DIGITAL ASSIGNMENT 1

Name — Shanker Kaul

Registration No. — 17BEC0201

Submitted to — Prof. Aarthi G

NO LOAD AND OVERLOAD DIGITAL CIRCUIT

PROTECTOR FOR AC MOTORS

AC Motors have become absolutely essential in the modern way of life. From Pumping
our water to our Fans and our Mixers, Washing Machines etc, the motor is the most
vital part of modern industry!

We come across numerous instances where the motors get damaged and primarily are
due to insufficient protection of motors against no load and overload conditions. For
better clarity of understanding we can assume an empty water tank with a motor
trying to pump up the water! This is a No load condition and has a devastating effect
on the motor windings and are likely to be burnt! Similarly sometimes the motor are
unable to take the full load and get damaged!

In this DA, we will make an attempt to develop a low cost analog based electronic
circuitry to sense the No Load and Overload conditions and suitably cut off the power
supply of the Motor and will keep it safe.

The Proposed Circuit Diagram is shown below

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The main components of the protection circuitry are

1. TIMER – NE555

2. Decade Counter – 4017

3. Quad Comparator – LM 339

4. Quad NOR Gate - CD4001

5. Current Sensing Transformer - CT

6. Transistors - BC547

7. 12 V , 1 A , Power Unit

8. Relay 12 Volts

The normal load and amount of current being drawn by the motor can be calculated
using the Power Ratings of the Motor. Let’s assume the normal working current range
varies from 5 Amps to 10 Amps from Low Loads to High Loads. It means we need to
design a circuitry which can cut off the power supply of Motor if the Load Current is
below 5 Amps (No Load Condition) or greater than 10 Amps (Over Load Condition). By
this protection we can ensure a long service life of the motor and increased safety
and reliability for the user.

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LM 339 will be used as a comparator and a reference signal will be generated using
the combination of resistances. The AC output of the CT will be rectified and
converted to a milli volt Signal by using a shunt across the Current transformer Coil.
This variable DC output ( Proportional to the current flowing in the Motor) of the CT
will be compared with standard reference by LM 339 and we will get an High or Low
at the output of the comparator depending on the NO LOAD or OVERLOAD Condition .

Gate N2 of QUAD NOR GATE IC is wired as a NOT Gate and will provide the initial reset
pulse circuit with RC Network formed by R12 and C6. This is essential to reset counter
IC2 on initial power on so that the output Q0 of IC2 becomes high and switches on the
transistor T2. This in turn energizes the relay RL1 to provide AC Power to the Load.

Clock Signal is provided to decade counter 4017 IC using the astable multivibrator 555
Timer IC through NOR GATE N4. Other input of N4 is fed from Q4 output of IC2. The
Relay is energized – deenergized by turning on and turning off of the Transistor and
which in turn is controlled by the combination of NOR Gate and the Counter IC. The
truth table of NOR Gate suggests that the output is High only in One condition i.e.
when both the inputs are Low (Zero). We need to adjust the circuitry in such a way so
that the high output corresponds to Normal Working Condition of the Motor. All other
conditions including the Fault Condition of No Load and Over Load will trigger the NOT
Output as Low and corresponding will switch off the Relay.

TRUTH TABLE FOR NOR GATE

A B Y
0 0 1
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 0

Power Supply SMPS or a Transformer – Rectifier combination is being used to provide

Vcc and Gnd to various ICs and other digital circuitry. The 12 Volt power supply with a
1 Amp rating should be sufficient to drive the digital circuitry.

Normal Load Condition In this condition the CT output DC Voltage at input of LM339
will be more than the reference voltage at pin 4 of LM 339. Since for different
applications the Normal current will be different and hence we can use variable

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resistances (trim pots) to adjust the reference voltage of the LM339. Output at pin 2
of IC3 is high and output at pin 14 is low. N1 output at pin 3 of IC4 is low and inverted
output at pin 10 of N3 is high. This keeps IC2 in reset state and Q0 is high and is used
to switch on T2 and in turn energize the coil RL1. This connects AC mains power to
load.

No Load or Low Load Current Condition In this condition the CT output DC Voltage
at input of LM339 will be less than the reference voltage at pin 4 of LM 339. Inverted
output at pin10 of N3 becomes low. This allows the counter to progress and is used to
drive the T2. This mechanism is provided to ensure sufficient delay before cutting off
the supply to the load. The delay is adjustable by changing the frequency of 555 IC.
Various audible and LED signals can be activated so that the necessary action can be
taken by the user of the motor.

Overload or Short Circuit Condition In this condition DC voltage of Current Coil at

pin 9 goes higher than the voltage across VR3. Output of A3 at pin14 changes from low
to high. This triggers the SCR through the Zener and RC combination. Sufficient time
delay is provided to ensure that the high load condition is not a spurious condition.
SCR in turn reduces the forward bias voltage of Diodes D7 and D8 and finally pulls
down the bias of T2 resulting in the de-energizing of the relay and stops and protects
the motor.

The above discussion on the working of digital circuitry clearly brings out the
effective methodology of protecting the motors under No Load and Short Circuit
Conditions, thereby increasing the life of the appliance used.

Bibliography: Paper published by Mr. Santosh .C.C in EFY, August 2018

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