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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