Electric current carrying cable locator.

Abstract

This project is intended to wirelessly detect the presence of live electric cables beneath the surface. These cables are made inaccessible at finished and furnished surfaces. Therefore without prior knowledge of the location of these inaccessible electric cables, injuries are usually caused by fire or flames that may follow when the sheath of a cable and the conductor insulation is penetrated or when a cable is crushed severely enough to cause internal contact between the sheathing and one or more of the conductors. However, due to the fact that current carrying electric cables do emanate magnetic fields, whose strength depends on the current flowing through the cable, which strength also decreases as the distance from the source conductor increases. For this reason, low magnetic field sensors were used to pick these emanated magnetic fields, feed them to the microcontroller and the microcontroller makes the necessary calculations so that the position and depth of the cable from the surface are displayed on the LCD screen. In regard to using this system, electric cables can be detected and located before any work can be done by a technician, thereby doing away with the unnecessary injuries on site. Also this system can be used to map paths of electric cables and hence develop the electrical plans for already existing installations which do luck these plans. Due to the portability, mobility and ease of use of the system, it can be operated by any individual at home, offices, and even on construction sites.