Automatic transfer switch design utilizing NodeMCU ESP8266 based on internet of things (IoT)

Abstract

The source of electricity managed by the State Electricity Company (PLN) plays an important role in providing electricity for consumers to support daily activities. However, PLN electricity source typically experiences discontinuity in its operation. Incident includes the disturbance in PLN system thus urges an attempt as a backup of a Generator Set (generator) in order to sustain the electricity or power supply. Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) transfers the load to a backup power source when there is a disturbance at the main source and vice versa. In this study, an Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) was designed by utilizing the NodeMCU ESP8266 as a controller as well as an Internet of Things (IoT) device for communication from android to the Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) module, PZEM 004-T as a voltage and current sensor module, AC relay 5 Ampere as input voltage sensor and main contact info as well as transfer switch between load and PLN or generator, Direct Current Relay module as a generator on/off switch, telegram to display system notifications, as well as the Blynk application to display monitoring results and as manual control via android. The test results indicates that the Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) requires 4 seconds to work when there is a PLN blackout, transferring the supply voltage from the backup generator to the load with an error percentage of 0.18% voltage and current of 0.17%.