2.12.

Adding of the PID controller

Our supervisor came and observed the output and controlling part. Then he told that, at the industry, for the closed loops they use PID controllers for smooth controlling. So were told to add a PID controller for out algorithm. Although we have learnt PID controllers for our syllabus we never implemented it yet. And we thought it as a great chance to recall that knowledge and add an own PID controller. PID stands for Proportional, Integral, and Derivative. The set-point is where we like the measurement to be. In our case it was the limited current. Error is defined as the difference between set-point and measurement. With proportional band, the controller output is proportional to the error or a change in measurement (depending on the controller). With integral action, the controller output is proportional to the amount of time the error is present. Integral action eliminates offset. With derivative action, the controller output is proportional to the rate of change of the measurement or error. So we referred out lecture notes and got some information from the internet as well. Finally we were successfully ended up with a working PID controller. After observing our code supervisor said that we dont have a well filtered out put. So that the noise will be affecting the PID controller part and tends to unstable the system. So that he advised us to remove the derivative part of the PID controller.

2.13. Adding an Inrush current limiter and a Smooth start facility

By refereeing the text books, we found that at the beginning there is a possibility to flow high currents. That because of the capacitive effect of the entire circuit. To charge that capacitance, the circuit draws a high current at the beginning. This should be avoided unless the semiconductor devices would be burnt out. So we thought of adding a series resister at the beginning and then after some time that resister path bypassed by a relay. So we got a really and try this method from the actual circuit. But we observed that our resister, which is available at the stores was not enough small, so that it dissipate much energy while allowing it to burn within

few seconds. Then we found that at the real world applications industry use Thermistos for this. But at the stores, there was no any thermistor for handle such a current. So we gave up that part and completed the circuit proto type. To smoothen the star current following, we added a PWM loop at the beginning to make sure that PWM value doesnt rises to the its actual value instantly. It would take some time for tends that values. Thats prevent the circuit from initial voltage or current over shoots. We were unable to do the further tunings of the controller parameter values. That because of we couldnt see the exact signal out put with a very good sensitivity. So first tuned the Kp value for the proportional controller and then tuned the Ki value to increase the smoothness of the output.

2.14. Controlling Algorithm

We developed our algorithm using C language at the MPLAB softwareas follows. For the better controlling purposes we added a hysterisis current and voltage band for each and every controlling state. It confirm that controller must not update each and every small deviations of the current and voltage.

Reset Of the PIC

Inrush CurrentHandling and Smooth Start

Read Battery Terminal Voltage

Voltage>46 and Voltage< 48 Yes

No

Voltage>52 or Voltage<38 Yes Bulk Charging State Yes Voltage>38 and Voltage<46

No

Absorption Charging

No

Float Charging State

2.15. Further Modifications

We had a final presentation on the final day in front of the CEO E.M. Digital. It was an exciting experience for all of us. Weve never done a presentation in font of such a giant. It was q uite likely an industrial presentation. We were able to convince them that following modifications should do if they want to make this as an end user product. Out put short circuit protection MCB Terminal Voltage meter LED display for Float charging state and Bulk charging state Battery capacity selector change the reference values on each charging state. Use TPS4011 IC instead of the microcontroller. The last part was rejected by the supervisor that because of the uncertainty of the analog ICs.