Automatic Phase Selector Panel
Today, we will be designing and fabricating an automatic phase selector panel also known as an auto phase selector. This design is used in households or industries where they need to know which phase is the most stable and to automatically switch to that phase. We will begin the design by listing all the components needed for this design.
The table below shows the bill of materials used for this design and their specifications. You can check for the cost and availability of any of these materials on our online shop. You can also message us on WhatsApp to know if they are available and their cost.
The materials above needed to be assembled before anything can be done. Once these materials are complete we can proceed to the next step which is using the schematic diagram to wire the component parts together.
| Components | Quantity |
|---|---|
| AC MCB | 3 |
| Pilot lamp | 3 |
| Emmagency stop button | 1 |
| Voltage indicator | 3 |
| AC relay | 3 |
| Voltage monitor | 3 |
| Cable connector | 6 |
| Contactor | 3 |
| Din ray | Full length |
| Trunk | Full length |
| Cable tie | 1 pack |
| 10mm Power cable | 10 yard |
| Control cable | 12 yard |
| 10mm Cable log | 1 pack |
| Auxiliary Contactor | 3 |
| Panel Box | 1 |
| small cable log | 1 pack |
| Miscellaneous |
Above is the control side of the schematic diagram for the automatic phase selector panel. Its explanation is given below as well as the connection wiring. You can get the full diagram from the GitHub page here.
This is the power diagram connection. It is shows the to connect the power the side of the system. In the diagram, the power side has three phase input and one neutral, the each phase are connected to each contactor. The contactors have one output, and one neutral.
Wiring of these components and parts was an intricate task. The parts has to be mounted on a DIN rail first then the wires were measure accordingly before terminating them to the appropriate connectors. We looped each phase from MCB to the 3-phase contactor. We has to use auxiliary connectors for the inputs. The inputs made room for 3 phases while the output produced only one phase.
In order to create a part for the control wires, we used the above type of PVC electrical trunk. This will allow us to wire the design perfectly, leaving us rooms where to pass the wires and terminate them. Each wire had each own specification and the wires for the mains power were labelled with color shrink tubes to show which phase they represent.
For the control wiring, we used small wires that can be homogeneous in color. Two relays were used to power or energize the contactors on request. This was a nice touch to the design since we were trying to consume less power as possible.
We used the adjustable voltage protection device to ensure that source mains were fit to be transmitted before switching on the contactors for each phase. This was vital to the design. See video for more.
Next is the connections of the pilot lamps and voltmeter displays for each phase. Each phase has its own pilot lamp and digital voltmeter displays made on its line. The red phase, the yellow phase and the blue (or green) phase. There is also an emergency switch that was connected at the base panel that is works on the principle jam-and-stop method. This will cut off the supply in case of a fault detection.
The front view of the panel showing the pilot lamps and voltmeter. We can see it phase or mains line. The digital voltmeter will display the voltage rating for each line or phase and it will show the phase that is powered.
The completed design looks like this on the surface of the design. It is well labelled and contains all the answers to what each of the components displaying out on the surface panel stands for.
However, for the more technical people; this is what the insides look like. There has been proper cable management, and the inside of the design is looking very neat and pleasing to the eye.
The inside too is also properly labelled. This will allow future electricians to be able to know what each components stand for and be readily abreast with the wiring and design layout in order to diagnose future fault within the Auto Phase selector design.
We have gone through the design on how to build an automatic phase selector panel. This post has been most interesting to lay it out step-by-step, each components needed, their various specifications and how to wire and connected them to make each part work. Let us know if you were able to follow this guide and reconstruct the same design in the comment section.
An APSP is a device that automatically selects the best available single-phase supply from multiple three-phase sources. This ensures consistent power supply for single-phase loads even when one or more phases of the three-phase supply are unavailable or have issues.
APSPs monitor the voltage and frequency of each phase in the three-phase supply. They use internal algorithms to identify the best available phase based on pre-set parameters like voltage difference, phase sequence, and load requirements. Once the best phase is identified, the APSP automatically switches the single-phase output to that phase.
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