An Automatic Change over system are systems designed to automatically change power supply back to the main supply moments after the A.C. mains are restored and to switch OFF the generator. They remove the stress of manually switching ON of the generator and changing over to the mains source when power failure occurs.
The poor state of power supply in developing countries calls for an automatic switching to a convenient power supply to the load, when that the public utility goes out.
Over time, automation of electrical power supply has become more vital as the rate of power outage is predominantly high. As a result outage, developing countries like Nigeria, experience slow developmental process in both the public and private sectors of the economy.
In time past, foreign investors did not feel secure to come and set up businesses or industries in spite of the large market made available, mostly because of frequent power failures experienced.
In addition, delicate processes and operations such as surgery cases in hospitals, transfer of money between banks, data and information transfer at data centres, require constant power supply in order to prevent the loss of life or data resources which could be very expensive to business operations.
Therefore, it is for these reasons that changeover switches were developed. Initially, these switches were designed for manual operations, but with an increase in the technological advancement of electrical power control and automation, Automatic changeover switches (ACS) were created. They eliminate the element of manpower interaction in changing power supply from one source to another.
An automatic changeover switch is an electrical/electronic switch that is built to automatically switch from one power source to another when necessary and as specified by the builder.
In contrast to the manual change-over switch that requires manual stress in switching process, the need to develop a system that will effectively manage power supply between two sources (public utility and a standby power generator) therefore influenced the motivation for this project work.
Since it switches on power to the load, necessary precautions have to be taken while choosing the components to be used in building the circuit for an automatic changeover switch.
