ABSTRACT

 Efficient management of Electrical/EIectronic appliances and devices is very important in both industries and homes. It ensures smooth usage of appliances, maximizes their potentials and cuts back on wastage. It also accommodates today’s rising needs ofsecurity and comfort. Any growing economy must embrace efficiency in usage of its Electrical/EIectronic appliances. One of the ways of achieving this is through the use of time controlled switches, which ensures Electrical/EIectronic appliances are only ON when they are needed and OFF when not needed. The time controlled switch can be used to turn ON and OFF any electrical appliance connected to it, and it can do so at preset times. It has the ability to be programmed differently for different purposes, and different times. This project was undertaken to investigate the operations of different time controlled switches, discover their pros and cons and develop a working prototype. The investigation was done and the working prototype was constructed using a programmable microcontroller PIC18f2620, a Liquid Crystal Display, push buttons, and other standard integrated circuit components. The prototype designed and constructed worked by receiving inputs from the push buttons, by which the convenient timing for the electrical appliances was programmed in. The Liquid Crystal Display displayed what had been programmed in through the push buttons and then the microcontroller stored the information and also controlled the turning ON and OFF of the connected electronic devices. After the design, construction and testing of this switching device, the circuit behaved satisfactorily as a time controlled switch, efficiently managing electrical and electronic devices and appliances.