Development Of A Self-Activate Rccb For Single Phase Domestic Wiring System Using Arduino Uno

Abstract

Residual Current Circuit breaker (RCCB) is a safety device to detect and trip against electrical leakage currents. RCCB is one of the main protection devices that monitor input current from power line and interfacing the signals to the mechanical switch to trip the circuit breaker. The conventional system will force RCCB to trip if a disturbance or a fault occurs in the protected area. The main drawback of the conventional system is that it cannot turn on the power supply back to the normal operation condition even if only a short disturbance occurs. To turn the power back to normal operation, consumers need to do it manually. To overcome this problem, a self-activated RCCB system has been developed. This device has been designed to reactivate the RCCB protection system in the event of a fault. This report presents the development of the self-activated RCCB system. It discusses the solution that has been done to make self-activated RCCB function safely without user intervention. To achieve this objective, microcontroller has been utilized in designing the proper program to completely control the operation of RCCB. Selection of the proper mechanisms has also been done to overcome the issues of high thrust force at RCCB switch. Servo motor has been chosen as the DC motor is easier to control. Servo motors have an advantage over higher thrust than its compact size. In addition, it can work well with Arduino. This project is expected to provide greater benefits to those consumers who will leave their residence for a period. The weakness for this prototype is the system is unable to determine the differentiation between permanent and temporary fault. At the same time, the system is unable to identify and inform the user which part of the wiring system is damaged. In addition, this project uses a Power Bank and a 9V adapter as the main power supply to an Arduino board and servo motor. In the event of a power supply failure, there is no available power supply support to operate the system.