Lab 9 Report

Author(s): Mikolaj Pal

Course: EE2112
Lab Section: L05
Date of Lab Completion: April 11, 2019
Date Submitted: April 17, 2019
Teaching Assistant: Zachary Jeffries
 Table of Contents
1. Objective .................................................................................................................................. 3
2. Procedure ................................................................................................................................. 4
3. Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 6
4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 7
5. References ............................................................................................................................... 8

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 1. Objective
The construction of circuit boards is crucial to the electronics industry, as they are the
essential building blocks of the many products that we use daily. Being able to design and construct
a circuit board with the highest amount of precision and skill is critical to ensuring the highest
quality of performance. The goal of this project, spanning Labs 7 and 9, was to design a board that
controlled the rate of the blinking of eight LEDs, four green and four red, with a user-defined board
shape. The rate of this blinking was controlled by the potentiometer, whose resistance was easily
adjustable by the user with the turn of a circular knob. This then controlled by a couple of small
signal switching transistors that switched between the two sets of two red and two green LEDs,
which were in turn controlled by the timer IC, which generated accurate time delays. Eight resistors
with differing values each were used to regulate the flow of the current through the circuit. Two
capacitors, one polarized and one unpolarized, were utilized to control the potential difference
between the circuits and ground. The circuit was turned off and on by a simple slide switch and
power supplied by a couple of 9-volt pins [1].

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 2. Procedure

Figure 1: Schematic Layout of Board

The first part of this project was completed in Lab 7, where the board was designed. The
Eagle software’s schematic editor was first used to recreate the schematic shown in Figure 1 above.
Components were imported and then placed in their appropriate locations. Afterwards, once
checked for accuracy, they were connected with wire. An ERC, electrical rule check, was run to
ensure that all components were properly connected, and values assigned to each component. The
schematic was imported into the board editor, which has layers for the top, bottom, dimension, and
milling. The layout was created first with the dimensioning layer and constrained to the dimensions
of three inches by four inches, and its shape up to the user’s imagination. Each component was
then moved onto the dimensioned area on the top layer with consideration taken for the placement
of the LEDs and the wiring to each component. In the bottom layer, the autoroute function was
used to connect all of the components according to the schematic. It generated various solutions
to the wiring, which the user selected one according to its completeness. Though the utility was
useful and time-cutting, it was not perfect. A detailed check done by the user was done to ensure
no overlap between the wires. In the case of this board, one overlap was found by an LED in the
top right of the board. This wire was easily routed around. At this point the design was finalized,
with the shape dimensions moved to the milling board and filename placed on the bottom layer.

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Trace widths, hole sizes, and clearances were adjusted to specifications according to the lab manual
[2]. The board was sent to milling.
The second part, completed in Lab 9, consisted of the actual assembly of the printed board
and the components. After receiving the board, the individual components were collected from the
storage bins and assembled on the board according to the printed layout of the board, taking into
consideration the polarities of polarized components. Using a mount, the board was held to a stable
position while the soldering iron heated up. Once heated to the desired temperature, the ventilation
fan was turned on and soldering begun on the components. To avoid heat damage to the LM555CN
timer, a socket was soldered first in its place, and the timer attached later once the solder cooled.
Failure to do so would not only damage the timer during testing, but also damage the capacitors
and transistors [1]. The board was tested using the power generator set to 9 volts and clips attached
to the battery clip. Once successfully tested, the board was complete, which is shown in Figure 2
below.

Figure 2: The Completed Board

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 3. Discussion
The board design resembled the shape of a house. It contained the necessary components
for functioning below the red and green LEDs, which were placed at the top where the roof was.
The two groups of four LEDs, two red and two green, interchangeably flickered between each
other. The rate at which these LEDs flickered was controlled by the potentiometer, which
functioned as a rheostat, whose resistance value was adjusted by twisting it either clockwise or
counterclockwise [3]. This controlled the current that flowed throughout the entire circuit, which
in turn changed the rate at which the capacitor charged and discharged, changed the rate at which
the transistor switched, which changed the rate at which the two sets of LEDs blinked [2]. The
transistor used in the circuit was a 2N2222A small signal switching transistor [4], which worked
by using the smaller current sent to it by the timing device to switch on or off the LED group [5].
There were two of these transistors, which contained three pins. Pin 3 was the collector of the
signal, whose current was then sent to Pin 1, the emitter, if Pin 2 had a current that entered into it.
When the first transistor did not receive a current, it did not activate, which allowed current from
the first LED set to enter Pin 2 of the second transistor. This allowed the other LED set to illuminate
because Pins 3 and 1 were connected, which were in turn connected to ground [1].
There were two capacitors used in this project, one being a regular ceramic capacitor that
was unpolarized, and one electrolytic capacitor that was polarized. The ceramic capacitor was
utilized to control the change in electric potential between the ground connection and the control
voltage pin on the timer. The electrolytic capacitor was used to control the change in electric
potential between the ground connection and the current from the timer going to the LEDs [1]. To
output the pulses in current at a constant interval, the LM555 timer was used. It utilized the ceramic
capacitor and the resistors in the circuit to ensure accurate control over the output and accurate
timing [6]. The resistors within the circuit were used to control the size and flow of current to
ensure the optimal operation of the LED lights and of the timer. When first soldering the board
components, the mistake of soldering the chip directly in was made. This resulted in the timer,
capacitors, and transistors being fried once the first test took place. The fix for this was to replace
the capacitors, transistors, and timer chip along with actually soldering in the socket and mounting
the chip onto it.

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 4. Conclusion
In the creation of a circuit board, there are many steps in its creation and factors to take
into consideration in order to achieve the desired operation. The first is to design the board, which
was able to be done with relative ease with the Eagle software in Lab 7. A functional schematic
was first designed and then imported into the board designer, where the shape was dimensioned,
and components put into their proper positions. They were then wired together using the autoroute
function and then examined for proper connection, since the function may accidentally produce an
unwanted intersection. After finalizing the design and checking the connections and holes, the
board was produced using the school’s machine. Making the width of the printed paths and the
holes large enough to handle the components and the current is crucial. With Lab 9 came the actual
construction of the finalized board with the soldering of the individual components into their
respective positions. Knowing how to properly solder and make the best connections is the final
key to the creation of a successfully functioning board. The board was then tested for a final time
and successfully passed, with the blinking of the LEDs functioning as expected.

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 5. References

[1] Michigan Technological University, "Experiment 9: PCB Project Soldering and

Troubleshooting Tips," Michigan Technological University, Houghton, 2017.

[2] Michigan Technological University, "Experiment 7: Eagle Board Design Project," Michigan
Technological University, Houghton, 2017.

[3] Random Nerd Tutorial, "Electronics Basics – How a Potentiometer Works," 2 April 2019.
[Online]. Available: https://randomnerdtutorials.com/electronics-basics-how-a-
potentiometer-works/. [Accessed 16 April 2019].

[4] ON Semiconductor, "2N2222A Small Signal Switching Transistor," ON Semiconductor,

2013.

[5] C. Woodford, "How do transistors work? - Explain that Stuff," 26 April 2018. [Online].
Available: https://www.explainthatstuff.com/howtransistorswork.html. [Accessed 16 April
2019].

[6] Texas Instruments, "LM555 Timer," Texas Instruments, 2015.

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