Fueless generator
Integrating Household Generator sets into the IoT ecosystem
Technology has advanced so much in the last decade or two that, it has made working from home more efficient and comfortable. Which to some measure increases the per capita income of those living in smart homes. The comfort of being able to take control of your household gadgets from one particular location has become imperative(i.e.important) as it saves a lot of time and effort. This has made applications such as Siri, Alexis etc gain popularity in most smart home setups.
In most homes, the primary source of electric power is gotten from the national grid while the secondary source of power is either a diesel/fuel generator set. Due to the noise it generates, while working, these generator sets are usually installed at a relative distance from the house/apartment. Thus, in recent times, has posed a security risk to residential and commercial buildings. A police report has shown that residents of a home can be lured out at night simply by unplugging the generator's power line while the generator keeps steaming.
With the advancement and breakthroughs in technology over the years, the lives of people have become busier than before. By automating the home, we can gain control over certain things that require constant attention. The application of this system comes in handy when people who forget to do simple things such as turn ON or OFF devices at their premises can effortlessly do that now.
Aim and objectives of the Study:
The project "Design and Implementation of A Mobile-based remote control generator switch” as the title suggests is aimed to design equipment that can facilitate a convenient and easy way of powering our home generators remotely without always going to them physically by ourselves.
At times users find it inconvenient and time-consuming to go around turning their generators on or off each time there is a power outage or each time they are leaving the house for work.
To be able to control these devices from a remote location, there has to be a mechanism in place that will pull the choke of the generator set and power ON the ignition key of the generator. The mechanism should also return the choke immediately after the generator starts.
This objective will be accomplished using various electronic components such as a solenoid to pull/push the choke and an Arduino Microcontroller to perform the said task of starting and power-OFF the generator.
One of the standard features on some consumer electronic and mechanical products including petrol generator set today is the remote control. Hence the need to construct an automatic remote generator on/off switch which has a unique switching system that the microcontroller introduces can be used to effect the change from one power supply to another as well as to ensure consistency in the supply to a particular load.
The uniqueness of this device lies in its ability to maintain a constant supply to the main circuit (load) being supplied by compensatory for the time-lapse of delay that usually accompanies the manual switching from one source to another. This device allows the user to operate their generator set from a distance without having to physically touch the generator switch.
What then is a fuelless generator?
A fuelless generator is generally a combination of an alternator, flywheel and electric motor. The electric energy generated is by the principles of a flywheel.
What is a flywheel?
A flywheel is a mechanical device which uses the conservation of angular momentum to store rotational energy; a form of kinetic energy proportional to the product of its moment of inertia and the square of its rotational speed.
This force needed to cause the rotational movement is produced by an electric motor. The flywheel resists changes in rotational speed by their moment of inertia. Changing the stored energy on the flywheel, its rotational speed must be increased or decreased. That is, it keeps spinning until lots of force is applied. A great amount of kinetic energy is preserved when the flywheel rotates. This energy is later used to power up the home or load by rotating the shaft of an alternator.
Today we’ll be looking at the definition, construction, functions, working principle, and symptoms of bad automobile flywheel.
Construction of a flywheel
Due to the toughness requirement of a flywheel, it is typically made of steel that rotates on conventional bearings. High energy density flywheels are made of carbon fibre composites and use magnetic bearings. Such flywheel revolves at speed up to 60,000 RPM (1 kHz).
Functions of Flywheel
1. Flywheels can be found in almost all type of automobile as they serve a variety of purposes will be discussed here. Below are the functions of the flywheel
2. Generator Start: the flywheel plays an important role while starting the generator. The gear teeth on the flywheel are attached to a starter motor. This starter motor is controlled with an inverter so when the microcontroller puts on the inverter, it starts the starter motor that turns the flywheel.
3. Weight manipulation: the weight of a flywheel determines the performance of an generator. The weight is designed base on the performance of the generator.
4. Heavier flywheels allow the generator to work under heavy electric loads which may cause the engine to bog down. But for smaller home premises or offices make good use of the lighter flywheels.
Working Principle:
The working principle of a flywheel is quite easy and interesting as it stores energy for the generator’s usage. Just the way mechanical battery stores energy in a chemical form, flywheels save the power in the form of kinetic energy.
More energy is produced as the flywheel spins at a higher speed. that’s a higher moment of inertia means bulkier. It is better to spin faster than increasing its mass. This is because lighter flywheels produce twice the energy than flywheels that weighs more or double. That’s, the lighter the flywheel the more the energy stored.
It is advisable to use a lighter, highspeed wheels rather than the one with massive weight. Research is currently on going to prove this claim. This is because to power heavy load, it is important to run at higher speeds. So, knowing how a flywheel work is that the higher the speed the higher the energy produced.