Design And Construction Of An Automatic Street Light Controller Using LDR

ABSTRACT

A street lighting is any electrical lighting that is fixed outside house for the illumination of such environment or a Street light is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or walkway, which is turned on or lit at a certain time every night.

Automatic street light controller will automatically turn on street light in the way of LEDs or bulb coupled with relay. This system employed the output from an uncomplicated light/dark activated circuit and obliges a relay in its output which can be further attached to switch ON/OFF a street light and electrical application in a household also.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ONE

1.0      INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

1.2      PROBLEM STATEMENT

1.3      SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

1.4      PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT

1.5     APPLICATION OF STREET LIGHTING

1.6   ADVANTAGES OF THE PROJECT

1.7   TYPES OF LAMPS USED FOR STREET LIGHTING

1.8      LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT

1.9      METHODOLOGY

1.10   PROJECT ORGANISATION

CHAPTER TWO

2.0     LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1      HISTORITICAL BACKGROUND OF LIGHTENING

2.2     REVIEW AND DESCRIPTION OF LED STREET LIGHT

2.3      ADVANTAGES OF LED STREET LIGHTS

2.4      DISADVANTAGES OF LED STREETLIGHTS

CHAPTER THREE

3.0     CONSTRUCTION

3.1      SYSTEM CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

3.2     SYSTEM OPERATION

3.3     CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION

3.4     SYSTEM CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

3.5      CIRCUIT OPERATION

3.6     IMPORTANCE AND FUNCTION OF THE MAJOR COMPONENTS USED IN THIS CIRCUIT

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULT ANALYSIS

4.0      TESTING AND RESULT

4.1     TESTING

4.1.1 PRE-IMPLEMENTATION TESTING

4.1.2 POST-IMPLEMENTATION TESTING

4.3      RESULT

4.4     COST ANALYSIS

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0      CONCLUSION

5.1      RECOMMENDATION

5.2      REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                          INTRODUCTION

1.1                                           BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The idea behind the design of this system is to make available the require illumination in our roads for nighttime events, security, and beautification. This goes a long way in helping to curb the problem frequently encountered as a result of darkness during nighttime such as thieves, arm robbers operations or wide animals approaching our homes during night hours [4].

A street lighting is any electrical lighting that is fixed outside house for the illumination of such environment or a Street light is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or walkway, which is turned on or lit at a certain time every night [3].

Many of the people have a phobia of darkness, so to assist them in such situation, we have explained a simple circuit. It will automatically turn on street light in the way of LEDs or bulb coupled with relay. This system employed the output from an uncomplicated light/dark activated circuit and oblige a relay in its output which can be further attached to switch ON/OFF a street light and electrical application in a household also [4].

1.2                                                  PROBLEM STATEMENT

Lack of natural light during nighttime in the urban environment was always a problem due to natural law – light in the day and darkness at night. From basic inconvenience that people cannot see where they are going to the greater chance of being attacked or mugged during the night. This street light came to bring solution to this problem, street light electrifies our environment for easy and clear access and also add beauty to it.

1.3                                 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Major significance of street lighting includes: prevention of accidents and increase in safety. Studies have shown that darkness results in a large number of crashes and fatalities, especially those involving pedestrians; pedestrian fatalities are 3 to 6.75 times more likely in the dark than in daylight. Street lighting has been found to reduce pedestrian crashes by approximately 50% [2][3].

Furthermore, lighted intersections and highway interchanges tend to have fewer crashes than unlighted intersections and interchanges.

Towns, cities, and villages use the unique locations provided by lampposts to hang decorative or commemorative banners.

1.4                                                PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of having street lighting at roads is for lighting up your road – for beautification, safety and security [1][2].

• By using this Automatic system for street light controlling, we can reduce energy consumption because the manually operated street lights are not switched off properly even the sunlight comes and also not switched on earlier before sunset.
• In sunny and rainy days, ON  and OFF time differ noticeably which is one of the major disadvantage of using timer circuits or manual operation for switching the street light system.

1.5                      APPLICATION OF STREET LIGHTING

There are four distinct main uses of street lights, each requiring different types of lights and placement. Misuse of the different types of lights can make the situation worse by compromising visibility or safety [7][8].

Beacon lights

A modest steady light at the intersection of two roads is an aid to navigation because it helps a driver see the location of a side road as they come closer to it and they can adjust their braking and know exactly where to turn if they intend to leave the main road or see vehicles or pedestrians. A beacon light’s function is to say “here I am” and even a dim light provides enough contrast against the dark night to serve the purpose. To prevent the dangers caused by a car driving through a pool of light, a beacon light must never shine onto the main road, and not brightly onto the side road. In residential areas, this is usually the only appropriate lighting, and it has the bonus side effect of providing spill lighting onto any sidewalk there for the benefit of pedestrians. On Interstate highways this purpose is commonly served by placing reflectors at the sides of the road.

Roadway lights

Conventional streetlights are used instead of high mast lighting near airport runway approaches due to the negative effects they cause.

Street light are not normally intended to illuminate the driving route (headlights are preferred), but to reveal signs and hazards outside of the headlights’ beam. Because of the dangers discussed above, roadway lights are properly used sparingly and only when a particular situation justifies increasing the risk. This usually involves an intersection with several turning movements and much signage, situations where drivers must take in much information quickly that is not in the headlights’ beam [7][8]. In these situations (A freeway junction or exit ramp) the intersection may be lit so that drivers can quickly see all hazards, and a well designed plan will have gradually increasing lighting for approximately a quarter of a minute before the intersection and gradually decreasing lighting after it. The main stretches of highways remain unlighted to preserve the driver’s night vision and increase the visibility of oncoming headlights. If there is a sharp curve where headlights will not illuminate the road, a light on the outside of the curve is often justified.

If it is desired to light a roadway (perhaps due to heavy and fast multi-lane traffic), to avoid the dangers of casual placement of street lights it should not be lit intermittently, as this requires repeated eye readjustment which implies eyestrain and temporary blindness when entering and leaving light pools. In this case the system is designed to eliminate the need for headlights. This is usually achieved with bright lights placed on high poles at close regular intervals so that there is consistent light along the route. The lighting goes from curb to curb [6].

Street light control systems

A number of street light control systems have been developed to control and reduce energy consumption of a town’s public lighting system. These range from controlling a circuit of street lights and/or individual lights with specific ballasts and network operating protocols. These may include sending and receiving instructions via separate data networks at high frequency over the top of the low voltage supply or wireless [7].

Image-based street light control

A number of companies are now manufacturing Intelligent street lighting that adjust light output based on usage and occupancy, i.e. automating classification of pedestrian versus cyclist, versus automotive, sensing also velocity of movement and illuminating a certain number of streetlights ahead and fewer behind, depending on velocity of movement. Also the lights adjust depending on road conditions, for example, snow produces more reflectance therefore reduced light is required.

Military use

From a military standpoint, lighting is a critical part of the battlefield conditions. Shadows are good places to hide, while bright areas are more exposed. It is often beneficial to fight with the Sun or other light source behind you, giving your enemy disturbing visual glare and partially hiding your own movements in backlight. If natural light is not present searchlights and flares can be used. However the use of light may disclose your own hidden position and modern warfare have seen increased use of night vision through the use of infrared cameras and image intensifiers [5][7].

Flares can also be used by the military to mark positions, usually for targeting, but laser-guided and GPS weapons have eliminated this need for the most part [4][5].

1.6                      ADVANTAGES OF STREET LIGHTING

Major advantages of street lighting includes: prevention of accidents and increase in safety. Studies have shown that darkness results in a large number of crashes and fatalities, especially those involving pedestrians; pedestrian fatalities are 3 to 6.75 times more likely in the dark than in daylight. External lighting has been found to reduce pedestrian crashes by approximately 50%.

Furthermore, lighted intersections and highway interchanges tend to have fewer crashes than unlighted intersections and interchanges.

Towns, cities, and villages use the unique locations provided by lampposts to hang decorative or commemorative banners [2][3].

1.7            TYPES OF LAMPS USED FOR STREET LIGHTING

• Ballast: Ballast is an auxiliary piece of equipment designed to start and properly control the flow of power to discharge light sources such as fluorescent and high intensity discharge (HID) lamps. Some lamps require the ballast to have thermal protection.
• Fluorescent light: A tube coated with phosphor containing low pressure mercury vapor that produces white light.
• Halogen: Incandescent lamps containing halogen gases such as iodine or bromine, increasing the efficacy of the lamp versus a plain incandescent lamp.
• Neon: A low pressure gas contained within a glass tube; the color emitted depends on the gas.
• Light emitting diodes: Light emitting diodes (LED) are solid state devices that emit light by dint of the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material.
  LED lamps have been advocated as the newest and best environmental lighting method. According to the Energy Saving Trust, LED lamps use only 10% power compared to a standard incandescent bulb, where fluorescent lamps use compact 20% and energy saving halogen lamps 70%. The lifetime is also much longer — up to 50,000 hours. A downside is still the initial cost, which is higher than that of compact fluorescent lamps.
• Compact fluorescent lamps: CFLs are designed to replace incandescent lamps in existing and new installations.

• LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

1. it is a simple and powerful concept, which uses transistor (BC 547 NPN) as a switch to switch ON and OFF the street light system automatically.
2. It automatically switches ON lights when the sunlight goes below the visible region of our eyes. (e.g in evening after Sunset).

• it automatically switches OFF lights when Sunlight fall on it  ( i.e on LDR ) e.g in morning, by using a sensor called LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) which senses the light just like our eyes.

1.9                                         METHODOLOGY

To achieve the aim and objectives of this work, the following are the steps involved:

1. Study of the previous work on the project so as to improve it efficiency.
2. Draw a block diagram.

• Test for continuity of components and devices,

1. Design of the system was carried out.
2. Studying of various component used in circuit.
3. Construct a automatic street light circuit.

• Finally, the whole device was cased and final test was carried out.

1.10                                                      PROJECT ORGANISATION

The work is organized as follows: chapter one discuses the introductory part of the work, chapter two presents the literature review of the study, chapter three describes the methods applied, chapter four discusses the results of the work, chapter five summarizes the research outcomes and the recommendations.