DESIGN AND REALISATION OF CODED CONTROLLED CIRCUIT

BREAKER USING GSM

Dattatraya Kaushik Surikuchi, Manoj Pulakhandam, Sai Krishna Sunkara
Department of Power Engineering, GMR Institute of Technology, Rajam-532127, Andhra Pradesh.
ABSTRACT: Now a days line men accidents are been increasing day to day. This may be due to miss communication
between the staff. This system has been proposed which provides a solution to ensure the safety of the maintenance staff mainly the
distribution end line man. The control to turn ON/OFF the line lies with the line man only. This project is designed to control a circuit
breaker with help of GSM. Arduino and the GSM module are connected to the relay. This proposed system has an arrangement such
that a unique code of operation triggers the circuit breaker. This code of operation lies only with the authorized personnel of that
particular line hence the respective line man is required to operate the circuit breaker (ON/OFF).
Keywords: Arduino uno, GSM module, Circuit breaker, Fault.
Introduction
Circuit breaker is an elementary device which
Electrical energy is the most predominant makes or breaks the circuit even on the live conditions.
energy which is being utilized in every nook and corner Type and intensity of the fault occurring on the power
of the world. This energy is derived from other sources system cannot be predicted. It essentially consists of
of energy while this conversion is done by power two contacts out of these one is fixed contact while the
system. The modern power system is associated with other is movable contact. These contacts are also called
enormous power networks and also with many numbers as electrodes. These contacts remain in contact with
of electrical equipments. The modern power networks each other during normal an operating condition that is
which have grown both in size and complexity require when the make operation is enabled. These contacts
fast accurate and reliable protective schemes to protect will not open automatically until and unless the system
major equipment and to maintain system stability. becomes faulty or by manual operation. The trip coil
Increasing interest is being shown in the use of on-line present in the circuit breaker gets energized whenever a
digital computers for protection. Whenever a fault fault is occurred in the zone of protection, this is due to
occurs on the system these equipment and the network excess flow of current through the relay coil. When the
suffer a high stress due to fault current in them which trip coil gets energized the moving contact is pulled
may eventually damage the equipments and networks apart from the fixed contact hence breaking the contact
permanently. During the operation of power system it is between them. When the contacts of a circuit breaker
often desirable and necessary to switch on or off are separated under fault conditions, an arc is struck
different circuits under both normal and abnormal between them. This arc current is thus able to continue
conditions. In earlier days this is done by employing a until it gets quenched. The production of arc delays the
switch and a fuse in series with the line. But this current interruption process and it also liberates
practice has been eliminated because of the enormous heat energy which can cause a huge damage
disadvantages like reestablishing the fuse consumes to the system or sometimes to the circuit breaker itself.
more time and also it cannot successfully interrupt Therefore, this is considered to be the main problem in
heavy fault currents in the present modern high voltage a circuit breaker. It is necessary to extinguish the arc as
systems. Power system requires proper controlling and soon as possible so as to prevent the breaker from
different switching operations for consistent and damage due to excess heat liberation. The breaker
reliable operation. So a special type of switching device should also have the capability to break the circuit when
is required for disconnecting and reconnecting the commanded by the relay coil. During the occurrence of
network within a stipulated safe time, for protection and fault, the fault-line has to be isolated from the source to
for controlling of the power flow. Such a device should prevent damage of the equipments connected to the
be able to operate under high fault currents without line. Once the isolation is done, the maintenance staffs
damaging the system and also itself. These kinds of do the work of fault identification, location of the fault
devices may require auxiliaries such as circuit breakers, and rectifying of the fault. After the clearance of the
normally instrument transformers are used for fault, the line has to be brought back to the operation by
transducers and protective relays. The protective relay closing the circuit breaker, this should be done with
initiates a command to disconnect the faulty system to utmost care.
the circuit breaker. It is a device that senses any
abnormal conditions in the constantly changing basic Once the fault is cleared, the line has to be
electrical parameters such as current, voltage, phase brought back to live. In the present day, the line man
angle and frequency, compares them constantly. The himself informs the person in the substation for
instrument transformers reduce the voltages and operation of that particular line. This process may lead
currents to lower values. They do perform the same to miscommunication between them and may result in
function in the protective system added to that they also wrong operation of the lines due to no clarity of
isolate the relay from the high currents of the system. expression or due to unwanted noises. If in case
switching of the wrong line took place and a another
person is working on the wrongly operated line, then
the person who is working on that line may be affected
with electric shock and may result in fatal accidents or
sometimes it may result in death. To prevent this, the
control of switching the line should be present within
the hands the line man. This can be achieved by remote
switching of the line using his mobile by texting the
GSM server with a unique code of operation.
Hardware requirements
For the successful completion of the project, it
requires the following major components
 Microcontroller - Arduino Uno
 GSM module - SIM900A
 4 channel relay module
SMS, Data, and Fax in a small form factor and with low
power consumption. This module is so very compact so
that it can also be used where space is major concern.
Its dimensions are 24mm*24mm*3mm, this module can
also be controlled through AT commands. There is a
status indicator on the PCB module which will be left
on during idle conditions but blinks continuously when
the call arrives. The network LED mounted on the
board which blinks for every second when not
connected to the network and once when the connection
is established it blinks for every 3 seconds. This module
is compliant to GSM phase 2/2+class 4.

Arduino is a company that builds

microcontrollers on a single board and also provides
various other interfacing devices which help in
realization of projects for the students. It has built a
various microcontroller boards among which Arduino
Uno is one. It has a ATmega328 microcontroller, 14
digital i/o pins (of which PWM output pins are 6), 6
analog inputs, a ceramic resonator of 16 MHz, a USB
connection port, a power jack and a reset button.
Writing of arduino program can be done in any of the
programming languages with compilers that produce
binary code for the target processor. The arduino has an
extra layer of protection of computer’s USB ports
against over currents and shorts. If the current exceeds Fig.2 GSM module
500mA, the resettable polyfuse will automatically break A 4-Channel Relay is an interface board to
the circuit until the abnormal conditions no long exist. control various appliances, and other equipment’s with
Arduino uno has the dimensions of 2.7*2.1 inches, large current. It can be controlled directly by Micro-
power jack and USB ports extend these PCB controller by defining and by proper interfacing. It has 4
dimensions. It has four screw holes which help in fixing relay channels with a operating specifications of AC-
the PCB with the surface for reducing the space 250V, 10A and DC-30V, 10A. Each of the 4 channel
constraints and also to prevent damage to the module. relay requires a driver circuit of 15-20mA. These 4
relay inputs are opto-isolated inputs so that overlapping
and wrong switching does not exist, unique
identification LEDs provide status of each of the relay.
This interfacing is explained in table 2.

Fig.1 Arduino UNO

The SIM900A is a Dual-band GSM module

which can be embedded in many of the customer
applications. SIM900A has special features such as
GSM/GPRS 900/1800MHz performance for voice, Fig.3 4 channel relay module
 Table 1 Interfacing Arduino and GSM module Once the interfacing of the arduino, GSM
module, Relay module and load circuit are done Supply
ARDUINO GSM MODULE to the load, GSM module should be switched on and
usb of arduino is to be connected to the computer for
serial communication between arduino and the
Digital pin 9 TXD computer. Once the gsm module gets registered on to
the network, a message will be displayed on the serial
Digital pin 10 RXD monitor stating “String initialised”.
The unique code of operation is a five digit
Gnd Gnd code required to switch the line remotely through the
GSM. The unique command for the operations consists
Table 2 Interfacing Arduino and Relay module of substation code as its first three digits. This is short
form code for the substation based on its area of
ARDUINO RELAY MODULE location. In this case the substation is at GMRIT hence
the code is GMR. Line index is the fourth digit in the
code. This can be an alphabet or a number based on the
Digital pin 13 IN1
number of connections to the substation. If the
Digital pin 12 IN2 connections are greater than 10 then the line index is an
alphabet otherwise it is a numerical digit. The last digit
Digital pin 11 IN3 of the UCO is the switching index. This is the digit that
represents the type of operation the breaker has to
Gnd Gnd perform. This occurs in two states i.e. ON and OFF.
These two states are represented by a numerical 1 and 0
respectively. This code of operation is different and
+5 V +VCC
unique for different switching operations of different
The lamp load circuit has to be connected to substations and lines.
the relay module as shown in fig.4

Fig.4 Final Circuit

Program description The sequence of the program for this coded

controlled circuit breaker is as follows
  Initialization of libraries.
 Establishing serial communication
between arduino and GSM module.
 Assigning a character buffer.
 Determination of pins.
 Bringing the GSM to text mode.
 Enabling the GSM to read the incoming
messages.
 Initializing the string.
 Checking for any incoming messages.
 Reading and storing the message in the
buffer.
 Comparing the incomer with the preset
UCO. Fig.6 Code sent via SMS indicating line 1 off
 Processing and performing the operations
by commanding relay module. If the fourth byte of the command is 1 then the
 Sending a sms to the recipients stating that arduino prints ‘COMMAND FOR GMR LINE 1’. Now
given task is performed. the arduino checks for the fifth input command to be 1
 Displaying that task is performed. or 0. If it equals 0, the line should be turned off so
 Clearing the message in GSM module arduino sends an actuating signal to the relay module to
inbox. operate relay 1 and prints ‘GMR line 1 off’ and
‘sending sms to je’. Then a serial communication
begins again between arduino and gsm to send a text
message to JE stating ‘Line 1 is operated off’. After
sending the message arduino again displays ‘sms sent to
je’ and ‘sending sms to line man 1’ on its serial monitor
screen. Once this is done an sms will be sent to line
man 1 stating ‘line 1 operated off’ and message ‘sms
sent to line man1’ on the screen.

Fig.5 Hardware implementation

If any line has to be turned off or on, the

unique command of that respective line has to be sent to
the server number. Once the message is received by the
server the GSM module reads the message and transfers
it to the arduino. The message is stored in arduino in the
form of bytes, if the first three set of bytes equals the
preset value that is ‘GMR’ arduino loops further. Now Fig.6 bulbs indicating line 1 off
the arduino determines which line has to be operated
based on the fourth byte.

Fig.7 Serial monitor display when line 1 switched off

 Fig.8 SMS received by JE and Line man 1 showing line 1 is operated off
If the fourth byte of the command is 1 then the
arduino prints ‘COMMAND FOR GMR LINE 1’. Now
the arduino checks for the fifth input command to be 1
or 0. If it equals 1, the line should be turned on so
arduino sends an actuating signal to the relay module to
operate relay 1 and prints ‘GMR line 1 on’ and ‘sending
sms to je’.
Fig.9 Code sent via SMS indicating line 1 on
Fig.10 Bulbs indicating line 1 on
Then a serial communication begins again
between arduino and gsm to send a text message to JE
stating ‘Line 1 is operated on’. After sending the
message arduino again displays ‘sms sent to je’ and
‘sending sms to line man 1’ on its serial monitor screen.
Once this is done an sms will be sent to line man 1
stating ‘line 1 operated on’ and message ‘sms sent to
line man1’ on the screen.
From the fig10,11&12 it is shown that the line
1 is operated on and the messages received by both JE
and line man 1 which is a healthy sign for the project.
 Fig.11 Serial monitor display when line 1 switched on

Fig.12 SMS received by JE and Line man 1 showing line 1 is operated on

Then a serial communication begins again
If the fourth byte of the command is 2 then the
between arduino and gsm to send a text message to JE
arduino prints ‘COMMAND FOR GMR LINE 2’. Now
stating ‘Line 2 is operated off’. After sending the
the arduino checks for the fifth input command to be 1
message arduino again displays ‘sms sent to je’ and
or 0. If it equals 0, the line should be turned off so
‘sending sms to line man 2’ on its serial monitor screen.
arduino sends an actuating signal to the relay module to
Once this is done an sms will be sent to line man 2
operate relay 2 and prints ‘GMR line 2 off’ and
stating ‘line 2 operated off’ and message ‘sms sent to
‘sending sms to je’.
line man 2’ on the screen.
Fig.13 Code sent via SMS indicating line 2 off Fig.14 Bulbs indicating line 2 off

Fig.15 Serial monitor display when line 2 switched off

Fig.16 SMS received by JE and Line man 2 showing line 2 is operated off
 If the fourth byte of the command is 2 then the
arduino prints ‘COMMAND FOR GMR LINE 2’. After
that digital write command arduino checks for the mode
of switch that is it checks for the digit of the unique
code of command whether it is 1 or 0. In this case it
equals 1 as noted from fig.17, then it is indication to
turn the line 2 of GMR on. Post to that arduino responds
to the code and initiates a command signal to operate
line 2 on. After a few minutes of delay arduino digitally
writes ‘GMR line 2 on’ and after a few moments it also
writes ‘sending sms to je’ as shown in fig. 19.
communication for sending sms to line man 2. Arduino
commands the GSM module to send an sms to line man
2 with ‘line 2 is operated on’ as the message body.
Once this process is done arduino receives feedback and
writes ‘sms sent to line man 2’ in the serial monitor
window. This whole process runs on time delay in order
to prevent miscommunication between the arduino and
GSM module which would be a major threat.

Fig.18 Bulbs indicating line 2 on

From the fig18,19&20 it is shown that the line
2 is operated on and the messages received by both JE
and line man 2 which is a healthy sign for the project.
Fig.17 Code sent via SMS indicating line 2 on
In the same manner ‘n’ number of lines can be
Once this is done there exists a serial
controlled when assigned with their unique code of
communication between arduino and the GSM module
operation. But the number of lines of control is being
for sending the messages. Arduino initiates a command
limited by the specification (number of channels) of the
for sending an sms to JE stating that ‘The line 2 is
relay module. The more the number of channels in a
operated on’. After the sending command is executed
module more would be the lines of control.
then arduino displays a notification in the serial monitor
that ‘sms was sent to je’. After that arduino again
displays ‘sending sms to line man 2’. Then the arduino
and GSM module will again have a serial

Fig.19 Serial monitor display when line 2 switched on

 Fig.20 SMS received by JE and Line man 2 showing line 2 is operated on
Conclusion
Since the electrical line men accidents are
increasing, this project model provides accident free
operation. In this report ‘design and fabrication of GSM
controlled circuit breaker’ has been explained with all
its features and operational details. This project has the
following improvements than the previous conventional
systems of operation a circuit breaker.
 Reduces inappropriate switching: This
system avoids confusion and inappropriate
switching of the connected lines of the system
because each line has got its own dedicated
unique code of operation.
 Maintenance of clear record: Every activity,
that can be either off or on of every line can be
recorded in the GSM storage memory along
with the time and date of operation. This
avoids false entries into the records.
 Ease of access: Any line can be operated from
any location by using this method, if the
unique code of operation of that particular line
is known.
 Notification of all activities: If the line is
turned off or on both the line-man and the je
receives a message so that he could act
accordingly onto that notification without any
further delay.
 Authorised personnel only: Any line can
only be operated either the line-man or the je
or by an authorised personnel who knows the
unique code of operation at any time.
Apart from the advantages this project has also
got some limitations which are listed below.
 Network strength should be high: In order to
operate a line the GSM should have good
network strength which is lacking in many
rural areas hence making this project limited to
poor network areas.
 Added cost: For the installation of the project
additional cost has to be laid down in both for
implementation and also to remove or bypass
the existing system, which is an added burden
to the government.
 Removal of present schemes: The project
cannot be implemented unless the present
existing systems were removed off. This may
take some time and also may cause a bit
interruption in power supply
Future scope
This project can be employed in the
distribution substations by employing good network
connectivity communication systems. Moreover slight
modifications can be done based on the number of lines
that substation is connected to. Since the arduino
module has a protection for short circuit hence there is
no more requirement of the isolation circuit but it is
recommended to have some external reliable protection
to improve the redundancy of protection. It has been
developed by integrating the features of all the
hardware components used. Presence of every module
has been reasoned out and placed carefully thus
contributing to the best working of the unit.
References
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