AUTOMATIC TRANSFER SWITCH

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Power instability in developing countries creates a need for automation of electrical

power generation or alternative sources of power to back up the utility supply. This
automation is required as the rate of power outage becomes predominantly high. Most
industrial and commercial processes are dependent on power supply and if the processes of
change-over are manual, serious time is not only wasted but also creates device or machine
damage from human error during the change-over connections, which could bring massive
losses.
Electricity (energy), which plays a major role in economic development of a nation,
forms the basis of this study, with interests in human, infrastructural and economic
development. In most developing and underdeveloped parts of the world, the supply of
electricity for industrial, commercial and domestic use is highly unstable. This gives rise to
the frequent use of alternative sources of power supply to meet up with the energy demands.
The introduction of these alternative sources of supply brings forth the challenge of switching
smoothly and timely between the mains supply and the alternative sources whenever there is
a failure on the mains source. There is also the need to reduce drudgery from switching
between the two sources on the human side. Solving these challenges forms the focus of this
work. The Automatic Transfer switch, automatically switches over to the alternative source
of power supply (generator) when there is a power outage. It equally switches over to the
mains supply when power is restored and turns off the generator automatically. The
automatic power change-over switch is a device that links the load and mains supply or the
alternative supply together. This enables the use of either the mains supply or an alternative
source when there is outage on the mains source. This can either come in with three phase or
single phase. This device maintains constant power supply to the load by automatically
activating the generator when there is need. Since the user might not always be in need of the
generator, provision has been made to prevent the generator from starting should an outage
occur.

Reliable and secure uninterruptible power supply is a sine qua non for virtually all
industrial operations. The reality, however, especially in most developing countries, is that
energy resources are simply inadequate. Most manufacturing industries and firms have to

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contend with insecure and unreliable power supply coupled with its attendant negative
impacts on productivity and cost of production. We cant go on and on to emphasize the
importance of power supply to our home and industries, but it is important to mention that the
outage of power supply can bring discomfort in our homes and loss of revenue due to down
time in the industries. Thus Tony Rudkin, the author of upgraded signal source with
improved performance and reliability, states that the cost and the depreciation associated
with breakdown vary from one application to the other, and in some cases, the user has little
choice but to ensure that a stand-by unit is available to take over on event of failure of
primary system. Also in his book, he went further to say that the depreciation caused by such
instability reduces efficiency of the organization and leads to a great deal of frustration.
Sequel to the rate at which more sophisticated electrical/electronic gadgets are being procured
and installed in our homes, hospitals and business premises, there is a justifiable need for a
faster and more reliable change-over system in an event of power outage.

Therefore, for these reasons that change over or transfer switches were developed.
Initially, these switches were designed for manual operations, but with an increase in the
technological advancement of electrical power control and automation, Automatic transfer
switches (ATS) were created. It eliminates the element of manpower interaction in starting a
generator and changing power supply from one source to another.

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CHAPTER 2
TRANSFER SWITCHES

Transfer switches are used to change from the normal source of power to an alternate
source, such as a generator set or battery-powered inverter or A transfer switch is an electrical
switch that switches a load between two sources.
Some transfer switches are manual, in that an operator effects the transfer by
throwing a switch, while others are automatic and trigger when they sense one of the sources
has lost or gained power.
There are two basic types of transfer switches: manual and automatic.

2.1 Automatic Transfer Switch

An Automatic transfer switch (ATS) is an electrical/electronic switch that senses
when the mains or public utility supply is interrupted and automatically starts up a secondary
supply (i.e. a generator) if the utility remains unavailable. ATS also known as Generator
Transfer Switches.

ATS has an additional circuit component which is normally in the form of a computer
that monitors the incoming power supply. This circuit also monitors the voltage sags, power
surges and power spikes. It also initiates the changeover action when there is a complete
power loss. Whenever a fault is being detected, the automatic transfer switch starts up the
emergency power supply. The ATS is connected to both power supply sources and supplies
the load with power from only one of the sources at any particular instant of time

The automatic power change-over switch is a device that links the load and mains
supply or the alternative supply together. This enables the use of either the mains supply or
an alternative source when there is outage on the mains source. This can either come in with
three phase or single phase. This device maintains constant power supply to the load by
automatically activating the generator when there is need. Since the user might not always be
in need of the generator, provision has been made to prevent the generator from starting
should an outage occur.

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2.2 Manual Transfer Switch

Manual transfer switches are operated by direct manipulation or by some remotely

wired controlled device. Manual transfer switches require a human operator. As such,
switching will generally require a minimum of several minutes to accomplish. These devices
are relatively inexpensive, but may not provide adequate reliability to loads and processes
vulnerable to extended interruptions. A manual transfer switch is a lever or handle operated
double throw device with a pole of each line wire.
Manual transfer switches are rated from 30A to 600A.

A manual change-over switch consists of a manual change-over switch box, switch

gear box and cut-out fuse or the connector fuse. This change-over switch box separate the
source between the generator and public supply, when there is power supply outage from
public supply, someone has to go and change the line to generator. Thus when power supply
is restored, someone has to OFF the generator and then change the source line from generator
to public supply.

In view of the above manual change-over switch system that involves manpower by
using ones energy in starting the generator and switching over from public supply to
generator and vice-versa when the supply is restored. The importance attached to cases of
operation in hospitals and air ports in order to save life from generator as fast as possible
makes it important for the design and construction of an automatic change-over switch which
would solve the problem of manpower and the danger likely to be encountered changeover.
The electronic control monitors the incoming public supply voltage and detects when the
voltage drops below a level that electrical or electronic gadgets can function depending on the
utility

The main problems associated with a manual switching system are as follows:
interrupted power supply.
device damage due to frequent commutations.
possible causes of fire outbreak due to switching sparks.
frequent high maintenance cost due to changeover action.
wear and tear of mechanical parts.

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CHAPTER 3
MICRO CONTROLLER AUTOMATIC TRANSFER
SWITCH

The materials and methods used to integrate the electric generator as an alternative
power source to the grid is very important in determining how secure and reliable the power
supply to load can be. The switching system could be manual, where a person switches the
generator set ON when the grid supply is lost and switches the generator OFF when the grid
power is restored. Automatic switching, where the electric generator switches ON and OFF
when the grid is restored.

3.1 Mechanism of Operation of Electric Power Generators

Electric power generators could produce Direct Current (DC) or Alternating Current
(AC). AC power generators consist of armature windings placed in stator slots into which an
AC voltage is induced, and a rotor coupled to a prime mover. Mechanical rotation of the
prime mover cuts the magnetic flux produced in the stator field by an exciter. This induces an
alternating electromotive force in the stator windings. Any load connected to the stator
windings completes the external circuit and current flows through the load. Fig. 1 shows a

schematic diagram of a practical three-phase alternator.

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Fig. 1 A Practical Three-Phase Alternator

3.2 Standby Generators
Standby generators also known as backup or alternate generators, are secondary
sources of electric power usually kept at the premises of consumers to provide electrical
power in the event of failure of power supply from a power service provider. Standby
generators are installed at the consumers premises and run in parallel with the utility power
supply in order to augment the utility supply, when power is lost.
There are other electric generator switching automation systems using
electromechanical relays, contactors and timers which comes with some shortcomings,
notably: poor sensing ability to fluctuations due to the fact that relays do not function
optimally at very low voltages; and slow switching time in the event of mains power supply
outage because switching is effected on the basis of energising and de-energising of the relay
coils.

3.3 Transfer Switches

Transfer switches, also known as changeover switches, are electrical devices designed
to power an electric load from multiple sources. They are mainly used with generator sets in
applications where the loads need, if not a fully continuous, at least a steady supply of electric
power. Transfer switches could be manually or automatically operated. A manual transfer
switch box separates the utility supply from the standby generator. Whenever there is power
failure, changeover is done manually by humans and the same happens when the public
utility power is restored and this is usually accompanied with loud noise and electrical sparks.
An Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) is used with standby systems. It includes a control
circuit that senses mains voltage. When mains power is interrupted, the control circuit starts
up the generator set, disconnects the load from the utility and connects it to the generator set.
It then continues to monitor the mains status. When mains power is restored, it commutes the
load from the generator back to the utility within a threshold time.

When the generator is disconnected, it goes through a cool-down process and then
automatically shuts down Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a typical transfer switch.
Transfer switches could be installed between two generators, a generator and a utility supply
or between alternate utility providers.

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Fig .2 Schematic Diagram of a Typical Transfer Switch

3.4 The Proposed Switching System

In general, a switch control mechanism could be done electromechanically or solid

state-based. Both methods come with corresponding trade-offs ranging from efficiency to
cost. The methods of switching on standby generators can also be categorised mainly into
two modes: Open Transition (OT) mode and Closed Transition (CT) mode.

An ATS is an electrical device for transferring power sources to an electrical load.

The switch should have the ability to sense the loss or fluctuation of power from the main
source and based on that stimulus, initiate and execute the process of transfer of source to the
load. Normally, the sensing circuits are connected to the power sources through relays.
Transfer switching systems have been studied by numerous researchers with different
applications usually aimed at reducing component count and minimising power consumed by
the control circuitry. The ATS is able to monitor all the sources consistently for over/under
voltage and current conditions or total loss of power and issue an appropriate command for
the transfer of load to an alternate power source.

This paper reports on the design of an efficient microcontroller-based ATS making

use of relays, voltage and current sensing circuitry, a display unit and an alarm unit in order
to reduce the circuits power consumption, operate fast, reduce component count and
considerably reduce cost. Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show a block diagram of the overall system design
and the block diagram of the ATS respectively.

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3.5 Block Diagram of Overall System Design

Fig. 3 Block diagram of overall system design

The system hardware consists mainly of a Transfer Switch (TS) microcontroller

serving as the main controlling device to which all other devices are connected. The AC
voltage sensing circuits sense the status of the AC power from the mains and generator and
communicate it to the TS microcontroller.
A Hall Effect current sensor feeds the load current to the TS controller. A source
change relay acts as switchgear to switch power sources between mains and generator to the
load.
Fuel flow and starter relays are used to start the fuel flow pump and engine
respectively. All the relays are driven by a relay driver (ULN2003A). The TS microcontroller
monitors the charging state of a battery that supplies power to the entire control circuitry.

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3.6 Block Diagram of Automatic Transfer Switch

Fig.4 Block Diagram of Automatic Transfer Switch

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3.7 Voltage Sensing Circuits

Two AC voltage sensing circuits continuously monitor the state of the utility supply,
generator and communicate it to the TS microcontroller. The voltage sensor, as shown in the
circuit diagram in Fig. 5, is made up of a 240/3.4 V step down transformer, two resistors, a
diode and a capacitor. To ensure that 5 V TTL requirement of the microcontroller is not
violated, a voltage divider circuit, consisting of R1 and R2 is used to output about 5 V to the
controller. This is achieved by setting the ratio of R1 to R2 to be 10 is to 5. The values of R1
and R2 are deliberately selected in the kilo ohm range in order to limit the sink current to the
microcontroller. The diode and capacitor C1 are used to give a unidirectional DC to the
respective input pin of the microcontroller. An AC sensor (ACS712-05B-T); is used to
monitor the load for over- and under-current conditions.

Fig. 5 Schematic Diagram of AC Voltage Sensing Circuit

The change breaker relay, OMIH-SH-105D, was selected to commute the power
source from utility to generator and vice versa. This is necessary in order to avoid both
sources being connected at the same time, otherwise the generator could back feed into the
utility lines. This is an unhealthy condition since personnel working on the line could be
electrocuted. This calculation is done for a typical company in Tarkwa.

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3.8 Schematic Diagram of the Hardware Design

The circuit diagram of the hardware design of the ATS is shown in Fig. 6. The
microcontroller receives its power from a MAX610 AC to DC converter through a 10 k
resistor. Evenly spaced pulses coming from the oscillator enable harmonic and synchronous
operation of all circuits of the microcontroller. The oscillator module is usually configured to
use quartz crystal or ceramic resonator for frequency stabilisation.

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CHAPTER 4
AUTOMATIC TRANSFER SWITCH OPERATION

4.1 Basic Switching

The most commonly used transfer switches are made of solid state devices. Normally
phase relays are used as sensors for sensing voltage drop below a critical value a critical
value defined as per user requirement. The transfer is automatically initiated as soon as a
voltage drop is encountered. A timer is usually used for counting the pre-set time to de-
energize the main control relay and to allow for compensation time for noise that is usually
generated when the generator starts.

4.2 Generator Switching

During this time if at any point grid power is restored to its normal value the timer is
reset and the generator is shut down. On the other hand, if the main supply voltage doesnt
restore to its full value the timer runs out and generates a starting pulse for the generator to
start. As soon as the generator starts another timer (Count after timer) starts its timing. This
timer is to allow the voltage and frequency sensing relays to check if the parameters are
within the set values for backup power.

As soon as the voltage and frequency checking is done the emergency power relay is
energized with connects the backup power switch to the main utility circuitry and the backup
power starts powering the complete circuit.

4.3 Re-Transference of Control

The same principle is used for re-transference of power back to grid power. The
process initiates when grid powers phases reach their present values. This state is sensed by
solid state relays and again the timers and respective relays perform their duty to switch the
supply to the main power.

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4.4 Limiting the Voltage

A limit switch is also provided in the circuitry to allow the manual change over if
needed. The switch is locked at its normal position which is pointing towards the grid power.
Lowering the switch manually shifts the power towards backup generator. This limit switch is
provided only for emergency and exceptional cases and should be avoided.

4.5 Automated Switching

If u have automated setup available let it do its work unless or until it is out of order
or is not performing as you desired. Other types have similar operations like manual switches
and is totally man operated. These switches usually shift the load between small generators
and main supply. However solid state switch is heavy duty and are used where large power
consumption is occurring and industrial use intended

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CHAPTER 5
CHOICE OF TRANSFER MODE

5.1 Open-transition transfer

Break-before-make switching action: The most basic type of transfer; the connection
to one source is opened before the connection to the second source is closed. The sync-check
feature included in the open-transition transfer control monitors both sources and initiates the
transferavoiding out-of-phase closing.
Applications: Emergency, code-required and optional standby systems; resistive loads; small
motor loads.

5.2 Closed-transition transfer

Make-before-break switching action for uninterrupted power transfer. The transfer
switch provides a seamless transfer of the load from one source to another by momentarily
paralleling both sources (<100ms) during the transfer period.
Applications: Critical power requirements, including hospitals and data centres.

5.3 Programmed-transition transfer

Similar to open-transition transfer. The switch opens the connection to one source,
pauses for an adjustable delay time, then closes the connection to the second source. The
adjustable time between sources allows the decay of residual voltage before connecting to the
second source.
Applications: Inductive (motor) loads; recommended by some manufacturers of UPS and
VFD equipment.

5.4 Bypass isolation transfer

Allows maintenance to the main ATS without disconnecting the load. By having two
transfer switches connected in parallel, the bypass transfer switch adds redundancy to the
system.
Applications: Critical power and maintenance requirements, including healthcare and data
centre.

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CHAPTER 6
APPLICATIONS OF AUTOMATIC TRANSFER SWITCH

6.1 Generator-to-Generator
For facilities with a prime power system using multiple on-site generators. If the primary
generator fails, the transfer switch sends a start signal to the second generator and then
transfers the load.

Fig. 6 Generator to generator Switching operation

6.2 Utility-to-Generator
For facilities with a standby power system and a single utility feed. The transfer switch senses
when the utility power has been lost, sends a start signal to the standby generator and transfers the
load.

Fig. 7 Utility to generator switching operation

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6.3 Utility-to-Utility
For use in facilities with redundant utility feeds but no standby generator. If one
utility feed fails, the transfer switch automatically connects the load to the second utility feed.

Fig. 8 Utility to Utility Switching Operation

6.4 Three-source system

For facilities with a standby power system and two utility feeds. The utility transfer
switch controls the feeds from the two utilities based on a pre-established priority. If both
utility feeds fail, the generator transfer switch sends a start signal to the standby generator and
transfers the load. Another three source system uses a standby generator in place of the
second utility (dual standby). If the utility fails, the first transfer switch sends a start signal to
the primary standby generator and transfers the load. If the primary standby generator fails,
the transfer switch sends a start signal to the second generator set and transfers the load.

Fig. 9 Three Source System Switching Operation

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CHAPTER 7
CONCLUSION

Automatic change over switch with generator starting/shut down facility has been
designed to help man reduce the stress and loss of time associated with the starting and
shutting down of the alternative sources of supply (generator). It is worthy to note that this
project is subject to scrutiny and further development. I recommend that for future
development an overload protection system be included. I also recommend this project to the
entire field where electricity is highly needed and even to the small and medium entrepreneur
that the automatic change over switch with generator starting/shut down facility will help
them.

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REFERENCE

[1] The Electrical Systems Design & Specification Handbook for Industrial Facilities,
By Steven J. Marrano, Craig DiLouie.

[2] Electric Power Distribution Reliability, By Richard E. Brown.

[3] Electric Power Distribution Reliability, Second Edition, By Richard E. Brown.

[4] Automatic Transfer Switches- Cummins Power Generation,

https://power.cummins.com/sites/default/files/literature/brochures/F-1443.pdf

[5] Design of Automatic Change Over Switch with Generator Control Mechanism, By LS
Ezema. www.savap.org.pk/journals/ARInt./Vol.3(3)/2012(3.3-16).pdf

[6] A Microcontroller-Based Automatic Transfer Switching System for a Standby Electric

Generator, By C. K. Amuzuvi and E. Addo

[7]. Development of a Single Phase Automatic Change-Over Switch, By M.S. Ahmed,

A.S. Mohammed and O.B. Agusiobo

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