Substation Inspection Line Follower Robot

A line follower robot is basically a robot designed to follow a line or path may be a physical mark on the substation. Line tracer will trace black line on a white surface or vice versa. The sensors detect the predetermined path and sends output signal to microcontroller. The moEquipments inspection in substation is a key factor for finding and solving the incipient fault of equipments in time, thereby ensures the safe operation of equipments and increases the reliability of power network. At the present time, substation equipments are inspected one by one by electric power workers in our country. It's not only cost much manpower and material resource, but also inefficient and insecurity.

The AGV based robot system used in substation inspection is a much better choice to solve the above problems. AGV, namely automatic guided vehicle, is a kind of simple mobile robot, which integrates sound, light, electricity and computer. And it is applied in the fields of industry manufacture and logistics, such as automobile assemblage, household electrical appliance etc, widely and maturely. The basic function of AGV system is the same with requirement of substation inspection.

tor works according to the sensor output and driver to inspect substation for measurement. Then the robot system can replace workers to inspect the equipments in substation automatically or remote-controlled. 

Block Diagram

Robot Path

Proteus Simulation

Working

Obstacle Avoidance:

IR Sensor working principle is clearly explained in Chapter 4. We are using IR Sensor as the obstacle sensing sensor. As mentioned in the circuit diagram OA1 & OA2 are the two IR sensors which are connected to pin RB2 & RB3. Normally when there is no disturbance in the track the Obstacle avoidance IR sensor output is low and the controller checks the other sensors output to move the vehicle in the forward direction. If any one or both of the obstacle avoidance sensors detects any obstacle in the path then the output of sensor goes high and the controller gives the signal to H-bridge to stop the motor. The processor gives the run signal to motor when the obstacle removed from the path.

Line Tracking:

Line tracking is the major and important part while doing program for AGV. We are using two IR sensors to detect the black colour track. These IR modules are connected to RB0 & RB1 of the microcontroller respectively. Initially the IR output is high, when there is any variation or bends in the track is detected by any one of the IR sensor, then the output of the sensor output changes from high to low. According to sensor output the controller stop and start the respective motors to bring the vehicle back on track.

Equipment Sensing:
Equipment sensing is done by giving colour mark in front of each equipment which has to be monitored inside the substation. Colour sensing is done by another IR sensor named ‘TS’. This TS sensor output is connected to RB4 of controller pin. Initially the sensor output is high, when the sensor detects the mark in front of the equipment the vehicle stops for a while for the measurement. After measurement it starts to follow the track. 
Temperature Sensing:

Temperature sensor is connected to ADC pin of the controller. Here the change in Temperature is given as the analog input i.e., Voltage ranging of 0 to 2V. The inbuilt ADC in PIC converts the analog to digital and the measured temperature is transmitted serially via RF Transmitter which is connected to TxD pin of the controller. The transmitted signal is received through the RF receiver and it is displayed in the LCD Display with the help of receiver end pic controller.

Motor Drive:
Pin RD0 to RD5 in port D is assigned as output pin. Depending upon the sensor output the controller changes the port output high or low. The motor logic based upon the sensor output RD4 &RD5 are connected to enable pin of the H-Bridge IC. These pin remains high to drive the motor in forward or reverse direction.RD0 to RD3 are the output pins connected to the H-bridge L293D input 1, input 2, input 3, input 4 correspondingly.

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Vision Based Post Letter Sorting

Vision Based Post Letter Sorting 

          Vision Based Automation system is the most trending technology across the globe in the past few years. Each and every industry stared using vision based automation system in their major process like Manufacturing, Quality checking, Material Inspection,etc. Using this valuable technology, here we tried post card sorting system using image processing in NI LabVIEW. 

              

              The Main Objective of this experiment is to sort the post cards automatically using Vision system. The experiment was tried after realizing a situation in Indian Postal Network. In India, the post offices process lac's of letters in a single day. It is not an easy job to sort all the letters manually but they are still doing it. In order to over come such situation, we tried this experiment to put an end to this process.  

The major components used in this experiment are 

1. Conveyor

2. PC with Labview installed in it.

3. Sorting arrangement

4. Camera

5. Motors

6. IR sensor

7. PIC 16F877A Controller board

8. DAQ card

Step1: The post cards should be dropped in the conveyor.

Step2: The cards will move in the conveyor and when it reaches the camera location, an IR sensor detects the card and stops the conveyor.

Step3: Now the camera will take an image of the post card and starts conveyor again after few seconds. 

Step4: The Image will be processed in Labview to get the results.

Step5: The Pin code in the post card will be found using image processing Labview.

Step6: Then according to the pin code the labview will send trigger to the controller board through DAQ card.

Step7: The controller board will rotate the sorting arrangement to receive the post card in appropriate box.

And the process continues.

Full Setup

Camera Section

Controller Setup

Sorted Letter Collector Box

To Watch this Experiment Demo Video Please click the link Below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAxffM3Nr5s

7 reasons For Circuits Not Working

7 reasons For Circuits Not Working

The most frustrating moment is when you have spent so many hours to make a circuit and finally it isn't working! So here we suggest some tips to debug your circuit in a better way!

1. Bad Connection Or No Connection

• You left out a wire or connection. It is easy to leave out a connection. Double check all connections, and then triple check.
• There is a short. After soldering a circuit, Use a magnifying glass to check for solder joints or frayed wire ends that could be shorting.

2. Wrong Connection

You are usually looking at the top of the circuit board and soldering the bottom of the circuit board using a top view schematic. It is easy to get visually turned around. When there is a wrong connection, this can require a new visualization of the situation. To avoid the same perceptual errors, So turn the schematic and the circuit board upside down from the way you was looking at it and then check again to see that all the connections are valid. Perceiving from a different point of view can reveal flaws.

3. Noise In The Circuit Or Near It

• Avoid running inputs next to outputs. Pulsating outputs such as PWM can transfer through induction to inputs and create an erratic circuit. Amplifiers and micro controllers are especially sensitive.
• A really long input wire can act as an antenna and pick up noise. In that case you can use a grounded, shielded cable.
• When you can, it is a good idea to have two power supplies that share a common ground. One for the control circuit and another one for the motors, servos, or other noisy loads. 
• With logic circuits and micro controllers, leaving a floating input can render your circuit useless. Inputs should be grounded or connected to V+ through a 4.7 to 10K ohm resistor. Otherwise the input can act as an antenna and pick up spurious signals from house hold AC or other sources.

4. Bad Power Supply

Make sure your power supply is providing power to the right places and is not being over strained. If the power supply is inadequate to the task, it can drop in voltage and reset micro controllers or make other components erratic. Batteries, under no load, can be measured and have the proper voltage, but when connected to the circuit, the voltage can drop enough to make the circuit useless. Measure battery voltage under the actual circuit load.

A badly filtered power supply can also create noise and cause problems with sensitive circuits. A large value capacitor 20- 200 uf near the power supply can reduce the voltage ripple.

5. Overheating
If the circuit is on and a transistor, resistor, or IC is too hot to touch and you cannot keep your finger on it for several seconds, something is wrong. Such components can normally operate somewhat warm--but not hot. You need a higher wattage resistor or you are overloading your transistor or IC with too much current.

6. Wrong Design Assumptions
With experimental circuits we make a lot of assumptions. Sometime we can get away with it sometimes not. You might have underestimated the current that small servos and motors require resulting in power supplies overheating or shutting down.
If size is not an issue, allow more room than you think you need to fit the main components. Packing too tight can make soldering difficult and slow and increase the chance of noise problems between components. 

It is tempting to design as if the circuit is going to work first time every time. That is rarely the case. A better way is to design with the assumption you will have to debug. Design in connection points such as pins, sockets, or temporary wires that give you access to measure current and voltage on the actual circuit.

7. Bad Components
With today's high quality mass produced electronic components, new components that don't work are extremely rare. However it is fairly easy to overheat a component while soldering and damage it. Transistors, diodes, ICs, and to a lesser degree, resistors and capacitors are susceptible to overheating while soldering.

Make sure about these things when you are debugging a circuit!