Week 14 (FYP2) : Poster

Hi, this week is the week of the presentation day. So i had designed my poster, and showed it to my project advisor. She did correct my poster in term of the design and wording.

Wish me luck for the Presentation Day

Week 13 (FYP2) : Result and Analysis

Hi, this is the last week before the Presentation week. So i need to collect some data for my project.
I had measured the output voltage of the solar panel from 8am until 6pm.

The figure above shown the voltage reading of the solar panel, at 11am.

Time	8am	9am	10am	11am	12pm	1pm	2pm	3pm	4pm	5pm	6pm
Volt	9.57	10.23	11.8	13.02	13.9	13.5	13.2	12.43	11.29	10.18	9.02

Table above shown the data i managed to collect.

Besides measuring the output voltage of the solar panel, i also did measure the power consumption of the LED bulb.

The load (LED bulb) was rated at 12.26V and 0.11A.

Week 12 (FYP2) : Troubleshooting

Hi, this week, i will be discuss about troubleshooting. Troubleshooting is a very important step, before you can present your project to your assessors. this is to prevent further humiliating, if the project not working.

For my project, i had found 1 problem, and it was related to PIR sensors. Upon investigation, the problem was because of the range of detection for the both PIR sensor. It was known that PIR sensor has long and wide detection range, so range of detection for both PIR sensors, overlapped with each other. To solve this problem, I used a cardboard, and cover the PIR sensors. This is to limit their range of detection.
 

Figure above shown the range of detection for PIR sensor.

I had used cardboard, to cover the PIR sensors, and limit their range of detection

Week 10 & 11 (FYP2) : Assembling the solar panel with the structure

Hi, this week, i will combine the post for Week 9 and 10 together, since it took quite time to get done the structure. In case you don't know what structure i am talking about, please check it out here.

Solar panel was assembled on the structure of the highway lamp post, and the connection was soldered.

Week 9 (FYP2) : Designing the structure

Hi guys. This week i had played around with SketchUp software, to design the structure of my highway lamp post. SketchUp is a freeware software, and very user-friendly. Even a noob like me, can use it :)

You can download it from here.

Two posts were designed, both for housing the PIR sensors. Both sensors is responsible for ON and OFF the LED bulb respectively. The circles are where PIR sensors will be. 

Update : I had met my project advisor, and she agreed with my design. Yeay ! 

 

Week 8 (FYP2) : Soldering the components

Hi, this week, i have soldered all components on the PCB. My skill a little bit rusty, because the last time i solder was when i was in Semester 3, for subject Electronics 2.

Since the PCB has been designed according to the schematics diagram, so minimal wire jumper was needed.

This is the look of the PCB after the components has been soldered on it.

Week 6 & 7 (FYP2) : Creating the PCB

Hi, sorry for late posting of the Week 6, because i was busy preparing for the Phase Test. So, i combined Week 6 and Week 7 under one post.

This week, i had create the PCB using layouts that i had designed using Altium Designer; and copper board. There were many step involved in creating the PCB.

Figure above shown the process of cutting the copper board. i bought an A4 sized copper board in Jalan Pasar for RM9.

Figure above shown the cutting process of the OHP sheet.After printing the PCB layout on a Overhead Projector (OHP) sheet, i cut it according to the size.

Align the OHP sheet which has the printed layout on the  copper board. Make sure the printed side was facing the copper side of the board.

Iron the OHP sheet onto the copper board. The heat applied by the iron, will cause the ink on the OHP sheet to stick on the copper board. Thus making the copper board look like the OHP sheet.

Dip the PCB into the Etching solution (Ferric Chloride solution, FeCl₃. The solution reacted with the unmasked copper, and removes the unwanted copper from the PCB. This process is called as Etching. The PCB was check every 10 minutes.

Now the PCB was carefully drilled, to make the holes, using drilling machine.

Picture above is the completed PCB.

Week 5 (FYP2) : PCB Design

This week, i have designed the PCB layouts for both solar charger conntroller and; LDR & PIR sensor circuits. I have used Altium Designer software, to design the PCB layout.

Unlike stripe board, Printed Circuit Board (PCB) was exclusively design according to the circuit layout. PCB was meant to minimize the usage of the wire jumper, thus making the circuit look presentable.

Figure above is the PCB layout for the solar charger controller circuit, while figure below is the LDR and PIR sensor circuit.

Week 4 (FYP2) : Constructing the Solar Charging Circuit

On 30 September, i tried to construct the solar charger circuit on the breadboard.

Picture above shown the open circuit voltage for the solar panel. The solar panel was rated at 2W. 

This was the voltage produced by the 12V 7.2AH. The circuit was in dumping mode, which means the battery was not connected to solar panel.  

This was the voltage produced by the solar panel, note that the RED LED was ON, which means the circuit was in dumping mode. 

This picture shown the voltage produced by the solar panel, which was used to charge the battery. The circuit was in charging mode, which was indicated by the GREEN LED. 

The circuit was forced to be in dumping and charging mode by pushing the push buttons. 

Week 3 (FYP2) : Simulation of the Motion Detector and LDR Circuit.

This week, i have combined the LDR circuit and motion detector circuit. A 5V relay was used to combine both circuits.

Picture above showing LDR circuit in OFF mode, because the higher lux of the surrounding. This resulting the relay not pull and motion detector circuit also in OFF mode (shown by the LED), even there is a motion detected.  DC voltage generator was used, to assimilate the PIR sensor output voltage, because there is no PIR sensor in the Proteus component library. in practical, if the PIR sensor detect a motion, it will produce 3.3V as output voltage. 

Picture above shown both circuits in ON mode. LDR circuit was activated, because of low lux of the surrounding area, thus pull the relay, connecting the motion detector circuit with the DC voltage source. When the relay is pulled, motion detector circuit become complete and power up the LED light. 

Week 2 (FYP2) : Simulation of the Solar Charging Circuit.

This week, i tried to simulate the solar charging circuit using Proteus simulation software.

In this simulation, there is no solar panel and battery ( to charge ) in the library of components, so i decided to replace those with DC voltage source and LED respectively. The push button and potentiometer which connected to pin 2 of 555 timer, was to manually switch the circuit into charging mode, and set the minimum charging voltage. The push button and potentiometer which connected to pin 6 of 555 timer, was to manually switch the circuit into dumping mode, and set the maximum charging voltage.

This circuit was set to be in charging mode, if the voltage from solar panel is between 12V and 14.9V. upper or lower than the range, the circuit will be in dumping mode.

Week 1 (FYP2) : PIR motion sensor

Recalling back to FYP1 presentation, which i did post here, i did come up with a motion detector circuit, but unfortunately, the circuit could not working. After few times to get the circuit working, i decided to change the motion detector circuit, from active to passive motion detector circuit.

I managed to do the simulation for the motion detector circuit using PROTEUS simulation software, but there is no PIR sensor module in the simulation library. My solution for the problem is, since a PIR sensor module will be put out  around 3.3V, i just use a DC voltage supply to replace PIR sensor module, in the simulation.

If the DC voltage source set to 0V, the LED will not switch ON. this is because in this state, there is no motion detected by the PIR sensor.

If the DC voltage source set to 3.3V, which is the output voltage from the PIR sensor, if it detect motion, the LED will be switch ON. 

Week 10 : FYP1 Presentation

On 28 March 2013, FYP1 presentation was held in Dewan Gemilang. My assessors for that day were Sir Razif and Sir Azuki, Supposedly, on paper, Miss Norhafiza and Sir Razif were my assessors, but for unknown reason, Miss Norhafiza was replaced by Sir Azuki.

My presentation with Sir Razif went well as he also understand about my project. Same thing cannot be said with Sir Azuki. I think my presentation with him went bad, but i don't know how his point of view.

Picture shown above is the motion detector circuit, which i constructed for FYP1 presentation. Unfortunately, it did not working.

Week 9 : Methodology Part 3 - LED Bulb

Last part of this project is LED bulb. LED will be used, to substitute conventional bulb, which is Sodium-vapor bulb. Sodium-vapor bulb produce yellowish light. LED has many advantages over Sodium-vapor lamp.

Picture above shown comparison between LED light (LEFT) and Sodium-vapor light (RIGHT). The LED light only consume 112W, while Sodium-vapor light consume 250W.

Week 8 : Methodology Part 2 - Motion Detector

In this project, a motion detector circuit, will be used to detect the presence of the vehicle on the road. If there is a vehicle moving pass the motion detector circuit, it will trip the circuit and lamp will be switch on. The  advantage of this circuit, it will prolong the lifespan of battery and lamp bulb. Imagine there is no vehicle using the road, electricity will be drawn from the battery to power up the lamp throughout the night. Although the electricity is free, which we get from sunlight, but we need to consider the battery and lamp bulb as well.

Picture above is a schematic diagram for infra-red motion detector circuit.

Week 7 : Methodology Part 1 - Charging System

My project will emphasize on 3 important parts, which is charging, motion detector and the lamp itself. Under charging parts, there are solar panel, charging controller and battery. The function of charging controller is to make sure, the battery will not be over-charged, when the battery is full. This is to make the lifespan of the battery longer.

Picture above is the solar panel, which convert sunlight to electricity. When light strikes the solar cell, electrons are knocked loose from the atoms in the semiconductor material. If electrical conductors are attached to the positive and negative sides, forming an electrical circuit, the electrons can be captured in the form of an electric current, which is electricity. the electricity can be used to power a load.

Picture shown above is a schematic diagram of a solar charging controller. The function is to keep battery from overcharging. It regulates the voltage and current coming from the solar panels going to the battery. Most 12V panels, put out about 16-20V, so if there is no regulation, the battery will be damaged from overcharging. Most battery need around 14V to 14.5V to get fully charged.

Picture shown above is a special battery for solar, which is a deep cycle battery. A deep-cycle battery is a lead-acid battery designed to be regularly deeply discharged using most of its capacity. 

Week 6 : Aim & Objectives

The aim of this project is to design and develop an intelligent solar-powered highway lamp post

The objectives of this project are as follows:

·       To use solar energy as main source

·       To study on the motion detector circuit

·       To investigate the effect of using LED bulb

·       To design, build and test the charging circuit

Week 5 : Problem Statement

A problem statement in general is the description of an issues currently existing which needs to be addressed. It provides the context for the research study and generates the questions which the research aims to answer. The statement of the problem is the focal point of any research.

A conventional highway lamp post which produces a yellowish light is a sodium-vapor lamp. The power consumption of this type of lamp is more than 200W. To make thing worse, massive electricity wastage will happen, if there is no vehicle using the highway at night.

Safety of road users in rural area was the other concern. Properly lit up road will increase visibility of road users tremendously. But, it is difficult to put lamp post in rural area, due to remote location and located far from electrical power grid network. To make thing worse, roads in rural area are well-known for its bumpy and path-holes.

Week 4 : Introduction of the Project

For last decade, world had witness the increment of the of fossil fuel. This led to increase the price to produce electricity. Since that, many products which utilizes alternative sources to produce electricity has been develop. Located in the equator region, Malaysia receives an equal time of day and night throughout the year. It goes without saying that, solar energy is the best renewable energy to be used in Malaysia.

Intelligent Highway Lamp Post will be using solar energy as its main source to produce electricity. Solar panel or photovoltaic cell will transform sunlight into electricity. The electricity will be used to recharge the battery, which in turn, will be used to power up the lamp post at night. A motion detector circuit, will detect the presence of vehicle.

If there is a vehicle using the highway, motion detector circuit will send information to lamp post controller to switch on the lamp. By doing this, we could prolong the life of the bulb and the battery used.

Week 3 : Project Inspiration - Intelligent Highway Lamp Post

The idea to do this project, came during the semester break, when I was travelling from my family house in Jitra, Kedah, to my village in Sik, Kedah. Sik is a small town, located in the rural area. After exit the PLUS highway at Gurun, I need to drive through 30KM of road,  which most of the part of the road, is very bumpy and dark at night. This is due to road lamp posts are not a common sight along the road.

This is very dangerous, especially if travelling when it is raining at night. A conventional lamp post would be very hard to implement on the road, this is because the cost of electrical wiring would be high. Since there is only rubber tree along side the road, the nearest TNB sub-station is located at the town of Jeniang. Jeniang is located between Gurun and Sik.  

Intelligent Highway Lamp Post would definitely solve this problem, since it does not require any electrical wiring from TNB. The lamp post would rely on Solar power as its main source of electricity. 

WEEK 2 - THE SEARCH FOR PROJECT ADVISOR

A meeting with Miss Nurul Fazlin bt Roslan, was held on 21 January 2013. I brought my project proposal, which is entitled 'Intelligent Highway Lamp Post', to be presented to Miss Nurul.

WEEK 1

Welcome to my blog. In this semester, I will be doing my Final Year Project. In UniKL BMI, Final Year Project consists of 2 parts, which is FYP1 and FYP2. FYP 1, which I am taking this semester, and FYP 2, which i will take in the following semester. In FYP 1, students usually need to do a lot of research and reading, about the chosen project title. Besides that, students also also need to do lots of writing. Towards the end of this semester, students have to prepare, present and submit their project proposal; logbook / blog and Chapter 1 to Chapter 3 of the report.

On 17 January 2013, the first FYP briefing was taking place at the TTL2 at 2.30 p.m. The briefing was handled by Sir  Shamsul Zahari B. Shahidin and Dr Kushsairy Abdul Kadir. The students were told to find the project supervisor before Friday next week (25 January 2013), also students were advised to have the title and some information about the proposed project before meeting the supervisor. 

in the briefing, Sir Shamsul also explained about things needed in the proposal.

That's all for now, will be continue in the next post.