| dc.description.abstract | The project aims at designing and implementing a low-cost prototype of a time-based automatic load management system in police barracks. A case study of Nsambya Police Barracks, one of the largest police barracks in East and Central Africa was chosen. Pre-paid metering units were installed in these police barracks. A reduced lump sum amount was allocated to cater for the electricity bill that is used on a quarterly basis and it’s expected to last the locals four months.
However, with the many housing and business units within the barracks and unregulated consumption, the units could get used up earlier than the budgeted time. A policeman is charged with manually switching off power within the designated time on a daily basis. He does this by un-plugging fuses from the eight-feeder pillars inside the barracks to disconnect the locals from supply.
This way of circuit operation is tedious and entails a huge risk to the operator. Also, there is momentary uneven loading of the transformer and unreliability of fuses when the rated fuses are not used. Furthermore, this method is less effective since it totally robs the residents of the privilege of having Electricity during the day.
The low-cost prototype seeks to automate this process and provide a more convenient and versatile way of regulating the Electricity consumption based on time with guaranteed possibility of having Electricity during the day. However, there is recommended further work to advance the project for implementation in the police barracks.
Simulations were done to determine all the components in the circuit and finally a software program was developed to command the micro-controller to execute the desired instructions. Conclusively, the prototype has been successfully modelled and all the four objectives of the project achieved | en_US |
