Research
Design and Development of Automated Electronic Switching System for Energy Regulation
Electricity was one of the most important discoveries of science. Humanity in these generations depends much on the usage of electricity. The modern technology cannot exist without this electricity. Energy consumption was higher with manual controllers as compared to automated controllers. Around 300% increased when the said manual controllers were not managed carefully, especially during weekends. Study shows that during weekend some of the employees leave the room forget to check the switch status especially when the power failure occurs during the last hour of office time. The use of automated controllers was more efficient as compare to manual controllers. The design consideration of automated controllers includes the power management of the controller itself was necessary in order to minimized fires caused by appliance.
Design and Development of a Microcontroller based Egg Incubator for Small Scale Poultry Production
A study was conducted to design and develop a microcontroller baser egg incubator for small scale poultry production. The incubator was equipped with microcontrollers to control the egg turner, heater, and circulation fan. It was designed to operate at average temperature of 38C. The turner operates at 10 cycles per minute for 30 seconds every 6 hours while the circulation fan activates every hour for 30 seconds to circulate the air inside the incubator. The prototype incubator was tested by loading it with 20 pieces of chicken eggs from a breeding flock. It was found that the prototype incubator functioned as designed during the entire incubation period. Two eggs were hatched after 21 days of incubation and another egg was hatched on the 24th day of incubation period. The percent egg fertility was found to be 55% or 11/20 while the hatchability was only 27% or 3 out of 11 fertile eggs. The low hatchability of fertile eggs could be more likely attributed to frequent power outage of 2 to 6 hours a day during the entire incubation period. A stable and uninterrupted power supply is needed for the optimal hatching performance of the incubator.
Design and Implementation of Internet based Power Monitoring and Controlling System using PIC16F84A Microcontroller for Energy Regulation
One of the major causes of high electrical energy consumption is unawareness of usage of electricity. Most people forget of turning-off lights and electrical equipment when not used or even when they are not around. Study shows that 80 per cent of the employee in different offices would forget to turn off lights and other electrical equipment when they are out of the office. The internet based remote control systems are commonly available in most advanced countries. Thus, for developing country like Ethiopia this technology is very much helpful for regulating the energy consumption of every government and private establishment. The main objective of this project is to control and monitor any electrical appliances using internet anywhere. The main components of this project were low cost computer as server and a low cost microcontroller PIC16F84A
