INTRODUCTION

My first semester at Cornell University ended late December

(2013). I went back home to Dhaka,Bangladesh for my winter
break. During this period of time (late December to mid
January), there was a lot of political turmoil in the country due
to which I could not leave the house a lot to spend time with
friends and family. So I ended up spending a lot of time in the
house with electronics specifically on two things: making
some small projects with the PIC32MX250F128B (Microchip
PIC32 series), and,making an automatic voltage stabilizer
circuit. Ill talk about the automatic voltage stabilizer here. First
Ill give a short introduction as to the motivation behind me
working on it before I go on to talk about the operating
mechanism of the voltage stabilizer and then the circuit diagram
and source file. At the end of the article, youll find the links to
download all the files. Also do check out the Youtube
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videos where I demonstrate the voltage stabilizer and its

operating mechanism.

MOTIVATION
My dad knows a man named Kamruzzaman who worked under
my dad (in electronics) for a very shortamount of time, doing
stuff like soldering boards, etc. A few days after I went back to
Dhaka, Kamruzzaman called my dad and mentioned that he
wanted to talk to my dad about something. We invited him
home, where he showed us a nice Chinese-made automatic
voltage stabilizer circuit he was trying to replicate albeit
unsuccessfully. At the same time, he mentioned about his
financial hardship and asked for our help with designing the
automatic voltage stabilizer so that he could have some good
financial support from this product. In Bangladesh, the
automatic voltage stabilizer (AC-AC) is a ubiquitous little piece
of hardware that is used to somewhat compensate for the
varying line voltages (which while being advertised as 220V,
can
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on a given day vary between 170V and 240V in Dhaka and can
vary over a larger range in other parts of
the country, due to the unreliable electrical grid).
This was a good learning opportunity, a great opportunity to
gain some experience and most
importantly, a great way to help someone in need through doing
something I truly love.
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And I got to it. I spent about somewhere between a day and a
half, and two days thinking about how
best to go about designing this voltage stabilizer circuit, while
maximizing performance and minimizing
build hassle. Then I built the test prototype on verroboard and
tested it out. Kamruzzaman and I tested
the entire product through a long eight-hour testing process
where I kept on refining and improving the
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circuit until I achieved what I wanted a blend of the right

amount of performance and a minimal
amount of build effort/hassle. After that, I designed the PCB for
the board; it was a long night designing
the PCB fuelled by coffee (=P), I started at around 12 AM and
finished at around 9.30AM after which
Kamruzzaman got the PCB made (that very day) and we
performed the final testing of the product that
night. The circuit worked as expected and the project was
complete.

SPECIFICATIONS

Now, lets go on to talk about the technical part of the project.

For this automatic voltage stabilizer, the
parameters were decided initially:
Output voltage must lie between 200V and 240V for all input
voltages above 150V and upto
260V.
Input voltage range must be 150V to 260V, preferably wider.
Output frequency and waveform should be unchanged from
the input frequency and waveform.
The voltage stabilizer must be inexpensive.
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 There should be no variable resistors in the final finished

product. This was something
recommended by Kamruzzaman, as he said that sometimes,
some of the variable resistors he
uses tend to drift in resistance slightly and this causes the circuit
to become less reliable over
time. Although this seemed quite challenging (due to resistor
tolerances in the voltage sense
section, tolerances in the diode forward voltages in the AC-DC
rectification section, etc), I quite
liked the idea.

Based on the above initial design decisions, the final

parameters/specifications are as follows:
Input voltage: 125V/135V (Ill explain this later) to 270V
Output voltage: >=200V and <= 240V for all input lying
between 140V and 270V
Input and output frequency are the same
High cut feature at 270V
Low cut feature at 125V/135V
Input voltage is displayed (to the nearest voltage, 1V) on a
3-digit seven segment display
There are no variable resistors in the final finished product.
However, this does not mean that
there is no variable resistor at all. A variable resistor is used to
initially calibrate the circuit
before it can be removed from the circuit more on this later.
4 relays are used
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 The auto-transformer has a 0V/neutral connection and 4

additional tappings 165V, 190V, 215V
and 240V (notice that the tapping voltage ratings are in 25V
increments)

The automatic voltage stabilizer is controlled by an inexpensive

PIC 16F873A microcontroller. The voltage conversion and
control are done by using one autotransformer along with four
relays (all control signals are obviously generated by the
microcontroller). The microcontroller senses the input voltage
and turns the relays on/off as required to provide an output
voltage between 200V and 240V at all input voltages between
140V and 270V. These relays work in conjunction with the autotransformer to step up or down the input voltage to provide the
required output. Two of the four relays are used to switch
the input voltage connection between the 165V, 190V and 240V
tappings, while a third relay is used to switch the output voltage
connection between the 215V and 240V tappings. The fourth
relay is a master on/off control relay this relay is always on
when the automatic voltage stabilizer is operating normally (this

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ensures that there is an output), but is turned off in the low-cut

and high-cut modes to disconnect the output.

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INPUT VOLTAGE SENSING SECTION

The input AC voltage is first rectified to DC using a bridge

rectifier. This is then filtered with a relatively Blarge high
voltage capacitor to reduce/minimize the DC voltage ripple to
obtain a constant smooth DC voltage. This high voltage DC is
then stepped down to a low-voltage DC level (that is within
bounds acceptable by the microcontroller). This is done using a
simple resistive voltage divider circuit. Initially, while I was
testing the voltage stabilizer, I noticed that the input voltage

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sensing section was not working satisfactorily. While the output

low voltage DC was directly (linearly) proportional to the input
AC voltage for most input voltages, this (linear) proportionality
was being lost at higher voltages. I calculated that the power
dissipation across the upper resistor (initially selected as 100k)
was about
1 -at high input voltages and had thus used a 2W resistor.
However, the resistor heated up
excessively at the high voltages. This caused its resistance to
drift and thus the sensing circuit was thus
not working properly. Later, the single 2W resistor was replaced
with multiple lower power resistors in
series to decrease the power dissipation per resistor and thus the
heat dissipation per resistor, in order
to ensure that the resistors did not heat up ensuring that the
resistors had a constant resistance while
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operating. This worked nicely. I further modified the voltage

divider so that the resistances were no
longer 100k:1k (as initially selected) but (47k*6):3.3k.
While the resistance ratio of both circuits is
approximately the same, the latter configuration further reduces
the power dissipation, promising
better performance.
At the output of the voltage divider, two diodes were used to
form a clamp circuit. In the event of
overvoltage presence at the voltage divider output, one of the
diodes would become forward biased
and thus clamp the voltage to VDD + one diode forward drop.
This would be about 5.7V for our circuit.
2. In case of undervoltage (too low negative voltages) presence
at the voltage divider output, the other

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diode would become forward biased and thus clamp the voltage
to VSS one diode forward drop. This
would be about -0.7V for our circuit. While +5.7V and -0.7V
inputs to the ADC are not ideal, these are
definitely better than the presence of high positive or negative
voltages at the ADC input (which would
immediately destroy that portion of the microcontroller).
Regular rectifier diodes were used in the
circuit, which is why I assumed the forward voltage drop to be
+0.7V. To improve the clamping, schottky
diodes could be used instead of regular rectifier diodes. At the
very small current level present, it is
reasonable to expect a diode forward voltage of +0.3V or
perhaps even lower, depending on the diodes
being used.

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While this is all good and well, there are two things here that
could potentially disrupt proper operation
of the circuit: the input filter capacitance and the input
impedance for the PIC ADC (the voltage divider
circuit).
If too large an input filter capacitance is selected, it will
discharge slower and give poorer response to
quick voltage drops. Thus, a value of the capacitance should be
used such that the voltage ripple is low
but the response to quick voltage drops does not suffer too
much. Capacitances of 10F, 22F and 33F
were tested and all gave good results. 22F seems to be the
match here providing a good compromise
between response to quick input voltage drops and DC voltage
ripple.

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To ensure that the ADC measured the low-voltage DC level

properly, a capacitor was placed at the
output of the voltage divider section such that this would act as a
parallel capacitance to the internal
one (of the ADC). Furthermore, the ADC sampling time was
chosen to not be too quick so that more
accurate results can be obtained. The default settings of the
mikroC PRO for PIC ADC library support this
requirement.

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CALIBRATION

There is a switch in the circuit for calibration. When this switch

is shorted and the microcontroller is
reset, upon startup the microcontroller enters calibration
mode. I have mentioned above that there is
no variable resistor in the final circuit but that one would be
needed for calibration. The reason a variable resistor would be
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needed in the first place, is that the output of the voltage divider
will not always be the same ie, from circuit to circuit, due to
variations in component values and parameters, the output
voltage will be the same. The main reasons for this are the
tolerances in the resistances, the inconsistencies in diode
forward drop voltages and the discrepancies from part to part. To
compensate for this, traditionally, a variable resistor is used as
part of the voltage divider. The resistance is altered to
compensate for the different errors and discrepancies and thus
provide the expected output. Now, sometimes, the value of the
variable resistance may not remain constant even when the
wiper position is unchanged. Thus, in this circuit, where
reliable and consistent output over long periods of
time is a necessity, it was decided that a variable resistance will
not be used in the final product at
least not one on which the circuit depends while running.
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So, in this circuit, I have provided the calibration mode. Upon

entering the calibration mode, the
microcontroller displays what it thinks is the input voltage. The
real input voltage is measured with a
voltmeter. Then, the variable resistance is changed and
accordingly, the microcontroller displays a
changed voltage. In the software, I have done some floating
point mathematics where the ADC result is
converted to an AC voltage level. In this calculation, there is a
constant with which the entire expression
is multiplied. Upon changing the resistance of the variable
resistor in calibration mode, the value of
the constant is changed as well, and this is reflected in the
voltage displayed on the three digit seven
segment display. When the calibration switch is opened, the
microcontroller exits calibration mode
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and proceeds to save the value of this constant in its internal

memory in the EEPROM. Since a floating
point value cannot be saved in the EEPROM, the floating point
number is multiplied by 10000 to obtain a
value that is smaller than 216, meaning that this value can then
be saved in two memory locations the
high byte in one and the low byte in the other. Once the
microcontroller exits calibration mode it
cannot reenter calibration mode unless it is reset, upon which
calibration may again be performed.
Every time the microcontroller starts up, it checks to see if it has
been calibrated. This is understood
from the value written to a specific EEPROM location this
value is written when the calibration
constant is saved onto the EEPROM. Thus, if calibration has
already been done and the calibration
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switch is not pressed, the microcontroller retrieves two bytes of

data from two EEPROM locations and
puts them into one 16-bit value. Now, when this value is divided
by 10000, the corresponding floating
point value is the original required calibration constant. This is
used by the microcontroller in all further
voltage calculations and interpretations.
When the microcontroller starts up for the first time, it waits for
the calibration switch to be pressed.
Once the calibration switch is pressed and calibration is done,
the calibration switch is opened and the
microcontroller saves the calibration constant in the EEPROM
and proceeds to carry out its required
operations.
Once proper calibration has been completed, the variable
resistor and the calibrate switch may be
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removed from the circuit, if desired. This will not affect the
performance of the circuit, unless of course
.
the user wants to recalibrate at any time. This is what I initially
meant when I mentioned that the final
product has no variable resistor in it.

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CIRCUIT

DIAGRAM

OF

AUTOMATIC

VOLTAGE STABLIZER

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RELAY

AND

TRANSFORMER

CONFIGURATION, AND SWITCHING

The input switches between the 165V, 190V and 240V
transformer tappings while the output
switches between 240V and 215V tappings.
The transformer is a simple autotransformer with the turns ratio
165V: 190V: 215V: 240V along
with an auxiliary winding for powering the circuitry.

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REST OF CIRCUIT

The microcontroller runs off of a 4MHz external crystal

oscillator. An external crystal oscillator has been
used since the PIC 16F873A lacks an internal oscillator, which
would have been sufficient since there is
no precise time-critical aspect to the automatic voltage stabilizer.
The microcontroller is powered off of a regulated 5V DC supply.
The autotransformer has a 12.5V
auxiliary winding. The voltage at this winding will remain
around 12.5V and not vary too much with the
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input voltage variation due to the switching of the relays and the
output voltage regulation which acts to
regulate the voltage across this winding too. This low voltage
AC is rectified to DC using a bridge rectifier
and then filtered with a bulk capacitance. You will also find that
decoupling/bypass capacitors have also
been used. This filtered DC is fed to the input of a 7805 linear
voltage regulator. Since the current draw
is not too high, a linear regulator such as the dirt-cheap
ubiquitous 7805 is sufficient and no fancy
switching regulator is required (I still do recommend switching
regulators, cost permitting, especially
with large current outputs and/or large input-output voltage
differences). It is critical to use at least one
decoupling capacitor (which should be placed as close to the
microcontroller as possible) and you can
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see that it has been used.

The regulated filtered DC voltage that is fed to the 7805 input is
also used to power the relays. However,
this voltage is not directly provided as the voltage is a tee-bit
higher than what the 12V rated relays
would probably like. Thus, the voltage is dropped by
approximately 2.8V by passing this input voltage
through four regular rectifier diodes in series.
Each relay switching is controlled by the microcontroller.
However, since the microcontroller cannot
provide sufficient current to drive the relay coils, transistors are
used to amplify the current and drive
the relays from the required signals provided by the
microcontrollers. The configuration is the simple
common emitter mode. Each relay coil also has in parallel with
it an anti-parallel diode that is used to
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catch or rather bypass the inductive kickback that occurs

whenever the current flow through the
relay coil is stopped, ie when the driving transistor is turned off.
Now lets move on to the seven segment display. As you may
have already guessed (and it should be
quite apparent, given that Im using a 3-digit segment), the
decimal points in the display are not used.
Thus that leaves us with seven LED segments (conventionally
referenced as segments A through G) that
needed to be driven. Additionally, to minimize the number of
pins required to drive the seven segment
display, the three digits are turned on one after the other.
However, this is done so quickly that to our
eyes, it seems that the three digits are always turned on. I have
chosen to use a 167Hz refresh rate

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meaning that the entire display is refreshed 167 times a second

once every 6 milliseconds. Each digit is turned on, kept on for 2
milliseconds and then turned off before the next display is
turned on and so on. Since the microcontroller output drive
current is limited and we want optimum brightness (and thus
drive current) of the seven segment display, seven transistors
were used in the common collector (also known as emitter
follower) mode to drive the seven LED segments in the display.
Additionally, three transistors were used to provide or
disconnect the supply to the individual digits, as required for
continuous subsequent switching between the digits. Upon startup, the microcontroller enters delay mode. This is when, for a
specified amount of time
(that is pre-programmed), there is no output. There is a switch
that is used to select between short delay (default mode, when
switch is open) and long delay (when switch is closed/pressed).
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These delay times are pre-programmed, and I have chosen to use

2 seconds for the short delay and 3 minutes for the long delay.
These, as far as I know, are the standard times present in the
voltage stabilizers available in the market. The delays are set by
simple software loops that do nothing such delay functions are
provided in the mikroC PRO for PIC library. There are three
LEDs in the circuit that are used to provide visual feedback,
besides that already provided by the seven segment display.
These LEDs are used to indicate:
1. When the delay mode is on
2. When the microcontroller is operating in low-cut or high-cut
mode
3. When the microcontroller is operating in normal mode.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

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WEBSITES

1. www.google.com
2.www.programmer2programmer.net
3.

www.google.com

4.

www.tgmc.com

5.

www.wikipedia.com

6.

w3school

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