Password Based Distribution Panel and Circuit Breaker Operation for the Safety of Lineman during Maintenance Work

Abstract

Security is the prime concern in our day to day life while performing any activity. In the current scenario, accidental death of lineman is often read and evidenced. In this direction, a safety measure to safe guard the operator is found very necessary looking into the present working style. The electric lineman safety system is designed to control the control panel doors and circuit breaker by using a password for the safety. Critical electrical accidents to lineman are on the rise during electric line repair may be due to lack of communication and co-ordination between the maintenance staff and electric substation staff. The proposed system provides a solution that ensures safety of lineman. The control to turn ON or OFF the line is maintained by the lineman. The system has an arrangement such that a password is required to operate the doors of the control panel and circuit breaker (ON/OFF). A secured password is requested and received from the control room by the lineman for the point of repair or service. This request is registered and a password is sent to the lineman’s mobile and control panel GSM module for the further work. The password is entered through the matrix keypad which is interfaced to the Arduino Uno microcontroller. The entered password is compared with the password received by the control panel GSM receiver. If the entered password is correct then the circuit breaker ON/OFF and door OPEN/CLOSE feature is enabled for the lineman to take up repair. Any intruder tries to operate the mechanism with the wrong password by three times it will display a message in the LCD display and a message is sent to the control room regarding unauthorized accessing of the system for the safety reasons.