1.

RELAY MODULE:
A relay is an electrically operated switch that can be turned on or off by a control
signal coming from processing modules like arduino development boards,
ESP8266 development boards, raspberry pi development boards. These relay
modules can be controlled with low voltages, provided by the 5V pins of the
arduino boards.
Relay modules come in a varied range of channels ranging from one, two, four
and eight channel modules and can be used depending on the application. The
module used in the project is a 5V relay module which means this module is
powered up by a 5V.

Relay Pin Out:

Fig1.0. 1-channel 5V Fig1.1. 1-channel 5V Fig1.2. 1-channel 5V

relay module relay module relay module
Relay Pin Out:

Fig1.3. Relay pin out diagram depicting the pin

configuration of a 1-channel 5V relay module

The relay module consists of the following pin configuration:

 Input
It has 1x3(2.54mm pitch) pin header for connecting the power (5V and 0V) for
the controlling the relay.
 GND- Connect 0V to this pin
SIG- Active low pin that controls the relay, the relay is turned on when the
input signal falls below 2.0V
VCC- It is used to power up the opto-couplers. Connect 5V to this pin
 Output
The output section of the module consists of 3 pins namely:
COM- Common pin
NC- This pin represents normally closed. In this case NC is connected with
COM, wherein when INT1 is set low and disconnected when INT1 is high
NO- This pin represents normally open. In this case NO is connected with
COM, wherein when INT1 is set low and connected when INT1 is high

Principle and working operation of relays:

A relay consists of five parts:

1. Electromagnet – It consists of an iron core wound by coils of wires. When
electric current is passed through the windings developing a magnetic field
around the iron core.
2. Armature – The movable magnetic strip is known as armature. When
current flows, the coil is energized thus producing a magnetic field which
is used to make or break the normally open (N/O) or normally close (N/C)
points. The armature can be driven with either direct current (DC) or
alternating current (AC).
3. Spring – When no currents flow through the coil wound around the
electromagnet, the spring pulls the armature away resulting in an open
circuit.
4. Electrical contacts – There are two contact points:
． Normally open – connected when the relay is activated, and
disconnected when it is inactive.
． Normally close – not connected when the relay is activated, and
connected when it is inactive.
5. Moulded frame – Relays are covered with plastic for protection.
 Fig1.4. Schematic depicting the operation of
relay circuit

The above diagram depicts the inner cross-section of a relay. An iron core is wounded
by a control coil. The power source is supplied to the electromagnet through a control
switch and through contacts to the load. When current starts flowing through the
control coil, the electromagnet starts energizing thereby intensifying the magnetic
field. Thus the upper contact arm begins to be attracted to the lower fixed arm and
thus closes the contacts causing a short circuit for the power to the load. On the other
hand, on de-energizing the relay results in the contacts getting closed and the contact
move in the opposite direction resulting in an open circuit.
As soon as the coil current is off, the movable armature will be returned by a force
back to its initial position. This force generated is equivalent to half the strength of the
magnetic force. This force is mainly provided by two factors that is, the spring and
gravity.
Relays mainly serve two basic operations. One is low voltage application and the
other is high voltage. For low voltage application preference will be given to reduce
the noise in the entire circuit. For high voltage applications, they are mainly designed
to reduce a phenomenon called arcing.

2. BLYNK:
Blynk is software development platform that was designed for the Internet of
Things. It can control hardware remotely, display sensor data, store data, visualize
it among a plethora of applications. It is a platform compatible with IOS and
Android operating systems to control multiple development boards such as
Arduino, Raspberry Pi, ESP8266 etc over the Internet. It is a digital dashboard
 that enables building of graphic interfaces for projects by simply dragging and
dropping widgets from a plethora of different options.
The three major components of the platform are as follows:
 Blynk App – allows creation of a wide range of graphical interfaces for
projects using the available widgets provided.
 Blynk Server - responsible for all the communications between the
smartphone and hardware. It uses the blynk cloud or enables running a private
Blynk server locally. It is open-source, can handle multiple devices with ease
and can even be launched on a raspberry pi development board.
 Blynk Libraries - enables communication between server and the various
compatible development boards and processes all the incoming and outgoing
commands.

Fig2.0. Working connection of the

BLYNK IOT platform

Features of the BLYNK IOT platform:

 Similar API & UI for all supported hardware & devices

 WiFi
 Bluetooth and BLE
 Ethernet
 USB (Serial)
 GSM
 Set of easy-to-use Widgets
 Direct pin manipulation with no code writing
 Easy to integrate and add new functionality using virtual pins
 History data monitoring using the super-chart widget
  Device-to-Device communication using Bridge Widget
 Sending emails, tweets, push notifications, etc.

3. SWITCHED-MODE POWER SUPPLY(SMPS):

Switch-mode power supplies or SMPS are gaining popularity and have begun to
replace the traditional linear ac-to-dc power supplies as a way to cut power
consumption, reduce heat dissipation, as well as size and weight. Switch-mode power
supplies are found in PC’s, power amplifiers, TV’s, dc motor drives.

A switch mode power supply (SMPS) is a type of power supply that utilizes
semiconductor switching techniques rather than standard linear methods to provide
the required output voltage. The basic switching converter consists of a power
switching stage and a control circuit. The power switching stage performs the power
conversion of the input voltage from the circuit, VIN to its output voltage, VOUT.
The circuit also includes a filter to reduce the noise generated in the circuit.

The major advantage of the switch mode power supply is its higher efficiency in
comparison to the standard linear regulators and this is achieved by an internally
switching a transistor, otherwise referred to as a power MOSFET between its “ON”
state (saturated) and its “OFF” state (cut-off). Power dissipation occurs in both of the
states. The transistor acts like an ideal switch.

Unlike linear regulators which only provide step-down voltage regulation, a switch
mode power supply provides step-down, step-up and negation of the input voltage
using one or more of the three basic switch mode circuit
topologies: Buck, Boost and Buck-Boost.

Fig3.0.5V Switched Mode Power Supply Modules

 Buck Switch Mode Power Supply:
The Buck switching regulator is a type of switch mode power supply circuit
that is designed to efficiently reduce DC voltage from a higher voltage to a
lower voltage. It subtracts or “Bucks” the supply voltage thereby reducing the
voltage available at the output terminals without changing the polarity. In
other words, the buck switching regulator is a step-down regulator circuit for
example a buck converter can convert +12V to +5V.
The buck switching regulator is a DC-to-DC converter and one of the simplest
and most popular type of switching regulator. When used within a switch
mode power supply configuration, the buck switching regulator uses a series
transistor or power MOSFET (ideally an insulated gate bipolar transistor, or
IGBT) as its main switching device as shown below.

Fig3.1. Circuit diagram showing a buck switch power

supply configuration

 Boost Switch Mode Power Supply:

The Boost switching regulator is a type of switch mode power supply circuit.
It comprises of the same components as the previous buck converter but
occupies different positions. The boost converter is designed to increase a DC
voltage from a lower voltage to a higher voltage thereby adding to or “Boosts”
the supply voltage increasing the available voltage at the output terminals
without changing the polarity. In other words, the boost switching regulator is
a step-up regulator circuit for example a boost converter can convert +5V to
+12V
The above circuit illustrates that the buck switching regulator uses a series
switching transistor within its basic design. The design of the boost switching
 regulator differs from the buck switching regulator by using a parallel
connected switching transistor to control the output voltage from the switch
mode power supply. As the transistor switch is effectively connected in
parallel with the output, electrical energy only passes through the inductor to
the load when the transistor is biased “OFF” (switch open) as shown below.

Fig3.2. Circuit diagram showing a boost switch power

supply configuration

 Buck-Boost Switching Regulator:

When the transistor switch, TR1 is switched fully-on (closed), the voltage
across the inductor is equivalent to the supply voltage so the inductor stores
energy from the input supply. No current is delivered to the connected load at
the output because diode, D1 is reverse-biased. When the transistor switch is
fully-off (open), resulting in the diode becoming forward biased and the
energy previously stored in the inductor is transferred to the load. The result is
that the magnitude of the inverted output voltage can be greater or smaller (or
equal to) the magnitude of the input voltage based on the duty cycle. For
example a positive-to-negative buck-boost converter can convert 5V to 12V
(step-up) or 12V to 5V (step-down). The buck-boost regulator derives its name
from producing an output voltage that can be higher (like a boost power stage)
 or lower (like a buck power stage) in magnitude than the input voltage.
However, the output voltage is opposite in polarity from the input voltage.

Fig3.2. Circuit diagram showing a buck-boost switch

power supply configuration

4. IF, THIS, THEN, THAT SERVICE(IFTTT):

IFTTT derives its name from the programming of conditional statement “if this,
then that.” It provides a software platform that connects applications, devices and
services from different developers in order to trigger one or more automations
involving those applications, devices and services.
IFTTT is an easy way to automate tasks that might otherwise be repetitive or
unable to communicate with each other. The basic operation is as follows, users
are guided through a process to make simple scripts wherein some type of event in
one device or service automatically triggers an action in another. IFTTT supports
more than 300+ services, devices and channels such as social networks, smart
appliances, smart home systems, and devices such as weather stations, audio
systems and wearables.
The automation of various tasks is accomplished through the creation of applets,
which resemble macros that connect multiple applications to run automated tasks.
You can turn on or off an applet using the IFTTT website or using mobile
applications (and/or the IFTTT widgets). The IFTTT service permits the creation
of applets or enables editing of existing ones through IFTTT’s user-friendly and
straightforward interface. The IFTTT service is free for users.
The IFTTT service employs the following concepts:
 Services: These are the basic building blocks of IFTTT.  They mainly
describe a series of data from a certain web service such as YouTube
or eBay. Services can describe actions controlled with certain APIs, like
 SMS. They can also represent information in terms of weather or stocks.
Each service has a particular set of triggers and actions.
 Triggers: These are the "this" part of an applet. They are the items that
trigger the action.
 Actions: These are the "that" part of an applet. They are the output that
results from the input of the trigger.
 Applets: These are the predicates made from Triggers and Actions.
 Ingredients: These are the basic data available from a trigger.
An increasingly popular way to use IFTTT is in conjunction with Amazon’s Alexa
voice assistant. A large number of these applets revolve around internet-of-things use
cases such as controlling smart home devices with voice commands directed at Echo
and Echo Dot speakers. This could entail telling Alexa to make a cup of coffee
through a connected coffee maker or changing the colour of Hue smart lights each
time Alexa plays a new song. Amazon is working to push its AI assistant into more
working environments and there are uses emerging for IFTTT and Alexa in the
workplace context. Using the IFTTT service and Amazon’s voice assistant we can
effectively automate several tasks in conjunction with applications such as Evernote,
Google notes and spread-sheets etc.

It is also simple to connect IFTTT with Google’s Assistant, which powers the Google
Home speakers. With passing time it has been observed that a large fraction of users
find it convenient interacting with services using their voices therefore IFTTT has a
huge role to play in enabling interactions with Amazon’s Alexa, OK Google, Apple’s
Siri and other services.