basic principle is to change
the firing angle of the TRIAC in order to change the voltage across the fan. This type of regulator provides
the step less control of the fan speed by deriving the required amount of power from the main supply at
a given instant. Hence, the power is conserved rather than wasted unnecessarily.
The importance of the TRIAC and DIAC is its continuous and step less control of the fan speed,
power saving is achieved at all the speeds by minimizing the energy losses. It consists of simple circuit which
requires a smaller number of components and it is efficient as compared with resistive type due to lower
power consumption. Its disadvantages are that its speed control is not linear and it is expensive. It produces
humming sound that is disturbing and has higher failure rate as active devices are susceptible to power
supply. Also, it has transients and interference which causes EMI/RFI (electromagnetic/radio frequency
interferences) creating disturbances in television and radio sets.
- The capacitor regulators
From the three-different method of control reviewed, we could overcome their deficiencies by using
the capacitor regulators [23]. This type of regulator helps to save power at all speeds of the fan. The idea
behind a capacitor regulator is to adjust the voltage across the motor of the fan. In the capacitor regulator,
the voltage where Q is the charge across the capacitor and C is the capacitance inversely
proportional to the voltage. Thus, as the capacitance decreases the voltage and the speed of the fan increases.
Int J Elec & Comp Eng, Vol. 10, No. 2, April 2020 : 1885 - 1892
Int J Elec & Comp Eng ISSN: 2088-8708 1887
Capacitor regulators present many obvious benefits: They produce no power loss in the circuit, no heat
generation, and consequently no extra expense, and it is not bulky. In addition, the capacitor provides linear
control of speed [24]. Since they are energy efficient, their power consumption is low and it has no
distracting humming sound when the circuit is in operation.
2. RESEARCH METHOD
The approach used in this work is the modular approach where the overall design was broken into
functional block diagram as shown in Figure 1, where each block in the diagram represents a section of
the circuit that carries out a specific function [25].
Figure 1. Block diagram of the bi-direction and speed control of the A.C fan
Figure 2. Circuit connection for determining the hex file of the remote
C2
L1
RL1
9V 100n 120nH
L2
120nH
C3
RL2
9V 100n
C1
100n
C4
RL3 100n
9V
C5
RL4 100n
9V
RL5
9V
Int J Elec & Comp Eng, Vol. 10, No. 2, April 2020 : 1885 - 1892
Int J Elec & Comp Eng ISSN: 2088-8708 1889
RL1
5V
U1
9
COM
1
1B 1C
16 RL2
2 15 5V
2B 2C
3 14
3B 3C
4 13
4B 4C
13
12
10
11
5 12
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
5B 5C
6 11
6B 6C
DUINO1 7 10
PB4/MISO
PB0/ICP1/CLKO
AREF
TX PD1/TXD
RX PD0/RXD
PD7/AIN1
~ PD6/AIN0
~ PD5/T1
~ PD3/INT1
PD2/INT0
PB5/SCK
~PB3/MOSI/OC2A
~ PB2/SS/OC1B
~ PB1/OC1A
PD4/T0/XCK
7B 7C
ARDUINO UNO R3
ULN2003A
RL3
5V
DIGITAL (~PWM)
ATMEGA328P-PU
1121
RL4
5V
microcontrolandos.blogspot.com
PC4/ADC4/SDA
PC5/ADC5/SCL
ANALOG IN
PC0/ADC0
PC1/ADC1
PC2/ADC2
PC3/ADC3
RESET
A0
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
RL5
5V
RL6
5V
3. WORK IMPLEMENTATION
The work was implemented on a printed circuit board and packaged using plastic locally available
materials as shown in Figures 6 and 7. From Figure 6, the relay section is seen in blue while the capacitor
with different tapings is shown at the left hand-side. The right-hand side is the microcontroller
atmega328P-pu it is packaged in Arduino Uno board. The capacitor with different tapping in Figure 7 has
4 tapping points which is responsible for different speed levels.
Figure 6. Control circuit implementation diagram Figure 7. Implemented circuit diagram showing
capacitor control with different tapings
- Testing
The infrared remote-control signal has a carrier signal range of 36KHZ or 38KHZ. A transmission
typically starts with a burst (“on” state) that is used for the automatic gain control (AGC) circulatory in
the receiver followed by the “off” state and the actual data transmission. Therefore, the signal can only be
“on” or “off” at a time. In the overall circuit shown in Figure 8, the three major components to be connected
together are: the fan, the control circuit and the power supply unit. The fan has three terminals namely- first
connection from the capacitor C1, second connection from the capacitor C2 and the third connection from
the live wire L1. The control circuit has 5 terminals namely: regulator R1 which is the first terminal of
the capacitor regulator, regulator R2 which is the second terminal of the capacitor regulator, the common „C‟
of the relay which is the neutral input to the fan, the normally open of the relay „NO‟ which is an extension
for reverse direction and „NC‟ the normally closed terminal of the relay. The A.C source has two terminals,
L live wire and N neutal wire which supplies power to the system.
Figure 8. Test connection diagram of the work Figure 9. Image of the completed work
REFERENCES
[1] The News, “The Latest in HVAC Home Automation,” The News, p.1, Available:
http://www.archnews.com/articles/14160-control-your-castle-the-latest-hvac-home-automation [Accessed February
20, 2019].
[2] Technopedia, “Home automation system,” Technopedia, p.1, Available:
https://www.technopedia.com/definition/29999/home-automation-system [Accessed February 20, 2019].
[3] Wikipedia, “Home Automation,” wiki, p.1, Available: wiki, http://en.wikipedia.org [Accessed February 20, 2019].
[4] N. Dickey, D. Banks, S. Sukittanon, “Home Automation using Cloud Network and mobile devices,” Southeastcon
2012 Proceedings of IEEE, pp. 1-4, 2012.
[5] C. Felix, I. Raglend, “Home automation using GSM,” Signal Processing Communication Computing and
Networking Technologies (ICSCCN) 2011 International Conferencen, pp. 15-19, 2011.
[6] F. K. Santoso, N. C. H. Vun, “Securing IoT for smart home system,” 2015 International Symposium on Consumer
Electronics (ICSE), pp 1-2, 2015.
[7] S. I. Azid, S. Kumar, “Analysis and Performance of low cost SMS Baes home security system,” International
Journal of Smart Home, 5, 15-24, 2011.
[8] D. Purohit, M Ghosh, “Challenges and types of home automation systems,” International journal of computer
science and mobile computing, 6(4), pp. 369 -375, 2017.
Int J Elec & Comp Eng, Vol. 10, No. 2, April 2020 : 1885 - 1892
Int J Elec & Comp Eng ISSN: 2088-8708 1891
[9] A. Elshafee, K. Hamed, “Design and implementation of a Wi-Fi Based Home Automation System,” International
journal of computer, Electrical, Automation, Control and Information Engineering, Pp.6, 2012.
[10] S. Osman, K. Chakraborty, A. Islam, N. Rahman, “Design and Implementation of Remote Controlled Fan
Regulator”, International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical, Electronics and Instrumentation
Engineering, 3, pp. 11682 -11688, 2014.
[11] C. Suh, Y. B. Ko, “Design and implementation of Intelligent Home Control System”, IEEE Transactions on
Consumer Electronics, 54(3), 2018.
[12] C. K. Das, M. Sanaullah, H. M. G. Sarower, M. M. Hassan, “Development of a cell phone based remote control
system: an Effective Switching System for controlling Home and Office Appliances”, International Journal of
Electrical and Computer Sciences, 9(10). Pp. 23-29, 2009.
[13] K. Gill, S. H. Yang, F. Yao, X. Lu, “A zigbee based home automation system,” IEEE Transactions on Consumer
Electronics, 55(2), pp. 422-430, 2009.
[14] F. K. Santoso, N. C. H. Vun, “Securing IoT for smart home system,” 2015 International Symposium on Consumer
Electronics (ICSE), pp 1-2, 2015.
[15] Pang C. H, Lee J. V. Design of a microcontroller-based fan motor controller for smart home environment.
International Journal of Smart Home, 2013, 233-245, 2013.
[16] DIY Zero crosser. “Simple Isolated Zero-cross Detector”. DIY ZeroCrosser. [Online]. [Accessed February 20,
2019].
[17] Abel R. “AC Line Powers Microcontroller-based Fan-speed regulator,” [Online]. [Accessed February 20, 2019].
[18] C.H. Pang, J. V. Lee, “Design of a microcontroller-based fan motor controller for smart home environment”
International Journal of Smart Home, p. 233-245, 2013.
[19] Mahmud A, Abubakar S, Temitope G, Attah P. „Design and Construction of a Remote Controlled Fan Regulator‟,
Leonardo Electronic Journal of Practices and Technologies. ISSN 1583-1078. Issue 9, p. 55-62, July-December
2006.
[20] Chintha R, Benny P, Vijaylaxmi O, Varsha D, Sanjai P, „Electrical Appliances in Home Control through IR
Remote‟, International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology, ISSN: 2349-6002, Volume 3, Issue 9,
p. 16-19, February 2017.
[21] Ceiling Fan Regulator Circuit. [Online]. Available from: http://www.theorycircuit.com/ceiling-fan-regulator-
circuit. [Accessed26-mar-2019].
[22] Reshmi B. “Speed Control of Fan Using Diac And Triac,” International Journal of Engineering Sciences &
Research Technology. ISSN: 2277-9655, p. 429-431, March, 2015.
[23] Fan Regulator. [Online]. Available from: https://www.slideshare.net/nallurulokesh/fan-regulator-65402716.
[Accessed: 03-mar-2019].
[24] [PDF] Deki Capacitor Guide Fan Regulators. [Online]. Available from:
https://www.dekielectronics.com/pdf/Deki_Fan_Regulators_Feb_2012_web.pdf. [Accessed: 26-Mar-2019].
[25] Madueme VC, Mbunwe MJ, Akuru AB, Anyaka BO. “Design Topology of a Sustainable Remote-Controlled Fan
Regulator for Developing Countries,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Vol 71, p. 639-644, May 2017.
BIOGRAPHIES OF AUTHORS
Ene Princewill Chigozie is a researcher under the Instrumentation and Robotic Control group at
the Exxon Mobile Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering, ESUT. He obtained a B.Sc. Degree in
Electrical and Electronic Engineering and M.Eng. Degree in Instrumentation and Control
Engineering from EEE Dept. ESUT in 2006 and 2012 respectively. He is a member of Nigerian
Society of Engineers (NSE), Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN),
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). His scientific interests include Artificial
Intelligence in Robotic Control, Mechatronics, signal Processing, Computer Vision, and Power
System Security. He has collaborated actively with researchers in other disciplines of engineering.
Engr. Luke Uwakwe Omeje, B.Eng. 2014, M.Eng. 2019. He is a Staff in Department of
Electrical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka His research interest is Power System
Modelling. He is also a Registered Member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in
Nigeria.
Kenneth C. Chike holds a bachelor degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from
Igbinedion University, Okada, Nigeria. He is currently a masters Engineering student in the
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His Research area interest is
in Power Systems Engineering and Renewable Energy.
Int J Elec & Comp Eng, Vol. 10, No. 2, April 2020 : 1885 - 1892