A Design of an Automatic Single Phase Power Factor Controller by Using Arduino Uno Rev-3

Abstract

This paper presents a computationally accurate technique to design an automatic single phase power factor controller by using microcontroller. The hardware implementation was developed by using Arduino Uno Rev-3 main board which uses the ATmega328 as the microcontroller. The power factor value from the load was measured by using voltage and current transformers, zero crossing detectors, and ATmega328 microcontroller. Zero crossing detectors produced current and voltage signals which will be measured and calculated for the time difference between both signals by ATmega328 microcontroller using appropriate algorithms in order to obtain value of power factor. The ATmega328 is programmed to automatically switch on and off capacitor function in order to control the signal pulse send to relay to connect and disconnect capacitor parallel with the load when energized and de energized if the calculated power factor value is either below 0.9 or above 0.9, respectively. Simulation of the power factor controller model was performed by using Proteus software. Arduino IDE software was used as the compiler for the Arduino Uno. The main objective is to study and develop the technology of automatic single phase power factor controller using Arduino Uno Rev-3 by controlling the power factor of the inductive load near to unity power factor. The results of the power factor value were displayed on the LCD and the power factor is corrected if it falls below 0.9 in order to prevent penalty by the power supplier. The effectiveness of the proposed technique could assist the monitoring unit in order to maintain the power factor at the value set by the utility.