5.

0 Electrical Power and Services

Electrical power is very important in the greenhouse. The electrical power produce
electrical energy to power up electrical appliances in the greenhouse.
Knowing that there are few important components in the greenhouse. These are:

1. CCTV
2. Sensors
3. Ventilation machine or fan
4. Lighting system

It is also knowing there are several power plugs allocated in the greenhouse. These
power plugs are ready used to power up the electrical appliances when connected.
The main objective of electrical power service is to ensure adequate power to be
deliver to the loads. The idea behind it, is:

1. Ensure continues service to the loads without blackout

2. Ensure sufficient currents consumed by the loads

To continuous supply electricity to the loads, a proposed method is using solar energy
with power inverter. Typical schematic diagram design is shown in next page.

Notice that the solar panel is a device that converts solar energy into electrical
energy. The solar panel connects to charge controller where it responsible charge the
battery. The battery then supplies energy to the inverter. The inverter converts DC
energy from the battery into AC energy. With step up transformer, the electrical
voltage will raise into AC 240 V with 50 Hz frequency and then this AC energy will
fed into grid with the help of synchronizer or some power electronic components.
There will be also a controller connected in between output of the transformer and
the grid. This controller is called switching controller.
Figure 5.1: General idea and concept of generating electricity to the
greenhouse

The function of the switching controller is to ensure power delivers to the

electrical loads are from one source and not multiple sources. The other source
is used as backup purposes. For example, during day time the electrical loads
in the greenhouse is using solar energy and power inverter. During night time,
the controller switches the energy from solar into grid. So, at night time
electrical loads use energy from the grid instead from the power inverter or
solar. The switching controller design is important to ensure there is no
electrical flick or breakdown during switching period.
The flows of the energy from solar output into charge controller can be determined
by:

Pin (to the charge controller) = Vout(from solar) Iout(from solar panel) ---------- (1)

Sometimes, there is a DC to DC boost converter installed in between the solar panel

output and the input of the charge controller. The function of the DC to DC boost
converter is to increase the voltage and current so that the battery can be charged. The
output voltage of the DC to DC boost is:

VIN
VOUT  -----------------------------------------------------------------(2)
1 D

Where D is the duty cycle for the controller. As D decreased, the Vout > V IN. The D
is unitless and range from 0 to 1. D  1.
When the battery get charged, the voltage in the battery get exponentially growth
until it reaches maximum. Under this condition, the charge controller will cut off the
charging current.
The energy stored in the battery is DC and it will be converted into AC by a power
inverter. Finally, the output AC is obtained after step up by the transformer.
Other things need to be installed are:

1. Protection circuit using CB (circuit breaker)

2. Fire alarm system

Figure 5.2: Electrical wiring for ECB in the greenhouse

The protection system is using circuit breaker as shown above. The wiring of the
circuit breakers consists of main circuit breaker (where the input goes into the loads)
and loads circuit breakers (where the breakers connected to each load). The
protection of the circuit breaker mainly to:

1. Protect the overloading and over current

2. Protect inrush current due to lightning stroke
3. Protect from fault of short circuit

Figure 5.3: The WiFi system to generate hotspot and circuit breaker

The diagram above shows the fire alarm system where it has a wireless function. The
alarm installed in the greenhouse to detect fire. The sensors used are temperature
sensor and smoke sensor. Once the alarm is activated, the owner will be notified
through the IoT system.
 The electrical service will give power to this alarm system. Typical 5 W is sufficient
to power up entire system.
Design and propose electrical and power services to the smart greenhouse complex
with essential protection and back-up system, in case of grid-connection loss.

5.1 Introduction to the Greenhouse Design for Electricity Generation

This section will show the design and propose electrical power services to the
smart greenhouse. The design of the electrical power system in the house is
comes from the grid and the proposed greenhouse has a dimension of 50 m x
15 m x 10 m as shown in Figure 5.4.

(a) Isometric view (b) Front view of the greenhouse

(c) Top view (d) Side view of the house

Figure 5.4: The layout of the greenhouse

 The electrical system to be designed in the house is from AC single phase,
which pull in from one of the phase in three phase. The components need to
consider in the greenhouse are:

1. No. of wireless sensor nodes.

2. The DC power supply for the wireless sensor nodes.
3. Circuit breaker to protect the fault current.
4. The WiFi power supply.
5. The ventilation fan.
6. The number of light system in the house.
7. Arrestor for lightning protection.
8. Number of power point or AC sockets.

It is assume that the following are given in the system design:

TABLE 5.1: Total electrical loads and socket needed in the greenhouse
No. Electrical Items in the smart Quantity Load power
greenhouse
1 AC power socket 6 20.7 kW (compute based on
230V, 15 A fuse)
2 Wireless sensor nodes 10 each is 10 W (each is 1 W)
3 DC power for WiFi 1 2W
4 Ventilation fan 2 24 W
5 Light 4 160 W

Total = 20.896 kW

The AC power socket will not connect to the maximum load until the power
dissipation is (230 V x 15 A). Base on the low power loads, the estimated
power that will need for the greenhouse is 10 W + 2 W + 24 W + 160 W = 196
W. If the given AC source is 230 V, then the current is:
 196 W
I = 0.85 A, which is closed to 1 A.
230 V

To safe the entire electrical system or protect the entire circuit system, the
circuit breaker current can raises to 10 A.

5.2 Electrical Wiring Design for Smart Greenhouse System

The idea of the wiring diagram generally proposed is shown below:

Figure 5.5: The pull in power supply from three phase electrical pole.

According to MC IEC 60038 standard, the above design meets the following
criteria:

i. Single phase supply with voltage 230 V, in range  10%

ii. Three phase supply with voltage 400 V, in range 10%
iii. Allowed frequency is  1 Hz for 50 Hz
The design of the complete wiring system is shown in Figure 5.6.

Figure 5.6: Electrical wiring system for the greenhouse

All the materials selection for the components are compliances with standard
and follows the safety requirements.

5.3 Regulations

Regulation 11 (2) of the Electricity Acts 1994 states that all wiring or rewiring
of any installations or extensions to a present installations, which shall be
carried out by an Electrical Contractor or a Private Wiring Unit and have to
get approval in writing from a licensing or supply authority.

Regulation 13(1) of the Electricity Safety Acts 1994 states that all electrical
wiring materials should be certified by SIRIM and exceeds the specific rating
values. The installation components should be approved by authority.
5.4 Examples of Wirings

Figure 5.7: Example of wiring for lighting system

 For the WiFi and sensor nodes, they are directly power up by the AC source.
All nodes and WiFi device has AC to DC adaptor. Thus, they can be directly
mounted to the AC socket.

5.5 Protection from the External Source

The protection is needed when the single phase is pull in from the three phase
electrical pole. This is to protect over current, surge current or over voltage.
The circuit below shows the isolated protection unit which must installed in
between the greenhouse and the external source from three phase.

Figure 5.8: The protection unit

 The current protection is a must for the greenhouse because sometime the
lighting can strikes to the three phase electrical poles and hence causing
unsymmterical faults. Protection mainly to protect the two:

i. Overcurrent protection

Over current can occurs when short circuit and additional charges added into
the circuit due to the lightning stroke. The selected circuit breaker will trip
once the current is over the rating. The speed of tripping the circuit or break
the circuit is 0.000034 ns.

ii. Earth leakage current

This current is a leaking current and it will become essential when happen in
between the live and earth. This cause the no electricity in the building. Thus,
the proposed schematic diagram of protection can helps to protect the earth
leakage current.

5.6 Selection of Wirings

The cable sizes selected in electrical services are compliances with the
following:

i. All the wires are insulated by PVC insulator.

ii The chosen wires are able to deliver energy efficiently.
iii. The chosen wires size allows current flows without heating effect.
iv. The chosen wires with its insulators must able sustain the environmental
temperature (See Appendix I).

7
5.7 Safety Requirements

Safety must be concerned when works on installing the electrical appliances

and connecting the wires from one point to another point. The safety rules
applied are as below:

i. Personal safety
a. Wear a rubber glove when taking measurements after the power supply
is turned on.
b. Avoid eating or drinking while installing the wires.

ii. Work place safety

a. Avoid high humidity content in the work places.
b. Places a signboard to show people man at works.
c. Use blocking bars to block people coming from outside to the wiring
installation areas.

iii. First aid Kits

a. First aid kits must bring along with toolbox or surrounding area should
have one first aid kits.
b. The medicines in the first aid kit not expire.
5.8 Total Electrical Power Consumptions for Green House and Building

The proposed AC power socket = 6

The wireless sensor noses are = 10
DC power for WiFi = 1
Ventilation fan = 2
Light = 4

From the previous table, the total power consumption is 20.896 kW. This is for green
house.
For the entire building, the CCTV, electrical usage of light, heater, air conditioners
can be seen as below:

TABLE 5.2: Total load powers

No. Electrical Items in the smart Quantity Load power
greenhouse
1 AC power socket 10 1000 W (compute based on
230V, 15 A fuse)
2 Air conditioner 3 each is 1000 W (each is 1 W)
3 Heater 1 100 W
4 Ventilation fan 10 24 W
5 Light 50 160 W

Total = 21340 W

Thus total electrical consumption is 21340 + 20 kW = 41340 W or 42 kW roughly.

Appendix I: Wire Specifications
References

[1] Williams, Jasmin (30 November 2007). "Edison Lights The City". New York Post.
Retrieved 31 March 2008.
[2] Grant, Casey. "The Birth of NFPA". National Fire Protection Association.
Archived from the original on 28 December 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
[3] Ned Mohan; T. M. Undeland; William P. Robbins (2003). Power Electronics:
Converters, Applications, and Design. United States of America: John Wiley &
Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-22693-9.
[4] S. Stoft. Power System Economics. IEEE Press, 2002.
[5] Chapman, Stephen (2002). Electric Machinery and Power System Fundamentals.
Boston: McGraw-Hill. pp. Chapter 4. ISBN 0-07-229135-4.
[6] Chapman, Stephen (2002). Electric Machinery and Power System Fundamentals.
Boston: McGraw-Hill. pp. Chapters 6 and 7. ISBN 0-07-229135-4.
[7] Electricity around the world, Conrad H. McGregor, April 2010.