CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 AIM OF THE PROJECT:

A alarm is a type of security equipment that can be used to safeguard homes and
property. If we love our home then buying burglar alarm should be our first priority when
moving to a new home. Burglar crimes are continually rising with each passing day. Many have
lost their homes and families through violent burglaries in many countries today. Some have lost
what they considered precious and valuable to them. Things such as jewelry, vehicles, and
clothes are huge investments to many.

During the olden days a watchman would be hired to take care of property and offer needed
security in the home. Some homes also had fierce dogs that would be let out only at night. The
two were supposed to provide security to our belongings even in the absence of the owner.
However, hiring a watchman was not an effective method since most of them would be killed in
the line of duty. Sometimes dogs would attack even visitors while some watchmen looted
property. This led to the development of alarm equipments.

1.2 ABOUT THE CICUIT:

The circuit is divided into two parts i.e. the transmitter and the receiver part

Transmitter point:
The tranmitter circuit is othing but a laser diode driven by a battery connected to the
diode through a series resistance R1. In order to ensure that the current through the diode
remains constant irrespective of drop in battery voltage, a 3-terminal voltage regulator VR-1 has
bee used. This regulator produces a constant 5V output as long as input remains equal to or more
than 7.5V thus ensuring a constant drive current for the laser diode. The drive current in this case
would be(3500/47) mA.
The laser diode here can be the one typically used in laser pointers emitting in red. This would be
more economical than buying one. If the experiment so desires, we can use the laser pointer itself
as a complete transmitter circuit. The pointer has in-built suitable series resistance and an
ON/OFF switch and a battery. The given circuit would help when we want to go a step further
and want to use infrared laser diode so as to get an invisible laser beam, which would be a
requirement in any intruder alarm system, I recommend the use of laser pointer for the purpose
of learning and demonstration.

Receiver part:
The receiver part basically comprises of a current to voltage converter section
configured around IC1(OP AMP 356) feeding a positive edge triggered monoshot configuration
buit around IC2(555 timer). The output of the monoshot feeds a buzzer that gives an audio beep
during the time it get a high input from the timer IC 555. The receiver section operates from +5V
DC generated from another 9V battery and 3 terminal regulator VR2. The battery can be
connected to the circuit through switch SW2
The current-to-voltage converter section converts the photocurrent produced by the photodiode
PD1 as a result of laser light falling on it into an equivalent vltage across resistor R2. This
voltage gets amplified bya factor of 23 in the non-inverting amplifier provided by an OP-AMP
and resistors R3,R4. So, when the laser light is falling on the photodiode, the opamp output is
same DC voltage, The component values have been so chosen as to produce about 5V DC for a
laser power of 0.5mW, typical of a laser pointer. Otherwise the amplifier gain can be adjusted to
produce 5VDC.
2

1.3 ADVANTAGES OVER COMMERCIAL SECURITY SYSTEMS:

There are dozens of different security systems on the market that utilize lasers and
can effectively protect everything from small apartments and businesses to large areas of
property. Most home laser security systems consist of two parts: a basic alarm unit and an
infrared motion detector. Laser security systems of the past used to rely on connections wired to
a keypad, requiring the customer to use special codes to arm and disarm the system. Since the
majority of laser security systems are now wireless, the units can be turned on or off with a
wireless remote or, in some models, by touch tone phone from anywhere in the world.
The basic sensing component of a modern laser security system is an infrared motion detector.
An infrared motion detector works by using beams of infrared light to detect changes in heat
which is absent in most of the commercial security systems. Laser alarm systems provides the
state of the art features and benefits of a conventional monitored alarm system. Laser alarm
systems is an advanced and effective security system that does the job right. Laser alarm systems
can be activated in seconds without programming, installation, in-home sales people and
technicians; and with no hassle, mess, or waiting. There are no hidden costs, no on-going service
calls and costs, and Rapid Response Monitoring Service provides the most technologically
advanced monitoring service available. All at a fraction of the cost of other major brands. Laser
alarm systems is perfect for homes, condos, apartments, small offices, and retail stores.
Laser security systems have many advantages. They are simple to install and can be used
effectively inside or outside a home. The systems can be used as a highly effective perimeter
alarm for property boundaries or even for pools, where customers can have the lasers set to
detect when small children come within a set number of feet from the edge of the water. Indoors,
the sensors utilize normal power outlets and telephone jacks; outdoors, the sensors can be hidden
beneath plants and bushes and will not harm lawns or other vegetation. However, laser security
systems can be prohibitively expensive. While some security system plans allow for customers to
target one room, plans that protect large amounts of land or an entire house will cost much more
and can be difficult for many customers to afford .
3

CHAPTER 2
BLOCK DIAGRAM AND EXPLANATION
2.1 BLOCK DIAGRAM:

Block diagram

2.2 BLOCK DIAGRAM EXPLANATION

2.2.1 Laser Diode/Pointer:
The laser diode is a laser where the active medium is a semiconductor similar to
that found in a light-emitting diode. The most common type of laser diode is formed from a p-n
junction and powered by injected electric current. In this we are using 593 nm Yellow-Orange
laser pointers, DPSS. The common wavelengths used are:

375 nm excitation of Hoechst stain, Calcium Blue, and other fluorescent

dyes in fluorescence microscopy

405 nm InGaN blue-violet laser, in Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD drives

445 nm InGaN Deep blue laser multimode diode recently introduced (2010) for use in
mercury free high brightness data projectors

473 nm Bright blue laser pointers, still very expensive, output of DPSS systems

485 nm excitation of GFP and other fluorescent dyes

510 nm - Green diodes recently (2010) developed by Nichia for laser projectors.

532 nm AlGaAs-pumped bright green laser pointers, frequency doubled

1064 nm Nd:YAG laser or (more commonly in laser pointers) Nd:YVO4 IR lasers (SHG)

593 nm Yellow-Orange laser pointers, DPSS

635 nm AlGaInP better red laser pointers, same power subjectively 5 times as bright as
670 nm one

640 nm High brightness red DPSS laser pointers

657 nm AlGaInP DVD drives, laser pointers

670 nm AlGaInP cheap red laser pointers

760 nm AlGaInP gas sensing: O2

785 nm GaAlAs Compact Disc drives

808 nm GaAlAs pumps in DPSS Nd:YAG lasers (e.g. in green laser pointers or as
arrays in higher-powered lasers)

848 nm laser mice

980 nm InGaAs pump for optical amplifiers, for Yb:YAG DPSS lasers

1064 nm AlGaAs fiber-optic communication

1310 nm InGaAsP, InGaAsN fiber-optic communication

1480 nm InGaAsP pump for optical amplifiers

1512 nm InGaAsP gas sensing: NH3

1550 nm InGaAsP, InGaAsNSb fiber-optic communication

1625 nm InGaAsP fiber-optic communication, service channel

1654 nm InGaAsP gas sensing: CH4

1877 nm GaSbAs gas sensing: H2O

2004 nm GaSbAs gas sensing: CO2

2330 nm GaSbAs gas sensing: CO

2680 nm GaSbAs gas sensing: CO2

2.2.2 Photo Transistor:

A photodiode is a type of photodetector capable of converting light into
either current or voltage, depending upon the mode of operation. [1] The common, traditional solar
cell used to generate electric solar power is a large area photodiode.
Photodiodes are similar to regular semiconductor diodes except that they may be either exposed
(to detect vacuum UV or X-rays) or packaged with a window or optical fiber connection to allow
light to reach the sensitive part of the device. Many diodes designed for use specifically as a
photodiode will also use a PIN junction rather than the typical p-n junction.

Electromagnetic spectrum
wavelength range (nm)

Material

Silicon

1901100

Germanium

4001700

Indium gallium arsenide

8002600

Lead(II) sulfide

<1000 3500

Materials commonly used to produce photodiodes

POWER SUPPLY

BRIDGE RECTIFIER

Bridge rectifier circuit consists of four diodes arranged in the form of

a bridge as shown in figure.

OPERATION
During the positive half cycle of the input supply, the upper end A of
the transformer secondary becomes positive with respect to its
lower point B. This makes Point1 of bridge Positive with respect to
point 2. The diode D1 & D2 become forward biased & D3 & D4
become reverse biased. As a result a current starts flowing from
point1, through D1 the load & D2 to the negative end. During
negative half cycle, the point2 becomes positive with respect to
point1. Diodes D1 & D2 now become reverse biased. Thus a current
flow from point 2 to point1.
TRANSFORMER
Transformer is a major class of coils having two or more windings
usually wrapped around a common core made from laminated iron
sheets. It has two cols named primary and secondary. If the current
flowing through primary is fluctuating, then a current will be
inducted into the secondary winding. A steady current will not be
transferred from one coil to other coil.

Transformers are of two types:

1.Step up transformer
2.Step down transformer
In the power supply we use step down transformer. We apply 220V
AC on the primary of step down transformer. This transformer step
down this voltages to 6V AC. We Give 6V AC to rectifier circuit, which
convert it to 5V DC.
DIODE
The diode is a p-n junction device. Diode is the component used to
control the flow of the current in any one direction. The diode widely
works in forward bias.

Diode When the current flows from the P to N direction. Then it is in

forward bias. The Zener diode is used in reverse bias function i.e. N
to P direction. Visually the identification of the diode`s terminal can
be done by identifying he silver/black line. The silver/black line is the
negative terminal (cathode) and the other terminal is the positive
terminal (cathode).
APPLICATION
9

Diodes: Rectification, free-wheeling, etc

Zener diode: Voltage control, regulator etc.
Tunnel diode: Control the current flow, snobbier circuit, etc

RESISTOR

A resistor is a two-terminal electronic component that produces a

voltage across its terminals that is proportional to the electric
current passing through it in accordance with ohm's law:
V = I*R
Resistors are elements of electrical networks and electronic
circuits and are ubiquitous in most electronic equipment. Practical
resistors can be made of various compounds and films, as well as
resistance wire (wire made of a high-resistivity alloy, such as
nickel/chrome).
The primary characteristics of a resistor are the resistance, the
tolerance, maximum working voltage and the power rating. Other
characteristics include temperature coefficient, noise, and
inductance. Less well-known is critical resistance, the value below
which power dissipation limits the maximum permitted current
flow, and above which the limit is applied voltage. Critical
resistance depends upon the materials constituting the resistor as
well as its physical dimensions; it's determined by design.
Resistors can be integrated into hybrid and printed circuits, as
well as integrated circuits. Size, and position of leads (or
terminals) are relevant to equipment designers; resistors must be
physically large enough not to overheat when dissipating their
power.
Units
The ohm (symbol: ) is a si-driven unit of electrical resistance,
named after George Simon Ohm. Commonly used multiples and
10

submultiples in electrical and electronic usage are the milliohm

(1x103), kilohm (1x103), and megohm (1x106).

11

Theory of operation
Ohm's law
The behavior of an ideal resistor is dictated by the relationship
specified in ohm's law:
V = I*R
Ohm's law states that the voltage (v) across a resistor is
proportional to the current (i) through it where the constant of
proportionality is the resistance (r).
Series and parallel resistors
Resistors in a parallel configuration each have the same potential
difference (voltage). To find their total equivalent resistance (req):

The parallel property can be represented in equations by two

vertical lines "||" (as in geometry) to simplify equations. For two
resistors,

The current through resistors in series stays the same, but the
voltage across each resistor can be different. The sum of the
potential differences (voltage) is equal to the total voltage. To find
their total resistance:

12

A resistor network that is a combination of parallel and series can

be broken up into smaller parts that are either one or the other.
For instance,

However, many resistor networks cannot be split up in this way.

Consider a cube, each edge of which has been replaced by a
resistor. For example, determining the resistance between two
opposite vertices requires additional transforms, such as the y-
transform, or else matrix methods must be used for the general
case. However, if all twelve resistors are equal, the corner-tocorner resistance is 56 of any one of them.
The practical application to resistors is that a resistance of any
non-standard value can be obtained by connecting standard
values in series or in parallel.

Power dissipation
The power dissipated by a resistor (or the equivalent resistance of
a resistor network) is calculated using the following:

All three equations are equivalent. The first is derived from joule's
first law. Ohms law derives the other two from that.
The total amount of heat energy released is the integral of the
power over time:
13

If the average power dissipated is more than

the resistor can safely dissipate, the resistor may depart from its
nominal resistance and may become damaged by overheating.
Excessive power dissipation may raise the temperature of the
resistor to a point where it burns out, which could cause a fire in
adjacent components and materials. There are flameproof
resistors that fail (open circuit) before they overheat dangerously.
Note that the nominal power rating of a resistor is not the same
as the power that it can safely dissipate in practical use. Air
circulation and proximity to a circuit board, ambient temperature,
and other factors can reduce acceptable dissipation significantly.
Rated power dissipation may be given for an ambient
temperature of 25 c in free air. Inside an equipment case at 60
c, rated dissipation will be significantly less; if we are dissipating
a bit less than the maximum figure given by the manufacturer we
may still be outside the safe operating area, and courting
premature failure.

Resistor Color Code Chart

14

15

CAPACITOR

A capacitor or condenser is a passive electronic component

consisting of a pair of conductors separated by a dielectric
(insulator). When a potential difference (voltage) exists across the
conductors, an electric field is present in the dielectric. This field
stores energy and produces a mechanical force between the
conductors. The effect is greatest when there is a narrow
separation between large areas of conductor; hence capacitor
conductors are often called plates.
An ideal capacitor is characterized by a single constant value,
capacitance, which is measured in farads. This is the ratio of the
electric charge on each conductor to the potential difference
between them. In practice, the dielectric between the plates
passes a small amount of leakage current. The conductors and
leads introduce an equivalent series resistance and the dielectric
has an electric field strength limit resulting in a breakdown
voltage.
Capacitors are widely used in electronic circuits to block the flow
of direct current while allowing alternating current to pass, to filter
out interference, to smooth the output of power supplies, and for
many other purposes. They are used in resonant circuits in radio
frequency equipment to select particular frequencies from a
signal with many frequencies.
Theory of operation

A capacitor consists of two conductors separated by a nonconductive region. The non-conductive substance is called the
dielectric medium, although this may also mean a vacuum or a
semiconductor depletion region chemically identical to the
conductors. A capacitor is assumed to be self-contained and
isolated, with no net electric charge and no influence from an
external electric field. The conductors thus contain equal and
opposite charges on their facing surfaces, and the dielectric
16

contains an electric field. The capacitor is a reasonably general

model for electric fields within electric circuits.
An ideal capacitor is wholly characterized by a constant
capacitance c, defined as the ratio of charge q on each
conductor to the voltage v between them:

Sometimes charge buildup affects the mechanics of the capacitor,

causing the capacitance to vary. In this case, capacitance is
defined in terms of incremental changes:

In si units, a capacitance of one farad means that one coulomb of

charge on each conductor causes a voltage of one volt across the
device.
Energy storage
Work must be done by an external influence to move charge
between the conductors in a capacitor. When the external
influence is removed, the charge separation persists and energy
is stored in the electric field. If charge is later allowed to return to
its equilibrium position, the energy is released. The work done in
establishing the electric field, and hence the amount of energy
stored, is given by:

Current-voltage relation
The current i(t) through a component in an electric circuit is
defined as the rate of change of the charge q(t) that has passed
through it. Physical charges cannot pass through the dielectric
layer of a capacitor, but rather build up in equal and opposite
17

quantities on the electrodes: as each electron accumulates on the

negative plate, one leaves the positive plate. Thus the
accumulated charge on the electrodes is equal to the integral of
the current, as well as being proportional to the voltage (as
discussed above). As with any antiderivative, a constant of
integration is added to represent the initial voltage v (t0). This is
the integral form of the capacitor equation,

.
Taking the derivative of this, and multiplying by c, yields the
derivative form,
.
The dual of the capacitor is the inductor, which stores energy in
the magnetic field rather than the electric field. Its current-voltage
relation is obtained by exchanging current and voltage in the
capacitor equations and replacing c with the inductance l.
D.C. Circuits

A simple resistor-capacitor circuit demonstrates charging of a

capacitor.
A series circuit containing only a resistor, a capacitor, a switch
and a constant dc source of voltage v0 is known as a charging
circuit. If the capacitor is initially uncharged while the switch is
open, and the switch is closed at t = 0, it follows from Kirchhoffs
voltage law that
18

Taking the derivative and multiplying by c, gives a first-order

differential equation,

At t = 0, the voltage across the capacitor is zero and the voltage

across the resistor is v0. The initial current is then i(0) =v0 /r. With
this assumption, the differential equation yields

Where 0 = rc is the time constant of the system.

As the capacitor reaches equilibrium with the source voltage, the
voltage across the resistor and the current through the entire
circuit decay exponentially. The case of discharging a charged
capacitor likewise demonstrates exponential decay, but with the
initial capacitor voltage replacing v0 and the final voltage being
zero.
A.C. circuits
Impedance, the vector sum of reactance and resistance, describes
the phase difference and the ratio of amplitudes between
sinusoidally varying voltage and sinusoidally varying current at a
given frequency. Fourier analysis allows any signal to be
constructed from a spectrum of frequencies, whence the circuit's
reaction to the various frequencies may be found. The reactance
and impedance of a capacitor are respectively

19

Where j is the imaginary unit and is the angular velocity of the

sinusoidal signal. The - j phase indicates that the ac voltage v =
z*i lags the ac current by 90: the positive current phase
corresponds to increasing voltage as the capacitor charges; zero
current corresponds to instantaneous constant voltage, etc.
Note that impedance decreases with increasing capacitance and
increasing frequency. This implies that a higher-frequency signal
or a larger capacitor results in a lower voltage amplitude per
current amplitudean ac "short circuit" or ac coupling.
Conversely, for very low frequencies, the reactance will be high,
so that a capacitor is nearly an open circuit in ac analysisthose
frequencies have been "filtered out".

20

Parallel plate model

Dielectric is placed between two conducting plates, each of area A

and with a separation of d.
The simplest capacitor consists of two parallel conductive plates
separated by a dielectric with permittivity (such as air). The
model may also be used to make qualitative predictions for other
device geometries. The plates are considered to extend uniformly
over an area A and a charge density = q/A exists on their
surface. Assuming that the width of the plates is much greater
than their separation d, the electric field near the centre of the
device will be uniform with the magnitude e = /. The voltage is
defined as the line integral of the electric field between the plates

Solving this for c = q/v reveals that capacitance increases with

area and decreases with separation
.
The capacitance is therefore greatest in devices made from
materials with a high permittivity.

21

Several capacitors in parallel.

Networks
For capacitors in parallel
Capacitors in a parallel configuration each have the same
applied voltage. Their capacitances add up. Charge is
apportioned among them by size. Using the schematic
diagram to visualize parallel plates, it is apparent that each
capacitor contributes to the total surface area.

For capacitors in series

Several capacitors in series.

Connected in series, the schematic diagram reveals that the

separation distance, not the plate area, adds up. The capacitors
each store instantaneous charge build-up equal to that of every
other capacitor in the series. The total voltage difference from
end to end is apportioned to each capacitor according to the
inverse of its capacitance. The entire series acts as a capacitor
smaller than any of its components.

22

Capacitors are combined in series to achieve a higher working

voltage, for example for smoothing a high voltage power supply.
The voltage ratings, which are based on plate separation, add up.
In such an application, several series connections may in turn be
connected in parallel, forming a matrix. The goal is to maximize
the energy storage utility of each capacitor without overloading it.
Applications
Capacitors have many uses in electronic and electrical systems.
They are so common that it is a rare electrical product that does
not include at least one for some purpose.
Energy storage
A capacitor can store electric energy when disconnected from its
charging circuit, so it can be used like a temporary battery.
Capacitors are commonly used in electronic devices to maintain
power supply while batteries are being changed. (This prevents
loss of information in volatile memory.)
Conventional electrostatic capacitors provide less than 360 joules
per kilogram of energy density, while capacitors using developing
technologies can provide more than 2.52 kilojoules per kilogram.
In car audio systems, large capacitors store energy for the
amplifier to use on demand. Also for a flash tube a capacitor is
used to hold the high voltage. In ceiling fans, capacitors play the
important role of storing electrical energy to give the fan enough
torque to start spinning.
Pulsed power and weapons
Groups of large, specially constructed, low-inductance highvoltage capacitors (capacitor banks) are used to supply huge
pulses of current for many pulsed power applications. These
include electromagnetic forming, Marx generators, pulsed lasers
23

(especially tea lasers), pulse forming networks, radar, fusion

research, and particle accelerators.
Large capacitor banks (reservoir) are used as energy sources for the explodingbridgewire detonators or slapper detonators in nuclear weapons and
other specialty weapons. Experimental work is under way using banks of
capacitors as power sources for electromagnetic armor and electromagnetic
railguns and coilguns.

24

Power Conditioning

A 10,000 microfarad capacitor in a trm-800 amplifier

Reservoir capacitors are used in power supplies where they
smooth the output of a full or half wave rectifier. They can also be
used in charge pump circuits as the energy storage element in
the generation of higher voltages than the input voltage.
Capacitors are connected in parallel with the power circuits of
most electronic devices and larger systems (such as factories) to
shunt away and conceal current fluctuations from the primary
power source to provide a "clean" power supply for signal or
control circuits. Audio equipment, for example, uses several
capacitors in this way, to shunt away power line hum before it
gets into the signal circuitry. The capacitors act as a local reserve
for the dc power source, and bypass ac currents from the power
supply. This is used in car audio applications, when a stiffening
capacitor compensates for the inductance and resistance of the
leads to the lead-acid car battery.

25

DIODE

In electronics, a diode is a two-terminal electronic component that

conducts electric current in only one direction. The term usually
refers to a semiconductor diode, the most common type today,
which is a crystal of semiconductor connected to two electrical
terminals, a p-n junction. A vacuum tube diode, now little used, is
a vacuum tube with two electrodes; a plate and a cathode.
The most common function of a diode is to allow an electric
current in one direction (called the diode's forward direction) while
blocking current in the opposite direction (the reverse direction).
Thus, the diode can be thought of as an electronic version of a
check valve. This unidirectional behavior is called rectification,
and is used to convert alternating current to direct current, and
extract modulation from radio signals in radio receivers.
However, diodes can have more complicated behavior than this
simple on-off action, due to their complex non-linear electrical
characteristics, which can be tailored by varying the construction
of their p-n junction. These are exploited in special purpose
diodes that perform many different functions. Diodes are used to
regulate voltage (zener diodes), electronically tune radio and T.V.
receivers (varactor diodes), generate radio frequency oscillations
(tunnel diodes), and produce light (light emitting diodes).
Diodes were the first semiconductor electronic devices. The
discovery of crystals' rectifying abilities was made by German
physicist Ferdinand Braun in 1874. The first semiconductor
26

diodes, called cat's whisker diodes were made of crystals of

minerals such as galena. Today most diodes are made of silicon,
but other semiconductors such as germanium are sometimes
used.

Semiconductor diodes
A modern semiconductor diode is made of a crystal of
semiconductor like silicon that has impurities added to it to create
a region on one side that contains negative charge carriers
(electrons), called n-type semiconductor, and a region on the
other side that contains positive charge carriers (holes), called ptype semiconductor. The diode's terminals are attached to each of
these regions. The boundary within the crystal between these two
regions, called a pn junction, is where the action of the diode
takes place. The crystal conducts conventional current in a
direction from the p-type side (called the anode) to the n-type
side (called the cathode), but not in the opposite direction.
Another type of semiconductor diode, the Schottky diode, is
formed from the contact between a metal and a semiconductor
rather than by a p-n junction.

Currentvoltage characteristic
A semiconductor diodes behavior in a circuit is given by its
currentvoltage characteristic, or iv graph (see graph at right).
The shape of the curve is determined by the transport of charge
carriers through the so-called depletion layer or depletion region
that exists at the p-n junction between differing semiconductors.
When a p-n junction is first created, conduction band (mobile)
electrons from the n-doped region diffuse into the p-doped region
where there is a large population of holes (vacant places for
electrons) with which the electrons recombine. When a mobile
electron recombines with a hole, both hole and electron vanish,
leaving behind an immobile positively charged donor (dopant) on
the n-side and negatively charged acceptor (dopant) on the pside. The region around the p-n junction becomes depleted of
charge carriers and thus behaves as an insulator.
27

However, the width of the depletion region (called the depletion

width) cannot grow without limit. For each electron-hole pair that
recombines, a positively-charged dopant ion is left behind in the
n-doped region, and a negatively charged dopant ion is left
behind in the p-doped region. As recombination proceeds more
ions are created, an increasing electric field develops through the
depletion zone which acts to slow and then finally stop
recombination. At this point, there is a built-in potential across
the depletion zone.
If an external voltage is placed across the diode with the same
polarity as the built-in potential, the depletion zone continues to
act as an insulator, preventing any significant electric current flow
(unless electron/hole pairs are actively being created in the
junction by, for instance, light. See photodiode). This is the
reverse bias phenomenon. However, if the polarity of the external
voltage opposes the built-in potential, recombination can once
again proceed, resulting in substantial electric current through the
p-n junction (i.e. Substantial numbers of electrons and holes
recombine at the junction).. For silicon diodes, the built-in
potential is approximately 0.6 v. Thus, if an external current is
passed through the diode, about 0.6 v will be developed across
the diode such that the p-doped region is positive with respect to
the n-doped region and the diode is said to be turned on as it
has a forward bias.

Figure: IV characteristics of a p-n junction diode (not to scale).

28

A diodes IV characteristic' can be approximated by four regions

of operation (see the figure at right).
At very large reverse bias, beyond the peak inverse voltage or
piv, a process called reverse breakdown occurs which causes a
large increase in current (i.e. a large number of electrons and
holes are created at, and move away from the pn junction) that
usually damages the device permanently. The avalanche diode is
deliberately designed for use in the avalanche region. In the zener
diode, the concept of piv is not applicable. A zener diode contains
a heavily doped p-n junction allowing electrons to tunnel from the
valence band of the p-type material to the conduction band of the
n-type material, such that the reverse voltage is clamped to a
known value (called the zener voltage), and avalanche does not
occur. Both devices, however, do have a limit to the maximum
current and power in the clamped reverse voltage region. Also,
following the end of forward conduction in any diode, there is
reverse current for a short time. The device does not attain its full
blocking capability until the reverse current ceases.
The second region, at reverse biases more positive than the piv,
has only a very small reverse saturation current. In the reverse
bias region for a normal p-n rectifier diode, the current through
the device is very low (in the a range). However, this is
temperature dependent, and at sufficiently high temperatures, a
substantial amount of reverse current can be observed (ma or
more).
The third region is forward but small bias, where only a small
forward current is conducted.
As the potential difference is increased above an arbitrarily
defined cut-in voltage or on-voltage or diode forward voltage
drop (vd), the diode current becomes appreciable (the level of
current considered appreciable and the value of cut-in voltage
depends on the application), and the diode presents a very low
resistance.
The currentvoltage curve is exponential. In a normal silicon diode
at rated currents, the arbitrary cut-in voltage is defined as 0.6
29

to 0.7 volts. The value is different for other diode types

schottky diodes can be rated as low as 0.2 v and red or blue lightemitting diodes (LEDs) can have values of 1.4 v and 4.0 v
respectively.
At higher currents the forward voltage drop of the diode
increases. A drop of 1 v to 1.5 v is typical at full rated current for
power diodes.

Shockley diode equation

The Shockley ideal diode equation or the diode law (named after
transistor co-inventor William Bradford Shockley, not to be
confused with tetrode inventor Walter h. Schottky) gives the iv
characteristic of an ideal diode in either forward or reverse bias
(or no bias). The equation is:

Where
I is the diode current,
Is is the reverse bias saturation current,
Vd is the voltage across the diode,
Vt is the thermal voltage, and
N is the emission coefficient, also known as the ideality
factor. The emission coefficient n varies from about 1 to 2
depending on the fabrication process and semiconductor
material and in many cases is assumed to be approximately
equal to 1 (thus the notation n is omitted).
The thermal voltage vt is approximately 25.85 mv at 300 k, a
temperature close to room temperature commonly used in
device simulation software. At any temperature it is a known
constant defined by:

30

Where k is the Boltzmann constant, t is the absolute temperature

of the p-n junction, and q is the magnitude of charge on an
electron (the elementary charge).
The Shockley ideal diode equation or the diode law is derived with
the assumption that the only processes giving rise to the current
in the diode are drift (due to electrical field), diffusion, and
thermal recombination-generation. It also assumes that the
recombination-generation (r-g) current in the depletion region is
insignificant. This means that the Shockley equation doesnt
account for the processes involved in reverse breakdown and
photon-assisted r-g. Additionally, it doesnt describe the leveling
off of the iv curve at high forward bias due to internal
resistance.
Under reverse bias voltages (see figure 5) the exponential in the
diode equation is negligible, and the current is a constant
(negative) reverse current value of is. The reverse breakdown
region is not modeled by the Shockley diode equation.
For even rather small forward bias voltages (see figure 5) the
exponential is very large because the thermal voltage is very
small, so the subtracted 1 in the diode equation is negligible and
the forward diode current is often approximated as

31

LIGHT-EMITTING DIODE
A light-emitting diode (led) is a semiconductor light source. LEDs
are used as indicator lamps in many devices, and are increasingly
used for lighting. Introduced as a practical electronic component
in 1962, early LEDs emitted low-intensity red light, but modern
versions are available across the visible, ultraviolet and infrared
wavelengths, with very high brightness.
The led is based on the semiconductor diode. When a diode is
forward biased (switched on), electrons are able to recombine
with holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of
photons. This effect is called electroluminescence and the color of
the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is
determined by the energy gap of the semiconductor. A led is
usually small in area (less than 1 mm2), and integrated optical
components are used to shape its radiation pattern and assist in
reflection. LEDs present many advantages over incandescent light
sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime,
improved robustness, smaller size, faster switching, and greater
durability and reliability. However, they are relatively expensive
and require more precise current and heat management than
traditional light sources. Current led products for general lighting
are more expensive to buy than fluorescent lamp sources of
comparable output.
They also enjoy use in applications as diverse as replacements for
traditional light sources in automotive lighting (particularly
indicators) and in traffic signals. Airbus uses led lighting in their
a320 enhanced since 2007, and Boeing plans its use in the 787.
The compact size of LEDs has allowed new text and video displays
and sensors to be developed, while their high switching rates are
useful in advanced communications technology.

32

Advantages
Efficiency: LEDs produce more light per watt than
incandescent bulbs. Their efficiency is not affected by shape
and size unlike fluorescent light bulbs or tubes.
Color: LEDs can emit light of an intended color without the
use of color filters that traditional lighting methods require.
This is more efficient and can lower initial costs.
Size: LEDs can be very small (smaller than 2 mm2) and are
easily populated onto printed circuit boards.
On/off time: LEDs light up very quickly. A typical red indicator
led will achieve full brightness in microseconds. LEDs used in
33

communications devices can have even faster response

times.
Cycling: LEDs are ideal for use in applications that are
subject to frequent on-off cycling, unlike fluorescent lamps
that burn out more quickly when cycled frequently, or hid
lamps that require a long time before restarting.
Dimming: LEDs can very easily be dimmed either by pulsewidth modulation or lowering the forward current.
Cool light: in contrast to most light sources, LEDs radiate
very little heat in the form of IR that can cause damage to
sensitive objects or fabrics. Wasted energy is dispersed as
heat through the base of the led.
Slow failure: LEDs mostly fail by dimming over time, rather
than the abrupt burn-out of incandescent bulbs.
Lifetime: LEDs can have a relatively long useful life. One
report estimates 35,000 to 50,000 hours of useful life,
though time to complete failure may be longer. Fluorescent
tubes typically are rated at about 10,000 to 15,000 hours,
depending partly on the conditions of use, and incandescent
light bulbs at 1,0002,000 hours.
Shock resistance: LEDs, being solid state components, are
difficult to damage with external shock, unlike fluorescent
and incandescent bulbs which are fragile.
Focus: the solid package of the led can be designed to focus
its light. Incandescent and fluorescent sources often require
an external reflector to collect light and direct it in a usable
manner.
Toxicity: LEDs do not contain mercury, unlike fluorescent
lamps.

34

Disadvantages
Some fluorescent lamps can be more efficient.
High initial price: LEDs are currently more expensive, price
per lumen, on an initial capital cost basis, than most
conventional lighting technologies. The additional expense
partially stems from the relatively low lumen output and the
drive circuitry and power supplies needed.
Temperature dependence: led performance largely depends
on the ambient temperature of the operating environment.
Over-driving the led in high ambient temperatures may
result in overheating of the led package, eventually leading
to device failure. Adequate heat-sinking is required to
maintain long life. This is especially important when
considering automotive, medical, and military applications
where the device must operate over a large range of
temperatures, and is required to have a low failure rate.
Voltage sensitivity: LEDs must be supplied with the voltage
above the threshold and a current below the rating. This can
involve series resistors or current-regulated power supplies.
Light quality: most cool-white LEDs have spectra that differ
significantly from a black body radiator like the sun or an
incandescent light. The spike at 460 nm and dip at 500 nm
can cause the color of objects to be perceived differently
under cool-white led illumination than sunlight or
incandescent sources, due to metamerism, red surfaces
being rendered particularly badly by typical phosphor based
cool-white LEDs. However, the color rendering properties of
common fluorescent lamps are often inferior to what is now
available in state-of-art white LEDs.
Area light source: LEDs do not approximate a point source
of light, but rather a lambertian distribution. So LEDs are
difficult to use in applications requiring a spherical light field.
LEDs are not capable of providing divergence below a few
35

degrees. This is contrasted with lasers, which can produce

beams with divergences of 0.2 degrees or less.
Blue hazard: there is a concern that blue LEDs and coolwhite LEDs are now capable of exceeding safe limits of the
so-called blue-light hazard as defined in eye safety
specifications such as ansi/iesna rp-27.1-05: recommended
practice for photo biological safety for lamp and lamp
systems.
Blue pollution: because cool-white LEDs (i.e., LEDs with high
color temperature) emit proportionally more blue light than
conventional outdoor light sources such as high-pressure
sodium lamps, the strong wavelength dependence of Raleigh
scattering means that cool-white LEDs can cause more light
pollution than other light sources. The international dark-sky
association discourages the use of white light sources with
correlated color temperature above 3,000 k.

LED CIRCUIT
In electronics, the basic led circuit is an electric power circuit used
to power a light-emitting diode or led. It consists of a voltage
source powering two components connected in series: a current
limiting resistor, and an led. Optionally, a switch may be
introduced to open and close the circuit. The switch may be
replaced with another component or circuit to form a continuity
tester.
The led used will have a voltage drop, specified at the intended
operating current. Ohm's law and Kirchhoffs circuit laws are used
to calculate the resistor that is used to attain the correct current.
The resistor value is computed by subtracting the led voltage
drop from the supply voltage, and then dividing by the desired led
operating current. If the supply voltage is equal to the LED's
voltage drop, no resistor is needed.

36

Simple led circuit diagram

Simple resistance formula

brightness of the led

for

optimum

The formula to calculate the correct resistance to use is:

Where:
Power supply voltage (vs) is the voltage of the power supply
e.g. a 9 volt battery.
Led voltage drop (vf) is the voltage drop across the led
(typically about 1.8 - 3.3 volts; this varies by the color of the
led) 1.8 volts for red and its gets higher as the spectrum
increases to 3.3 volts for blue.
Led current rating (if) is the manufacturer rating of the led
(usually given in mill amperes such as 20 ma)

TRANSISTOR
The name is transistor derived from transfer resistors indicating
a solid state semiconductor device. In addition to conductor and
insulators, there is a third class of material that exhibits
proportion of both. Under some conditions, it acts as an insulator,
and under other conditions its a conductor. This phenomenon is
called semi-conducting and allows a variable control over electron
flow. So, the transistor is semi conductor device used in
electronics for amplitude. Transistor has three terminals, one is
the collector, one is the base and other is the emitter, (each lead
37

must be connected in the circuit correctly and only then the

transistor will function). Electrons are emitted via one terminal
and collected on another terminal, while the third terminal acts as
a control element. Each transistor has a number marked on its
body. Every number has its own specifications.
There are mainly two types of transistor (i) NPN & (ii) PnP

NPN transistors:
When a positive voltage is applied to the base, the transistor
begins to conduct by allowing current to flow through the collector
to emitter circuit. The relatively small current flowing through the
base circuit causes a much greater current to pass through the
emitter / collector circuit. The phenomenon is called current gain
and it is measure in beta.

Pnp transistor:
It also does exactly same thing as above except that it has a
negative voltage on its collector and a positive voltage on its
emitter.

Transistor is a combination of semi-conductor elements allowing a

controlled current flow. Germanium and silicon is the two semiconductor elements used for making it. There are two types of
transistors such as point contact and junction transistors. Point
contact construction is defective so is now out of use. Junction
triode transistors are in many respects analogous to triode
electron tube.

38

A junction transistor can function as an amplifier or oscillator as

can a triode tube, but has the additional advantage of long life,
small size, ruggedness and absence of cathode heating power.

Operation of pnp transistor:A pnp transistor is made by sand witching two pn germanium or
silicon diodes, placed back to back. The centre of n-type portion is
extremely thin in comparison to p region. The p region of the left
is connected to the positive terminal and n-region to the negative
terminal i.e. pn is biased in the forward direction while p region of
right is biased negatively i.e. in the reverse direction as shown in
fig. The p region in the forward biased circuit is called the emitter
and p region on the right, biased negatively is called collector. The
centre is called base.

The majority carriers (holes) of p region (known as emitter) move

to n region as they are repelled by the positive terminal of battery
while the electrons of n region are attracted by the positive
terminal. The holes overcome the barrier and cross the emitter
junction into n region. As the width of base region is extremely
thin, two to five percent of holes recombine with the free
electrons of n-region which result in a small base current while the
remaining holes (95% to 98%) reach the collector junction. The
collector is biased negatively and the negative collector voltage
aids in sweeping the hole into collector region.
As the p region at the right is biased negatively, a very small
current should flow but the following facts are observed:39

 A substantial current flows through it when the emitter

junction is biased in a forward direction.
The current flowing across the collector is slightly less than
that of the emitter, and
The collector current is a function of emitter current i.e. with
the decrease or increase in the emitter current a
corresponding change in the collector current is observed.
The facts can be explained as follows:As already discussed that 2 to 5% of the holes are lost in
recombination with the electron n base region, which result in a
small base current and hence the collector current is slightly
less than the emitter current.
The collector current increases as the holes reaching the collector
junction are attracted by negative potential applied to the
collector.
When the
the base
emitter is
voltage in

emitter current increases , most holes are injected into

region increasing the collector current. In this way
analogous to the control of plate current by small grid
a vacuum triode

Hence we can say that when the emitter is forward biased and
collector is negatively biased, a substantial current flows in both
the circuits. Since a small emitter voltage of about 0.1 to 0.5 volts
permits the flow of an appreciable emitter current the input power
is very small. The collector voltage can be as high as 45 volts.

The transistor as a switch

When used as an ac signal amplifier, the transistors base biasing
voltage is applied so that it operates within its "active" region and
40

the linear part of the output characteristics curves are used.

However, both the npn & pnp type bipolar transistors can be
made to operate as an "on/off" type solid state switch for
controlling high power devices such as motors, solenoids or
lamps. If the circuit uses the transistor as a switch, then the
biasing is arranged to operate in the output characteristics curves
seen previously in the areas known as the "saturation" and "cutof" regions as shown below.

41

Transistor curves

The pink shaded area at the bottom represents the "cut-off"

region. Here the operating conditions of the transistor are zero
input base current (ib), zero output collector current (IC) and
maximum collector voltage (vce) which results in a large
depletion layer and no current flows through the device. The
transistor is switched "fully-off". The lighter blue area to the left
represents the "saturation" region. Here the transistor will be
biased so that the maximum amount of base current is applied,
resulting in maximum collector current flow and minimum
collector emitter voltage which results in the depletion layer being
as small as possible and maximum current flows through the
device. The transistor is switched "fully-on". Then we can
summarize this as:

42

 Cut-off region - both junctions are reverse-biased, base

current is zero or very small resulting in zero collector
current flowing, and the device is switched fully "off".
Saturation region - both junctions are forward-biased, base
current is high enough to give a collector-emitter voltage of
0v resulting in maximum collector current flowing, the device
is switched fully "on".
An example of an NPN transistor as a switch being used to
operate a relay is given below. With inductive loads such as relays
or solenoids a flywheel diode is placed across the load to dissipate
the back emf generated by the inductive load when the transistor
switches "off" and so protect the transistor from damage. If the
load is of a very high current or voltage nature, such as motors,
heaters etc, then the load current can be controlled via a suitable
relay as shown.

Transistor switching circuit

The circuit resembles that of the common emitter circuit we

looked at in the previous tutorials. The difference this time is that
to operate the transistor as a switch the transistor needs to be
turned either fully "off" (cut-off) or fully "on" (saturated). An ideal
transistor switch would have an infinite resistance when turned
"off" resulting in zero current flow and zero resistance when
turned "on", resulting in maximum current flow. In practice when
turned "off", small leakage currents flow through the transistor
43

and when fully "on" the device has a low resistance value causing
a small saturation voltage (vce) across it. In both the cut-off and
saturation regions the power dissipated by the transistor is at its
minimum.
To make the base current flow, the base input terminal must be
made more positive than the emitter by increasing it above the
0.7 volts needed for a silicon device. By varying the base-emitter
voltage vbe, the base current is altered and which in turn controls
the amount of collector current flowing through the transistor as
previously discussed. When maximum collector current flows the
transistor is said to be saturated. The value of the base resistor
determines how much input voltage is required and corresponding
base current to switch the transistor fully "on".
Example no. 1.
For example, using the transistor values from the previous
tutorials of: = 200, IC = 4ma and ib = 20ua, find the value of
the base resistor (rb) required to switch the load "on" when the
input terminal voltage exceeds 2.5v.

Example no. 2.
Again using the same values, find the minimum base current
required to turn the transistor fully "on" (saturated) for a load that
requires 200ma of current.

Transistor switches are used for a wide variety of applications

such as interfacing large current or high voltage devices like
motors, relays or lamps to low voltage digital logic IC's or gates
like and gates or gates. Here, the output from a digital logic gate
is only +5v but the device to be controlled may require a 12 or
44

even 24 volts supply. Or the load such as a dc motor may need to

have its speed controlled using a series of pulses (pulse width
modulation) and transistor switches will allow us to do this faster
and more easily than with conventional mechanical switches.

Digital logic transistor switch

limit the

The base resistor, rb is required to

output current of the logic gate.
RELAY

Relay is a common, simple application of electromagnetism. It

uses an electromagnet made from an iron rod wound with
hundreds of fine copper wire. When electricity is applied to the
wire, the rod becomes magnetic. A movable contact arm above
the rod is then pulled toward the rod until it closes a switch
contact. When the electricity is removed, a small spring pulls the
contract arm away from the rod until it closes a second switch
contact. By means of relay, a current circuit can be broken or
closed in one circuit as a result of a current in another circuit.
Relays can have several poles and contacts. The types of contacts
could be normally open and normally closed. One closure of the
relay can turn on the same normally open contacts; can turn off
the other normally closed contacts.
Relay requires a current through their coils, for which a voltage is applied. This
voltage for a relay can be d.c. low voltages upto 24v or could be 240v A.C.

45

A relay is an electrical switch that opens and closes under control

of another electrical circuit. In the original form, the switch is
operated by an electromagnet to open or close one or many sets
of contacts. It was invented by Joseph Henry in 1835. Because a
relay is able to control an output circuit of higher power than the
input circuit, it can be considered, in a broad sense, to be a form
of electrical amplifier.
These contacts can be either normally open (no), normally closed
(nc), or change-over contacts.
Normally-open contacts connect the circuit when the relay is
activated; the circuit is disconnected when the relay is inactive. It
is also called form a contact or "makes" contact. Form a contact is
ideal for applications that require switching a high-current power
source from a remote device.
Normally-closed contacts disconnect the circuit when the relay is
activated; the circuit is connected when the relay is inactive. It is
also called form b contact or "break" contact. Form b contact is
ideal for applications that require the circuit to remain closed until
the relay is activated.
Change-over contacts control two circuits: one normally-open
contact and one normally-closed contact with a common terminal.
It is also called form c contact.
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an
electromagnet to operate a switching mechanism, but other
operating principles are also used. Relays find applications where
46

it is necessary to control a circuit by a low-power signal, or where

several circuits must be controlled by one signal. The first relays
were used in long distance telegraph circuits, repeating the signal
coming in from one circuit and re-transmitting it to another.
Relays found extensive use in telephone exchanges and early
computers to perform logical operations. A type of relay that can
handle the high power required to directly drive an electric motor
is called a contactor. Solid-state relays control power circuits with
no moving parts, instead using a semiconductor device to perform
switching. Relays with calibrated operating characteristics and
sometimes multiple operating coils are used to protect electrical
circuits from overload or faults; in modern electric power systems
these functions are performed by digital instruments still called
"protection relays".

Basic design and operation

A simple electromagnetic relay, such as the one taken from a car
in the first picture, is an adaptation of an electromagnet. It
consists of a coil of wire surrounding a soft iron core, an iron yoke,
which provides a low reluctance path for magnetic flux, a movable
iron armature, and a set, or sets, of contacts; two in the relay
pictured. The armature is hinged to the yoke and mechanically
linked to a moving contact or contacts. It is held in place by a
spring so that when the relay is de-energized there is an air gap in
the magnetic circuit. In this condition, one of the two sets of
contacts in the relay pictured is closed, and the other set is open.
Other relays may have more or fewer sets of contacts depending
on their function. The relay in the picture also has a wire
connecting the armature to the yoke. This ensures continuity of
the circuit between the moving contacts on the armature, and the
circuit track on the printed circuit board (pcb) via the yoke, which
is soldered to the pcb.
When an electric current is passed through the coil, the resulting
magnetic field attracts the armature and the consequent
movement of the movable contact or contacts either makes or
47

breaks a connection with a fixed contact. If the set of contacts

were closed when the relay was de-energized, then the
movement opens the contacts and breaks the connection, and
vice versa if the contacts were open. When the current to the coil
is switched off, the armature is returned by a force, approximately
half as strong as the magnetic force, to its relaxed position.
Usually this force is provided by a spring, but gravity is also used
commonly in industrial motor starters. Most relays are
manufactured to operate quickly. In a low voltage application, this
is to reduce noise. In a high voltage or high current application,
this is to reduce arcing.
When the coil is energized with direct current a diode is often
placed across the coil, to dissipate the energy from the collapsing
magnetic field at deactivation, which would otherwise generate a
voltage spike dangerous to circuit components. Some automotive
relays already include a diode inside the relay case. Alternatively
a contact protection network, consisting of a capacitor and
resistor in series, may absorb the surge. If the coil is designed to
be energized with alternating current (ac), a small copper ring can
be crimped to the end of the solenoid. This "shading ring" creates
a small out-of-phase current, which increases the minimum pull
on the armature during the ac cycle.
By analogy with functions of the original electromagnetic device,
a solid-state relay is made with a thyristor or other solid-state
switching device. To achieve electrical isolation an optocoupler
can be used which is a light-emitting diode (led) coupled with a
photo transistor.
Relays are devices which allow low power circuits to switch a
relatively high current/voltage on/off. For a relay to operate a
suitable pull-in & holding current should be passed through its
coil. Generally relay coils are designed to operate from a
48

particular voltage often its 5v or 12v.

The function of relay driver circuit is to provide the necessary
current (typically 25 to 70ma) to energize the relay coil.

Figure
Figure shows the basic relay driver circuit. As you can see an npn
transistor bc547 is being used to control the relay. The transistor
is driven into saturation (turned on) when logic 1 is written on the
port pin thus turning on the relay. The relay is turned off by
writing logic 0 on the port pin.
A diode (1n4007/1n4148) is connected across the relay coil; this
is done so as to protect the transistor from damage due to
the back emf generated in the relay's inductive coil when the
transistor is turned off. When the transistor is switched off the
energy stored in the inductor is dissipated through the diode &
the internal resistance of the relay coil.
As you can see we have used a pull up resistor at the base of the
transistor. At8951/52/55 has an internal pull up resistor of 10k so
when the pin is pulled high the current flows through this resistor
so the maximum output current is 5v/10k = 0.5ma, the dc current
gain of bc547 is 100 so the maximum collector current we can get
is 0.5ma x 100 = 50ma, but most of the relays require more than
70ma-130ma current depending on the relay that we have
49

used, 0.5ma of base current is not suitable enough for turning on

the relay, so we have used an external pull up resistor. When the
controller pin is high current flows through the controller pin i.e.
5v/10k=0.5ma as well as through the pull up resistor. We have
used 4.7k pull up resistor so 5v/4.7k=1.1ma so maximum base
current can be 0.5ma + 1.1ma=1.6ma i.e. Collector current
=1.6ma x 100 = 160ma which is enough to turn on most of the
relays.

Note:
this relay driver circuit is to be used only with controllers for using
this circuit with other digital IC's like lm 555 use a resistor should
be used between that IC's output & the base of transistor. No
need of pull up resistor in that case.

Applications
Relays are used to and for:
Control a high-voltage circuit with a low-voltage signal, as in
some types of modems or audio amplifiers,
Control a high-current circuit with a low-current signal, as in
the starter solenoid of an automobile,
Detect and isolate faults on transmission and distribution
lines by opening and closing circuit breakers (protection
relays),
Isolate the controlling circuit from the controlled circuit when
the two are at different potentials, for example when
controlling a mains-powered device from a low-voltage
switch. The latter is often applied to control office lighting as
the low voltage wires are easily installed in partitions, which
may be often moved as needs change. They may also be
controlled by room occupancy detectors in an effort to
conserve energy,
50

 Logic functions. For example, the Boolean and function is

realized by connecting normally open relay contacts in
series, the or function by connecting normally open contacts
in parallel. The change-over or form c contacts perform the
xor (exclusive or) function. Similar functions for nand and nor
are accomplished using normally closed contacts. The ladder
programming language is often used for designing relay
logic networks.
Early computing. Before vacuum tubes and transistors,
relays were used as logical elements in digital
computers. See arra (computer), Harvard mark ii, zuse
z2, and zuse z3.
Safety-critical logic. Because relays are much more
resistant than semiconductors to nuclear radiation, they
are widely used in safety-critical logic, such as the
control panels of radioactive waste-handling machinery.
Time delay functions. Relays can be modified to delay
opening or delay closing a set of contacts. A very short (a
fraction of a second) delay would use a copper disk between
the armature and moving blade assembly. Current flowing in
the disk maintains magnetic field for a short time,
lengthening release time. For a slightly longer (up to a
minute) delay, a dashpot is used. A dashpot is a piston filled
with fluid that is allowed to escape slowly. The time period
can be varied by increasing or decreasing the flow rate. For
longer time periods, a mechanical clockwork timer is
installed.

CHAPTER 3
CIRCUIT DIAGRAM AND OPERATION OF CIRCUIT
51

3.1 Circuit diagram:

3.2 Operation of the circuit:

The transmitter circuit is nothing but a laser diode (LD1) driven by a 9V PP3
battery. The output of IC1 is regulated 5V as long as its input remains equal to or more than 7.5V,
thus ensuring a constant drive current for the laser diode. The battery (Batt1) is connected to the
circuit through switch S1. The laser diode (LD1) can be replaced with a laser pointer (torch)
emitting red laser beam. The laser pointer itself can be used as a transmitter. The pointer has inbuilt series resistance, on/off switch and battery. The receiver circuit is basically a current-tovoltage converter built around IC LM356 (IC3). The output of IC3 is fed to the monostable built
around 555 timer (IC4). The high output of the monostable drives the piezobuzzer to sound an
audio alarm. The receiver section operates off 5V DC generated from another 9V battery and
voltage regulator IC 7805 (IC2). The battery (Batt.2) is connected to the circuit through switch
S2. When the laser light transmitted through LD1 falls on phototransistor T1, the output of the
op-amp (IC3) at its pin 6 remains high. In this condition, the output of IC4 remains low and the
buzzer does not sound. When the laser beam falling on phototransistor T1 is interrupted by
52

someone, the output of op-amp IC3 goes low and IC3 produces a pulse. This pulse triggers
monostable IC4 and its output goes high to sound the alarm for a time period of about R8xC8.
Assemble the transmitter and receiver circuits on separate generalpurpose PCBs and enclose in
suitable cabinets. Mount the transmitter and receiver units on opposite pillars of the entrance,
aligning the two such that the laser beam from the transmitter directly falls on the
phototransistor. Block the laser beam with your hand and measure the op-amp output. It should
not be low. At pin 3 of IC4, we should get a positive-going pulse of one-second duration
beginning with high-to-low edge of the trigger pulse appearing at pin 2 of IC4 or collector of
transistor T2.

CHAPTER 4
CONSTRUCTION AND TESTING

Testing:
Switch on the transistor circuit. Align the transmitter and receiver circuit so that the laser
beam falls on the photodiode. We can use a small transmitter receiver distance, even a
few feet, for the purpose.
If necessary, change the value of one or more resistors(R5,R6,R7) to get a signal peak
magnitude of 2 to 3 V at opamp output.

53

 Block the laser radiation with our hand and again measure the opamp output. It should be
near zero volt.
If we have the services of an oscilloscope, observe the pulse waveforms appearning at
pin-8 of IC-1 and pin-6 of IC-3. At pin-8 of IC-4, we would see a HIGH-to-LOW
transition every time we block the laser beam.
We can observe change in the pitch of the audio beep by changing the frequency of the
signal on the transmitter card.

CHAPTER 5
5.2 Advantages:

Simplicity of installation.
The effective ability to be used indoors and outdoors.
It could be used as an effective alarm for the house/company boundaries.
It uses the normal power outlets and telephone jacks in case it used indoors.
It could be expensive and could be difficult for many customers to afford it.

5.3 Disadvantages:
The disadvantage of laser beamsystem is that it may get activated by a cat walking on the
wall or a large bird sitting on the wall.
They are more expensive compared to simple security alarm systems.

5.4 Applications:
Can be used as home security system
Can be used in Museums, Banks, Offices for safe guard many valuable things.

54

CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION

The Laser Based Intruder Alarm was built to our satisfaction. This project is about
how to prevent theft in homes, offices, banks, museums etc, This project can be implemented by
both wired and wireless technologies. Another application of this instrument is as an "ANTITHEFT SYSTEM", that means to protect vehicles from kidnapping. In short I am sure that this
device is highly useful to mankind especially present scenario.

References:
http://www.ieee.org/searchresults/index.html?
cx=006539740418318249752%3Af2h38l7gvis&cof=FORID
%3A11&qp=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF8&q=laser+alarm+systems&siteurl=www.ieee.org%252Findex.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://books.google.com/books?
id=Dx3Mdx_oDHsC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=
0#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.scribd.com

55