SMART POWER PLUG

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

An IoT-enabled smart power plug that switches off mains power to reduce power wastage due to phantom power and allows users to control their switches using smartphones and track their electrical power usage.

DESIGN MOTIVATION

In a world where smart devices are a commonplace, many devices merely switch to a 'standby' stage when the user intents to switch it off. This is mostly done by default but is not usually the consumer's preference. This leads to loss of unnecessary electrical power in a phenomena called "phantom power". To mitigate this effect, the smart power plug can be attached to any device having high but underutilized standby power to help turn off and save the consumer's electrical bill and footprint.

PROJECT INVOLVEMENT

Hardware Design Lead

• Designed an AC current monitoring circuit using hall effect sensors.

• Interfaced sensor data with Raspberry Pi  using SPI and I2C communication interface.

• Used Python programming language to write a program that monitors power consumption of the plug as well as switching device off when current falls below a threshold current.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Python