Microcontroller based Frequency Relays

Akhlesh Kumar Jindal, Anmol Bhandari

Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT (BHU) Varanasi
Abstract This project monitors the frequency fluctuations in
power system and detects them. Therefore we have designed a
Microcontroller Based Under/Over Frequency Relay. In this
project we have used microcontroller 8051 for detecting the
frequency fluctuations. When frequency goes below or above
from desired value appropriate trip signal is generated in the
form of LEDs. Frequency variation also decreases the life of the
equipment and directly affects the overall production of the
plant.

I. INTRODUCTION
A relay is an automatic device which is one of the primary
devices involved in power system protection. . A relay senses
the faults in the electrical circuits and closes its contacts which
complete the circuit breaker trip coil circuit. When the circuit
breaker trips, the faulty portion gets disconnected from rest of
the electrical circuit.
When a power system operates at a standard frequency, the
total power generated is equal to the power delivered to the
load. A rise or fall in the system frequency indicates
imbalance between the two. A frequency relay provides
protection so that power system operates within its capability.
There are primarily two types of such relays: under frequency
and over frequency. Under frequency occurs when a large load
is suddenly attached to the system. Frequency relays are used
to disconnect loads or carry load-shedding. Over frequency
occurs when system generates more power than the load.
Constant frequency is to be maintained for following
functions:
1. All ac motors require constant frequency supply to maintain
constant speed.
2. For synchronous operation of various units in the power
system network, it is necessary to maintain constant
frequency.
3. Frequency affects amount of power transmitted through
interconnected lines.
II. BLOCK DIAGRAM
We can give an overview of the complete operation with
the help of microcontroller 8051 kit having internal 8255
programmable peripheral interfaces, a Zero Cross detector and
a SMPS or Switched-mode power supply.
The 8051 microcontroller kit consists of a 8051
microcontroller device with all its in-built and external
features. A generic 8051 microcontroller is used having 40
pins. It has an internal ROM or EPROM (Electrically
programmable ROM) of 4K bytes and an internal 128 bytes
RAM. It also has two 8255 programmable peripheral
interfaces which are used to interface peripheral (external)
devices with the internal microcontroller chip. The 8255 has 3

ports which serve as inputs and outputs. Also, there is a

display LCD as well as a keyboard for program input
A ZCD is used to convert the input sinusoidal signal to a
square wave of the same frequency. This is done using a
voltage comparator like LM 311 or an operational amplifier
like LM 741.

Fig. 1 Block Diagram

In this block diagram microcontroller (8051) gets two

supplies; one is the main power supply for its operation and
other is the input main ac for variation in frequency. The latter
supply is first stepped down and converted to its square wave
form by the ZCD. The ZCD also contains a diode which
produces a rectified square wave. This rectified square wave is
input to the 8051 using the 8255 PPI. LCD displays the
operating frequency. The LEDs indicate whether the
frequency lies within the acceptable range of operation.

Fig. 2 ZCD Circuit Diagram

III. PROCEDURE INVOLVED

The ZCD is used to convert the main input ac signal into a
rectified square wave of the same frequency. This square wave
is input to the microcontroller using 8255 PPI. Further, 8051
assembly language programming is applied to calculate the
value of this frequency, display it on the LCD and find

whether it lies in the desirable frequency range by glowing the

LEDs after activating the 8255 port as output port. The
desirable frequency range that we have set for our project is
from 47.5 Hz to 52.5 Hz. (The assembly language code has
been attached with the report.)
The 8255 has four registers or ports: A, B, C and control
ports. The A port here is the input port and port B is the output
port. The 8051 microcontroller has two 16 bit counters or
timers which can run in 4 different modes. Here, the time
period of one half cycle of the square wave has been counted
as 16 bit count using timer 0 running in timer mode 1. When
the rising edge of the square wave is input to the
microcontroller, the timer is activated and it starts counting.
The counter works until we reach the falling edge of the
square wave.
After this count is calculated, it is stored in the TL0 and
TH0 registers. The upper byte is stored in TH0 and lower byte
in TL0 register. Since microcontroller handles only 8 bit
numbers, this 16 bit number is converted to 8 bit number by
first subtracting it from a bigger number (#125CH) and then
dividing the number by 4.
The port B is activated as the output port of the 8255. The
final 8 bit count obtained is actually the lower byte of the
address whose upper byte is #63H. At these addresses, we
have already stored the different addresses (starting from
#6400H) at which the ASCII code of the frequency is stored
(as a message).

Also, we have already calculated (calibrated our relay) the

count for a 47.5 Hz and 52.5 Hz signal. This count is
compared with these counts to determine whether frequency is
under frequency, normal frequency and over frequency.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
At last we would like to conclude that this project is sufficient
enough to be used as a frequency relay. Since the
microcontroller is a very sensitive device, sudden fluctuations
in frequency can be easily detected by the relay we have
designed and the appropriate response is also produced. This
project involves sensing fluctuations in frequency to a
desirable extent. It can be further extended to applications like
automatic load shedding and restoration (under frequency
relays) when the frequency falls below a particular value.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to acknowledge our project mentor, Dr. D.N.
Vishwakarma in giving us the opportunity to work with him in
this project. Also, we would like to acknowledge the Chair,
DIH, IIT-BHU in supporting us for our project.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]

Kenneth J. Ayala, The 8051 Microcontroller: Architecture,

Programming and Applications, 1st ed., West Publishing Company,
1991.
B. Ram, Fundamentals of Microprocessors and Microcomputers, 8th
ed., Dhanpat Rai Publications.
B. Ram and D.N. Vishwakarma, Power System Protection and
Switchgear, 2nd ed., McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited.