SMART DISTRIBUTOR SYSTEM FOR MICRO GRID CONTROL

Abstract

A smart distributor system for controlling a micro grid has been developed in this work. The system switches ON different generators one after the other as the consumer load demand increases or switches them OFF one after the other as the consumer load decreases. This was achieved using a microcontroller, current and voltage transformer. The microcontroller was programmed using embedded C-language to communicate with the current and voltage transformers to give necessary output signals to activate or deactivate the generators. In this design, the maximum load demand of each generator was placed at 60W-100W (Generator 1), 100W-160W (Generator 2), 160W-220W (Generator 3), 220W-280W (Generator 4) and 280W-340W (Generator 5). The system was developed and tested by connecting seven 220V AC, 60W bulbs in parallel to the output of the generators. When the first generator having a capacity of 60KVA is switch ON, the Liquid Cristal Display (LCD) reads 0KVA meaning that no load is connected to the generator. As the generator is loaded by connecting each of the lamps to it, the LCD displays the total load connected to the generator. When the total load exceeds a certain amount (100W decided in this experiment as reflecting the maximum capacity of the first generator) the micro-controller sends a signal to activate another generator to accommodate the load demand. This system continues to automatically add generators to the grid as the load demand increases. Also, as the load connected to the generator decreases, the micro-controller sends signal to deactivate the generators one after the other.