Automated power management system design for grid-tied residential units

• Main Authors: Borromeo, Rum Albert E., Gonzales, Maryo Karlo D., Talens, Jose Nino Maria L.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2018
• Subjects: Solar energy > Hybrid systems; Electric power systems; Arduino (Programmable controller); Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/8936
• Institution: De La Salle University

The purpose of this project is to implement an automated power management system for a grid-tied residential unit that is able to automatically switch between different sources of power based on the power being drawn by the load. Traditional systems are categorized as off-grid, which means the residential unit is not connected to the grid and draws power from the system, or as on-grid, which means the residential unit is connected to both the grid and the system. Due to the cost of installing a solar power system to a residential unit becoming more economical, more and more people and have started to adopt this system. However, the cost of installing a system is still a substantial amount. A power management system added on top of the solar power system will help in maximizing the investment spent for energy. The researchers designed the system using an Arduino Mega microcontroller. The microcontroller was programmed using Arduino Integrated Development Environment. The designed system was tested for fixed periods of time during the day and in the evening. Electrical appliances with different power ratings were used as load during the testing. The appliances were operational for fixed periods which allowed the researchers to observe the behavior of the power management system. The implemented project was able to acquire measurement readings from the battery power source, utility power source, and the load. The system computed the power being drawn by the load and was able to switch between the batteries and utility power depending on the power being drawn by the load. The system also regularly saved measurement readings to a log file.