University Politehnica of Bucharest

Faculty of Electrical Engineering

Faults detector for a wiring system

-ARDUINO-

ION-PETRUȚ SIMA
ISEIA
Contents
1.Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 3
2. Main Components of the project ............................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Arduino MEGA 2560 (ATmega 2560+ CH340) ................................................................................ 4
2.2. LCD MODULE 1602 ........................................................................................................................ 5
2.3. Current sensor Hall ACS712 (20A) ................................................................................................... 6
3. Annex ....................................................................................................................................................... 8
4. Conclusions ......................................................................................................................................... 10
5. Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 11
1.Introduction

Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) technique has, for many years been used to
find faults in electrical wiring. Faults in electrical wires can arise in many
environments including residential and corporate structures, road vehicles, surface
and underground trains, ships, power plants and mines. Although TDR is well
known, and is frequently used in many fields, ranging from ecology to detection of
faults in microelectronic circuits, the systems developed so far are incapable of
detecting minor faults resulting from insulation damage and partial degradation of
electrical wires. In aircraft, insulation damage may be caused, for example, by
over-tightened fasteners and clips holding aircraft wire harnesses in place against
the airframe, or to the rubbing of harnesses against sharp metal edges.

Fig.1 Model of the 10-metre twin cable showing the meshed geometry, the boundary of the solution
domain

On the other hand, cable degradation frequently occurs in aircraft as a result of

exposure of the wires to moisture, hydraulic fluids or temperature cycling. These
types of fault in wiring harnesses are not detectable by standard TDR techniques.
Other techniques have been investigated for finding faults in aircraft harnesses [1],
communication lines [2] and power cables [3].
2. Main Components of the project

2.1 Arduino MEGA 2560 (ATmega 2560+ CH340)

The Arduino Mega 2560 is a microcontroller board based on

the ATmega2560 a. It has 54 digital input/output pins (of which 15 can be
used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports),
a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP
header, and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the
microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power
it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started. The Mega 2560 board
is compatible with most shields designed for the Uno and the former boards
Duemilanove or Diecimila.

Figure 2. Arduino MEGA 2560

Operating Voltage 5V
Input Voltage (recommended) 7-12V
Input Voltage (limit) 6-20V
Digital I/O Pins 54 (of which 15 provide PWM output)
Analog Input Pins 16
DC Current per I/O Pin 20 mA
DC Current for 3.3V Pin 50 mA
Flash Memory 256 KB of which 8 KB used by bootloader
SRAM 8 KB
EEPROM 4 KB
Clock Speed 16 MHz
LED_BUILTIN 13
Length 101.52 mm
Width 53.3 mm
Weight 37

2.2. LCD MODULE 1602

As we all know, though LCD and some other displays greatly enrich the man-
machine interaction, they share a common weakness. When they are connected to a
controller, multiple IOs will be occupied of the controller which has no so many
outer ports. Also it restricts other functions of the controller. Therefore, LCD1602
with an I2C bus is developed to solve the problem.
I2C bus is a type of serial bus invented by PHLIPS. It is a high performance serial
bus which has bus ruling and high or low speed device synchronization function
required by multiple-host system. The blue potentiometer on the I2C LCD1602
(see the figure below) is used to adjust the backlight for better display. I²C uses
only two bidirectional open-drain lines, Serial Data Line (SDA) and Serial Clock
Line (SCL), pulled up with resistors. Typical voltages used are +5 V or +3.3 V
although systems with other voltages are permitted.
 Fig.3. LCD MODULE 1602 fron and back

Components:
- 1 * SunFounder Uno board
- 1 * I2C LCD1602 module
- 1 * USB cable
- Several jump wires

2.3. Current sensor Hall ACS712 (20A)

ACS712 Current Sensor Module - 20A can sense upto 20A of current flow.
Sensing and controlling the current flow is a fundamental requirement in wide
variety of applications, which includes over-current protection circuits, battery
chargers, switching mode power supplies, digital watt meters, programmable
current sources, etc.
ACS712 Current Sensor Module - 20A is based on ACS712 sensor, which can
accurately detect AC or DC current. The maximum AC or DC that can be detected
can reach 20A, and the present current signal can be read via analog I / O port of a
microcontroller or an Arduino.
ACS712 Current Sensor Module - 20A Technical Specifications:
*Output Voltage: Analog output 66mV / A
*Operating Voltage Range: 4.5V ~ 5.5V
*No Current Output voltage is: VCC / 2
*PCB board size: 31 (mm) x14 (mm)
*5 μs output rise time in response to step input current
*80 kHz bandwidth
*Total output error 1.5% at TA = 25°C
*1.2 mΩ internal conductor resistance
*2.1 kVRMS minimum isolation voltage from pins 1-4 to pins 5-8
*66 to 185 mV/A output sensitivity

Fig. 4. Current sensor Hall ACS712 (20A)

3. Annex

Arduino code

#include <Wire.h>
#include <LiquidCrystal_I2C.h>
// -----------------------------------

// -----------------------------------
// Hall initialization area
// -----------------------------------

#define VIN A0 // define the Arduino pin A0 as voltage input (V in)

const float VCC = 5.0;// supply voltage is from 4.5 to 5.5V. Normally 5V.
const int model = 2; // enter the model number (see below)

float cutOffLimit = 0.5;// set the current which below that value, doesn't matter. Or
set 0.5
float sensitivity[] ={
0.185,// for ACS712ELCTR-05B-T
0.100,// for ACS712ELCTR-20A-T
0.066// for ACS712ELCTR-30A-T

};

const float QOV = 0.5 * VCC;// set quiescent Output voltage of 0.5V
float voltage;// internal variable for voltage

LiquidCrystal_I2C lcd(0x3F, 16, 2);

void setup()
{
// initialize the LCD,
lcd.begin();

// Turn on the blacklight and print a message.

lcd.backlight();
}

void loop()
{
// -----------------------------------
// Hall sensor current calculation area
// -----------------------------------

float voltage_raw = (5.0 / 1023.0)* analogRead(VIN);// Read the voltage from

sensor
voltage = voltage_raw - QOV - 0.003 ;// 0.000 is a value to make voltage zero
when there is no current
float current = voltage / sensitivity[model];

lcd.clear();
if(abs(current) > cutOffLimit ){
lcd.clear();
lcd.print("Wire system OK");
}else{
lcd.clear();
lcd.print(" Wire error");
lcd.setCursor (0,1); // go to start of 2nd line
lcd.print(" No current");
}
delay(500);
}
 4. Conclusions

Models of electrical wires with insulation flaws were constructed, and were
subjected to simulated TDR(Time Domain Reflectometry) tests in the QuickWave
FDTD solver. The outcome of the simulations shows significant similarity in the
comparative results, even though the TDR pulse width was much larger than the
size of the flaw, and the modelled flaw was much smaller. The paper shows that
modelling results obtained can be used in order to develop more elaborate
experimental techniques (in this case based on TDR method), in order to detect
small faults in wire insulation.
 5. Bibliography

[1] Furse, C., Chung, Y.C., Dangol, R., Nielsen, M., Mabey, G., and Woodward,
R., "Frequency-Domain Reflectometry for on-Board Testing of Aging Aircraft
Wiring," IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Vol. 45, No.2, pp.
306-315, May 2003.
[2] Dodds, D.E., "Single-Ended FDR to Locate and Specifically Identify DSL
Loop Impairments", IEEE International Conference on Communications 2007
(ICC '07), pp. 6413 - 6418, June 2007.
[3] Navaneethan, S., Soraghan, J.J., Siew, W.H., McPherson, F., and Gale, P.F.
"Automatic fault location for underground low voltage distribution networks,"
IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 346–351, Apr. 2001. [4] CONCERTO
7 Reference Manual, Vector Fields Ltd, Oxford, 2008. [5] Shirkoohi, G.H., Hasan,
K., "Enhanced TDR Technique for Fault Detection in Electrical Wires and
Cables," 2nd Interational Symposium on NDT in Aerospace, Hamburg, Germany,
Nov. 2010.