DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF TESTBENCH FOR FUNCTIONALITY TESTING OF THREE PHASE LOAD BALANCING DEVICE

Project Title

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF TESTBENCH FOR FUNCTIONALITY TESTING OF THREE PHASE LOAD BALANCING DEVICE

Project Area of Specialization Electrical/Electronic EngineeringProject Summary

Quality control is an integral part of manufacturing industry and with growing competition every company is trying to manufacture products which are cheap, durable and sustainable providing a complete solution for their consumer’s problem. Consequently, with an increase in quantity, manufactures must ensure a standard to be maintained in terms of quality of their products through quick and effective testing mechanisms. Products, specifically electrical equipment and devices such as the Automatic 3-Phase Load Balancing Device, being sold in the market are of a substandard quality as they are introduced in the market without proper testing, the primary disadvantage of it being that the end-product is unreliable and may or may not work properly. Our project provides a reliable testing mechanism which can be molded according to the requirements of different industries, specifically Small and Medium Scale Enterprises to ensure quality control procedures and standard maintenance of products.

Approximately 99% of the industries in Pakistan are constituted of Small Scale and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which lack adequate testing facilities for quality control and testing.

Quality control is an important procedure deployed in almost every large-scale industry throughout the world. Domestically, due to lack of attention directed towards quality control, a lot of issues are being experienced by users as well as suppliers regarding the effectiveness and efficiency of different appliances and products.

Our product tends to provide equity between small-scale manufacturers and large scale corporations by providing an easy-to-adapt and flexible quality control and testing mechanism.

Project Objectives

Our objectives include;

• Improve quality testing at an industrial level

• Apply our testing approach to a wide range of industries

• Enable automated one-click testing procedures throughout the industry-base

• Introduce a software based approach to minimize time-loss

• Enable our testing procedure to facilitate large-scale supply chain of goods

Project Implementation Method

In order to implement a quality control mechanism, we decided to develop a testing mechanism for an Automatic 3-Phase Load Balancer. Such a testing mechanism has previously been designed before to cater to Load Balancers of different complexities and proportions.

To showcase our research regarding the implementation and establishment of quality control practices in Pakistan, we decided to target a specific product and design a user-friendly testbench to collect and analyze data, identifying errors and discrepancies on two fronts; mainly hardware and software. The product we targeted is the Automatic 3-Phase Load Balancer which, apart from carrying a complex algorithm, also consists of various types of electronic instruments and devices in considerable quantities. The algorithm loaded within the Arduino microcontroller consists of the code required to decide the switching scheme between the phases, while the hardware contained within the 3-Phase Load Balancer implements the decided switching scheme. Hence, the software and the hardware both aspects complete the functionality of the device and ensure successful balancing at the load end.

Through the testbench, we aim to conduct functionality testing of the 3-Phase Load Balancer considering two major areas of observation;

• Hardware testing of electrical components including but not restricted to; relays, triacs, optocoupler ICs, wires, current transformers and current sensors
• Software testing of algorithm to ensure whether software has been loaded properly or whether there are any defects with the Arduino microcontroller

The testbench, assisted by a graphic user interface (GUI) follows a well-designed algorithm which is based on critical problem solving and loop analysis to maneuver through errors detected during the testing phase and then to carry out corrective mechanisms as indicated by the flowchart below.

Benefits of the Project

SME(small and medium enterprises) constitute about 99 percent of total businesses in Pakistan, they have a very different set of challenges as compared to large scale industries, primary difference being capital constraints, they usually do not file for formal certifications and are unable to invest in quality control systems which in turn affects quality of their products.

There are 3.2 million economic establishments operating in Pakistan, out of which, the number of SME is stated variably by different agencies. The Economic Survey of Pakistan (2008) reports that over 93 percent of the 3.2 million entities fall in the category of SME. The Economic Census of Pakistan (Also called Census of Establishments), published in 2005, reports this figure to be approximately 99 percent.

Most of these small and medium enterprises rely on parts supplied by local distributors which consist of huge amounts of unreliable and faulty components. This in turn affects user compatibility and results in major compliance issues. A testing mechanism will result in discarding of such stock and in turn encourage aforementioned SMEs to in turn be more selective and careful during procurement processes.

The primary benefits of our project is to develop an adequate testing mechanism for such industries to;

- Develop of high quality products which contribute to the country’s GDP

- Increase customer trust on local products leading to strengthening of domestic industries

- Create more employment opportunities in the domestic SME sector

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Project deliverables include;

1- Three Phase Automated Testbench

The final design of the testbench will be a solid box which will consist within itself the relay switching circuitry, contactors and loads required to adequately test the Three-Phase Load Balancing Device. The device will be interfaced with the original Balancing Device and will gauge its performance factors through;

• Carrying out switching in-between phases on random schemes designed to simulate actual user-environments through the incorporation of the Relay Switching Circuitry

• Calibrating the Current Transformers on the Balancing Device to ensure that actual values of current are measured and balancing procedure is tested accurately

• Externally situated loads of varying Power Ratings will simulate the normal scenario of a residential unit and will facilitate the running test of the Three Phase Load Balancing Device

2- Graphic User Interface

The general purpose of the Graphic User Interface (GUI) is to provide a greater degree of functionality and monitoring control to the user. Through one click of a mouse, the user can administer a number of commands in terms of observation, error detection, switching and statistical analysis.

The key user-controlled features offered by the GUI will include;

• Test button; The user can carry out a number of functions including but not restricted to switching. Through contactor control, switching can be carried in between phases according to the degree and phase of imbalance. The Test button would carry out calibration of the current transformer which involves setting of error offset and checking of zero error during the initial phase of the balancing process.

• Current readings from sensors at each node would be monitored using the GUI through which the user can detect, through statistical recordings, the phase imbalance and the correction mechanism which must be adopted by the imbalance

• There will also be a Report Generation section through which, in the form of a document, the user can analyze and assess the performance of the unit.

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry ManufacturingOther IndustriesCore Technology NeuroTechOther Technologies OthersSustainable Development Goals Affordable and Clean Energy, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and CommunitiesRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	78000
Microcontroller	Equipment	2	1500	3000
Current Transformers	Equipment	15	1000	15000
Printed Circuit Board	Equipment	5	1000	5000
Outer Metallic Casing of Testbench	Equipment	1	10000	10000
External Loads	Equipment	20	500	10000
Electrical Wiring	Equipment	1	5000	5000
Tools	Equipment	10	500	5000
PC	Equipment	1	15000	15000
Miscellaneous	Miscellaneous	1	10000	10000