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 CIRCUIT
IDEAS

AUTOMATIC LOW-POWER SUNIL K

UMAR

EMERGENCY LIGHT
 S.C. DWIVEDI current through diode D5 and limit-
FRONT VIEW FRONT VIEW
ing resistor R16. By adjusting preset FRONT VIEW

S
H
ere is a white-LED-based VR1, the output voltage can be ad- BD140
BC
emergency light that offers justed to deliver the required charg-
the following advantages: ing current.
LM A 548
317
1. It is highly bright due to the use When the battery gets charged to
of white LEDs. 6.8V, zener diode ZD1 conducts and E C B
ADJ VlN CB E
2. The light turns on automatically charging current from regulator IC1 VoUT
when mains supply fails, and turns off finds a path through transistor T1 to Fig. 2: Pin configurations of LM317, BD140
when mains power resumes. ground and it stops charging of the and BC548
3. It has its own battery charger. battery.
When the battery is fully charged, The LED driver section uses a to- off. On the other hand, when mains
charging stops automatically. tal of twelve 10mm white LEDs. All fails, the base of transistor T2 becomes
The circuit comprises two sections: the LEDs are connected in parallel low and it conducts. This makes all
charger power supply and LED driver. with a 100-ohm resistor in series with the LEDs (LED1 through LED12) glow.
The charger power supply section is each. The common-anode junction of The mains power supply, when
available,
R15
charges the bat-
1K LED1-LED12 = 10mm tery and keeps
HIGH INTENSITY WHITE LED
A/WV
T2 the LEDs off as
BD140 R3-R14 = 100Q
transistor T2 re-
LED1 LED12 mains cut-off.
_\\ y\\ y\\ 4L\\ T\\ T\\ y\\ V\\ y\\, y\\ During mains
X1 = 230V AC failure, the
PRIMARY R3> R4> R5> R6 R7> R8 R9S R10ÿ R12S R13S R14; charging sec-
TO 0-9V, 500mA
SECONDARY tion stops
TRANSFORMER working and

—
L
IN IC1 OUT the battery sup-

FYÿrC!
230VAC O
50Hz
§ 9V
oAC D3k, Cl-p
3 LM317 2

ADJ
R1
\
D5
vwv
180Q 1N4007 5W
R16
16Q
ZD1
6.8V
+ 6V
0.5W T 4.5Ah
ply makes the
LEDs glow.
Assemble
1000M VR1 ZENER BATT. the circuit on a
25V 2.2K A/WV general-pur-
T1 R2
BC548 1.2K pose PCB and
N D1-D4 = 1 N4007
enclose in a
cabinet with
Fig. 1: Automatic high intensity LED-based emergency light enough space
for battery and
built around 3-terminal adjustable all the twelve LEDs is connected to switches. Mount the LEDs on the cabi-
regulator IC LM317 (IC1), while the the collector of pnp transistor T2 and net such that they light up the room.
LED driver section is built around the emitter of transistor T2 is directly A hole in the cabinet should be drilled
transistor BD140 (T2). connected to the positive terminal of to connect 230V AC input for the pri-
In the charger power supply sec- 6V battery. The unregulated DC volt- mary of the transformer.
tion, input AC mains is stepped down age, produced at the cathode junc- EFY lab note. We have tested the
by transformer X1 to deliver 9V, 500 tion of diodes D1 and D3, is fed to circuit with twelve 10mm white LEDs.
mA to the bridge rectifier, which com- the base of transistor T2 through a 1- You can use more LEDs provided the
prises diodes D1 through D4. Filter kilo-ohm resistor. total current consumption does not ex-
capacitor C1 eliminates ripples. Un- When mains power is available, the ceed 1.5A. Driver transistor T2 can de-
regulated DC voltage is fed to input base of transistor T2 remains high and liver up to 1.5A with proper heat-sink
pin 3 of IC1 and provides charging T2 does not conduct. Thus LEDs are arrangement. 

126 • JANUARY 2008 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU WWW.EFYMAG.COM

CONSTRUCTION

MICROCONTROLLER-BASED
TACHOMETER UMAR
SUNIL K
 PROF. K. PADMANABHAN you first place a contrasting colour
mask. A strip of white adhesive tape

A
tachometer is nothing but a is ideal on the spinning object. Posi-
simple electronic digital trans- tion it such that the intensity of light
ducer. Normally, it is used for PARTS LIST reflected from the object’s surface
measuring the speed of a rotating Semiconductors: changes as it rotates.
shaft. The number of revolutions per IC1 - AT89C2051 Each time the tape spins past
minute (rpm) is valuable information microcontroller
the probe, the momentary increase
IC2 - ULN2003 current buffer
for understanding any rotational sys- IC3 - CA3140 operational in reflected light is detected by the
tem. For example, there is an optimum amplifier phototransistor. The signal processor
T1-T4 - BC557 pnp transistors
speed for drilling a particular-size hole T5 - 2N2222 npn transistor and microcontroller circuit counts
in a particular metal piece; there is an T6 - L14F1 photo-transistor the increase in the number of such light
ideal sanding disk speed that depends D1 - 1N4007 rectifier diode reflections sensed by it and thereby
DIS1 - KLQ564 4-digit,
on the material being finished. You 7-segment display evaluates the rpm, which is displayed
may also want to measure the speed Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon): on the 4-digit, 7-segment display.
of fans you use. R1-R4 - 1-kilo-ohm The phototransistor is kept inside
This easy-to-make photoelectric R5, R6 - 10-kilo-ohm a plastic tube, which has a convex lens
R7-R11 - 1.2-kilo-ohm
tachometer measures the rpm of most RNW1 - 10-kilo-ohm resistor fitted at one end. A convex lens of
shop-floor tools and many household network about 1cm diameter and 8-10cm focal
machines without any mechanical or VR1 - 4.7-kilo-ohm preset
length is a common item used by
Capacitors:
electrical interface. C1 - 10µF, 16V electrolytic watch repairers and in cine film viewer
C2, C5, C6 - 0.1µF ceramic disk toys. It can be obtained from them to
How it works? C3, C4 - 22pF ceramic disk set up the experiment. The
Just point the light-sensitive probe tip Miscellaneous: phototransistor is fixed on a piece of
S1 - Push-to-on switch
atop the spinning shaft towards the S2 - On/Off Switch cardboard such that it faces the lens at
spinning blade, disk or chuck and read XTAL - 12MHz a distance of about 8 cm. The leads
the rpm. The only requirement is that BATT. - 6V battery
from the phototransistor are taken out

Fig. 1: Circuit of microcontroller-based tachometer

92 • JANUARY 2008 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU WWW.EFYMAG.COM

CONSTRUCTION
The AT89C2051 is a 20-pin, Port-3 pins P3.0 through P3.3 of the
8-bit microcontroller of Intel’s microcontroller are connected to the
8051 family made by Atmel Cor- base of transistors T1 through T4, re-
poration. Port-1 pins P1.7 spectively, to select one digit out of
through P1.2, and port-3 pin P3.7 the four at a time and to supply an-
are connected to input pins 1 ode-drive currents to the common an-
through 7 of ULN2003. Port-1 ode pin of respective digit. Pin con-
pins are pulled up with 10-kilo- figuration of transistor BC557 is shown
ohm resistor network RNW1. in Fig. 3.
They drive all the seven seg- When pin P3.0 of microcontroller
Fig. 2: Suitable arrangement of phototransistor ments of the display with the IC1 goes low, it drives transistor T1
help of internal inverters. into saturation, which provides the
and connected in the drive current to
circuit shown in Fig. 1. anode pin 6 of 4-
Fig. 2 shows the suit- digit, 7-segment,
able arrangement of common-anode
phototransistor. display DIS1.
The detected signal Similarly, transis-
is amplified by transis- tors T2 through
Fig. 3: Pin
tor 2N2222 (T5) and T4, respectively,
configuration of further amplified by provide supply
transistor BC557 operational amplifier to common-an-
CA3140 (IC3). The reference voltage ode pins 8, 9 and
point for the operational amplifier is 12 of DIS1. Thus
obtained by resistor divider network microcontroller
comprising R2 and R3. The output IC1 drives the
from pin 6 of IC3 is fed to pin 12 of segment in mul-
microcontroller AT89C2051. Note that tiplexed manner
pins 12 and 13 of microcontroller using its port
AT89C2051 are the inputs (+ and -) of pins. This is time-
its internal analogue comparator. Pin division multi-
13 is adjusted to nearly half the sup- plexing process.
ply voltage using a potential divider Segment data
comprising resistor R7 and preset VR1 Fig. 4: A single-side, actual-size PCB layout for microcontroller-based
and display-en-
across the supply. tachometer able pulse for
The pulses picked up by the display are re-
phototransistor are sensed by the in- freshed every 5
ternal comparator of AT89C2051 and, ms. Thus, the dis-
through software, each pulse repre- play appears to
senting one rotation of the object is de- be continuous
tected. By counting the number of such even though it
pulses, on an average per minute ba- lights up one by
sis, the RPM is evaluated. It is dis- one.
played by a software routine to light Switch S1 is
up the LED segments of the 4-digit, 7- used to manually
segment display. reset the
microcontroller,
Circuit description while the power-
Fig. 1 shows the circuit of the on-reset signal
microcontroller-based tachometer. The for the
tachometer comprises AT89C2051 microcontroller is
microcontroller, ULN2003 high-current given by C1 and
Darlington transistor array, CA3140 R6. A 12MHz
operational amplifier, common-anode crystal is con-
7-segment (4-digit multiplexed) dis- nected to pins 4
play and its four anode-driving tran- and 5 of IC1 to
sistors. Fig. 5: Component layout for the PCB

94 • JANUARY 2008 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU WWW.EFYMAG.COM

CONSTRUCTION
generate the basic clock frequency for
the microcontroller. The circuit uses a
6V battery for power supply or alter-
natively a mains derived low voltage
supply. An actual-size, single-side PCB
layout for the tachometer (Fig. 1) is
shown in Fig. 4 and its component lay-
out in Fig. 5.
Testing
The source code of this article is avail-
able at http://www.electronicsforu.
com/efycodes/efy-codes.zip at code
file ‘tacho.hex.’ Using a programmer,
load the code into the new chip
AT89C2051. (Refer the May 2005 issue
of EFY for article on programmer for
89C51 and 2051.) Then, fit it into the
circuit board and after powering up
the circuit, test it.
For testing, point the probe using
torchlight for illumination of the ro-
tating object. For fans, use the light
from behind. Hold the probe firmly
so as to provide a steady, bright illu-
mination on the object. Even an LED
pen torch could be used here. Avoid
the fluctuating background light from
sources such as tubelight.
Software
The software is written in Assembly
language and assembled using 8051
cross-assembler. It is well commented
and easy to understand. It uses
AT89C2051’s internal timer for mea-
suring the period of one cycle of the
rotation in units of 100 microseconds.
Thus if the speed is 1500 rpm, it is 25
rps, and the time taken for one cycle
is 40 ms.
The timer uses an interrupt to count
overflows every 100 microseconds and
so the number counted by the timer
program in this case will be ‘400.’ This
is divided by ‘600,000’ (so many 100/
µs present in a minute), giving a result
of ‘1500.’ This gives the rpm. These
digits are displayed on the 4-digit, 7-
segment display. To perform the divi-
sion, subroutine UDIV32 is employed,
which is a standard subroutine avail-
able for 8051 family for 32-bit number
by 16-bit number division. It has an
accuracy of 5 rpm in a 6000rpm count.
EFY note. The source code of this
article is available at http://
www.electronicsforu. com/efycodes/
efy-codes.zip and will also be included
in EFY-CD of February 2008 issue. 
Prof. K. Padmanabhan retired from Alagappa
College of Technology, Guindy, Chennai

TACHO.ASM
$mod51 mov r2,40h DIV AB
ORG 0H CALL HEX2BCD MOV R6,B
AJMP 30H mov 50h,#0FFH MOV R7,A
ORG 0BH ;TIMER 0 INTERRUPT VECTOR call refresh ENDD: ret
AJMP TIMER0ISR ;Timer 0 Interrupt service rou- disp: call refresh1 DISP1:
tine address djnz 50h,disp ; so many times for a visible time limit REFRESH:; content of 18 to 1B memory locations are
ORG 30H jmp beg output on LEDs
MOV SP,#60H ;set stack pointer ;16 Bit Hex to BCD Conversion for 8051 Microcontroller ; only numbers 0 to 9 and A to F are valid data in
MOV P3,#0FFH ;set all port 3 bits high to enable in- ;This routine is for 16 bit Hex to BCD conversion; these locations
puts also ;Accepts a 16 bit binary number in R1,R2 and returns 5 MOV 18H,r3 ; least significant digit
MOV P1,#03 ;set port 1 to all zeros expect bits 0,1 digit BCD in ;R7,R6,R5,R4,R3(upto 64K ) MOV 19H,r4 ; next significant digit
MOV TMOD,#01100001B ;TIMER 1 - MODE 2 Hex2BCD: ;r1=high byte, r7 most significant digit, R2 MOV 1AH,r5
COUNTER,TIMR-0 TO 16 bit timer = LSByte MOV 1BH,R6 ; most significant digit (max:9999)
BEG: MOV TH0,#0ffH ;TIMER REG.0 IS SET TO 0, MOV R3,#00D RET
GIVES 64ms MOV R4,#00D refresh1:
MOV TL0,#-99 ; timer low reg. is also so MOV R5,#00D MOV R0,#1bh ; 1b,1a,19,18, holds values for 4 digits
setb et0 MOV R6,#00D MOV R4,#8 ; pin p3.3_ 0 made low one by one starts
setb ea MOV R7,#00D wth 18
mov 44h,#0 MOV B,#10D mov r7,#2 ; decimal pt.on 3rd digit from left (2 nd
mov 45h,#0 MOV A,R2 fromright)
acall delay DIV AB PQ2: CALL SEGDISP
ajmp lowsig MOV R3,B ; dec R0
delay: mov r2,#10 MOV B,#10 ; R7,R6,R5,R4,R3 mov a,r4
djnz r2,$ ;wait 20 us DIV AB rrc a
ret MOV R4,B mov r4,a
lowsig: jb p3.6,lowsig MOV R5,A jnc pQ2
call delay CJNE R1,#0H,HIGH_BYTE ; CHECK FOR HIGH PV3:RET
jnb p3.6,$ BYTE SEGDISP:mov dptr,#ledcode
setb tr0 ; start timer SJMP ENDD MOV A,@R0
mov c,p3.6 ;high begins HIGH_BYTE: MOV A,#6 ANL A,#0FH
mov p3.5,c ADD A,R3 MOVC A,@A+dptr
acall delay MOV B,#10 segcode:MOV R5,A
jb p3.6, $ DIV AB ORL A,#03H ; WE WANT TO USE PORT 1 BITS 0
mov c,p3.6 ;low now MOV R3,B AND 1 FOR INPUT ANLOG
mov p3.5,c ADD A,#5 ; so retain them high
acall delay ADD A,R4 S3: MOV P1,A ; SEGMENT_PORT
jnb p3.6,$ MOV B,#10 MOV A,R5 ;we use p3.7 for the segment ‘a’ of display
mov c,p3.6 ;high begins again DIV AB RRC A ;so get that bit D0into carry
mov p3.5,c MOV R4,B rrc a
clr tr0 ;stop timer ADD A,#2 mov p3.7,c ;segment ‘a;
clr et0 ;and interrupt by timer ADD A,R5 S1: MOV A,R4 ; get digit code from r4 00001000
mov r3,#0 ;number 600000 or 927c0 hex as Dividend MOV B,#10 cpl a ;11110111
mov r2,#09h ; 9 DIV AB rrc a ;11111011-1
mov r1,#27h ;27 MOV R5,B mov p3.0,c ; output to drive transsitors for digit light-
mov r0,#0c0h ; c0 CJNE R6,#00D,ADD_IT ing
mov r5,45h ;divisor is time for one cycle SJMP CONTINUE rrc a ;11111101-1
mov r4,44h ADD_IT: ADD A,R6 mov p3.1,c
call UDIV32 ;divide 60000/t CONTINUE: MOV R6,A rrc a ;11111110-1
mov 40h,r0 DJNZ R1,HIGH_BYTE mov p3.2,c
mov 41h,r1 MOV B, #10D rrc a ;1111111-0 yes low makes left most digit show
mov r1,41h MOV A,R6 msdigit

96 • JANUARY 2008 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU WWW.EFYMAG.COM

CONSTRUCTION
mov p3.3,c push B mov a,r7
S5: setb RS0 ;select reg.bank 1 subb a,#0
S4: ACALL DELAY1 ; let it burn for some time mov r7,#0 mov 07,a
MOV A,#0ffH ; extinguish the digit after that time mov r6,#0 cpl C
MOV P3,A ; to prevent shadow mov r5,#0 jnc div_321
s6: RET mov r4,#0 mov r7,7
ledcode:DB 7EH,0CH,0B6H,9EH,0CCH,0DAH,0FAH mov B,#32 ;set loop count mov r6,6
;these are code for the numbers 0 to 9 and A to F div_lp32:clr RS0 ;selet reg.bank 0 mov r5,dph
DB 0EH,0FEH,0CEH,0EEH,0F8H,72H,0BCH,0F6H, clr C mov r4,dpl
0E2H mov a,r0 ;shift highestbit of X div_321: mov a,r0
DELAY1:MOV 55h,#0ffH ; 1ms rlc a rlc a
N: NOP mov r0,a mov r0,a ; shift result bit into partial quotient
DJNZ 55h,N mov a,r1 ;shift next bit of X mov a,r1
RET rlc a rlc a
TIMER0ISR:mov th0,#0ffh mov r1,a mov r1,a
mov tl0,#-90 ; in 100 us steps mov a,r2 ;shift next bit of X mov a,r2
push acc rlc a rlc a
mov a,#1 mov r2,a mov r2,a
clr c mov a,r3 ;shift next bit of X mov a,r3
add a, 44h ;count time btwn pulses rlc a rlc a
mov 44h,a mov r3,a mov r3,a
mov a,#0 setb rs0 ;reg. bank 1 djnz B,div_lp32
addc a,45h ;add carry to most sign. byte mov a,r4 ;lowest bit of remainder mov 7,r7
mov 45h,a rlc a mov 6,r6
pop acc mov r4,a mov 5,r5
reti mov a,r5 ;shift next bit of rem mov 4,r4
; subroutine UDIV32 rlc a mov 3,r3
;32 bit /16 bit to 32 bit quotient and remainder un- mov r5,a mov 2,r2
signed mov a,r6 ;shift next bit of rem mov 1,r1
;input r3,r2,r1,r0 = dividend X rlc a mov 0,r0
;input r5,r4 = divisor y mov r6,a clr rs0
;output r3-r0 = quotient Q of X/Y mov a,r7 ;shift next bit of rem pop B
;r7,r6,r5,r4 =remainder rlc a pop dph
;alters acc, flags mov r7,a pop dpl
UDIV32: push 08 ;save reg. bank 1 mov a,r4 pop 0Fh
push 09 clr C pop 0EH
push 0AH subb a,04 pop 0Dh
push 0BH mov dpl,a pop 0Ch
push 0CH mov a,r5 pop 0bh
push 0DH subb a,5 pop 0ah
push 0EH mov dph,a pop 09
push 0Fh mov a, r6 pop 08
push dpl subb a,#0 ret
push dph mov 06,a END 

98 • JANUARY 2008 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU WWW.EFYMAG.COM


MOBILE BUG
 D. MOHAN KUMAR
T
his handy, pocket-size mobile
transmission detector can sense
the presence of an activated
mobile phone from a distance of one-
and-a-half metres. So it can be used to
prevent use of mobile phones in ex-
amination halls, confidential rooms,
etc. It is also useful for detecting the
use of mobile phone for spying and
unauthorised video transmission.
The circuit can detect both the in-
coming and outgoing calls, SMS and
video transmission even if the mobile
phone is kept in the silent mode. The
moment the bug detects RF transmis-
sion signal from an activated mobile
phone, it starts sounding a beep alarm
and the LED blinks. The alarm contin-
ues until the signal transmission ceases.
An ordinary RF detector using
tuned LC circuits is not suitable for
detecting signals in the GHz frequency
band used in mobile phones. The
transmission frequency of mobile
phones ranges from 0.9 to 3 GHz with
a wavelength of 3.3 to 10 cm. So a cir-
cuit detecting gigahertz signals is re-
WWW.EFYMAG.COM
S.C. DW
IVEDI
quired for a mobile bug.
Here the circuit uses a 0.22µF disk
capacitor (C3) to capture the RF signals
from the mobile phone. The lead length
of the capacitor is fixed as 18 mm with
a spacing of 8 mm between the leads to
get the desired frequency. The disk ca-
pacitor along with the leads acts as a
small gigahertz loop antenna to collect
the RF signals from the mobile phone.
Op-amp IC CA3130 (IC1) is used
in the circuit as a current-to-voltage
converter with capacitor C3 connected
between its inverting and non-invert-
ing inputs. It is a CMOS version using
gate-protected p-channel MOSFET
transistors in the input to provide very
high input impedance, very low input
current and very high speed of perfor-
mance. The output CMOS transistor
is capable of swinging the output volt-
age to within 10 mV of either supply
voltage terminal.
Capacitor C3 in conjunction with
the lead inductance acts as a transmis-
sion line that intercepts the signals
from the mobile phone. This capacitor
ELECTRONICS FOR YOU • JANUARY 2008 • 135
CIRCUIT
IDEAS
creates a field, stores energy and trans-
fers the stored energy in the form of
minute current to the inputs of IC1.
This will upset the balanced input of
IC1 and convert the current into the
corresponding output voltage.
Capacitor C4 along with high-value
resistor R1 keeps the non-inverting in-
put stable for easy swing of the out-
put to high state. Resistor R2 provides
the discharge path for capacitor C4.
Feedback resistor R3 makes the invert-
ing input high when the output be-
comes high. Capacitor C5 (47pF) is
connected across ‘strobe’ (pin 8) and
‘null’ inputs (pin 1) of IC1 for phase
compensation and gain control to
optimise the frequency response.
When the mobile phone signal is
detected by C3, the output of IC1 be-
comes high and low alternately ac-
cording to the frequency of the signal
as indicated by LED1. This triggers
monostable timer IC2 through capaci-
tor C7. Capacitor C6 maintains the
base bias of transistor T1 for fast
switching action. The low-value tim-
ing components R6 and C9 produce
very short time delay to avoid audio
nuisance.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB as compact as possible
and enclose in a small box like junk
mobile case. As mentioned earlier, ca-
pacitor C3 should have a lead length
of 18 mm with lead spacing of 8 mm.
Carefully solder the capacitor in stand-
ing position with equal spacing of the
leads. The response can be optimised
by trimming the lead length of C3 for
the desired frequency. You may use a
short telescopic type antenna.
Use the miniature 12V battery of a
remote control and a small buzzer to
make the gadget pocket-size. The unit
will give the warning indication if
someone uses mobile phone within a
radius of 1.5 metres. 
CONSTRUCTION
TEMPERATURE INDICATOR-
CUM-CONTROLLER
 AKSHAY MATHUR
H
ere is an easy-to-construct
temperature indicator-cum-
controller that can be inter-
faced with a heater’s coil to maintain
the ambient room temperature. The
controller is based on ATmega8535
microcontroller, which makes it dy-
namic and faster, and uses an LCD
module to display and two keys to in-
crease or decrease the set values.
Fig. 1: Circuit of temperature indicator-cum-controller
84 • JANUARY 2008 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU
Circuit description
Fig. 1 shows the circuit of the tempera-
ture indicator-cum-controller. It com-
prises microcontroller ATmega8535,
temperature sensor LM35, regulator
7806, an LCD module and a few dis-
crete components.
The 230V, 50Hz AC mains is
stepped down by transformer X1 to
deliver a secondary output of 9V, 500
mA. The transformer output is recti-
fied by a full-wave bridge rectifier
EO
SANI TH
comprising diodes D1 through D4, fil-
tered by capacitor C1 and regulated
by IC 7806 (IC1). LED1 acts as the DC
power indicator. Resistor R1 acts as the
current limiter. A 4.8V rechargeable
battery provides battery backup.
The ATmega8535 is a low-power
CMOS 8-bit microcontroller based on
the AVR enhanced RISC architecture.
ATmega8535 has such features as 8 kB
WWW.EFYMAG.COM
CONSTRUCTION
PARTS LIST through 6 (RS, R/W, EN),
Semiconductors: and pins PD4 through
IC1 - 7806, 6V regulator PD7 to D4 through D7 of
IC2 - ATmega8535 AVR the LCD module, respec-
microcontroller
IC3 - LM35 temperature sensor tively. Contrast is con-
T1 - 2N2222 npn transistor trolled by preset VR1. Re-
D1-D6 - 1N4007 rectifier diode
LED1, LED2 - 5mm light-emitting diode sistor R3 limits the cur-
- 16-x2-line LCD module rent of backlight of the
Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon): LCD.
R1, R5 - 330-ohm
R2 - 4.7-kilo-ohm Port-C pins PC0 and
R3 - 100-ohm PC1 are used to interface
R4 - 1-kilo-ohm
R6 - 68-ohm switches S4 and S5 for
VR1 - 10-kilo-ohm preset decrementing and
Capacitors: incrementing the tem-
C1 - 1000µF, 25V electrolytic
C2 - 0.1µF ceramic disk perature setting as per the
C3, C4 - 22pF ceramic disk room temperature.
C5 - 1µF, 16V electrolytic Port-B pin PB0 is used
Miscellaneous:
X1 - 230V AC primary to 9V,
to control the relay with
500mA secondary the help of transistor T1.
transformer The room heater coil
XTAL - 4MHz crystal
S1, S2 - On/off switch Fig. 2: Actual-size, single-side PCB for the temperature indicator- is connected to contacts of
S3-S5 - Push-to-on switch cum-controller relay RL1. LED2 is con-
Relay - 6V, 1C/O relay
BATT. - 1.2Vx4 rechargeable nected in parallel with the
battery relay to indicate the
L1 - Room heater coil
power-‘on’ status of the
relay and the heater. D6
of in-system programmable flash acts as a free-wheeling di-
memory (i.e., read-while-write ode. A 4MHz crystal, con-
capabilities), 512-byte EEPROM, 512- nected between pins 12
byte SRAM, 32 general-purpose input/ and 13 of the
output (I/O) lines, 32 general-purpose microcontroller, provides
working registers, three flexible timers/ the basic clock frequency
counters with compare modes, internal for the microcontroller.
and external interrupts, a serially Switch S3 is used for
programmable USART, a byte-oriented manual reset.
two-wire serial interface, an 8-channel, The temperature mea-
10-bit analogue-to-digital converter sured using LM35 is com-
(ADC) with optional differential input pared with the reference
stage with programmable gain, a value. If the measured
programmable watchdog timer with temperature is higher
internal oscillator, an SPI serial port, than the reference value
and six software-selectable power- by 1ºC, the heater is
saving modes. switched off, and if the
The AVR core combines a rich in- measured temperature is
struction set with 32 general-purpose Fig. 3: Component layout for the PCB lower than the reference
working registers. All 32 registers are value by 1ºC, the heater
directly connected to the arithmetic interface the temperature sensor, is switched on.
logic unit (ALU), allowing two inde- which converts signals into digital Whenever the temperature of the
pendent registers to be accessed in one equivalent. Capacitor C5 protects the environment is lower than the refer-
single instruction executed in one clock ADC input from voltage fluctuations ence temperature by 1ºC, pin PB0 goes
cycle. The resulting architecture is and resistor R6 is used as the current high. Because of this, transistor T1 goes
more code-efficient while achieving limiter. into saturation and the relay energises.
throughputs up to ten times faster than Port D is used to interface the LCD The heater connected with AC mains
the conventional complex instruction module, which displays the set refer- by the normally-open (N/O) contacts
set computer (CISC) microcontroller. ence temperature value and the of the relay increases the temperature
Port-A pin PA0 of the present temperature. Port-D pins PD0 of surroundings. Similarly, when the
microcontroller is used as the ADC to through PD2 are connected to pins 4 temperature of surroundings is higher

86 • JANUARY 2008 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU WWW.EFYMAG.COM

CONSTRUCTION
than the reference temperature by 1ºC,
pin PB0 goes low, transistor T1 cuts
off, the relay de-energises and heater
is disconnected from mains. This re-
sults in lowering of the temperature
to reference value. The circuit in this
manner works as a temperature indi-
cator-cum-controller.
An actual-size, single-side PCB
for the microcontroller-based tempera-
ture indicator-cum-controller is
shown in Fig. 2 and its component
layout in Fig. 3.
Software
The software is written in ‘C’ language
and compiled using CodeVision AVR
C compiler. The source program is con-
verted into hex code by compiler. Burn
this hex code into Atmega8535 AVR
microcontroller. The source program is
well commented and easy to under-
stand.
First, declare that the
microcontroller’s port D is used for
communication with the LCD module
and then include the header files like
mega8535.h, lcd.h, delay.h and stdio.h.
Thereafter, define the justified external
reference voltage and then the subrou-
tine for the microcontroller to read the
digital equivalent input.
The lcd_init(16) function initialises
the 16-x2-line LCD.
The lcd_clear( ) function clears the
LCD and sets the displaying character
position at row ‘0’ and column ‘0.’
The lcd_gotoxy(0, 0) function sets
the current display position at column
‘0’ and row ‘0.’
The delay_ms(50) function gener-
ates a delay of 50 milliseconds.
The loop works to get temperature,
read temperature, convert it into Cel-
sius and then display on the LCD mod-
ule.
EFY-note. The source code of this
article is available at http://
www.electronicsforu.com/efycodes/
efy-codes.zip and will also be included
in EFY-CD of February 2008 issue.

TEMP.C
#asm unsigned int temp, temp_set=20; sprintf(buf,"Temper :%i Deg ",temp);
.equ __lcd_port=0x12 ;PORTD char buf[20]; lcd_puts(buf);
#endasm PORTB=0x00; key=PINC;
DDRB=0xFF; if(key==254)
#include <mega8535.h> PORTB=0xFF; {
#include <lcd.h> // ADC initialization temp_set=temp_set-1;
#include <delay.h> // ADC Clock frequency: 1000.000 kHz if(temp_set<5) temp_set=5;
#include <stdio.h> // ADC Voltage Reference: AREF pin }
// ADC High Speed Mode: Off else if(key==253)
#define ADC_VREF_TYPE 0x00 // ADC Auto Trigger Source: None {
ADMUX=ADC_VREF_TYPE; temp_set=temp_set+1;
// Read the AD conversion result ADCSRA=0x83; if(temp_set>40)
unsigned int read_adc(unsigned char adc_input) SFIOR&=0xEF; temp_set=40;
{ }
ADMUX=adc_input|ADC_VREF_TYPE; lcd_init(16); if (temp<temp_set-1)
// Start the AD conversion lcd_clear(); {
ADCSRA|=0x40; delay_ms(50); PORTB.0=1;
// Wait for the AD conversion to complete }
while ((ADCSRA & 0x10)==0); while (1) else if(temp>temp_set+1)
ADCSRA|=0x10; { { PORTB.0=0;
return ADCW; temp =read_adc(0); }
} temp = temp*48/100; delay_ms(20);
lcd_gotoxy(0,0); };
void main(void) sprintf(buf,"Set val:%i Deg ",temp_set); }
{ lcd_puts(buf); 
unsigned char key; lcd_gotoxy(0,1);

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BUILD YOUR OWN from outside Delhi Forwarding charges Rs 40 per kit

ELECTRONIC KITS
 Microcontroller-Based Industrial Timer (June 2007)—Rs 1400/-
 Microcontroller-Based Real Time Clock with Remote (April 2007) Rs 1500/-
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Rs 1350/-
 Remote Control Land Rover Robotics (June 2006)—Rs 3000/-
 Low-Cost Energy Meter (May 2005)—Rs 1000/-
Please send your remittance by
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Phone: 26371661, 26371662, 32975879; E-mail: kits@efyindia.com

88 • JANUARY 2008 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU WWW.EFYMAG.COM

 circuit
ideas
Tester For Remote Control
 T.A. Babu mately five metres. The integrated IR
receiver detects, amplifies and de-
H
ere is a simple tester for check- modulates IR signals from the remote
ing the basic operations of an control unit. The piezobuzzer con-
infrared remote control unit. nected at its output sounds to indicate
It is low-cost and easy to construct. the presence of signal from the remote
The tester is built around infrared control unit.
receiver module TSOP1738. Operation As shown in Fig. 1, output pin 3 of
of the remote control is acknowledged IR receiver module TSOP1738 (IRX1)
by a tone from the buzzer. The circuit normally remains high and the pi-
is sensitive and has a range of approxi- ezobuzzer is in silent mode. When the
IR module
IRX1 re-
ceives an
infrared
signal, its
output goes
low and, as
a result, the
piezobuzz-
er sounds
to indicate
the recep-
Fig. 1: Circuit diagram of remote tester tion of sig-
9 6 • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
s.c. dwiv
edi
nal from the
remote (such
as TV remote
control unit).
P o w e r
supply for
the circuit is
Fig. 2: Pin configuration of
derived from
TL431 and TSOP 1738 the mains us-
ing a capaci-
tive potential dropper, a half-wave rec-
tifier, a shunt regulator and associated
components. Make sure that capacitor
C1 is of X2 type. Use a suitably small
enclosure to make the unit handy.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and enclose in a cabinet.
Make sure that the IR receiver module
is placed on the front panel of the cabi-
net so that it can receive the IR signals
easily. Before soldering/connecting the
shunt regulator and IR module, refer
Fig. 2 for the pin configuration. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Construction
Microcontroller-based
Ultrasonic Distance Meter
 K. Padmanabhan
T
here are several ways to meas-
ure distance without contact.
One way is to use ultrasonic
waves at 40 kHz for distance measure-
ment. Ultrasonic transducers measure
the amount of time taken for a pulse of
sound to travel to a particular surface
and return as the reflected echo.
This circuit calculates the distance
based on the speed of sound at 25°C
ambient temperature and shows it
on a 7-segment display. Using it,
you can measure distance up to 2.5
metres.
For this particular application, the
required components are AT89C2051
microcontroller, two 40kHz ultrasonic
transducers (one each for transmitter
Fig. 1: Ultrasonic transmitter and receiver pair
Fig. 2: The ultrasonic pulse, echo signal and time measurement 2.5 metres and will need a
6 8 • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
and receiver), current buffer ULN2003,
operational amplifier LM324, inverter
CD4049, four 7-segment displays, five
transistors and some discreet com-
ponents. The ultrasonic transmitter-
receiver pair is shown in Fig. 1.
Ultrasonic generators use piezo-
electric materials such as zinc or lead
zirconium tartrates or quartz crystal.
The material thickness decides the
resonant frequency when mounted
and excited by electrodes attached on
either side of it. The medical scanners
used for abdomen or heart ultrasound
are designed at 2.5 MHz. In this cir-
cuit, a 40kHz transducer is used for
measurement in the air medium. The
velocity of sound in the air is around
330 m/s at 0°C and varies with tem-
perature.
In this project, you excite the ul-
trasonic transmitter unit with a 40kHz
pulse burst and expect an echo from
the object whose distance you want to
measure. Fig. 2 shows the transmitted
burst, which lasts for a period of ap-
proximately 0.5 ms. It travels to the
object in the air and the echo signal
is picked up by another ultrasonic
transducer unit (receiver), also a 40
kHz pre-tuned unit. The re-
ceived signal, which is very
weak, is amplified several
times in the receiver circuit
and appears somewhat as
shown in Fig. 2 when seen
on a CRO.
Weak echoes also occur
due to the signals being
directly received through
the side lobes. These are
ignored as the real echo
received alone would give
the correct distance. That
is why we should have a
level control. Of course,
the signal gets weaker if
the target is farther than
mar
sunil ku
higher pulse excitation voltage or a
better transducer.
Here the microcontroller is used to
generate 40kHz sound pulses. It reads
when the echo arrives; it finds the time
taken in microseconds for to-and-fro
travel of sound waves. Using velocity
of 333 m/s, it does the calculations and
Parts List
Semiconductors:
IC1 - AT89C2051
microcontroller
IC2 - ULN2003 current buffer
IC3 - CD4049 hex inverting
buffer
IC4 - LM324 quad operational
amplifier
IC5 - 7815, 15V regulator
IC6 - 7915, -15V regulator
IC7 - 7805, 5V regulator
T1-T4 - BC557 pnp transistor
T5 - 2N2222 npn transistor
D1, D2 - 1N4148 switching diode
D3-D6 - 1N4007 rectifier diode
DIS1-DIS4 - LTS 542 common-anode,
7-segment display
Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon):
R1, R2 - 2-mega-ohm
R3 - 82-kilo-ohm
R4, R7-R10 - 10-kilo-ohm
R5 - 33-kilo-ohm
R6 - 100-kilo-ohm
R11 - 1-kilo-ohm
R12-R15 - 1.2-kilo-ohm
R16 - 220-ohm
RNW1 - 10-kilo-ohm resistor
network
VR1 - 1-kilo-ohm preset
Capacitors:
C1, C2 - 3.3nF ceramic disk
C7, C10-C12 - 0.1µF ceramic disk
C3 - 2.2nF ceramic disk
C4 - 10µF, 16V electrolytic
C5, C6 - 22pF ceramic disk
C8, C9 - 1000µF, 50V electrolytic
Miscellaneous:
X1 - 230V AC primary to
15V-0-15V, 500mA
secondary transformer
XTAL - 12MHz crystal
S1 - Push-to-on switch
S2 - On/off switch
TX1 - 40kHz ultrasonic
transmitter
RX1 - 40kHz ultrasonic receiver
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Construction
shows on the four
7-segment dis-
plays the distance
in centimetres and
millimetres (three
digits for centime-
tres and one for
millimetres).

Circuit
description Fig. 4: Two dimensional beam pattern of
ultrasonic signal showing main lobe and side
Fig. 3 shows the lobe energy levels
circuit of the mi-
crocontroller-based up pulse transformer, which steps-up
distance meter. The the transmitter output to 60V (peak-
40kHz pulse bursts to-peak).
from the microcon- The echo signal received by the
troller are ampli- receiver sensor after reflection is very
fied by transistor weak. It is amplified by quad opera-
T5. Inverting buff- tional amplifier LM324. The first stage
er CD4049 drives (A1) is a buffer with unity gain. The
the ultrasonic sen- received signal is directly fed to the
sor used as the non-inverting input (pin 3) of A1 and
transmitter. Three coupled to the second stage by a 3.3nF
inverters (N1, N2 (small-value) capacitor. If you use
and N3) are con- the ubiquitous 0.01µF capacitor for
nected in paral- coupling, there will be enormous hum
lel to increase the at the output. The second stage of the
transmited power. inverting amplifier uses a 2-mega-ohm
This inverted out- resistor for feedback. The third stage
put is fed to an- is a precision rectifier amplifier with a
other set of three gain of 10.
inverters (N4, N5 The rectifier functions, unlike a
and N6). Outputs simple diode, even for signal voltage
of both sets of par- of less than 0.6V. The output is filtered
allel inverters are to accept 40kHz frequencies and fed to
applied as a push- pin 12 of microcontroller AT89C2051,
pull drive to the which is an analogue comparator. Pin
ultrasonic trans- 13 is the other pin of the comparator
mitter. used for level adjustment using preset
The positive- VR1.
going pulse is ap- The ultrasonic transducer outputs
plied to one of the a beam of sound waves, which has
terminals of the more energy on the main lobe and less
ultrasonic sensor energy (60 dB below the main lobe) on
and the same pulse the side lobes as shown in Fig. 4. Even
after 180-degree this low side-lobe signal is directly
phase shift is ap- picked up by the receiver unit. So
plied to another you have to space the transmitter and
terminal. Thus the receiver units about 5 cm apart. The
transmitter power two units are fixed by cellotape onto a
is increased for in- cardboard, with the analogue circuit
creasing the range. at one end.
If you want to Microcontroller AT89C2051 is at
increase the range the heart of the circuit. Port-1 pins P1.7
up to 5 metres, use through P1.2, and port-3 pin P3.7 are
Fig. 3: Microcontroller based distance meter circuit a ferrite-core step- connected to input pins 1 through 7 of

7 0 • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Construction
Fig. 5: Power supply circuit for distance meter
Fig. 6: Actual-size, single-side PCB for the microcontroller-based ultrasonic distance meter
IC2 (IC ULN2003), respectively. These
pins are pulled up with a 10-kilo-ohm
resistor network RNW1. They drive all
the segments of the 7-segment display
with the help of inverting buffer IC2.
Port-3 pins P3.0 through P3.3 of
the microcontroller are connected
to the base of transistors T1 through
T4 to provide the supply to displays
DIS1 through DIS4, respectively. Pin
P3.0 of microcontroller IC1 goes low
to drive transistor T1 into saturation,
which provides supply to the com-
mon-anode pin (either pin 3 or 8) of
7 2 • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
display DIS1. Similarly, transistors T2
through T4 provide anode currents to
the other three 7-segment displays.
Microcontroller IC1 provides the
segment data and display-enable sig-
nal simultaneously in time-division
multiplexed mode for displaying a
particular number on the 7-segment
display unit.
Segment data and display-enable
pulse for the display are refreshed eve-
ry 5 ms. Thus the display appears to be
continuous, even though the individual
LEDs used in it light up one by one.
Using switch S1 you
can manually reset
the microcontroller,
while the power-
on reset signal for
the microcontrol-
ler is derived from
the combination of
capacitor C4 and re-
sistor R8. A 12MHz
crystal is used to
generate the basic
clock frequency for
the microcontroller.
Resistor R16 con-
nected to pin 5 of
DIS2 enables the
decimal point.
The comparator is inbuilt in micro-
controller AT89C2051. The echo signal
will make port-3 pin 3.6 low when it
goes above the level of voltage set on
pin 13. This status is sensed by the mi-
crocontroller as programmed.
When port-3 pin P3.6 goes high, we
know that the echo signal has arrived;
the timer is read and the 16-bit number
is divided by twice the velocity of
sound and then converted into decimal
format as a 4-digit number.
Power supply. Fig. 5 shows the
circuit of the power supply. The 230V
AC mains is stepped down by trans-
former X1 to deliver the secondary
output of 15V-0-15V, 500 mA. The
transformer output is rectified by a
full-wave bridge rectifier comprising
diodes D3 through D6, filtered by
capacitors C8 and C9 and then regu-
lated by ICs 7815 (IC5), 7915 (IC6)
and 7805 (IC7). Regulators 7815, 7915
and 7805 provide +15V, -15V and
+5V regulated supply, respectively.
Capacitors C10 through C12 bypass
the ripples present in the regulated
power supply.
Construction and testing
An actual-size, single-side PCB for the
microcontroller-based distance meter
is shown in Fig. 6 and its component
layout in Fig. 7.
Assemble the PCB and put the
programmed microcontroller into the
socket. After switching on the power
supply and microcontroller automati-
cally getting reset upon power-’on,’
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

Fig. 7: Component layout for the PCB
pin 8 will pulse at 40kHz bursts. This
can be seen using an oscilloscope.
Give this signal to channel 1 of the
oscilloscope. Adjust the time base to
2 ms per division and set it to trigger
mode instead of normal mode. Adjust
the potmeter on the oscilloscope la-
beled ‘level’ such that the trace starts
with the burst and appears steady as
shown in Fig. 2.
Connect the transmitter and re-
ceiver ultrasonic units either by a
twisted pair of wire or by a shielded
cable to the board. Give the received
signal to channel 2 of the oscilloscope.
Then, place an A4-size plastic sheet in
front of the ultrasonic transducers and
Program listing:
$mod51
ORG 0H
AJMP 30H
ORG 0BH ;TIMER 0 INTERRUPT VECTOR
; AJMP TIMER0ISR ;Timer 0 Interrupt
service routine address
ORG 30H
MOV SP,#60H ;set stack pointer
MOV P3,#0FFH ;set all port 3 bits high
to enable inputs also
MOV P1,#03 ;set port 1 to all zeros
expect bits 0,1
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
observe the echo signal. It will appear
as shown in Fig. 2.
The two transducers can be fixed
to a thick cardboard with two wires
leading to the circuit—two 40cm long
shielded cables will do. The laser
pointer is fixed such that it is axial
to the transducers. Channel 2 is con-
nected to pin 12, which is the positive
non-inverting terminal of AT89C2051’s
comparator. The negative inverting ter-
minal (pin 13) is connected to a preset
reference. Adjust the preset such that
the voltage is 0.1V-0.2V at pin 13. This
will enable detection of weak echoes
also.
When the echo signal goes above
ultrsnd.asm
MOV TMOD,#01100001B ;TIMER 1 - MODE 2
COUNTER,TIMR-0 TO MODE 1
BEG: MOV TH0,#0H ;TIMER REG.0 IS SET TO
0, GIVES 64ms
MOV TL0,#0 ; timer low reg. is also so
;TOTAL CYCLE TIME IS 64.6ms ,350m/s
gives 0.35mx65=22.5m
; up and down 10 metres say! .35 m/ms,
.35 mm/us, 1mm per 3 micros
; up and down .35/2 mm/us = 1/6 mm/us
; VELOCITY OF SOUND IN AIR IS 350 M/S
; AFTER 100 TIMES, WE HAVE TO STOP
TRANSMITTING FOR A TIME OF ABOUT .1 S
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 8 • 7 3
Construction
the level of reference voltage set on pin
13, it will make P3.6 low; the arrival of
echo is sensed by the program using
jnb p3.6 (jump not bit) instruction.
Software
The software is written in Assembly
language and assembled using 8051
cross-assembler. It is well commented
and easy to understand.
The pulse train for 0.5 ms is started
by making pin 8 high and low alter-
nately for 12.5 microseconds so that the
pulse frequency is 40 kHz. After 25 such
pulses have passed, a waiting time is
given to avoid direct echoes for about
20 µs. Then the signal is awaited, while
the timer runs counting time in micro-
seconds. When the echo arrives, port-3
pin P3.6 goes high, the timer reads and
the 16-bit number is divided by twice
the velocity and converted into decimal
format as a 4-digit number.
If the echo does not arrive even
after 48 milliseconds, the waiting loop
is broken and the pulse train sequence
is started once again. If the echo comes
within this time, it is displayed for half
a second before proceeding to another
measurement. Thus, the display ap-
pears continuous and flicker-free.
Other uses
Simply by changing this program, the
same unit can be made to detect mov-
ing objects (such as cars racing on the
street) and find their range and speed.
It can also be used with suitable addi-
tional software as a burglar alarm unit
for homes or offices.
EFY note. All the relevant files of
this project are included in this month’s
EFY-CD.
; SO WE STOP FOR THIS AMOUNT OF TIME
and expect an echo.
mov r2,#25 ; 25 pulses 26 us =.53 ms
(343m/s*.5ms=17cm)
pulse: setb p3.4 ;generates 40KHz
mov r1,#5
djnz r1,$
clr p3.4
mov r1,#5
djnz r1,$ ;wait for 13 us
djnz r2, pulse ;20pulses
setb tr0 ;start timer
Construction
mov r2,#10 mov r0,a MOV 1BH,R6 ; most significant digit
djnz r2,$ ;wait 20 us mov a,r7 ;get rem. saved before the (max:9999)
check_echo: mov r3,a ;last subtraction.
jnb p3.6,checktimeout mov a,r6 refresh1: MOV R0,#1bh ; 1b,1a,19,18,
MOV 40h,TL0 ; read timer count mov r2,a holds values for 4 digits
MOV 41h,TH0 ret MOV R4,#8 ; pin p3.3_ 0 made low one by
mov r0,40h one starts wth 18
mov r1,41h ;16 Bit Hex to BCD Conversion for 8051 mov r7,#2 ; decimal pt.on 3rd digit
mov r3,#0 Microcontroller from left (2 nd fromright)
mov r2,#6 ; This routine is for 16 bit Hex to BCD PQ2: CALL SEGDISP
call UDIV16 ;divide by 6 conversion; deC R0
mov 40h,r0 ;Accepts a 16 bit binary number in mov a,r4
mov 41h,r1 R1,R2 and returns 5 digit BCD in rrc a
mov 50h,#25 ;R7,R6,R5,R4,R3(upto 64K ) mov r4,a
disp: call disp1 ; show the value on Hex2BCD: ;r1=high byte ;r7 most sig- jnc pQ2
LED nificant digit PV3:
djnz 50h,disp ; so many times for a ;R2 = LSByte RET
visible time limit MOV R3,#00D
MOV R4,#00D SEGDISP:
jmp beg MOV R5,#00D mov dptr,#ledcode
MOV R6,#00D MOV A,@R0
checktimeout: mov a,th0 MOV R7,#00D ANL A,#0FH
cjne a,#0c0h,check_echo ;upto 4 metres MOV B,#10D MOVC A,@A+dptr
jmp beg MOV A,R2
;subroutine UDIV16 DIV AB segcode:
;16 bit/16bit unsigned divide MOV R3,B ; MOV R5,A
;input r1,r0 =dividend X MOV B,#10 ; R7,R6,R5,R4,R3 ORL A,#03H ; WE WANT TO USE PORT 1 BITS
;input r3,r2 =divisor Y DIV AB 0 AND 1 FOR INPUT ANLOG
;output r1,r0 =quottient q of x/y MOV R4,B ; so retain them high
;output r3,r2 = remainder MOV R5,A S3: MOV P1,A ; SEGMENT_PORT
; alters acc,r4-47,flags,dptr CJNE R1,#0H,HIGH_BYTE ; CHECK FOR HIGH
UDIV16: mov r7,#0 ;clear partial re- BYTE MOV A,R5 ;we use p3.7 for the segment
mainder SJMP ENDD ‘a’ of display
mov r6,#0 ; HIGH_BYTE: MOV A,#6 RRC A ;so get that bit D0into carry
mov B,#16 ;set loop count ADD A,R3 ; cpl c
div_loop: clr C ;clear carry flag MOV B,#10 ; mov p3.5,c ; dec pt is D0 bit that is
mov a,r0 ; shift the highest bit of DIV AB wired to p3.5
dividend into MOV R3,B rrc a
rlc a ADD A,#5 mov p3.7,c ;segment ‘a;
mov r0,a ADD A,R4 S1: MOV A,R4 ; get digit code from r4
mov a,r1 MOV B,#10 00001000
rlc a DIV AB cpl a ;11110111
mov r1,a MOV R4,B rrc a ;11111011-1
mov a,r6 ;... the lowest bit of partial ADD A,#2
remainder ADD A,R5 mov p3.0,c ; output to drive transsi-
rlc a MOV B,#10 tors for digit lighting
mov r6,a DIV AB rrc a ;11111101-1
mov a,r7 MOV R5,B mov p3.1,c
rlc a CJNE R6,#00D,ADD_IT rrc a ;11111110-1
mov r7,a SJMP CONTINUE mov p3.2,c
mov a,r6 ADD_IT: ADD A,R6 rrc a ;1111111-0 yes low makes leftmost
clr C CONTINUE: MOV R6,A digit show msdigit
subb a,r2 DJNZ R1,HIGH_BYTE mov p3.3,c
mov dpl,a MOV B, #10D S5:
mov a,r7 MOV A,R6 S4: ACALL DELAY1 ; let it burn
subb a,r3 DIV AB for some time
mov dph,a MOV R6,B MOV A,#0ffH ; extinguish
cpl C MOV R7,A the digit after that time
jnc div_1 ;update partial reaminder ENDD: ret MOV P3,A ; to prevent shadow
if borrow s6: RET
mov r7,dph DISP1: ledcode:
mov r6,dpl ; update parital reminder REFRESH: ; content of 18 to 1B memory DB 7EH,0CH,0B6H,9EH,0CCH,0DAH,0FAH
div_1: mov a,r4 locations are output on LEDs DB 0EH,0FEH,0CEH,0EEH,0F8H,72H,0BCH,0
rlc a ; only numbers 0 to 9 and A to F are F6H,0E2H
mov r4,a valid data in these locations ;these are code for
mov a,r5 mov r1,41h the numbers 0 to 9 and A to F
rlc a mov r2,40h DELAY1: MOV R1,#0ffH
mov r5,a N: NOP
djnz B,div_loop CALL HEX2BCD
mov a,r5 MOV 18H,r3 ; least significant digit DJNZ R1,N
mov r1,a ; put qt. in r0,r1 MOV 19H,r4 ; next significant digit RET
mov a,r4 MOV 1AH,r5 END 

7 4 • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 circuit
ideas

Versatile CMOS/TTL Logic

And Clock Probe s.c. dwiv
edi

 EFY Lab point of the logic circuit. goes low only when logic input at the
Supply for the probe circuit is probe tip exceeds the biasing voltage

F
or fault diagnosis of any logic
circuit, you need a probe that can
test the logic level or existence of
clock activity. The circuit shown here
can be used to test CMOS and TTL
logic circuits for logic states and also
for the presence of clock activity from a
few hertz to more than 10 MHz, at any
taken from the circuit under test using
alligator clips. In the circuit, LM319
dual-comparator is connected as a
window detector. The non-invert-
ing pin of comparator N1 is biased
to nearly 2V when switch S1 is in
TTL position and 80 per cent of Vcc
in CMOS position. The output of N1
and, as a result, the red LED lights up
to indicate logic 1 state at the probe
tip.
Similarly, the inverting pin of
comparator N2 is biased at nearly 0.8V
(in TTL position of switch S1) and 20
per cent of Vcc (in CMOS position of
switch S1). Only when the input volt-

age at probe tip is less than the biasing

Test Results
voltage, will its output drop low to
Test Specified Observed Red Green Yellow Buzzer
light up the green LED to indicate logic
conditions level level LED LED LED sound
0 state.
TTL (5V) The probe tip is also connected to
Low <0.8V <0.8V Off On Off Off the input of CD4049 (N3) via capacitor
High >2V ≥2.1V On Off Off Off C1 to pass AC/clock signals. It simply
Clock TTL 1 Hz to 10 MHz Off Momentarily On for On for acts as a buffer and couples only the
compatible or even more on/off 3 seconds 3 seconds high-to-low going signals at the in-
CMOS (12V) put/output of the gate to the input of
Low <2.5V ≤2.35V Off On Off Off next gate N4.
High >9.5V >9.5V On Off Off Off The output of gate N4 is further
Clock CMOS 1 Hz to 10 MHz Off Momentarily ‘On’ for ‘On’ for coupled to gate N5, which is wired as a
compatible or even more on/off 3 seconds 3 seconds monostable. A positive feedback from

9 2 • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

the output of gate N5 to the input of
gate N4 ensures that unless capacitor
C4 (0.47µF) discharges sufficiently via
4.7-mega-ohm resistor, further clock
pulses at the input of N4 will have no
effect.
Gate N6 is used for driving a yel-
low LED (indicating oscillatory input
at probe tip), which will be switched
on for a brief period. The output of
gate N6 is further used to inhibit/en-
able the oscillator formed by gates N7
circuit
ideas
and N8. It briefly activates the buzzer
to beep during mono period, indicat-
ing oscillatory input at the probe tip.
Thus we have audio-visual indication
during clock/oscillatory input at the
probe tip. 

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 8 • 9 3
 circuit
ideas

Drinking Water Alarm s.c. dwiv

edi

 Dr C.H. Vithalani

T
he State Jal Boards supply
water for limited duration in a
day. Time of water supply is
decided by the management and the
public does not know the same. In such
a situation, this water alarm circuit will
save the people from long wait as it
will inform them as soon as the water
supply starts.
At the heart of this circuit is a
small water sensor. For fabricating
this water sensor, you need two
foils—an aluminium foil and a plastic
foil. You can assemble the sensor by
rolling aluminium and plastic foils
in the shape of a concentric cylinder.
Connect one end of the insulated
flexible wire on the aluminium foil
and the other end to resistor R2. Now work only when water flows through from the tap. The circuit works off a 9V
mount this sensor inside the water the water tap and completes the cir- battery supply.
tap such that water can flow through cuit connection. It oscillates at about Assemble the circuit on any gen-
it uninterrupted. To complete the 1 kHz. The output of the timer at pin eral-purpose PCB and house in a
circuit, connect another wire from 3 is connected to loudspeaker LS1 via suitable cabinet. The water sensor is
the junction of pins 2 and 6 of IC1 to capacitor C3. As soon as water starts inserted into the water tap. Connect
the water pipeline or the water tap flowing through the tap, the speaker the lead coming out from the junc-
itself. starts sounding, which indicates re- tion of 555 pins 2 and 6 to the body of
The working of the circuit is sim- sumption of water supply. It remains the water tap. Use on/off switch S1
ple. Timer 555 is wired as an astable ‘on’ until you switch off the circuit to power the circuit with the 9V PP3
multivibrator. The multivibrator will with switch S1 or remove the sensor battery. 

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • m a r c h 2 0 0 8 • 1 0 5
 circuit
ideas
GLOW PLUG CONTROLLER
 T.A. Babu
I
n diesel engines, the air in the
cylinders is not hot enough to
ignite the fuel under cold condi-
tions. Therefore each cylinder of these
Fig. 1: Glow plug controller
engines is fitted with an electric heater
known as ‘glow plug.’ A control circuit
is necessary to optimise the functioning
of glow plugs. It raises the air tem-
perature inside the engine cylinder for
quick and reliable starting, extended
battery life and reduced diesel con-
sumption.
The glow plug controller (Fig. 1)
uses a simple timer circuit built around
MOSFET T1 for reliability and simplic-
ity. Momentary pushing of switch S2
1 0 4 • m a r c h 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
charges capacitor C1 rapidly via resis-
tor R1. When the voltage on capacitor
C1 exceeds the threshold voltage of
the gate (G) of MOSFET T1, it starts
charging reservoir capacitor C2 and
simultaneously energises relay RL1.
MOSFET T1 remains conducting as
long as the voltage on C1 is greater
than the threshold voltage of the MOS-
FET gate.
The ‘on’ time period depends on
the value of capacitor C1 and resistor
R2, which govern the discharge current
of capacitor C2. The component values
given here will produce ‘on’ time of
around 25 seconds. In effect, when you
press switch S2 momentarily, the relay
energises for about 25 seconds and
s.c. dwiv
edi
the glow plug gets the power supply
through its contact.
The red LED (LED1) indicates that
the heating process of glow plugs is
Fig. 2: Pin configurations of bs170
and bc548
‘on.’ When the ‘on’ time is over,
the green LED (LED2) turns on
for a while, followed by a short
beep from the buzzer, which in-
dicates that the engine is ready
for starting. Glow plugs draw a
heavy current, hence high-cur-
rent-rating contacts of an automotive
relay are required.
Assemble the circuit on any gen-
eral-purpose PCB and house in a
suitable case. Connect the glow plug
wire to the relay contact. 12V battery
already available with the vehicle is
used to power the circuit. Connect
the piezobuzzer and LED1 and LED2
through an external connection and
place it at a convenient location for the
driver to operate. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

Microcontroller-Based
Capacitance Meter
 Prof. K. Padmanabhan
M
ost multimeters can measure
the resistance value. Some
new types of digital mul-
timeters can measure capacitance as
well, but these are expensive. At the
same time, small capacitors made of
ceramic material exhibit wide vari-
ations in their value and one has to
measure their value before these are
put to use in the circuit. Also, capaci-
tors should be chosen properly for use
in the power supply, timer and cou-
pling circuits.
There arises the need for a ca-
pacitance meter that can measure
the capacitance values and display
them in µF and nF automatically.
Here we describe such a microcon-
troller-based capacitance meter that
Fig. 1: Basic principle of capacitance charging
Fig. 2: Charging takes an exponential rise
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
automatically measures the capaci-
tance and shows it on the 7-segment
displays directly.
Working principle
Fig. 1 shows the capacitor charging
circuit and Fig. 2 shows the exponen-
tial rise of voltage across capacitor
on charging. A CMOS FET switch
IC CD4066 is used to switch the volt-
age for charging the unknown capaci-
tor C through resistor R. As the volt-
age rises exponentially and crosses the
threshold voltage (set at one pin of the
comparator), the output of the compa-
rator transits from ‘low’ to ‘high’ state.
At any time ‘t’ (in seconds), voltage
Vc across capacitor C (farads), which
is charging exponentially through
resistor R (ohms) after application of
voltage Vcc, is given by the following
relationship:
Vc= Vcc{(1–exp(–t/CR)}
On substituting Vcc = 5V, you get:
Vc= 5–5exp(–t/CR)
But the threshold voltage of the
comparator pin is set to half of the sup-
ply voltage, so:
exp(-t/CR) = 2.5/5 = 0.5
t/CR = 0.6931
CR = 1.442t
If R is 10 kilo-ohms,
C = 0.1442 × 10-3 × t
If the threshold of the comparator
pin is set to 0.63 of supply voltage,
Fig. 3: Power supply circuit
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • a p r i l 2 0 0 8 • 5 9
Construction
mar
sunil ku
then:
exp(-t/CR)=0.63,
which gives
t/CR = 1
So with 10 kilo-ohms for R, you
get C as t/10000 Farads. If ‘t’ is in
microseconds, you will get C as time
in microseconds × 100 as the value of
C in pF. Thus you get a resolution of
100 pF per microsecond. For 100k, it
will become 10 pF.
A discharge switch across the ca-
pacitor is also required so that the ca-
pacitor is discharged prior to charging
of the capacitor through resistor R.
Circuit description
Fig. 3 shows the power supply circuit.
230V AC mains is stepped down by
transformer X1 to deliver the secondary
output of 9V, 500 mA. The transformer
output is rectified by a full-wave bridge
rectifier comprising diodes D1 through
D4, filtered by capacitor C4 and then
regulated by IC 7805 (IC6). Capacitor
C5 bypasses any ripple present in the
regulated power supply. Light-emit-
ting diode LED1 acts as the power in-
dicator and resistor R14 limits current
through LED1.
Construction
Parts List
Semiconductors:
IC1 - AT89C2051
microcontroller
IC2 - ULN2803 current buffer
IC3 - 74LS138 3-to-8 decoder
IC4 - CD4066 analogue switch
IC5 - CD4069 NOT gate
IC6 - 7805 6V regulator
T1-T6 - BC557 pnp transistor
D1-D4 - 1N4007 rectifier diode
DIS1, DIS2 - LTS542 common-anode,
7-segment display
DIS3 - KLQ564 4-digit, common-
anode, 7-segment display
LED1 - 5mm LED
Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon):
R1, R3 - 10-kilo-ohm
R2, R6 - 4.7-kilo-ohm
R4 - 1-kilo-ohm
R5 - 100-kilo-ohm
R7 - 8.2-kilo-ohm
R8-R13 - 1.2-kilo-ohm
R14 - 330-ohm
RNW1 - 10-kilo-ohm resistor
network
Capacitors:
C1 - 10µF, 25V electrolytic
C2, C3 - 22pF ceramic disk
C4 - 1000µF, 25V electrolytic
C5 - 0.1µF ceramic disk
Miscellaneous:
X1 - 230V AC primary to 9V,
500mA secondary
transformer
S1 - On/off switch
S2 - Push-to-on switch
XTAL - 11.0592MHz crystal
Fig. 4: Circuit of microcontroller-based capacitance meter

Fig. 5: Pin details of CD4066

At the heart of the capacitance

meter circuit (Fig. 4) is microcontroller
AT89C2051 (IC1). It is a 20-pin, 8-bit
microcontroller with 2 kB of Flash
programmable and erasable read-only
memory (PEROM), 128 bytes of RAM,
15 input/output (I/O) lines, two 16-bit
timers/counters, a five-vector two-
level interrupt architecture, a full-du-
plex serial port, a precision analogue
comparator, an on-chip oscillator and
clock circuitry.

6 2 • a p r i l 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Construction
Fig. 6: Actual-size, single-side PCB for the microcontroller-based capacitance meter
Fig. 7: Component layout for the PCB
Port-1 pins P1.7 through P1.2,
and port-3 pins P3.7 and P3.5 of the
AT89C2051 (IC1) are connected to
6 4 • a p r i l 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
input pins 1 through 8 of ULN2803
(IC2), respectively. These pins are
pulled up with 10-kilo-ohm resistor
network RNW1 to drive the 7-seg-
ment displays with the help of invert-
ing buffer IC2. The display is selected
by 3-to-8 decoder IC 74LS138(IC3).
IC3 decodes one of the eight lines,
based upon the conditions at the
three binary inputs. These three in-
puts are provided by port pins P3.0
through P3.2 of the microcontroller
(IC1). Output pins 9 through 14 of IC3
are connected to the bases of transis-
tors T1 through T6, respectively. Pin
14 of IC3 goes low to drive transistor
T6 into saturation and provides sup-
ply to common-anode pin 12 of DIS3.
Similarly, transistors T5 through T1
drive common-anode pins 9, 8 and 6
of 7-segment display DIS3, and com-
mon-anode pins 3 and 8 of DIS2 and
DIS1, respectively.
IC2 provides segment data and
display-enable signals simultaneously
in time-division-multiplexed mode
for displaying a particular number on
the 7-segment display unit. Segment
data and display-enable pulses for the
display are refreshed every 5 ms. Thus
the display appears to be continuous,
even though the segments light up one
by one.
Switch S2 is used to manually reset
the microcontroller, while the power-
on reset signal for the microcontrol-
ler is derived from the combination
of capacitor C1 and resistor R1. An
11.0592MHz crystal is used to gener-
ate the basic clock frequency for the
microcontroller. Pin assignment of
CD4066 is shown in Fig. 5 for better
understanding of its internal switches.
The switches of CD4066 are used in
charging and discharging of the capaci-
tor under test (CUT) shown in Fig. 4.
One of the CMOS switches of CD4066
provides 5V supply to the charging
circuit.
Port pins P3.4 and P3.3 are used
for measurement control. Port pin
P3.4 shorts the CMOS switch, which is
used to discharge the capacitor prior
to charging through resistor R5. Port
pin P3.3 is used in case the capacitance
value is large and charging will take
longer than 999 ms. It switches another
11-kilo-ohm charging resistor (R3+R4)
parallel to the existing 100-kilo-ohm
resistor, the combination making the
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

charging resistance value as 10 kilo-
ohms. The range gets multiplied by
‘10’ and the decimal point shifts auto-
matically.
Construction and testing
An actual-size, single-side PCB for
the microcontroller-based capaci-
tance meter is shown in Fig. 6 and its
component layout in Fig. 7. Assemble
the PCB with various components
along with bases for ICs. Wire the
reset (S2) switch to the panel. Handle
CD4066 and the crystal with care.
Program AT89C2051 and put it into
the IC base after soldering all other
components. Reset switch S2 is mo-
mentarily pressed for capacitance
measurement. Connect the capacitor
under test. The capacitance value will
be automatically displayed on six 7-
segment display units.
Software
The software is written in Assembly
language and assembled using 8051
Construction
cross-assembler. The generated hex
code is burnt into the microcontroller
by a suitable programmer. The soft-
ware is well commented and easy to
understand. Set pin P3.4 to discharge
the capacitor and clear pin P3.4 to
short the CMOS switch. Clear port pin
P3.3 for making 11- and 100-kilo-ohm
resistors in parallel for automatic range
selection.
EFY lab note. The source code
of this project is included in this
month’s EFY-CD.

Cap.asm
$mod51 mov 1bh,a
ORG 0 HighC: clr p3.3 ; use this to switch CALL HEXTOBCD
AJMP 30H on a paralel R to charge C MOV 18H,r5
ORG 0BH mov 44h,#1 ; to add a dec. MOV 19H,R6 ;least significant
JMP TIM0ISR pt digit
ORG 30H clr tr0 ;stop timer ; leave away r4,r3
MOV TH0,#0D8H for microfarads display
BEG: MOV SP,#60H MOV TL0,#0F0H dw1: mov 49h,#0ffh
MOV P3,#0FFH jmp BEGINNING dis_wait1: CALL refresh1 ;DISPLAY for
SETB P1.0 st: setb tr0 ;start timer some time before doing another reading
SETB P1.1 ; TO ENABLE ANALOG jnb p3.6,$ call micro
COMPARATOR CALL f_h
MOV TMOD,#61H stopt: CLR TR0 ; STOP TIMER djnz 49h,dis_wait1
SETB F0 ; F0 bit is used clr p3.4 ; remove supply ajmp start
for Capacitance for charging C nano: ;displays fifth l.e.d. with the
jnb p3.3,capmeas ;read bit MOV 40H,TL0 ; read timer symbol ‘n’
sensing Cap count mov a,#0a8h ;10101000B
; HEREAFTER p3.3 is also MOV 41H,TH0 nanolike: jb F0,cap
available for use to switch a resistor mov a,40h ajmp L_display
capmeas: clr c cap:
start: MOV TH0,#0D8H subb a,#0f0h ; subtract ini- e1: mov r4,#5 ;on led no. 5
MOV TL0,#0F0H ; WE LOAD - tial counter value plus overhead 3 call segcode
10000 SO THAT WE CAN COUNT INSTEPS OF mov 40h,a ret
10000 mov a,41h L_display:
SETB ET0 ;ENABLE TIMER 0 IN- subb a,#0d8h mov a,#10000000b
TERRUPT mov 41h,a mov r4,#5
SETB EA ; GLOBAL ENABLE ;ten thousands get stored in call segcode
; pin 3.7 used for segment ‘a’ the timer service routine ret
; pin 3.5 for decimal point ;42h HOLDS TEN THOUSANDS, 41,40 micro: ; symbol for micro
; since pins 1.0 and 1.1 are used HOLD WITHIN TEN THOUSAND mov a,#0e4h ;11100100
as comparator ;both have 2nd place dec. pt., jb F0,nanolike
; pin 3.4 is used to control the we show nano by
switch for charging C ;’n’ and microfarad (when 42 is e11: ret
setb p3.3 zero) and by ‘u’ on the fifth LED! f_h: MOV A,#11100010B
mov 44h,#0 ; decimal point DIS: mov a,42h f_h1: MOV R4,#6 ;on digit 6
change flag for resistor change cjne a,#0,dis1 ; for display- CALL SEGCODE
BEGINNING:; BEGIN SHORT C ; WAIT ; ing /ufarad/mH RET
open ; apply voltage dis13: jb f0,capdp1
; COMPARE CHECK FOR PIN3.6 ind_DP1: mov 45h,#1 ; last digit has DISP1:
; READ TIMER VALUE d.p. REFRESH: ;content of 18 to 1B memory
; READ REGISTER VALUE FOR ajmp dr locations are output on LEDs
OVERFLOWS (THAT COUNTS DECIMALLY) capdp1: mov 45h,#3 ; for capaci- ;only numbers 0 to 9 and A to
; NOTE ACTUAL VALUE TO MOST tance, decimal pt. is at : xx.xx (3rd F are valid data in these locations
SIGNIFICANT FOUR PLACES digit from left) mov r1,41h
; AFTER HEX TO BCD CONVERSION dr: mov 49h,#0FFh ; 256 times mov r2,40h
; NOW PLACE DECIMAL POINT PO- the display is refreshed before another CALL HEXTOBCD
SITION CORRECTLY reading MOV 18H,r3 ; least signifi-
; CALL DISPLAY dis_wait: CALL DISP1 ;DISPLAY for some cant digit
; LOOP ON DISPLAY FOR 1 OR 2 time before doing another reading MOV 19H,r4 ; next significant
SECONDS call nano digit
; REPEAT FROM BEGINNING call f_h ;show “F” for MOV 1AH,r5
Mov 42h,#0 ; RAM address Farad MOV 1BH,R6 ; most significant
42 is used to count in 100,000 micro- djnz 49h,dis_wait digit (max:9999)
seconds AJMP start ; nF xx.xx, uF
mov 43h,#0 ; further larger xx xx xxx refresh1: MOV R0,#18h ; 1b,1a,19,18,
capacitor holds values for 4 digits
dis1: nop MOV R4,#4 ; pin p3.3_ 0 made
CAPC: clr P3.4 ; CMOS switch shorted capdp2: mov 45h,#4 ; we get d.p low one by one starts wth 18
for capacitance (USES INVERTER) at x.xxx/ xx.xx uF in capacitor MOV a,45h
CALL DELAY dr1: clr c
CALL DELAY noextradgt: mov a,42h ;ten thousands subb a,44h
setb P3.4 ; close switch are used here (/uF) mov r7,a ;dec point on sec-
to +5 V anl a,#0fh ond digit for C measurement
; 10 pF/100 pF(100K/10K) mov 1ah,a
forCap: SETB TR0 ; START TIMER 0 mov a,42h PQ2: CALL SEGDISP
Chk: JB P3.6,STOPT rrc a INC R0
KS: mov a,43h rrc a djnz r4, PQ2
cjne a,#0,HighC ; high C will rrc a PV3: RET
cause too much charge time rrc a
ajmp Chk anl a,#0fh SEGDISP:MOV A,@R0

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • a p r i l 2 0 0 8 • 6 5
Construction
ANL A,#0FH ;16 Bit Hex to BCD Conversion for 8051 MOV A,R6
MOVC A,@A+dptr Microcontroller DIV AB
mov dptr,#ledcode ;This routine is for 16 bit Hex to BCD MOV R6,B
k: djnz r7,segcode conversion MOV R7,A
yesDP: orl a,#01 ; add a dec. pt. ;Accepts a 16 bit binary number in ENDD: ret
where it should be R1,R2 and returns 5 digit BCD in TIM0ISR: push psw
segcode: MOV R5,A ;R7,R6,R5,R4,R3(upto 64K ) push acc
ORL A,#03H ;WE WANT TO USE Hex2BCD: ;r1=high byte ;r7 most sig- MOV TH0,#0D8H
PORT 1 BITS 0 AND 1 FOR INPUT ANLOG nificant digit MOV TL0,#0F0H ; WE LOAD -
; so retain ;R2 = LSByte 10000 SO THAT WE CAN COUNT INSTEPS OF
them high mov r1,41h 10000
S3: MOV P1,A ;SEGMENT_PORT mov r2,40h MOV A,42H
S1: MOV A,R4 ;get digit code MOV R3,#00D ADD A,#1 ; JNZ R6,K1A ;r6 WAS
from r4 MOV R4,#00D FFH, SO 256 TIMES 4 ms GIVES 1 s
rrc a MOV R5,#00D DA A
mov p3.0,c ; output to 74138 MOV R6,#00D MOV 42H,A ; COUNTS IN 10000
pins ABC MOV R7,#00D s
rrc a MOV B,#10D jnc K1A
mov p3.1,c MOV A,R2 highdigit:mov a,43h
rrc a DIV AB add a,#1
mov p3.2,c ;but dont disturb MOV R3,B da a
pin 3.5,3.7 MOV B,#10 ; R7,R6,R5,R4,R3 mov 43h,a
MOV A,R5 ;we use p3.7 for the DIV AB K1A:pop acc
segment ‘a’ of display MOV R4,B pop psw
RRC A ;so get that bit MOV R5,A RETI ;INTERRUPT RE-
D0into carry CJNE R1,#0H,HIGH_BYTE ; CHECK TURN INSTRUCTION
mov p3.5,c ;dec pt is D0 bit FOR HIGH BYTE
that is wired to p3.5 SJMP ENDD DELAY: MOV R1,#255
rrc a HIGH_BYTE:MOV A,#6 del1: mov 50h,20
mov p3.7,c ;segment ‘a; ADD A,R3
S5: MOV B,#10 D1: NOP
S4: ACALL DELAY1 ; let it burn DIV AB djnz 50h,d1
for some time MOV R3,B DJNZ R1,del1
MOV A,#07H ;extinguish ADD A,#5 RET
the digit after that time ADD A,R4 ; we switch two resistors for capacitor
MOV P3,A ; to prevent shadow MOV B,#10 measurement, first a 100K and then
s6: RET DIV AB ; a 11K for larger capacitors. Forstill
ledcode: DB 7EH,0CH,0B6H,9EH,0CCH,0 MOV R4,B large C, a x10 switch is used, the read-
DAH,0FAH ADD A,#2 ing
DB 0EH,0FEH,0CEH,0EEH,0F8H,72 ADD A,R5 ;multiplied by 10!
H,0BCH,0F6H,0E2H MOV B,#10 ; for inductor we use only one resistor,
;these are code for DIV AB and we have a switch x10 which can
the numbers 0 to 9 and A to F MOV R5,B ; be used to measure smaller inductances
DELAY1: MOV R1,#0ffH CJNE R6,#00D,ADD_IT which do not show any reading
N: NOP SJMP CONTINUE
DJNZ R1,N ADD_IT: ADD A,R6 END
RET CONTINUE: MOV R6,A 
DJNZ R1,HIGH_BYTE
hextobcd: ; BYTE HEX TO 5 DIGITS BCD MOV B, #10D

6 6 • a p r i l 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 circuit
ideas
Smart Vibration Sensor
 T.K. Hareendran
I
n this vibration sensor alarm cir-
cuit, initially, when power switch
S1 is flipped to ‘on’ position, power
indicator LED1 lights up immediately.
IC LM555 (IC1), wired as a simple latch
circuit with control input, is powered
and R-C components R4 and C5 con-
nected at its reset pin 4 force the latch
to standby mode (with inactive low
output). The circuit is driven into sleep
mode.
As soon as vibration is detected,
MOSFET T1 is fired by the positive-
8 8 • a p r i l 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
going pulse output from the vibra-
tion sensing mechanism built around
piezo-ceramic wafer and associated
components. As a result, control input
pins 2 and 6 of IC1 latch are grounded.
Output pin 3 of IC1 now goes high.
The positive supply from output pin 3
of IC1 is extended to three-tone siren
generator UM3561 (IC2) through R5,
D1 and R6. Components R6 and ZD1
stabilise the input power supply of IC2
to around 3.3V. Output signals from
IC2 are amplified by Darlington-pair
transistors T2 and T3 to produce alert
tone (police siren sound) via loud-
s.c. dwiv
edi
speaker LS1.
Reset switch S1 can be used to
switch off the alarm sound by resetting
the latch circuit. For safety, use key-lock
type switches for S1 and S2. A relay can
also be connected at the output socket
(SOC1) of the circuit to energise high-
power beacons, emergency sirens and
fence electrification units.
The circuit works off 9V DC. A
compact PP3-/6F22-type alkaline
battery can be used to power the
circuit. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

USB Power Booster
 T.A. Babu
T
he USB serial bus can be con-
figured for connecting several
peripheral devices to a single
PC. It is more complex than RS232, but
faster and simpler for PC expansion.
Since a PC can supply only a lim-
ited power to the external devices con-
nected through its USB port, when too
many devices are connected simultane-
ously, there is a possibility of power
shortage. Therefore an external power
source has to be added to power the
external devices.
In USB, two different types of con-
nectors are used: type A and type B.
The circuit presented here is an add-
on unit, designed to add more power
to a USB supply line (type-A). When
Fig. 1: Circuit of the usb power booster
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
circuit
ideas
s.c. dwiv
edi
power signal from the PC (+5V) is re-
ceived through socket A, LED1 glows,
opto-diac IC1 conducts and TRIAC1 the rectified DC. Capacitor C3 at the
is triggered, resulting in availability output of the regulator bypasses the
of mains supply from the primary of ripples present in the rectified DC out-
transformer X1. Now transformer X1 put. LED1 indicates the status of the
delivers 12V at its secondary, which is USB power booster circuit.
rectified by a bridge rectifier compris- Assemble the circuit on a general-
ing diodes D1 through D4 and filtered purpose PCB and enclose in a suitable
by capacitor C2. cabinet. Bring out the +5V, ground
Regulator 7805 is used to stabilise and data points in the type-A socket.
Connect the
data cables
as assigned
in the cir-
cuit and the
USB power
booster is
ready to
Fig. 2: Pin configurations of moc3021, bt136 and 5v regulator 7805 function. 
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • a p r i l 2 0 0 8 • 8 7
 circuit
ideas

Car Anti-theft Guard s.c. dwiv

edi

 T.K. Hareendran tor R1, which prevents transistor T1

from conducting. In this position, anti-

H
ere is an easy-to-build car theft guard cir-
anti-theft guard. The circuit, cuit is in sleep
shown in Fig. 1, is simple and mode.
easy to understand. When key-oper- W h e n
ated switch S2 of the car is turned on, someone opens
12V DC supply from the car battery is the car door,
extended to the entire circuit through switch S1 be-
polarity-guard diode D5. Blinking comes ‘off’ as
LED1 flashes to indicate that the guard shown in Fig.
circuit is enabled. It works off 12V 2. As a result,
power supply along with current-limit- transistor T1
ing resistor R4 in series. conducts to fire
When the car door is closed, door r e l a y - d r i v e r Fig. 2: Wiring diagram for door switch (S1)
switch S1 is in ‘on’ position and 12V SCR1 (BT169)
power supply is available across resis- after a short delay introduced by ca- pacitor C1. Electromagnetic relay RL1
energises and its N/O
contact connects the
power supply to pi-
ezobuzzer PZ1, which
starts sounding to in-
dicate that someone
is trying to steal your
car. To reset the circuit,
turn off switch S2 using
car key. This will cut-
off the power supply to
the circuit and stop the
buzzer sound.
Assemble the cir-
cuit on a general-pur-
pose PCB and house
in a small box. Con-
nect switch S1 to the
car door and keep pi-
ezobuzzer PZ1 at an
appropriate place in
Fig. 1: Circuit of car anti-theft guard the car. 

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M ay 2 0 0 8 • 7 5

Staircase Light With
Auto Switch-Off
 Raj K. Gorkhali
W
e are all familiar with the
electrical wiring arrange-
ment that connects an elec-
trical bulb with two switches: one at
the bottom of a staircase and the other
at the top. Wiring is done such that
either of the two switches can be used
to switch the bulb on or off. In such a
wiring arrangement, while climbing
up the staircase which is in dark, the
switch located at the bottom of the
staircase is used to switch on the light.
After you have climbed the staircase,
you use the switch located there to
switch off the light.
The circuit presented here is an
electronic-cum-electrical arrangement
to get a similar facility as provided
by the hard-wired electrical system,
but you need to operate the switch
only once. Whereas in the hard-wired
arrangement if you forget to switch
off the light once you have traversed
the staircase, light would remain ‘on,’
wasting energy.
In this circuit also, we have two
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
micro-switches—one located at the top
and the other located at the bottom of
the staircase—that can be pushed and
released easily during climb-up from
the bottom of the staircase or climb-
down from the top of the staircase. With
every push and release of either of the
two switches, bulb L1 lights up for a
preset time period of, say, 40 seconds,
which is considered adequate for climb-
ing up or going down the staircase. The
bulb goes off automatically after the set
40 seconds. You can change this ‘on’
time by changing the values of resis-
tor R7 and/or capacitor C4 depending
upon your requirement.
Switches S1 and S2 are the two
micro-switches, which provide low in-
puts to the respective de-bouncing cir-
cuits. Each de-bouncing circuit is built
around two NAND gates connected
back to back. The de-bouncing circuits
ensure a clean, bounce-free pulse at the
output every time the micro-switch is
pressed and released. The outputs from
the two de-bouncing circuits are ORed
using diodes D1 and D2 (1N4001). So
every time you press and release either
circuit
ideas
s.c. dwiv
edi
of the micro-switches, you get a posi-
tive-going pulse at the junction of the
cathodes of diodes D1 and D2.
These pulses are used to trigger the
monostable circuit built around timer
IC2. On the trailing edge of the pulse,
the output of the monostable goes
high for a time period of 40 seconds.
This drives relay-driver transistor
2N2222 (T1) wired as a switch. Relay
RL1 gets energised and closes N/O
contacts of the relay, wired in series
with the mains and the bulb (L1). Bulb
L1 switches off when the relay gets
de-energised after 40-second pulse pe-
riod. Free-wheeling diode D4 (1N4001)
protects transistor T1 against transients
during relay switch-off operation.
The circuit operates off a 9V bat-
tery, which gets connected to the cir-
cuit through ‘on’/‘off’ switch S3. You
can also use regulated 9V power sup-
ply. Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and house in a small box.
Connect micro-switches S1 and S2 near
top and bottom of the staircase through
flexible wires and bulb in the middle of
the staircase. 
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M ay 2 0 0 8 • 7 1
 circuit
ideas
Poor Man’s Hearing Aid
 EFY LAB
T
his miniature stereo preampli-
fier-cum-headphone amplifier
circuit works off a 3V battery
(lithium non-rechargeable coin cell).
Although its performance is not
comparable to that of commercially
available sophisticated hearing aids,
still it can serve the purpose well
for persons with a low degree of
hearing impairment. Its maximum
power output at 1 kHz is around 8
mW, which is adequate for driving
the headphones.
The circuit, as shown in Fig. 1,
is wired around Sanyo’s MSI (me-
dium-scale-integrated) surface-mount
10-pin DIL IC LA4537M, which
measures just 8×6.4×1.5 mm 3 . A
functional block diagram of LA4537M
IC is shown in Fig. 2. Since the MSI’s
pin-to-pin (centre-to-centre) distance
is only 1 mm, the circuit has to be
assembled on a properly designed
PCB using soldering iron with a
pointed bit. Two ICs (LA4537M)
have been cascaded to increase the
overall sensitivity and thereby the
reception range. You can adjust the
volume of the stereo channels indi-
Fig. 1: Circuit for the hearing aid
8 8 • j u n e 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
s.c. dwiv
edi
vidually, as per your requirement,
using presets VR1 and VR2, respec-
tively. house it in a thin metallic case, which
With 3V supply voltage, you can then be mounted in the middle of
can afford to use 1/8-watt resistors, a metallic/plastic headband (gener-
while the electrolytic capacitors’ ally used by telephone operators),
voltage rating can be as low as 5V. while the two microphones with
This will allow the assembled circuit their associated earpieces are to be
to occupy very little space. Apart extended using screened wires so
from the usual battery ‘on’/‘off’ that these (microphone-earpiece sets)
switch S1, muting ‘on’/‘off’ switch can be kept closest to the respective
S2 has also been provided. Both S1 earlobes.
and S2 could be PCB-mount slide Caution. Ensure that shielded
switches. microphone wires do not touch
After assembling the main circuit, (short) the shielded earpiece
wires, as
these are con-
nected to dif-
ferent pins
(reference in-
put pin 5 and
ground pins 3
and 8, respec-
tively) of ICs
LA4537M.
You may use
an insulat-
ing sleeve
over each of
the shielded
Fig. 2: Functional diagram of ic la4537m wires. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 circuit
ideas
Portable Lamp Flasher
 T.K. Hareendran
H
ere is a portable, high-power
incandescent electric lamp
flasher. It is basically a dual
flasher (alternating blinker) that can
handle two separate 230V AC loads
(bulbs L1 and L2).
The circuit is fully transistorised
and battery-powered. The free-run-
ning oscillator circuit is realised using
two low-power, low-noise transistors
Fig. 1: Circuit for portable lamp flasher
Fig. 2: Pin configurations of MOC3021, BT136 and
BC550/547
9 2 • j u n e 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
T1 and T2. One of the two transistors
is always conducting, while the other
is blocking. Due to regular charging
and discharging of capacitors C1 and
C2, the two transistors alternate be-
tween conduction and non-conduction
states.
The collector of transistor T1 is con-
nected to the base of driver transistor
T4 through current-limiting resistor
R5. Similarly, the collector of transistor
T2 is connected to the base of driver
transistor T3 through limiting
resistor R6. These transistors
are used to trigger Triac1 and
Triac2 (each BT136) through
optotriacs IC1 and IC2, re-
spectively, and switch on the
power supply to external loads
L1 and L2. IC1 and IC2 operate
alternatively at a low frequency
determined by the values of
edi
s.c. dwiv
capacitors C1 and C2.
The oscillator circuit built around
transistors T1 and T2 generates low fre-
quencies. When transistor T3 conducts,
IC1 is enabled to fire Triac1 and bulb
L1 glows. Similarly, when transistor T4
conducts, IC2 is enabled to fire Triac2
and bulb L2 glows.
Connect the power supply line (L)
of mains to bulbs L1 and
L2, and neutral (N) to T1
terminals of Triac1 and
Triac2. You can also con-
nect neutral (N) line of
the external 230V mains
supply to both loads
(bulbs L1 and L2) as a
common line and then
route supply line (L) to
respective loads (bulbs
L1 and L2).
The circuit works off
only 3 volts. Since current
consumption is fairly low,
two AA-type cells are
sufficient to power the cir-
cuit. Assemble the circuit
on a general-purpose PCB and enclose in
a suitable plastic cabinet with integrated
AA-size pen-light cell holder. Drill holes
for mounting the ‘on’/‘off’ switch and
power switching terminals. Also connect
two bulb holders for bulbs L1 and L2.
Refer Fig. 2 for pin configurations.
EFY note. While assembling, test-
ing or repairing, take care to avoid the
lethal electric shock. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 circuit
ideas
Aquarium Probe
 D. Mohan Kumar
A
number of environmental
factors including light and
temperature affect fish culture.
The temperature of water has profound
effect because fish cannot breed above
or below the critical temperature lim-
its. Temperature between 24°C and
33°C is found to be the best to induce
spawning in fishes. This particular
temperature range is also necessary
for the healthy growth of nursery fish
fries (young fishes). Rise of water tem-
perature due to sunlight may adversely
affect the fish rearing process.
Fig. 1: Circuit for aquarium probe
The circuit of aquatic probe de-
scribed here can monitor the tem-
perature of water and indicate the
rise in temperature through audio-
visual indicators. A readily available
signal diode 1N34 is used in the
circuit as the temperature sensing
probe. The resistance of the diode
depends on the temperature in its
vicinity.
Typically, the diode can gener-
ate around 600 mV when a potential
difference is applied to its terminals.
For each degree centigrade rise in
9 2 • j u ly 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
s.c. dwiv
edi
temperature, the diode generates 2mV
output voltage. That is, at 5°C, it is 10
mV, which rises to 70 mV when the
temperature is 35°C. This property
is exploited in the circuit to sense the
temperature variation in aquarium
water. Fig. 1 shows the circuit diagram
of the aquarium probe.
Since the output from the diode
sensor is too low, a high-gain invert-
ing DC amplifier is used to amplify
the voltage. CA3140 (IC1) is the CMOS
version op-amp that can operate down
to zero-volt output. The highest output
available from IC1 is 2.25V less than
the input voltage at pin 7. With resistor
R4 and
VR2, the
variation
in diode
Fig. 2: Diode sensor assembly voltage
can be
amplified to the required level. Resis-
tor R1 restricts current flow through
diode D1 and preset VR1 (1-kilo-ohm)
sets the input voltage at pin 3. IC3
(7805) provides regulated 5 volts to the
inputs of IC1, so that the input voltage
is stable for accurate measurement of
temperature.
The output from IC1 is fed to
display driver LM3915 (IC2) through
preset VR3 (50-kilo-ohm). With
careful adjustments, the wiper of
VR3 can provide 0-400 millivolts
to the input of IC2. The highly sensi-
tive input of IC2 accepts as low as
50 mV if the reference voltage at its
pin 7 is adjusted using a variable
resistor. To increase the sensitivity
of IC2, preset VR4 is connected at
one end to ‘reference voltage end’
pin 7 and its wiper is connected to
‘high end’ pin 6 of the internal resis-
tor chain.
When approximately 70 mV is
provided to the input of IC2 by adjust-
ing preset VR3, LED1 (green) lights
up to indicate that the temperature is
approximately 35°C, which is the cross-
ing point. When the input receives 100
mV, LED2 (red) lights up to indicate
approximately 50°C.
Finally, the buzzer
starts beeping if the
input receives 130
mV corresponding
to a temperature of
65°C.
In short, LEDs
and the buzzer re-
main standby when
the temperature of the
water is below 35°C
(normal). With each
step increase of 30
mV in the input (cor-
responding to 15°C
rise in temperature),
LEDs and the buzzer
become active.
Pin 16 of IC2 is
used to drive the pi-
ezobuzzer through transistor T1. When
pin 16 of IC2 becomes low, T1 conducts
to beep the piezobuzzer. Resistor R7
keeps the base of transistor T1 high to
avoid false alarm. IC4 provides regu-
lated 9V DC to the circuit.
Assemble the circuit on a common
PCB and enclose in a suitable case.
Glass signal diode D1 is immersed
in water to sense the temperature
of water. Its leads should be coated
with enamel paint to avoid shorting
in water. Alternatively, enclose the
diode in a small glass tube or test
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

tube having sufficient internal space
to fit the diode as shown in Fig. 2.
Make the sensor assembly waterproof
using wax.
Take care while calibrating and
setting the circuit. With 5V DC sup-
ply to diode D1 and an ambient tem-
perature of about 35°C, D1 generates
around 70 mV. Adjust VR3 until the
voltage in its wiper increases to 70
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
mV, so that the input of IC2 (pin 5)
receives 70 mV corresponding to the
diode output voltage at 35°C. At this
stage, green LED1 should turn on.
If it doesn’t, adjust VR4 until LED1
just lights up. Immerse the diode
in temperature-adjusted hot water
(35°C) and adjust VR3 and VR4 until
green LED1 lights up. Increase the
water temperature to 50°C by adding
circuit
ideas
hot water. Now red LED2 will glow.
At this position, the voltage at pin 6
of IC1 will be around 100 mV. When
the temperature of water increases
further to 65°C, the buzzer starts
beeping. After calibration, immerse
the diode assembly in the aquarium
tank just below the water surface
and fix it permanently to avoid float-
ing. 
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • j u ly 2 0 0 8 • 9 3

Bicycle Indicator
 T.K. Hareendran
T
he electronic bicycle signaling
unit described here uses low-
cost components and is a good
Fig. 1: Circuit of bi-cycle indicator
Fig. 2: Suggested enclosure (master unit)
substitute to many commercially avail-
able versions. It works in an extremely
different manner and is convenient to
operate.
The circuit works off a 9V PP3
(alkaline-type) battery and is basically
a set of two independent free-running
oscillators (astable multivibrators) built
around four low-power transistors
and a few passive components. Both
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
the square-wave oscillators (one built
around T1 and T2 and the other built
around T3 and T4) drive four red LEDs
(LED1 and LED2, and LED5 and LED6,
respectively), which blink to indicate
Fig. 3: Suggested enclosure (indicators)
the direction of turn. Ad-
ditional steady-glow LEDs
(LED3 and LED4) are in-
corporated to indicate the
working status.
The working of the cir-
cuit is straightforward. When
switch S1 is flipped to ‘on’ po-
sition, DC supply from
the battery is extended to the oscil-
lator circuit formed by transistors
T1 and T2. Now the left-side oscil-
lator starts oscillating and the visual
indicators at the front left (FL) and
rear left (RL) start blinking at a rate
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • j u ly 2 0 0 8 • 9 5
circuit
ideas
edi
s.c. dwiv
determined by timing capacitors C1
and C2. Resistors R2 and R3 limit the
operating current of LEDs (LED1
and LED2). At the same time, the
green LED (LED3) starts glowing
to indicate the present direction
status.
Similar action happens in the
next oscillator circuit built around
transistors T3 and T4 when switch
S2 is flipped to ‘on’ position. Indi-
cators at the front right (FR) and
rear right (RR) start blinking, and
at the same time the green LED
(LED4) glows to indicate the direc-
tion status.
Switch S3 is used for emergency
indication. When it is flipped to ‘on’
position, both the oscillators get
power supply through diodes D1
and D2. As a result, LED1 through
LED6 start working simultaneous-
ly. In this condition, all
the LEDs blink, except
LED3 and LED4, which
glow steadily.
After assembling
the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB, enclose
it in a suitable cabinet
as shown in Fig. 2 and
mount on the handle
bar of the bicycle, pref-
erably at the mechani-
cal centre point. Con-
nect switch S1 at the left-hand side, S2
at the right-hand side and emergency
switch S3 in the middle of the master
unit. Now place this master unit at
the top of the handle bar and do the
essential interconnections using flex-
ible wires. Connect the front indica-
tors (LED1 and LED5) to the left and
right side of the handle and similarly
rear indicators (LED2 and LED6) can
be mounted in the carrier frame of
the bicycle. For the direction indica-
tor, you can use the symbol shown in
Fig. 3 and place it at the centre of the
handle. 
circuit
ideas

PC Multimedia Speakers s.c. dwiv

edi

 T.K. Hareendran
age down to 1.8 volts and minimum
output power of around 450 mW/

T
his circuit of multimedia speak- channel with 4-ohm loudspeaker at 5V limiter and capacitors C1
ers for PCs has single-chip- DC supply input. and C4 act as buffers.
based design, low-voltage pow- An ideal power amplifier can be Working of the cir-
er supply, compatibility with USB simply defined as a circuit that can cuit is simple. Audio
power, easy heat-sinking, low cost, deliver audio power into external loads Fig. 2: Pin signals from the PC au-
high flexibility and wide temperature without generating significant signal configuration dio socket/headphone
of TDA2822M
tolerance. distortion and without consuming socket are fed to the am-
At the heart of the circuit is IC excessive quiescent current. plifier circuit through components R2
TDA2822M. This IC is, in fact, mono- This circuit is powered by 5V DC and C2 (left channel), and R3 and C3
(right channel). Pot-
meter VR1 works as
the volume control-
ler for left (L) chan-
nel and potmeter
VR2 works for right
(R) channel. Pin 7 of
TDA2822M receives
the left-channel
sound signals and
pin 6 receives the
right-channel signals
through VR1 and
VR2, respectively.
Amplified signals
for driving the left
and right loudspeak-
ers are available at
pins 1 and 3 of IC1,
respectively. Com-
ponents R5 and C8,
and R6 and C10 form
the traditional zobel
Fig. 1: Circuit for PC multimedia speaker network.
Assemble the cir-
lithic type in 8-lead mini DIP pack- supply available from the USB port cuit on a medium-size, general-purpose
age. It is intended for use as a dual of the PC. When power switch S1 is PCB and enclose in a suitable cabinet.
audio power amplifier in battery-pow- flipped to ‘on’ position, 5V power It is advisable to use a socket for IC
ered sound players. Specifications of supply is extended to the circuit and TDA2822M. The external connections
TDA2822M are low quiescent current, power-indicator red LED1 lights up should be made using suitably screened
low crossover distortion, supply volt- instantly. Resistor R1 is a current surge wires for better result. 

9 0 • au g u s t 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
circuit
ideas
Three-Phase Appliance Protector
 R.G. Thiagaraj Kumar and
P. Kasi Rajan
M
any of our costly appliances
require three-phase AC sup-
ply for operation. Failure
of any of the phases makes the appli-
ance prone to erratic functioning and
may even lead to failure. Hence it is
of paramount importance to moni-
tor the availability of the three-phase
supply and switch off the appliance
in the event of failure of one or two
phases. The power to the appliance
should resume with the availability of
all phases of the supply with certain
time delay in order to avoid surges and
momentary fluctuations.
The complete circuit of a three-
phase appliance protector is described
here. It requires three-phase supply,
three 12V relays and a timer IC NE555
along with 230V coil contactor having
8 8 • au g u s t 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
four poles.
Relays RL1 and RL2 act as a
sensing devices for phases Y and
B, respectively. These relays are
connected such that each acts as an
enabling device for the subsequent
relay. Therefore the combination of
the relays forms a logical AND gate
connected serially.
The availability of phase R en-
ergises relay RL1 and its normally-
opened (N/O) contacts close to
connect phase Y to the input of
transformer X2. The availability of
phase Y energises relay RL2 and its
N/O contacts close to connect phase
B to the input of transformer X3, thus
applying a triggering input to timer
IC NE555 (IC1).
Therefore the delay timer built
around NE555 triggers only when
all the phases (R, Y and B) are avail-
able. It provides a delay of approxi-
edi
s.c. dwiv
mately four seconds, which energises
relay RL3 and its N/O contact closes
to connect the line to the energising
coil of four-pole contactor relay RL4.
Contactor RL4 closes to ensure the
availability of the three-phase sup-
ply to the appliance.
The rating of contactor RL4 can be
selected according to the full-load cur-
rent rating of the appliances. Here the
contact current rating of the four-pole
contactor is up to 32A. The availability
of phases R, Y and B is monitored by
appropriate LEDs connected across
the secondary windings of transform-
ers X1, X2 and X3, respectively. Hence
this circuit does not require a separate
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

indicator lamp for monitoring the
availability of the three phases. When
phase R is available, LED1 glows.
When phase Y is available, LED2
glows. When phase B is available,
LED3 glows.
The main advantage of this protec-
tor circuit is that it protects three-phase
appliances from failure of any of the
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
phases by disconnecting the power
supply through the contactor and
automatically restores the three-phase
supply to the appliance (with reason-
able time delay) when all the phases
are available.
Assemble the circuit on a gen-
eral-purpose PCB and enclose in a
cabinet with the relays and contactor
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • au g u s t 2 0 0 8 • 8 9
circuit
ideas
mounted on the backside of cabinet.
Connect the appliance through exter-
nal wires.
Caution. To avoid the risk of elec-
tric shock, ensure that AC mains is
disconnected during assembly of the
circuit and double check everything
before connecting your circuit to the
mains. 
 circuit
ideas

Long-Range IR Transmitter s.c. dwiv

edi

 EFY Lab
IR laser pointer as the IR signal source.
The laser pointer is readily available in

M
ost of the IR remotes work re-
liably within a range of 5 me-
tres. The circuit complexity
increases if you design the IR transmit-
ter for reliable operation over a longer
range, say, 10 metres. To double the
range from 5 metres to 10 metres, you
need to increase the transmitted power
Fig. 1: Circuit of the long-range ir transmitter
four times.
If you wish
to realise a
highly direc-
tional IR beam
(very narrow
Fig. 2: Pin configurations
beam), you can
of bc547/557 and bS170 suitably use an
the market. However, with a very nar- duces the power loss that would result
row beam from the laser pointer, you if a transistor were used. To avoid any
have to take extra care, lest a small jerk dip during its ‘on’/‘off’ operations, a
to the gadget may change the beam 100μF reservoir capacitor C2 is used
orientation and cause loss of contact. across the battery supply. Its advan-
Here is a simple circuit that will tage will be more obvious when the
give you a pretty long range. It uses IR transmitter is powered by ordinary
three infrared transmitting LEDs (IR1 batteries. Capacitor C2 supplies extra
charge during ‘switch-
ing on’ operations.
As the MOSFET ex-
hibits large capacitance
across gate-source ter-
minals, a special drive
arrangement has been
made using npn-pnp
Darlington pair of
BC547 and BC557 (as
emitter followers), to
avoid distortion of the
gate drive input. Data
(CMOS-compatible) to
be transmitted is used
for modulating the 38
kHz frequency gener-
ated by CD4047 (IC1).
However, in the circuit
shown here, tactile
switch S1 has been
used for modulating
through IR3) in series to increase the and transmitting the IR signal.
radiated power. Further, to increase Assemble the circuit on a gen-
the directivity and so also the power eral-purpose PCB. Use switch S2 for
density, you may assemble the IR LEDs power ‘on’/‘off’ control. Commer-
inside the reflector of a torch. cially available IR receiver modules
For increasing the circuit efficiency, (e.g., TSOP1738) could be used for
a MOSFET (BS170) has been used, efficient reception of the transmitted
which acts as a switch and thus re- IR signals. 

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 8 • 1 0 9
circuit
ideas

Muscular Stimulator s.c. dwiv

edi

 Ashok K. Doctor attached. It is useful to relieve head-

ache and muscular pain and revive

H
ere is a circuit that stimulates frozen muscles that impair movement. aid in removing cellulitis.
nerves of that part of your Though it provides muscles stimula- The system comprises two units:
body where electrodes are tion and invigoration, it’s mainly an muscular stimulator and timer.
Fig. 1 shows the circuit of the
muscular stimulator. IC 7555 is
wired as an astable multivibrator
to generate about 80Hz pulses.
The output of IC1 is fed to tran-
sistor T1, whose emitter is further
connected to the base of transistor
T2 through R3 and VR1. The col-
lector of transistor T2 is connected
to one end of the secondary wind-
ing of transformer X1. The other
end of the secondary winding of
the transformer is connected to
ground.
When IC1 oscillates, trans-
former X1 is driven by the pulse
frequencies generated to produce
high voltage at its primary termi-
nals. Separate electrodes are con-
nected to each end of the primary
Fig. 1: Muscular stimulator circuit winding of transformer X1. Diode
1N4007 (D1) protects transistor T2
against high-voltage pulses generated
by the transformer.
Using potmeter VR1 you can con-
trol the intensity of current sensing at
the electrodes. The brightness level of
LED1 indicates the amplitude of the
pulses. If you want to increase the in-
tensity level, replace the 1.8-kilo-ohm
resistor with 5.6 kilo-ohms or higher
value up to 10 kilo-ohms.
X1 is a small mains transformer
with 220V primary to 12V, 100/150mA
secondary. It must be reverse connect-
ed, i.e., connect the secondary winding
to the collector of T2 and ground, and
primary winding to the output elec-
trodes. The output voltage is about 60V
but the output current is so small that
there is no threat of electric shock.
Electrodes are made of small, thin-
guage metallic plates measuring about
2.5×2.5 cm2 in size. Use flexible wires
Fig. 2: Timer circuit to solder electrodes and connect to the

9 6 • o c to b e r 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

output of the device. Before attaching
metal electrodes to the body, wipe
them with a damp cloth. After attach-
ing the electrodes to the body (with the
help of elastic bands on velcro straps),
flip switch S1 to activate the circuit
and rotate the knob of intensity-control
preset VR1 very slowly until you feel a
slight tingling sensation.
Fig. 2 shows the timer circuit. It
uses IC NE555 wired in monostable
mode. Initially, when you press switch
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
S2, the monostable triggers and its out-
put goes high for 10 minutes. Thereaf-
ter, its output goes low to give a beep
sound from the piezobuzzer and lights
up the red LED (LED2) indicating that
stimulation time is over.
Assemble the timer with a separate
switch and a 9V DC battery in the same
cabinet as the stimulator. Tape the elec-
trodes to the skin at opposite ends of
the chosen muscle and rotate VR1 knob
slowly until you sense light itching
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • o c to b e r 2 0 0 8 • 9 7
circuit
ideas
when the muscular stimulation circuit
is powered on. At the same time, flip
switch S2 to start the timer for counting
the time. At the end of the timing cycle,
the piezobuzzer beeps. Each session
should last about 10 minutes.
Caution: Heart patients and
pregnant women should not use
this device. Also, do not attach elec-
trodes to burns, cuts, wounds or any
injury. Consult your physician before
using this circuit. 
circuit
ideas
WIRELESS SWITCH
 Navpreet Singh Tung
N
ormally, home appliances are
controlled by means of switch-
es, sensors, etc. However,
physical contact with switches may be
dangerous if there is any shorting.
The circuit described here requires
no physical contact for operating the
appliance. You just need to move
your hand between the infrared LED
(IR LED1) and the phototransistor
(T1). The infrared rays transmitted by
1 0 0 • o c to b e r 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
s.c. dwiv
edi
IR LED1 is detected by the phototran-
sistor to activate the hidden lock, flush
system, hand dryer or else.
This circuit is very stable and sensi-
tive compared to other AC appliance
control circuits. It is simple, compact
and cheap. Current consumption is
low in milliamperes.
The circuit is built around an IC
CA3140, IRLED1, phototransistor and
other discrete components. When regu-
lated 5V is connected to the circuit, IR
LED1 emits infrared rays, which are
received by phototransistor T1 if it is
properly aligned. The collector of T1
is connected to non-inverting pin 3 of
IC1. Inverting pin 2 of IC1 is connected
to voltage-divider preset VR1. Using
preset VR1 you can vary the reference
voltage at pin 2, which also affects sen-
sitivity of the phototransistor.
Op-amp IC1 amplifies the signal
received from the phototransistor.
Resistor R3 controls the base current of
transistor BC548 (T2). The high output
of IC1 at pin 6 drives transistor T2 to
energise relay RL1 and switch on the
appliance, say, hand dryer, through the
relay contacts.
The working of the circuit is simple.
In order to switch on the appliance,
you simply interrupt the infrared rays
falling on the phototransistor through
your hand. During the interruption,
the appliance remains on through the
relay. When you remove your hand
from the infrared beam, the appliance
turns off through the relay.
Assemble the circuit on any gen-
eral-purpose PCB. Identify the resistors
through colour coding or using the
multimeter. Check the polarity and pin
configuration of the IC and mount it
using base. After soldering the circuit,
connect +5V supply to the circuit. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Electronic Combination Lock | Detailed Circuit Diagram Available https://electronicsforu.com/electronics-projects/electronic-combination-lock

1 of 3 1/24/2018, 6:15 PM
Electronic Combination Lock | Detailed Circuit Diagram Available https://electronicsforu.com/electronics-projects/electronic-combination-lock

Fig. 1: Electronic combination lock circuit

2 of 3 1/24/2018, 6:15 PM
Electronic Combination Lock | Detailed Circuit Diagram Available https://electronicsforu.com/electronics-projects/electronic-combination-lock

3 of 3 1/24/2018, 6:15 PM

Night Alert
 D. Mohan Kumar
I
dea of this circuit came to me at
midnight when my pet dog started
barking continuously on sensing
a moving shadow, perhaps that of an
intruder. Dogs have a night adaptation
capability to maximise the sensitivity
of vision in low light. They are well
adapted to see moving objects rather
than stationary ones in darkness.
This circuit turns a lamp ‘on’ for
a short duration when the dog barks,
giving an impression that the occu-
pants have been alerted.
The condenser microphone fitted
in the dog’s cage senses barking sound
and generates AC signals, which pass
through DC blocking capacitor C1
to the base of transistor BC549 (T1).
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
circuit
ideas
s.c. dwivedi
capacitor C3 are timing components.
When fully charged, capacitor C3 takes
about two minutes to discharge.
So when sound is produced in front
of the condenser mic, triac1 (BT136)
Transistor T1 along with transistor fires and the bulb (B1) glows for about
T2 amplifies the sound signals and two minutes.
provides current pulses from the col- Assemble the circuit on a general-
lector of T2. purpose PCB and enclose in a plastic
The input trigger pulse is applied cabinet. Power to the circuit can be
to the collector of transistor T3 and derived from a 12V, 500mA step-down
coupled by capacitor C3 to the base of transformer with rectifier and smooth-
transistor T4 causing T4 to cut off. The ing capacitor. Solder the triac ensuring
sufficient spacing
between the pins
to avoid short
circuit. Fix the
unit in the dog’s
cage, with the
lamp inside or
outside as de-
sired. Connect
the microphone
to the circuit us-
ing a short length
of shielded wire.
Enclose the mi-
crophone in a
tube to increase
collector voltage of transistor T4 for- its sensitivity.
ward biases transistor T3 via resistor Caution. Since the circuit uses
R8. Transistor T1 conducts and capaci- 230V AC, many of its points are at AC
tor C3 discharges to keep transistor T4 mains voltage. It could give you le-
cut-off. Transistor T4 remains cut-off thal shock if you are not careful. So if
until capacitor C3 charges enough to you don’t know much about working
enable it to conduct. with line voltages, do not attempt to
When transistor T4 conducts, its col- construct this circuit. EFY will not be
lector voltage goes low to drive transis- responsible for any kind of resulting
tor T3 into cut-off state. Resistor R9 and loss or damage. 
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8 • 8 5
circuit
ideas

Traffic Controller s.c. dwiv

edi

 N.R. Paranjape high-to-low pulse at its pin 3

triggers IC3 through C5. IC3

T
his simple traffic controller can is configured as a monosta-
be used to teach children rudi- ble with ‘on’ time of about 4
ments of traffic rules. seconds, which means pin 3
The circuit (shown in Fig. 1) uses of IC3 will remain high for
readily available components. It main- this period and energise relay
ly comprises rectifier diodes (1N4001), RL2 through driver transistor
a 5V regulator 7805, two timers IC 555, T2. The amber lamp (B2) thus
two relays (5V, single-changeover), lights up for 4 seconds.
three 15W, 230V bulbs and some dis- As soon as 4-second time
crete components. period of timer IC3 at pin 3
Mains power is stepped down by lapses, relay RL2 de-ener-
transformer X1 to deliver a secondary gises and the green lamp (B3)
output of 9V, 300 mA. The transformer lights up for the rest of ‘off’
output is rectified by a full-wave period of IC2, which is about
bridge rectifier comprising diodes D1 26 seconds. The green lamp
through D4, filtered by capacitor C1 is activated through the nor-
and regulated by IC 7805 (IC1). mally closed (N/C) contacts
IC2 is wired as a multivibrator with of relay RL2.
‘on’ and ‘off’ periods of approximately So when mains power is
30 seconds each with the component switched on, red light glows for
values selected. As soon as mains 30 seconds, amber for 4 seconds
power is switched on, pin 3 of IC2 goes and green for 26 seconds.
high for 30 seconds. This, in turn, ener- You can assemble this cir-
gises relay RL1 through transistor T1 cuit on a general-purpose PCB
and the red lamp (B1) glows through and enclose in an insulated
its normally-open (N/O) contact. At box. The box should have
the same time, mains power is discon- enough space for mounting
nected from the pole of relay RL2. transformer X1 and two re-
As the ‘on’ time of IC2 ends, a lays. It can be fixed near 230V Fig. 2: Construction details of traffic controller unit

Fig. 1: Circuit of traffic controller

8 0 • N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

AC, 50Hz power supply or mounted
on the PVC tube used in construction
of the traffic light container.
Construction of the traffic light
container box is shown in Fig. 2. A
stout cardboard box of 30x15x10cm3 is
required for housing the lamps. To en-
sure strength, use a 10x45cm2 plywood
plate having 1.5cm thickness and se-
cure onto it three light sockets and the
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
box using nuts and bolts or screws.
Make three tubes of thin alumini-
um sheet, which is readily available in
hardware shops. The inner diameter of
aluminium tubes should be such that
these can snugly fit on the light sock-
ets. Using a sharp knife, make holes
opposite the sockets carefully. Wire the
sockets at the back and take the wires
out through the PVC tube.
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8 • 8 1
circuit
ideas
First, fix three 15W bulbs (B1
through B3) and then press on the
tubes. Support the other ends of the
tubes in the holes made on the front
panel of cardboard box. Sandwich gela-
tine papers of the three colours between
two sheets of cardboard and fix over the
tubes. The visibility of red, amber and
green lights improves with their mount-
ing on the tubular shape. 
circuit
ideas
Battery-level indicator
 Aniruddh K.S.
N
ormally, in mobile phones,
the battery level is shown in
dot or bar form. This lets you
easily recognise the battery level. Here
we present a circuit that lets you know
the battery level of a device from the
number of LEDs that are glowing. It
uses ten LEDs in all. So if three LEDs
glow, it indicates battery capacity of
30 per cent. Unlike in mobile phones
where the battery-level indicator func-
tion is integrated with other functions,
here only one comparator IC (LM3914)
does it all.
The LM3914 uses ten comparators,
which are internally assembled in the
voltage divider network based on the
current-division rule. So it divides the
battery level into ten parts.
The circuit derives the power
supply for its operation from the
battery of the device itself. It uses
ten LEDs wired in a 10-dot mode.
The use of different coloured LEDs
8 4 • D E C e m b e r 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
makes it easier to recognise the
voltage level on the basis of the
calibration made. Red LEDs (LED1
through LED3) indicate battery
capacity of less than 40 per cent.
Orange LEDs (LED4 through LED6)
indicate battery capacity of 40 to
less than 70 per cent and green
LEDs (LED7 through LED10) indi-
cate battery capacity of 70 to under
100 per cent. The brightness of the
LEDs can be adjusted by varying the
value of preset VR2 between pins 6
and 7.
Diode D1 prevents the circuit
from reverse-polarity battery con-
nection. The tenth LED glows only
when the battery capacity is full,
i.e., the battery is fully charged.
When the battery is fully charged,
relay-driver transistor T1 conducts
to energise relay RL1. This stops the
charging through normally-open
(N/O) contacts of relay RL1.
For calibration, connect 15V vari-
able, regulated power supply and
edi
s.c. dwiv
initially set it at 3V. Slowly adjust VR1
until LED1 glows. Now, increase the
input voltage to 15V in steps of 1.2V
until the corresponding LED (LED2
through LED10) lights up.
Now the circuit is ready to show
any voltage value with respect to the
maximum voltage. As the number of
LEDs is ten, we can easily consider one
LED for 10 per cent of the maximum
voltage.
Connect the voltage from any
battery to be tested at the input
probes of the circuit. By examining
the number of LEDs glowing you
can easily know the status of the bat-
tery. Suppose five LEDs are glowing.
In this case, the battery capacity is
50 to 59 per cent of its maximum
value.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB. Calibrate it and then en-
close in a box. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

Laser-guided Door Opener
 T.K. Hareendran
T
his automatic door opener can
be made using readily available
components. The electromag-
netic relay at the output of this gadget
can be used to control the DC/AC
door-opener motor/solenoid of an
electromechanical door opener as-
sembly, with slight intervention in its
electrical wiring.
A laser diode (LED1) is used here
as the light transmitter. Alternatively,
you can use any available laser pointer.
The combination of resistor R1 and
diode D1 protects the laser diode
from over-current flow. By varying
muliturn trimpot VR1, you can adjust
the sensitivity. (Note that ambient light
reflections may slightly degrade the
performance of this unit.)
Initially, when the laser beam is
falling on photo-transistor T1, it con-
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
ducts to reverse-bias transistor T3 and
the input to the first gate (N1) of IC1
(CD4001) is low. The high output at
pin 3 of gate N1 forward biases the
LED-driver transistor (T4) and the
green standby LED (LED2) lights up
continuously. The rest of the circuit
remains in standby state.
When someone interrupts the
laser beam, photo-transistor T1 stops
conducting and transistor T3 becomes
forward-biased. This makes the output
of gate N1 go low. Thus LED-driver
transistor T4 becomes reverse-biased
and LED2 stops glowing. At the same
time, the low output of gate N1 makes
the output of N2 high. Instantly, this
high level at pin 4 of gate N2 triggers
the monostable multivibrator built
around the remaining two gates of IC1
(N3 and N4). Values of resistor R8 and
capacitor C1 determine the time period
of the monostable.
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • j a n ua ry 2 0 0 9 • 9 7
circuit
ideas
s.c. dwiv
edi
The second monostable built
around IC2 (CD4538) is enabled by
the high-going pulse at its input pin
12 through the output of gate N4 of
the first monostable when the laser
beam is interrupted. As a result, relay
RL1 energises and the door-opener
motor starts operating. LED3 glows to
indicate that the door-opener motor is
getting the supply. At the same time,
piezobuzzer PZ1 sounds an alert.
Transistor T5, whose base is connected
to Q output (pin 10) of IC2, is used for
driving the relay. Transistor T6, whose
base is connected to Q output of IC2,
is used for driving the intermittent pi-
ezobuzzer. ‘On’ time of relay RL1 can
be adjusted by varying trimpot VR2.
Resistor R9, variable resistor VR2 and
capacitor C3 decide the time period of
the second monostable and through it
circuit
ideas
on time of RL1. totransistor on opposite sides of the relay contacts is the one used in elec-
The circuit works off 12V DC doorframe and align them such that tromechanical door-opener assembly.
power supply. Assemble it on a gen- the light beam from the laser diode If you want to use a DC motor, replace
eral-purpose PCB. After construction, falls on the phototransistor directly. mains AC connection with a DC power
mount the laser diode and the pho- The motor connected to the pole of supply. 

9 8 • j a n ua ry 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
circuit
ideas

Traffic Baton edi

s.c. dwiv
 Ashok K. Doctor their hand signals may not be visible
at night, it is necessary to have some

I
n small towns, there are no traffic illuminated direction indicator.
lights and the police regulates the Here we present two circuits for other uses bright LEDs. Both the cir-
traffic with hand signals. Since the same. One uses 6V bulbs and the cuits operate off a 6V, 4.5Ah recharge-
able battery,
which is
clipped to
the police-
man’s waist-
band.
Fig. 1
shows the
circuit of the
LED flasher.
It is wired
as an astable
multivibra-
tor. The ‘on’
time of the
LED cluster
is about 108
milliseconds
and ‘off’ time
is around 105
milliseconds.
The frequen-
cy is around
Fig. 1: Circuit of LED flasher 5 Hz. A di-
ode is used
in series with the base of BD140 to
increase the forward voltage in order
to ensure that when BD139 conducts,
BD140 is cut-off. Select the LED which
consumes low current (20 mA or so)
but flashes bright.
Fig. 2 shows the circuit of the bulb
flasher. Timer NE555 is wired as an
astable multivibrator. The ‘on’ period
of flashing bulb is around 344 milli-
seconds and ‘off’ period is around 329
milliseconds. The frequency is around
1.5 Hz. Bulb-driver transistors 2N3053/
BD139 and 2N2905/BD140 are used to
light up the lamp. Two diodes are used
in series with the base of 2N2905 to
increase the forward voltage in order
to ensure that when BD139 is conduct-
ing, BD140 is cut-off. Slide switch S2 is
Fig. 2: Circuit of bulb flasher used to change the colour status of the

9 4 • j a n ua ry 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

Fig. 3: Traffic baton for LED flasher
Fig. 4: Traffic baton for bulb flasher
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
circuit
ideas
flashing bulb.
Assemble the LED flasher and
bulb flasher circuits on separate gen-
eral-purpose PCBs. Enclose the LED
flasher in a transparent acrylic pipe as
shown in Fig. 3. The bulb flasher can
be enclosed in another transparent
acrylic pipe as shown in Fig. 4. Slide
switches and red and green acrylic
sheets are used for appropriate colour
emissions. Now your traffic baton is
ready to use. 
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • j a n ua ry 2 0 0 9 • 9 5
circuit
ideas

Automated Alarm Circuits s.c. dwiv

edi

Pallabi Sarkar and Normally, when the door is closed,

Anirban Sengupta reed switch S1 is closed, transistor T1
conducts and the monostable multivi- When the door is opened, reed

T
wo alarm circuits are presented brator (IC1) remains in standby mode switch S1 gets disconnected, T1 stops
here. One produces bird-chirp- with ‘low’ output at pin 10. conducting and low-to-high pulse at pin
ing sound and the other British
police siren tone.
Fig. 1 shows the circuit of the bird-
chirping-sound alarm unit along with
the circuit of the control unit. Fig. 2
shows the circuit of only the British
police siren tone generator, which has
to be integrated with the control circuit
portion of Fig. 1 at points A and B to
complete the circuit diagram of auto-
mated alarm.
The control unit is built around ICs
CD4047 and CD4027 (as shown on the
left side of the dotted line in Fig. 1). As
mentioned earlier, it is common to both
the alarm circuits. IC CD4047 (IC1)
is wired in positive-edge-triggering
monostable multivibrator mode to set
and reset IC CD4027 (IC2). The output
pulse width of IC1 depends on the
values of capacitor C2 and resistor R3
connected to its pins 1, 2 and 3. Fig. 2: Alarm circuit that generates police siren tone

Fig. 1: Alarm circuit that generates bird-chirping sound

9 6 • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

8 of IC1 triggers the monostable and a
short-duration positive pulse of about
10 seconds is available as Q output at
pin 10. At the same time, complementary
output Q goes low at pin 11. The output
from IC1 is used to set and reset IC2.
IC2 is a low-power, dual J-K mas-
ter/slave flip-flop having independ-
ent J, K, set, reset and clock inputs.
The flip-flops change states on the
positive-going transition of the clock
pulses. IC2 is wired such that its Q
output turns ‘high’ when reset pin 4
receives a high pulse. When set pin 7
receives a high pulse, Q output goes
low and Q output goes high. This
lights up LED2 and drives transistor
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
T2 (BC548), which enables the alarm
circuit.
The output at point A is used to
enable the alarm tone generator circuit
(on the right side of the dotted line)
consisting of two 555 timer ICs marked
as IC3 and IC4. The R-C network de-
termines the frequency of the sound
produced. The triangular waveform
of the astable multivibrator is taken
out from the junction of pins 2 and
6 of IC3. This waveform is fed as the
control voltage at pin 5 of IC4 through
resistor R18. The output received from
pin 3 of IC4 is fed to the base of transis-
tor T3 to drive an 8-ohm loudspeaker
(LS1), which generates the bird-chirp-
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 9 • 9 7
circuit
ideas
ing sound.
For the chirping-sound alarm gen-
erator, assemble the circuit shown in
Fig. 1 on a separate general-purpose
PCB and enclose in a small box. And if
you want an alarm circuit with British
police siren tone, assemble the circuit
shown in Fig. 2 on another general-
purpose PCB and connect it to points
A and B of the control unit shown in
Fig. 1 after removing the circuit on the
right side of the dotted line. Use a 9V,
500mA standard adaptor to power the
circuit.
This circuit may be used as a secu-
rity alarm in banks, households and
motorcars. 

MIDNIGHT security light
 D. MOHAN KUMAR
M
ost thefts happen after
midnight hours when peo-
ple enter the second phase
of sleep called ‘paradoxical’ sleep.
Here is an energy-saving circuit that
causes the thieves to abort the theft
attempt by lighting up the possible
sites of intrusion (such as kitchen or
backyard of your house) at around
1:00 am. It automatically resets in the
morning.
The circuit is fully automatic and
uses a CMOS IC CD 4060 to get the
desired time delay. Light-dependent
resistor LDR1 controls reset pin 12 of
IC1 for its automatic action.
During day time, the low resist-
ance of LDR1 makes pin 12 of IC1
‘high,’ so it doesn’t oscillate. After
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
sunset, the high resistance of LDR1
makes pin 12 of IC1 ‘low’ and it starts
oscillating, which is indicated by the
flashing of LED2 connected to pin 7
of IC1. The values of oscillator compo-
nents (resistors R1 and R2 and capaci-
tor C4) are chosen such that output
pin 3 of IC1 goes ‘high’ after seven
hours, i.e., around 1 am. This high
output drives triac 1 (BT136) through
LED1 and R3.
Bulb L1 connected between the
phase line and M2 terminal of triac 1
turns on when the gate of triac 1 gets
the trigger voltage from pin 3 of IC1.
It remains ‘on’ until pin 12 of IC1 be-
comes high again in the morning.
Capacitors C1 and C3 act as power
reserves, so IC1 keeps oscillating even
if there is power interruption for a few
seconds. Capacitor C2 keeps trigger
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 9 • 9 5
circuit
ideas
edi
s.c. dwiv
pin 12 of IC1 high during day time,
so slight changes in light intensity
don’t affect the circuit. Using preset
VR1 you can adjust the sensitivity of
LDR1.
Power supply to the circuit is de-
rived from a step-down transformer
X1 (230V AC primary to 0-9V, 300mA
secondary), rectified by a full-wave
rectifier comprising diodes D1 through
D4 and filtered by capacitor C1.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB with adequate spacing
between the components. Sleeve the
exposed leads of the components.
Using switch S1 you can turn on the
lamp manually. Enclose the unit in a
plastic case and mount at a location
that allows adequate
daylight.
Caution. Since the
circuit uses 230V AC,
many of its points are
at AC mains voltage. It
could give you lethal
shock if you are not
careful. So if you don’t
know much about work-
ing with line voltages,
do not attempt to con-
struct this circuit. EFY
will not be responsible
for any kind of resulting
loss or damage. 
 do-it-yourself

A Versatile
Frequency Counter
Often, the need for a frequency counter is felt that operates in the LF, HF
and VHF ranges. The most common deterrents are the lack of programming
knowledge and the non-availability of VHF prescalers to bring down VHF to a
manageable HF range. Here we show how a commonly available low-cost radio
may be ripped apart and used as a frequency counter covering frequencies
from 500 kHz to 150 MHz
 Vasuki Prasad this section. It is used
only to keep track of

C
hinese radio company Kchibo COM1 1 36 VDD time.
makes radios based on the CX- COM2 2 35 FMIN The on-chip oscil-
A1619BM IC. This IC is a sur- COM3 3
lator is a NOT gate
34 VSS
face-mount version of the CXA1619BS, that requires an exter-
SEG0 4 33 AMIN
which most designers are familiar nal 32.768kHz crystal
with; FM boards available in the mar- SEG1 5 32 AM/FM-SEL to generate the timing
ket are built using this IC. Kchibo and SEG2 6 31 RANGE base.
other companies went a step ahead The adder/subtrac-
SEG3 7 30 NC
and thought of implementing a radio tor unit works like this:
frequency display, along with an alarm SEG4 8 29 IF70K A super heterodyne
clock, in their radios so that any station SEG5 9 28 AL-OUT radio receiver requires
can be tuned into, without doubting
SEG6 10
6610 27 AL-SIG
a local oscillator operat-
the actual frequency which the radio ing at a fixed frequency
is tuned to (no blind or approximate SEG7 11 26 CLKFREQ-SEL above the incoming
tuning). This is not a radio synthesiser; SEG8 12 25 NC signal’s frequency. This
it’s a conventional, mechanically tuned SEG9 13
fixed frequency is called
24 HR-SET
radio that sports a frequency display. intermediate frequency,
SEG10 14 23 MIN-SET
As opposed to conventional radios or IF. For commercial
which use a single IC (the CXA1619BS/ SEG11 15 22 AL DISP FM radios, it is 10.7
BM), the so-called digital radio uses SEG12 16 21 AL ON/OFF MHz for FM and 455
two ICs: the radio receiver IC and the kHz for AM/SW.
OSC IN 17 20 RST
UTC6610. Now, if the frequen-
At the heart of this project is OSC OUT 18 19 VLCD cy counter was reading
UTC6610. It comes in many pack- the actual frequency of
ages, but these radios use the chip-on- Fig. 1: Pin configuration of UTC6610 the oscillator, the user
board variety. The UTC6610 comes would have been put to
equipped with a frequency counter low-to-high) within a set period. great trouble in determining the actual
circuitry, prescaler for VHF, clock cir- The prescaler for VHF is a divide- receiving frequency. For example, for a
cuitry (time), on-chip oscillator, simple by-ten block that probably uses high- 100MHz signal to be detected, the local
adder/subtractor or offset unit, and speed CMOS circuitry to divide the oscillator is made to run at 110.7 MHz
LCD driver. As can be seen, this unit number of pulses. When a 150MHz (100+10.7=110.7 MHz). So to display
is completely self-sufficient. The only signal is fed to the prescalar, the output the intended receiving frequency, the
external components required are is 15 MHz. Datasheets specify 300mV UTC6610 subtracts 10.7 MHz from the
crystal and LCD. peak-to-peak input; higher voltages will counted frequency. This means that if
The frequency counter circuitry of destroy the IC. The prescaler is activated you are to use the UTC6610 as a fre-
the IC measures the frequency of the only in the FM mode of operation. quency counter, always bear in mind
incoming RF wave by counting the As regards clock circuitry, we’re that the actual frequency is 10.7 MHz
number of transitions (high-to-low or not interested in it and hence skipping higher than the displayed frequency

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 1 0 7
 do-it-yourself

Modes of Operation
FM mode AM mode
Function details details
Input frequency range 11 to 150 MHz 0.5 to 30 MHz
Prescaler In operation Not in operation
Input voltage 300mV pk-pk recommended 300mV pk-pk recommended
Frequency resolution 10 kHz: 11.00 to 99.99 MHz 1 kHz: 500 to 9999 kHz
100 kHz: 11.0 MHz to 149.9 MHz 10 kHz: 0.50 to 29.99 MHz
Set in radio to 100kHz resolution Set in radio to 10kHz resolution for
SW and 1kHz resolution for MW Fig. 5: The brown PCB with the metallic shield,
which is our target
IF offset 10.7 MHz 455 kHz
70 kHz also available
Input resistance 150 ohms 2000 ohms

COL S1
AM
MHz
FM KHz
PM AL
DP2 DP1

(a)

Fig. 6: Opened up: The frequency counter

UTC6610 hidden away behind the LCD, while
the flip-flop circuitry (just to set FM, AM states) is
visible as the SMD transistors
Fig. 3: The radio

(b)

Fig. 2: (a) 4 digit-LCD and (b) image of the LCD

in the FM mode. In the AM mode, it is

455 kHz above the displayed frequen-
cy. 70kHz offsets are also available as
Fig. 7: The back side: RF shield-cum-LCD
an option in the FM mode, but we are mechanical support. Notice the purple and black
skipping this for now as the radios wire for VHF and HF input, respectively
we rip these modules from have no
70kHz IF.
The LCD driver converts binary
data into voltages necessary to drive
the LCD unit.

Opening up the radio

The best part about Kchibo KK-939B
radio is use of minimal external points.
Also, it is simple to understand and
operate, has an LED light to illuminate
the LCD, and looks good. I recommend
beginners to buy this radio and rip it
apart for a clean, high-performance
frequency counter.
To access the frequency counter
board, the radio (Kchibo KK-939B) has
to be opened up. In the close-up of the
Fig. 4: Opened up radio; note that the brown
PCB is the frequency counter and LCD section
and green PCB is the radio receiver
frequency counter PCB (Fig. 9), you
will notice the solder joints marked VH
input, HF input, points ‘1’ through ‘5,’
FM and AM. VHF input is to be con-
nected to the RF source whose frequen-
cy you want to determine (from 11 to
150 MHz). HF input is to be connected
to the RF source whose frequency you
Fig. 8: The purple line leads to the take-off point
for the VHF oscillator (FM section), while the
rightmost black wire leads to the take-off point
for the AM oscillator
want to determine (up to 30 MHz).
‘1’ is an input point. It has to be
kept at 0V for FM (VHF) operation
and 10kHz resolution in the AM mode

1 0 8 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

Fig. 9: Close-up of the frequency counter PCB
Fig. 10: The chip-on-board is the UTC6610
(HF opera-
tion). Setting
it to Vcc in HF
mode only sets
the display
resolution to
1 kHz. ‘2’ is an
output point
Fig. 11: Connect a small
switch between point ‘1’ for the radio
and GND and Vcc which lets
the IC know
whether it’s the AM (SW/MW) mode
or FM mode. ‘3’ is an input point at
Vcc (3V, do not exceed 3.3V). ‘4’ is the
input point at GND. ‘5’ is the output
point that controls power to the radio,
shutting off power to the IC when in
clock mode.
Pressing FM button activates the
VHF counter with a resolution of 100
kHz and frequency range of 11 MHz
to 150 MHz. The input is via the pur-
ple wire (shown in Fig. 9); the colour
may differ in your radio. You must set
point 1 to 0V for proper operation. The
display reading must be added to 10.7
MHz to get the actual frequency.
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Fig. 12: Crude connection example
A flip-flop comprising SMD transis-
tors on the PCB locks the UTC in this
mode until the AM button is pressed.
Default mode on startup is the FM
mode.
Pressing AM button activates the
HF counter with frequency range of 0.5
to 30 MHz. The input is via the black
wire (shown in Fig. 9); the colour may
differ in your radio. Set point 1 to Vcc
for 1kHz resolution and RF input of
0.5 to 9.999 MHz. Set point 1 to 0V for
10kHz resolution and 0.5 MHz to 29.99
MHz. Actual tests show it exceeds
75 MHz in this mode, which is good.
Reading on the display must be added
to 455 kHz to get the actual frequency.
A flip-flop comprising SMD transis-
tors on the PCB locks the UTC in this
mode until the FM button is pressed.
Default mode on startup is the FM
mode. To activate the AM mode, this
button has to be pressed.
Notice the blob of solder above the
VHF input point. This is the ground.
Of course, the clock pushbuttons
are still working perfectly, so you may
use them to set the clock too. You will
have to shift the SPDT switch (the
switch which controls the radio ‘on’
and ‘off’) to ‘off’ position in order to
activate the clock, and to ‘on’ position
in order to activate the RF counter.
Please note that here we’re not try-
ing to use the UTC6610 directly. Most
of the hard work of wiring up the 6610
IC, providing an LCD, making the PCB
and adding components has been done
by the radio manufacturer; in this case,
Kchibo. All we are attempting to do
here is to understand operation of the
UTC6610, and in turn operation of the
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 1 0 9
do-it-yourself
PCB provided by the manufacturer of
the radio, so as to come up with a quick,
compact, cost-effective RF counter.
To have a look at the IC, lift the
LCD, and you will see that the chip-
on-board (COB) is the UTC 6610 (see
Fig. 10).
Making the RF counter
1. Cut out the 5-wire ribbon cable. Un-
solder it from the counter board.
2. Cut the VHF and HF input wires
from the points on the radio PCB, not
the counter PCB.
3. The counter PCB is now sepa-
rated from the radio receiver PCB.
4. Solder a red wire to point ‘3’ of
the counter PCB. This is your positive
3V supply wire.
5. Solder a green wire to point ‘4’ of
the PCB. This serves as ground.
6. Connect a small switch between
point ‘1’ and GND and Vcc, as shown
in Fig. 11. Push the switch to 1kHz
position for 1kHz resolution in the
AM mode, and to 10kHz resolution for
10kHz in the AM mode. The switch has
to be kept in the 10kHz resolution mode
for proper VHF operation (FM mode).
With this, your crude-looking but
great-performance RF counter is set to
go. But bear a few things in mind:
1. Keep the VHF and HF wires as
short as possible. Their length will not
affect the performance of the counter,
but the circuit under test (for example,
the oscillator you might have built).
2. Couple the HF and VHF wires to
the RF sources via a 2pF capacitor.
3. Preferably, replace the VHF and
HF crude wires with easily available
75-ohm cable TV coax. This provides
RF shielding and noise immunity to a
good degree.
Fig. 12 shows a crude connection
example. Note how the green wire (HF
wire) is directly fed to the output of the
oscillator (very crude, do not attempt
this), without any capacitor or buffer.
(I admit this green wire belongs to a
different counter, but the operation
and concept are the same, as it too uses
the UTC6610.) Once I disconnected the
counter from the oscillator I had made,
 do-it-yourself
the frequency moved up by 1 MHz.
What is important to understand
here is: If you’re keeping the counter
connected to the output of a non-
buffered oscillator, the reading of the
counter plus 455/10.7 (as the case may
be, FM or AM mode, as shown on the
LCD) will be the true reading. At-
tempting to count the frequency and
then disconnecting the counter will set
the oscillator at a different frequency
after counting due to the capacitance
and loading effect of the counter. The
reading got then is invalid as the fre-
quency changes on the removal of the
counter.
Keeping this effect in mind, it is
important to:
1. Use the 2pF capacitor. It causes
minimal frequency shift due to mini-
mal capacitance effect, so that the
reading obtained, and the frequency
after removing the counter from your
oscillator, don’t differ much.
2. Buffer your oscillator. Buffer-
ing of oscillators is very important to
prevent your oscillators from being
affected by external components.
Fig. 13: Suggested connection
Fig. 13 shows the suggested con-
nection. Never connect the HF and
VHF counter pins together. Use sepa-
rate ports and coax cables for both.
Why it’s good for
beginners?
There are other radio receiver models
available with more work to do (in
terms of points). Fig. 14 shows an
example: As you can see, the number
of lines is more, and more connec-
tions have to be made in order to get
it working. But for a beginner, the KK-
939B is a great radio with a great coun-
ter board. It has on-board flip-flops
that make the external connections
simple. In the case of the board shown
in Fig. 14, all the flip-flops are on the
radio PCB, so the number of connec-
Fig. 14: Another radio receiver example
tions is much more. Besides, separating
the counter PCB from the radio PCB
removes the luxury of pushbuttons
and flip-flops; which are present in the
KK-939B.
It took me two month to under-
stand the operation of the counter
shown in Fig. 14. After all the UTC6610
learning and circuit decoding (exten-
sive), the KK-939 took only 17 minutes
flat. That’s why it’s good for beginners.
Enjoy and have fun with your inexpen-
sive counter. The radio should be avail-
able for Rs 250 or less. Have fun! 
The author is from Manipal Institute of Technol-
ogy

Statement about ownership and other particulars about

Electronics For You
FORM IV (See Rule 8)
1. Place of publication : New Delhi
2. Periodicity of its publication : Monthly
3. Printer’s Name : Ramesh Chopra
Nationality : Indian
Address : Electronics For You
D-87/1, Okhla Industrial Area,
Phase I, New Delhi 110020
4. Publisher’s Name : Same as (3) above
Nationality
and address
5. Names and addresses of : EFY Enterprises Pvt Ltd
individuals who own the D-87/1, Okhla Industrial Area,
newspaper & partners or Phase 1, New Delhi 110020
shareholders holding more
than 1% of the total capital

I, Ramesh Chopra, hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of
my knowledge and belief.
Date: 28-2-2009
Ramesh Chopra
Publisher

1 1 0 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
wireless
Bluetooth Scatternets
A Cost-Effective Solution for Communication
The most popular application of Bluetooth is communication between
two directly paired devices. Here, we explore a less popular but powerful
application of Bluetooth which can help extend the range of Bluetooth
communication and provide a free infrastructure for communication
 Ahzam Ali
B
luetooth is a low-power, low-
cost and short-range wireless
technology. It was originally
developed by Ericsson for short-range
communication between personal
devices, e.g., data transfer between
a cellphone and a computer, or com-
munication with a printer. Bluetooth
devices use the unlicensed ISM band
at 2.4 GHz.
Nowadays most of the mobile de-
vices, including mobile phones, MP3
players, digital cameras, video cam-
eras, PDAs, laptop PCs, tablet PCs and
so forth, are equipped with Bluetooth.
So you can exchange data between
these devices without requiring the
use of wires. Bluetooth is considered
to be a high-potential technology for
providing wireless communication in
a home-networking environment.
1 1 2 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
Bluetooth is an evolving technol-
ogy. It has gone through three (stand-
ardised) revisions of the approved
standard by Bluetooth Special Interest
Group (SIG), the latest one being Blue-
tooth 2.1 EDR (enhanced data rate) in
early part of 2008. The latest standard
supports enhanced usability, i.e., pair-
ing of devices by means of near-field
communication (NFC), enhanced
security and broader range of device
profiles.
When a number of Bluetooth de-
vices communicate to each other in the
same vicinity, there is a high level of
interference. To combat interference,
Bluetooth technology applies a fast
frequency-hopping scheme which hops
over 79 channels 1600 times per second.
For devices to communicate to each
other using Bluetooth they need to be
paired with each other to have synchro-
nised frequency-hopping sequence.
Scatternets: A set of
piconets
When there is a collection of devices
paired with each other, it forms a
small personal area network called
‘piconet.’ A piconet consists of a mas-
ter and at most seven active slaves.
Each piconet has its own hopping se-
quence and the master and all slaves
share the same channel. In a piconet,
the master and slave devices trans-
mit packets in even and odd slots,
respectively.
Two or more piconets connected
to each other by means of a device
(called ‘bridge’) participating in both
the piconets, form a scatternet. The role
of the bridge is to transmit data across
piconets. Fig. 1 shows a scatternet
structure in which devices ‘a’ and ‘c’
play the master role and device ‘b’ acts
as the bridge.
The scatternet formation has not
been formally defined in the Bluetooth
SIG specifications. As a result, numer-
ous protocols have been proposed.
While modeling ad-hoc networking,
in general, is complex, the additional
restrictions imposed by the Bluetooth
specifications—such as low cost of
the device, low power consumption
and network resilience while using
piconets that have a maximum of
seven active nodes—have created a
P1 c P2
a b
MASTER
SLAVE
BRIDGE
Fig. 1: Scatternet structure
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

significant challenge.
Formation of scatternets
There has been a comprehensive study
to propose an efficient formation of con-
nected scatternet. One important prob-
lem that exists with scatternet as well
as piconet formation is to keep track of
the device that comes in and goes out of
the network—since these are low-power
handheld devices with limited commu-
nication range over Bluetooth. A device
connects to another device at random,
according to their 48-bit Bluetooth ad-
dresses and clocks, which control the
hopping behaviour in inquiry or inquiry
scan states. Most protocols seek to re-
duce the scatternet formation time and
form fast routing algorithms.
It turns out that a good scatternet
formation protocol should:
1. Be fully distributed and rely on
local information
2. Generate connected scatternets
3. Be resilient to the disconnection
of nodes anywhere in the scatternet
4. Provide multiple routes for ro-
bustness and be self-healing
5. Limit the number of bridges
6. Limit the number of roles a de-
vice can assume
7. Be aware of device resources
While forming a scatternet, keep
in mind that you are dealing with, in
general, small, energy- and process-
ing-power-starved devices. The fol-
lowing points should be taken care of
while developing scatternet formation
protocols:
1. Minimise scatternet construction
time
2. Minimise the amount of control
data transmitted
3. Minimise the number of hops
required for communication between
devices, in order to improve response
times
4. Minimise power consumption.
Master-and-bridge mode of operation
requires more power than slave mode
5. Minimise the number of roles
assigned to nodes
6. Minimise the number of piconets
to provide faster routing and reduced
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Fig. 2: Showing efficient network after role
switching
Fig. 3: Unnecessary bridge elimination
packet collisions
7. Maximise the amount of data
throughput
Given a scatternet, you can evaluate
its performance based on the number
of piconets, the number of nodes per
piconet, the number of bridge nodes,
the number of roles per node, average
traffic delay, throughput and maxi-
mum traffic delay.
Numerous models have been
proposed for constructing Bluetooth
scatternets, some of which may require
modifications to the existing Bluetooth
specifications.
Role switching
Role switching enables two devices
to exchange roles very rapidly, rather
than reconnecting by executing the
time-consuming inquiry and inquiry
scan processes. The role switching
operation involves fewer slots than the
inquiry/inquiry scan and page/page
scan operations in switching the roles
of the devices.
There are three major types of role
switching operations:
1. Combining. A situation where a
single node works both as slave in one
piconet and master in another.
2. Splitting. A piconet with a large
number of devices divided in two
piconets with smaller number of de-
vices.
3. Take-over. When the existing
mast or a bridge is about to move out
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 1 1 3
wireless
of the scatternet, it transfers its re-
sponsibilities to another device in the
scatternet.
There is a switching delay (called
‘guard time’) introduced by bridges
while they try to transmit packets
across the piconets. Eliminating the
unnecessary bridges from the net-
work will improve the perform-
ance of the scatternet. There exist
various protocols and algorithms
to optimise the roles that a device
assumes in a scatternet.
We see in the following exam-
ples how effective role assignment
can reduce the hop count while
routing a packet, help reduce
the number of bridges in the network
and result in an efficient scatternet
structure.
In Fig. 2, the original network was
formed with ‘c’ as a bridge node and ‘a’
and ‘b’ as the masters on two different
piconets p1 and p2. Using role switch-
ing, with the help of ‘c,’ improves the
structure of the scatternet (now formed
as a ‘piconet’), shortens the routing
path and eliminates the bridge delay
in the network.
Fig. 3 shows another example of
better role switching operation that
results in an improved network struc-
ture.
Scatternet applications
By now you might be wondering what
possible use these scatternets could be
put to. Well, there are papers proposing
voice communication between two mo-
bile devices connected over a Bluetooth
scatternet, up to a distance of 100 metres
in an indoor environment. One of the
popular applications developed by No-
kia, called ‘sensor,’ works on somewhat
similar principles. It lets users communi-
cate to each other, bypassing the service
provider’s network, over Bluetooth.
Sensor networks are another ex-
ample where the Bluetooth scatternets
can be used. Since sensor networks are
generally ad-hoc, Bluetooth scatternet
can be used for communication of
sensors with each other and the base.
This will eliminate the requirement of
wireless
developing a special-purpose protocol
for sensor networks.
Problems to be addressed
The Bluetooth scatternet formation
devices are generally small, running on
batteries, with low-powered CPU and
low memory. At the same time, these are
highly mobile and may frequently move
in and out of the network. This leads us
to think about:
1. Topology and size of scatternets.
What is the optimal number of piconets
in the scatternet and how many nodes
are there? The number of bridge nodes
increases (proportionally) with the
increasing number of piconets. The in-
creases, in turn, incur significant over-
head: loss of one or more time slots to
readjust clocking when shifting from
one piconet to another, more traffic
than non-bridge nodes and increased
battery power consumption to perform
these tasks.
What is the optimal number of
piconets in which a bridge should par-
ticipate? The more the piconets with
which a bridge communicates, the less
the time during which the bridge will
be available for dealing with traffic
from/to each individual piconet, thus
increasing the likelihood of bottlenecks,
at the bridge itself.
2. Formation delay and resilience.
How much time is required to con-
struct, optimise and maintain the scat-
ternet? The ad-hoc, dynamic nature of
a Bluetooth network requires constant
modifications to the scatternet topol-
ogy to support devices that join and
leave. How to handle the nodes that
join or leave the scatternets?
3. Polling and scheduling. In what
order will the slaves be polled by the
master? Does the scatternet topology
impact the ability to handle scheduled
communications from slaves in sniff or
hold state?
4. Routing. Does the scatternet topol-
ogy allow efficient routing of messages?
Work in the area
There are a number of papers discuss-
ing the effective routing protocols
1 1 4 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
for Bluetooth scatternets. Also, there
are quite a few papers which discuss
the point of organising the scatternet
in an efficient fashion, dealing with
disparate aspects of scatternet opti-
misation. A proposal in ‘Bluetooth
Scatternet Formation for Supporting
Device Mobility,’ by Chorng-Horng
Yang and Yi- Sheng Chen, deals with
mobility support in a Bluetooth scat-
ternet network, but relies on a Blue-
tooth backbone network consisting of
devices that are not mobile. Another
work done on similar lines is ‘Tracking
the Optimal Configuration of a Blue-
tooth Scatternet’ by Csaba Kiss Kalló
and Carla-Fabiana Chiasserini, which
deals with similar problem of redefin-
ing the role of nodes in scatternets but
concentrates on improving the energy
efficiency of the nodes. Also, there are
numerous proposals for routing proto-
cols including MANET (mobile ad-hoc
network) protocols.
Future in Bluetooth
The new Bluetooth specification, called
the Bluetooth 2.1, is already published.
It is fully backward-compatible with
1.1. The specification includes many
new security and usability enhance-
ments. The most interesting of these
is incorporation of the near-field
communication (NFC) device, which
helps in pairing of two Bluetooth de-
vices equipped with NFC chip by just
bringing them close to each other. For
example, a headset can be paired with
a Bluetooth 2.1 phone having NFC
chip just by bringing the two devices
close to each other. Another example
is automatic uploading of photos from
a mobile phone to a digital picture
frame just by bringing the phone close
to the frame. Features like this and
other security enhancements will help
Bluetooth gain user confidence.
A lot of work is in progress in
the area of Bluetooth, to enhance and
widen the application of Bluetooth
protocol. In the future, we may expect
features like:
1. Broadcast channels. These will
enable Bluetooth information points
that broadcast information to all Blue-
tooth devices in the vicinity. So users
will be able to pull relevant informa-
tion from the system.
2. Topology manger. It will enable
better configuration of piconets and
even scatternets.
3. Alternate media access physical
layer. It will enable use of some other
wireless technology for actual data
transfer at higher rate while maintain-
ing the initial pairing on standard
Bluetooth.
4. QoS improvements. These will
enable audio and video data transmis-
sion at a higher quality.
Nokia and Bluetooth SIG have an-
nounced that Wibree (Nokia’s low pow-
er wireless communication protocol) will
be a part of the Bluetooth specification
as an ultra-low-power Bluetooth tech-
nology, to be used in caller ID watches,
sports sensors (used for monitoring the
wearer’s heart rate during exercise) as
well as medical devices. A medical de-
vices profile and associated protocols are
being developed by the Medical Devices
Working Group (MDWG).
Bluetooth 3.0. The next version of
Bluetooth after v2.1, code-named Seat-
tle, is proposed to adopt ultra-wide-
band (UWB) radio technology. This
will allow Bluetooth use over UWB
radio, enabling very fast data transfers
of up to 480 Mbps, while taking the ad-
vantage of very low-power idle modes
of Bluetooth.
Extending the scope
Even though work on Bluetooth scat-
ternet is going on for about a decade
now, it has failed to generate interest
amongst general consumer electronics
goods manufacturers. Bluetooth scat-
ternets find most of their use in sensor
networks. When there is a limitation
on setting up the communication in-
frastructure, Bluetooth scatternet could
turn out to be a cost-effective solution.
In future, as the processing power of
electronic devices grows and they be-
come more energy-efficient, Bluetooth
might see its way into already evolving
Bluetooth standards. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Power Supply

Charging Lithium-Ion
Batteries
Properly restoring energy using the latest battery technology for today’s portable
products requires careful consideration. An understanding of the charging
characteristics of the battery and the application’s requirements is essential in
order to design an appropriate and reliable battery charging system.
Linear and switch-mode charging solutions for Li-ion batteries are presented
here. Also given are the guidelines and considerations that should be taken into
account when developing any battery charging system
Each application is unique, but
one common theme rings through:
maximise battery capacity usage. This
theme directly relates to how energy is
properly restored to rechargeable bat-
teries. No single method is ideal for all
applications. An understanding of the
charging characteristics of the battery
and the application’s requirements is
essential in order to design an appro-
priate and reliable battery charging
system. Each method has its associated
advantages and disadvantages.
It is the particular application
with its individual requirements that
determines which method will be the
best to use.
Far too often, the charging system
is given low priority, especially in cost-
sensitive applications. The quality of
the charging system, however, plays a
key role in the life and reliability of the
battery. In this article, the fundamen-
tals of charging Lithium-ion (Li-ion)
batteries are explored. In particular,
linear charging solutions and a micro-
controller-based, switch-mode solution
shall be explored.

 Scott Dearborn batteries as a prime power source is on
the rise. As a result, a burden has been
Li-ion charging
The rate of charge or discharge is often
expressed in relation to the capacity of
the battery. This rate is known as the
C-rate. The C-rate equates to a charge

P
owering today’s portable world placed on the system designer to create or discharge current and is defined as:
poses many challenges for sophisticated systems utilising the bat- I = M × Cn
system designers. The use of tery’s full potential. where ‘I’ is charge or discharge current

9 2 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Power Supply
Fig. 1: Li-ion charge profile
Fig. 2: Capacity loss vs undercharge voltage
Fig. 3: Typical linear solution
in amperes, ‘M’ is the multiple or frac-
tion of ‘C,’ ‘C’ is the numerical value of
9 4 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
current of 100 mA.
Typically, manufacturers specify
the capacity of a battery at a 5-hour
rate, n = 5. For example, the above-
mentioned battery would provide
five hours of operating time when
discharged at a constant current of
200 mA. In theory, the battery would
provide one hour of operating time
when discharged at a constant current
of 1000 mA. In practice, however, the
operating time will be less than one
hour due to inefficiencies in the dis-
charge cycle.
So how is energy properly restored
to a Li-ion battery? The preferred
charge algorithm for Li-ion battery
chemistries is a constant-current, con-
stant-voltage algorithm that can be
broken up into four stages, namely,
trickle charge, constant-current charge,
constant-voltage charge and charge
termination (refer to Fig. 1):
Stage 1 (trickle charge): Trickle
charge is employed to restore charge
to deeply depleted cells. When the cell
voltage is below approximately 3V, the
cell is charged with a constant current
of 0.1C maximum.
Stage 2 (constant-current charge):
After the cell voltage has risen above
the trickle-charge threshold, the charge
current is raised to perform constant-
current charging. The constant-current
charge should be in the 0.2C to 1.0C
range. The constant current does not
need to be precise and semi-constant
current is allowed. Often, in linear
chargers, the current is ramped-up as
the rated capacity in the cell voltage rises in order to mini-
Ah and ‘n’ is the time mise heat dissipation in the pass tran-
in hours at which ‘C’ sistor.
is declared. Charging at constant current rates
A battery dis- above 1C does not reduce the overall
charging at a C-rate charge cycle time and should be avoid-
of ‘1’ will deliver its ed. When charging at higher currents,
nominal rated capac- the cell voltage rises more rapidly due
ity in one hour. For to over-voltage in the electrode reac-
example, if the rated tions and the increased voltage across
capacity is 1000 mAh, the internal resistance of the cell. The
a discharge rate of constant-current stage becomes shorter,
1C corresponds to a but the overall charge cycle time is not
discharge current of 1000 mA. A rate reduced because the percentage of time
of C/10 corresponds to a discharge in the constant voltage stage increases
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 Power Supply
proportionately.
Stage 3 (constant voltage): Constant
current charge ends and the constant-
voltage stage is invoked when the
cell voltage reaches 4.2V. In order to
maximise performance, the voltage
regulation tolerance should be better
than 1 per cent.
Stage 4 (charge termination): Un-
like nickel-based batteries, it is not
recommended to continue to trickle-
charge Li-ion batteries. Continuing Fig. 4: Typical, fully integrated, linear solution
to trickle charge can cause plating
of metallic lithium—a condition that
makes the battery unstable. The result
can be sudden, automatic and rapid
disassembly.
Charging is typically terminated by
one of two methods: minimum charge
current or a timer (or a combination
of the two). The minimum current
approach monitors the charge cur-
rent during the constant voltage stage
and terminates the charge when the
charge current diminishes in the range
of 0.02C to 0.07C. The second method
determines when the constant voltage
stage is invoked. Charging continues
for an additional two hours, and then
the charge is terminated. Fig. 5: MCP73843 charge cycle waveforms
Charging in this manner replenish-
es a deeply depleted battery in roughly age can vary from 90Vrms to 132Vrms of 9V to 18V.
2.5 to 3 hours. for a standard wall outlet. Assuming Constant-current charge rate and
Advanced chargers employ ad- a nominal input voltage of 120Vrms, accuracy. The choice of topology for a
ditional safety features. For example, the tolerance is +10 per cent, –25 per given application may be determined
the charge is suspended if the cell tem- cent. The charger must provide proper by the desired constant current. Many
perature is outside a specified window, regulation to the battery independent high-constant-current, or multiple-cell,
typically 0°C to 45°C. of its input voltage. The input voltage applications rely on a switch-mode
to the charger will scale in accordance charging solution for improved effi-
Li-ion charging: system to the AC mains voltage and the charge ciency and less heat generation.
considerations current: Linear solutions are desirable in
A high-performance charging system VO =√2×VIN×a–1O (REQ+RPTC) – 2×VFD low to moderate fast-charge-current
is required to recharge any battery REQ is the resistance of the second- applications for their superior size and
quickly and reliably. The following ary winding plus the reflected resist- cost considerations. However, a linear
system parameters should be consid- ance of the primary winding (RP/a2), solution purposely dissipates excess
ered in order to ensure a reliable, cost- RPTC is the resistance of the PTC and power in the form of heat.
effective solution. VFD is the forward drop of the bridge The tolerance on the constant-
Input source. Many applications rectifiers. In addition, transformer-core current charge becomes extremely
use very inexpensive wall cubes for loss will slightly reduce the output important to a linear system. If the
the input supply. The output voltage voltage. regulation tolerance is loose, pass
is highly dependent on the AC input Applications that charge from a transistors and other components
voltage and the load current being car adaptor can experience a similar will need to be oversized adding size
drawn from the wall cube. problem. The output voltage of a car and cost. In addition, if the constant-
In the US, the AC mains input volt- adaptor will be typically in the range current charge is low, the complete

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 9 5
Power Supply

Fig. 6: Switch mode SEPIC charger

9 6 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

charge cycle will be extended.
Output-voltage regulation accu-
racy. The output-voltage regulation
accuracy is critical in order to obtain
the desired goal: maximise the battery
capacity usage. A small decrease in
output voltage accuracy results in a
large decrease in capacity. However,
the output voltage cannot be set arbi-
trarily high because of safety and reli-
ability concerns.
Fig. 2 depicts the importance of
output-voltage regulation accuracy.
Charge termination method. It can-
not be stressed enough that over-charg-
ing is the Achilles’ heal of Li-ion cells.
Accurate charge termination methods
are essential for a safe, reliable, charg-
ing system.
Cell temperature monitoring. The
temperature range over which a Li-ion
battery should be charged is 0°C to
45°C, typically. Charging the battery
at temperatures outside of this range
may cause the battery to become hot.
During a charge cycle, the pressure
inside the battery increases causing
the battery to swell. Temperature and
pressure are directly related. As the
temperature rises, the pressure can
become excessive. This can lead to
a mechanical breakdown inside the
battery or venting. Charging the bat-
tery outside of this temperature range
may also harm the performance of
the battery or reduce the battery’s life
expectance.
Generally, thermistors are included
in Lithium-ion battery packs in order
to accurately measure the battery
temperature. The charger measures
the resistance value of the thermis-
tor between the thermistor terminal
and the negative terminal. Charging
is inhibited when the resistance, and
therefore the temperature, is outside
the specified operating range.
Battery discharge current or reverse
leakage current. In many applications,
the charging system remains connected
to the battery in the absence of input
power. The charging system should
minimise the current drain from the
battery when input power is not
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Power Supply
present. The maximum current drain
should be below a few microamperes
and, typically, below one microam-
pere.
Application examples
Taking the above system consid-
erations into account, an appropriate
charge management system can be
developed.
Linear solutions. Linear charg-
ing solutions are generally employed
when a well-regulated input source
is available. Linear solutions, in these
applications, offer advantages of ease
of use, size and cost.
Due to the low efficiency of a
linear charging solution, the most
important factor is the thermal design.
The thermal design is a direct function
of the input voltage, charge current
and thermal impedance between the
pass transistor and the ambient cool-
ing air. The worst-case situation is
when the device transitions from the
trickle charge stage to the constant-
current stage. In this situation, the
pass transistor has to dissipate the
maximum power. A trade-off must
be made between the charge current,
size, cost and thermal requirements of
the charging system.
Take, for example, an application
required to charge a 1000mAh, single
Li-Ion cell from a 5V±5% input at a
constant-current charge rate of 0.5C
or 1C. Fig. 3 depicts a low-cost, stan-
dalone linear solution. With a few
external components, the preferred
charge algorithm is implemented.
The MCP73843 combines high-accu-
racy constant-current, constant-volt-
age regulation with automatic charge
termination.
In an effort to further reduce the
size, cost and complexity of linear
solutions, many of the external compo-
nents can be integrated into the charge
management controller. Advanced
packaging and reduced flexibility
come along with higher integration.
These packages require advanced
equipment for manufacturing, and,
in many instances, preclude rework.
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 9 7
Power Supply
Fig. 7: Switch-mode charge cycles with and without PS700, 2200mAh
Typically, integration encompasses
charge-current sensing, the pass tran-
sistor and reverse-discharge protection.
In addition, these charge-management
controllers typically employ some type
of thermal regulation. Thermal regula-
tion optimises the charge cycle time
while maintaining device reliability by
limiting the charge current based on
the device die temperature. Thermal
regulation greatly reduces the thermal
design effort.
Fig. 4 depicts a fully integrated,
linear solution utilising the MCP73861.
The MCP73861 incorporates all the
features of the MCP73843 along with
charge-current sensing, the pass tran-
sistor, reverse-discharge protection and
cell temperature monitoring.
Charge-cycle waveforms. Fig. 5 de-
picts complete charge cycles utilising
the MCP73843 with constant-current
charge rates of 1C ad 0.5C. Charging
at a rate of 0.5C instead of 1C takes
about one hour longer for the end of
charge to be reached. The MCP73843
scales the charge termination current
proportionately with the fast charge
current. The result is an increase of
36 per cent in charge time with the
benefit of a 2 per cent gain in capacity
and reduced power dissipation. The
change in termination current from
0.07C to 0.035C results in an increase
in final capacity from around 98
per cent to 100 per cent. The system
9 8 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
designer has to make a trade-off be-
tween charge time, power dissipation
and available capacity.
Switch-mode charging solutions.
Switch-mode charging solutions are
generally employed in applications
that have a wide-ranging input or a
high input-to-output voltage differen-
tial. In these applications, switch-mode
solutions have the advantage of im-
proved efficiency. The disadvantages
are system complexity, size and cost.
Take, for example, an application
required to charge a 2200mAh, single
Li-ion cell from a car adaptor at a con-
stant-current charge rate of 0.5C or 1C.
It would be extremely difficult to utilise
a linear solution in this application due
to the thermal issues involved. A linear
solution employing thermal regulation
could be utilised, but the charge cycle
times at the reduced charge currents
may be prohibitive.
The first step to designing a suc-
cessful switch-mode charging solution
is to choose a topology: buck, boost,
buck-boost, flyback, single-ended pri-
mary inductive converter (SEPIC) or
other. Knowing the input and output
requirements, and experience, quickly
narrows the choices down to two for
this application: buck or SEPIC. A buck
converter has the advantage of requir-
ing a single inductor. Disadvantages
of this topology include an additional
diode required for reverse-discharge
protection, high-side gate drive and
current sense, and pulsed input current
(EMI concern).
The SEPIC topology has advantag-
es that include low-side gate drive and
current sense, continuous input current
and DC isolation from input to output.
The main disadvantage of the SEPIC
topology is the use of two inductors
and an energy transfer capacitor.
Fig. 6 depicts a schematic for a
switch-mode charger. A high-speed
pulse-width modulator (PWM),
MCP1630, has been utilised in a
pseudo smart battery charger ap-
plication. The MCP1630 is a high-
speed, microcontroller-adaptable,
pulse-width modulator. When used
in conjunction with a microcontroller,
the MCP1630 will control the power
system duty cycle to provide output
voltage or current regulation. The
microcontroller, PIC16F684, can be
used to regulate the output voltage
or current, switching frequency and
maximum duty cycle. The MCP1630
generates duty cycle, and provides
fast over-current protection based
on various external inputs. External
signals include the input oscillator,
the reference voltage, the feedback
voltage and the current sense. The
output signal is a square-wave pulse.
The power train used for the charger
is SEPIC.
The microcontroller provides an
enormous amount of design flexibility.
In addition, it can communicate with
a battery monitor inside the battery
pack to significantly reduce charge-
cycle times.
Charge-cycle waveforms. Fig. 7 shows
complete charge cycles utilising the
switch-mode charging solution. By
utilising a battery monitor in the
charging system, charge cycles can
be significantly reduced. The battery
monitor eliminates sensing the voltage
produced across the pack’s protection
circuitry and contact resistance by the
charging current. 
The author is principal applications engineer at
Microchip Technology Inc., Chandler, USA
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
design
Part 1 of 3
Reading the Datasheets of
Electronic Devices
A thorough understanding of datasheets allows the designers to select the right
device for their application and subsequently exploit the potential of the device
to the fullest. Beginning this month in a series of three articles, we would focus
on how to read a datasheet and then go on to discuss the datasheets of two of
the most commonly used electronics devices representing discrete devices and
integrated circuits
 Anil Kumar Maini and
Varsha Agrawal

M
ost of the present-day electron-
ics designers and application
engineers do not find it neces-
sary to look beyond the first page of the
datasheets of the electronic components
or devices while selecting one for their
application. They consider the knowl-
edge of a few major specifications of the
device sufficient for the design exercise
that they wish to undertake. Though
it may be adequate in some cases, the
design where the components are chosen
without giving due consideration to the
information contained in the datasheet
may not be the optimal one.
The datasheet of a device reveals its
true character and hence its suitability
for a given application. In addition to
listing down the device parameters, it
gives the electrical and environmental
conditions at which these parameters Fig. 1: First page of datasheet of power Mosfet type IRF250
have been measured and also contains
information on variation of important ally available from manufacturers. The Surely, the technical data of a given
parameters as a function of other word ‘comprehensive’ is used here to device in the short-form catalogue will
relevant electrical and environmental differentiate between the datasheet of a not be as comprehensive as it would
parameters. It is vital information device found in a short-form catalogue be in the detailed catalogue. In the
particularly when you are designing a and another datasheet of the same de- condensed version, one is likely to find
circuit or a module that has to qualify vice available in the detailed version. salient features, major performance
stringent environment standards. A For example, a company manufactur- specifications, package information
comprehensive datasheet almost in- ing a range of semiconductor devices and electrical characteristics along with
variably includes application circuits may have one condensed catalogue the condition for which they are valid.
recommended by the manufacturer. containing data on all categories of On the other hand, a detailed datasheet
devices like diodes, bipolar transistors, offers a range of characteristic curves
Comprehensive and MOSFETs and thyristors that it manu- showing variation of important pa-
condensed datasheets factures. It may also offer detailed rameters as a function of other relevant
Both comprehensive as well as con- catalogues separately for each of these parameters and typical application
densed versions of datasheets are usu- categories. circuits.

1 0 0 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
design
capability and a low ther-
mal resistance… designed
primarily for half-wave AC
power control such as motor
controls, heating controls…
(taken from the datasheet
of S2800 series SCR)… high
photosensitivity, hermeti-
cally sealed… fast optical
sensor of high-modulation
bandwidth... (taken from the
data sheet of PIN photodiode
type BPX-65)… single-pulse
avalanche energy rated, na-
nosecond switching speeds,
linear transfer characteristics,
high input impedance… well
suited for applications such
as switching regulators, mo-
tor drivers, relay drivers…
Fig. 2: Package styles of op-amp type LM741 (taken from the datasheet
of power MOSFET type
IRF250 shown in Fig. 1)” are
representative of the first
page of the datasheet of the
device. This gives designers
a fair idea of the important
features and applications
without going through the
whole datasheet.
Device package outline.
A sketch with device dimen-
sions and lead identification,
outline of the package styles
of the device and other me-
chanical information are in-
cluded in this part. Quite of-
ten a given device is made in
more than one package style
either with no difference in
performance specifications
(such as medium-power sili-
con transistor type 2N6045/
MJE6045 made in TO220AB
Fig. 3: Internal schematic of op-amp type LM741
and TO127 package styles),
or with a minor difference
Common features ing features. All datasheets begin with (such as bipolar transistor 2N2222 in
A study of the datasheets of a variety typical applications as suggested by TO-92 plastic and TO-18 metal can
of devices, be they discrete or integrat- the manufacturer and the outstanding packages), and occasionally with a
ed circuit (IC), reveals a commonality features of the device. This informa- major difference (such as IC regulator
in the type of data and characteristic tion appears on the first page of the type 78-series in TO-92 plastic, TO-220
curves. These common features are datasheet and is an essential part of and TO-3 packages).
outlined in the following paragraphs. both condensed and detailed versions. Fig. 2 shows the package options
Typical applications and outstand- Statements like “It has high dv/dt for the operational amplifier LM741.

1 0 2 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 design

Absolute Maximum Ratings (Note 1)

If military/aerospace specified devices are required, contact the National Semiconductor Sales Office/Distributors
for availability and specifications.

LF155/6 LF256/7/LF356B LF355/6/7

Supply voltage ±22V ±22V ±18V

Differential input voltage ±40V ±40V ±30V
Input voltage range (Note 2) ±20V ±20V ±16V
Output short circuit duration Continuous Continuous Continuous
TJMAX
H-package 150°C 115°C 115°C
N-package — 100°C 100°C
M-package — 100°C 100°C
Power dissipation at TA=25°C (Notes 1, 8)
H-package (still air) 560 mW 400 mW 400 mW
H-package (400 LF/min air flow) 1200 mW 1000 mW 1000 mW
N-package — 670 mW 670 mW
M-package — 380 mW 380 mW
Thermal resistance (typical) θJA
H-package (still air) 160°C/W 160°C/W 160°C/W
H-package (400 LF/min air flow) 65°C/W 65°C/W 65°C/W
N-package — 130°C/W 130°C/W
M-package — 195°C/W 195°C/W
(Typical) θJC
H-package 23°C/W 23°C/W 23°C/W
Storage temperature range –65°C to +150°C –65°C to +150°C –65°C to +150°C
Soldering information (lead temp.)
Metal can package
Soldering (10 sec.) 300°C 300°C 300°C
Dual-in-line package
Soldering (10 sec.) 260°C 260°C 260°C
Small outline package
Vapour phase (60 sec.) — 215°C 215°C
Infrared (15 sec.) — 220°C 220°C
See AN-450 ‘Surface Mounting Methods and Their Effect on Product Reliability’ for other methods of soldering
surface mount devices.
ESD tolerance
(100 pF discharged through 1.5kΩ) 1000V 1000V 1000V
Absolute maximum ratings tell the designer the conditions that will damage the device. Remember these are
not maximum operating limits

Fig. 4: Absolute maximum ratings for op-amp type LF156/256/356

As you can see from the figure, it is
available in three packages, namely,
the metal can package, dual-in-line
package and ceramic flatpak pack-
age.
Schematic diagram. Detailed sche-
matic of the internal structure of the
device is also given in the datasheet.
Fig. 3 shows the internal schematic of
operational amplifier LM741. It helps
the designer to correlate the electrical
features of the device with its internal
architecture. This sometimes helps the
designer to explain the device behav-
iour that is otherwise not described in
the datasheet.
Absolute maximum ratings. Abso-
lute maximum ratings (Fig. 4) contain
information on voltages, currents, pow-
ers and temperature range that should
never be exceeded. As is evident from
the figure, the maximum supply volt-
age for operational amplifier LF356 is
±18V.

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 1 0 3
design

Fig. 5: Performance curves of diodes 1N4001 to 1N4007

Performance curves. Perform- characteristics of the device, such characteristics) in the case of FETs,
ance curves of interest as a function as drain current versus drain volt- emitter voltage versus emitter cur-
of voltage, current, temperature, age (drain characteristics) or drain rent in the case of UJTs and forward
etc follow next. These include the current versus gate voltage (transfer voltage versus forward current in the

1 0 4 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

case of diodes. Fig. 5 shows the char-
acteristics curves for diodes 1N4001
Fig. 6: Thyristor-cathode voltage vs. cathode current for different
temperatures
Fig. 7: Electrical characteristics of Mosfet type number IRF250
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
to 1N4007.
It could also be variation of the cath-
ode voltage vs cathode
current as a function of
temperature (Fig. 6) in
the case of a thyristor, or
dark current as a func-
tion of applied reverse
bias in the case of a PIN
photodiode, or transcon-
ductance versus drain
current as a function of
temperature in the case
of power MOSFET. The
curve in the first case
emphasises that the re-
lationship between the
cathode voltage and cath-
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 1 0 5
design
ode current changes with temperature.
The curve in the second illustration
indicates critical dependence of the
dark current of the PIN photodiode
on the applied reverse bias voltage.
And the third demonstrates significant
reduction in the transconductance of the
MOSFET at a fixed drain current with
increase in temperature. These are all
very important aspects of design and
therefore should not be side-stepped.
Electrical characteristics. Electri-
cal characteristics are usually given
in tabular form indicating spread
in parameter values that is likely to
occur in a batch of devices in terms
of minimum, typical and maximum
values. It is a vital design input as in
 cONSTRUCTION

Microcontroller-Based
Ring Tone Player sunil ku
mar

 Subhajit Roy frequency.

A cylindrical air column with both

M
obile phone ring tones sound ends open vibrates with a fundamental So λ =2L1
like real audio recordings. frequency. Each end of the column Frequency n1 = V/λ (where ‘V’ is
It’s not because of the way must be an antinode, with one node at the velocity of sound)
the melodies are composed, but the the centre for By putting the value of ‘λ,’ we get:
protocol behind playing the melody. the air motion. n1 = V/2L1
The ring tone text transfer language Therefore if If length is half, then:
(RTTTL) is behind those wonderful ‘λ’ is the wave- Frequency n2 = V/L1
lullabies and songs you have on your length of the n1/n2 = (V/2L1) × (L1/V) = 1/2
mobile phone. sound pro- or n1 = 2n2
Basically, a ring tone is the sound duced by an Thus halving the length doubles
made by a mobile phone to indicate an open cylindri- the frequency, i.e., frequency n1 is cre-
incoming call or text message. Here we cal air column, ated with one octave higher (2n1).
present a microcontroller-based ring its length ‘L1’ If the length is made quarter of the
tone generator. Fig. 1: Fundamental
frequency vibration in an
will be: original, the frequency becomes 4n1,
open air column L1 = λ/2 (λ/4+ i.e., two octaves higher.
The basics λ/4) If n1 is octave 1, then
The lowest resonant frequency of a vi- n2 is octave 2,
brating object is called its fundamental then
frequency. Most vibrating objects have n3 is octave 3,
more than one resonant frequency and and so on.
those used in musical instruments If the length is
typically vibrate at harmonics of the doubled, the fre-
fundamental. A harmonic is defined as quency is halved.
an integer multiple of the fundamental That is, the fre-
Fig. 2: PWM signal, where Ts1, ts1 and D1 are the time period, half time
period and duration of note 1, while Ts2, ts2 and D2 are the time period, half
quency becomes
Parts List time period and duration of note 2 n1/2, which is one
Semiconductors: octave lower.
IC1 - AT89C51 microcontroller In music, fre-
IC2 - 7805, 5V regulator Table I quency n1 is called a
T1 - BC337 npn transistor Nokia RTTL Frequencies (Hz) note. The pitch of a
D1-D4 - 1N4007 rectifier diode
LED1 - 5mm LED (For Octave 4 to Octave 7) piano key or guitar
Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon): No. Octave=4 Octave=5 Octave=6 Octave=7 string is described
R1 - 330-ohm by the note.
1 A 220.000 440.000 880.000 1,760.000
R2 - 8.2-kilo-ohm According to
R3 - 10-kilo-ohm
2 A# 233.082 466.164 932.328 1,864.655
musical frequency
R4 - 1-kilo-ohm 3 B 246.942 493.883 987.767 1,975.533
conventions, there
Capacitors: 4 C 261.626 523.251 1,046.502 2,093.005
are twelve notes in
C1 - 1000µF, 25V electrolytic 5 C# 277.183 554.365 1,108.731 2,217.461
C2, C6 - 0.1µF ceramic disk
all, namely, A, A#,
6 D 293.665 587.330 1,174.659 2,349.318
C3 - 10µF, 16V electrolytic B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F,
7 D# 311.127 622.254 1,244.508 2,489.016
C4, C5 - 22pF ceramic disk F#, G and G#, where
8 E 329.628 659.255 1,318.510 2,637.020
Miscellaneous: ‘# ‘sign indicates a
9 F 349.228 698.456 1,396.913 2,793.826
X1 - 220V AC primary to 9V, sharp note.
500mA transformer 10 F# 369.994 739.989 1,479.978 2,959.955
According to
XTAL - 11.0592MHz crystal 11 G 391.995 783.991 1,567.982 3,135.963 Nokia RTTTL spec-
LS1 - 8-ohm, 1W speaker
12 G# 415.305 830.609 1,661.219 3,322.438 ifications, note A

5 2 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION

Table II
Values in Hex to be Loaded to Timer 1 (Oscillator Frequency 11.0592 MHz)
Notes a a# b c c# d d# e f f# g g#
Octave 4: A4=220 Hz F7D1 F847 F8B6 F91F F982 F9DF FA37 FA8A FAD9 FB23 FB68 FBAA
Octave 5: A5=440 Hz FBE9 FC23 FC58 FC8F FCC1 FCEF FD1B FD45 FD6C FD91 FDB4 FDD5
Octave 6: A6=880 Hz FDF4 FE12 FE2D FE48 FE60 FE78 FE8E FEA3 FEB6 FEC9 FEDA FEEB
Octave 7: A7=1.76 kHz FEFA FF09 FF17 FF24 FF30 FF3C FF47 FF51 FF5B FF64 FF6D FF75
Octave 8: A8=3.52 kHz FF7D FF44 FF8B FF92 FF98 FF9E FFA3 FFA9 FFAE FFB2 FFB7 FFBB

is not specified
for a particu-
lar note, the
default values
are assumed.
After get-
ting the notes,
you must
calculate the
duration for
which a note is
to be played:
Number
of notes per
second to be
played (N) =
60/beats per
minute (b)
=60/125
Net dura-
Fig. 3: Circuit of microcontroller-based ringtone generator tion D in sec-
onds for which
with octave 5 has a frequency of 440 32p, 32c, 32p, 8d, 32p, 8c, 32p, 8g, 32p, a note is to be played = No. of notes
Hz (refer Table I): f, 8p, 16c, 32p, 32c, 32p, 8c6, 32p, 8a, per second × (Default note duration)/
A5 = 440 Hz 32p, 8f, 32p, 8e, 32p, 8d, 32p, 16a#, 32p, (Duration specified for the current
So we get: 32a#, 32p, 8a, 32p, 8f, 32p, 8g, 32p note)
A6 = 880 Hz (A5x2) 1. The first section is the name of = N×d/dn
A7 = 1760 Hz (A6x2) the RTTTL melody, i.e., ‘Happy Birth- = (60/125) ×(4/8)
The space between two consecutive day Song.’ = 30/125
octaves like A5 and A6 is divided into 2. The second section defines the So to play music, all you need to
eleven equally spaced parts on the log- default values for the file. There are do is to get the RTTTL ring tone of the
arithmic scale. Thus there are twelve three categories of default values: du- particular music, then read its note and
equally spaced notes per octave: A5, ration (d=4), octave (o=5) and beat per generate the frequency for the calcu-
A#5, B5, C5, C#5, D5, D#5, E5, F5, F#5, minute (b=125). lated duration (D).
G5, G#5 and then A6 starts. 3. The third section describes the “If the note is dotted; for example,
RTTTL is a simple text-based for- melody. ‘2b’ (here ‘b’ denotes note, not beats
mat that you can use to create ring It is a set of notes separated by a per second), the duration is made 1.5
tones. An RTTTL file is made up of a comma. The notes are given in the fol- times, so that D=1.5D.”
single string divided into three sections lowing format: Generation of PWM frequency.
separated by colons (:). Duration (dn) Note Octave Since we are dealing with digital
In the example of a Happy Birthday 8 c 6 systems, we need to generate PWM
song given below: where ‘dn’ is the duration of the (pulse-width-modulated) signals from
d=4, o=5, b=125:16c, 32p, 32c, 32p, present note. port pin P2.0 of the microcontrol-
8d, 32p, 8c, 32p, 8f, 32p, e, 16p, 16c, If either the duration (dn) or octave ler. A PWM signal consists of ‘high’

5 4 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION
period calculation as follows:
1. Timer 0 for calculating
the duration (D)
2. Timer 1 for calculating
the half time period (ts)
The CPU takes certain
number of clock cycles to ex-
ecute an instruction. The sim-
plest instruction takes a single
byte of code and executes in
one machine cycle. The stand-
ard 8051 machine cycle is equal
to twelve oscillator cycles.
We have used a 11.0592MHz
Fig. 4: Actual-size, single-side PCB for the microcontroller-
crystal.
based ring tone generator So time period =
1/(11.0592×106) = 0.0904 µs
Time period of a machine
cycle = 0.0905×12 = 1.085 µs
Timer 0. Timer 0 is a 16-bit
timer that is used for dura-
tion ‘D.’ It is loaded with
value DC00H. Therefore the
number of machine cycles
taken by the timer before it is
reset=FFFF–DC00+1=2400H=
9216 in decimal.
Therefore time taken ‘t’
= 9216×1.085 µs
= 0.001 second
So after timer 0 is set, it will
take 0.001 second to reset.
Fig. 5: Component layout for the PCB For 1-second duration,
the timer needs to be set
(P2.0 = 1) and ‘low’ (P2.0 = 0), i.e., the 1/0.001=100 times.
bit remains ‘high’ for a certain period For duration ‘D,’ timer 0 needs to
of time and ‘low’ for the same period be set Dx100 times.
of time (refer Fig. 2). Timer 1. The half time period is
Time period of the note (Ts) = ‘ts.’
1/frequency of note Therefore the number of machine
Therefore, cycles needed = ts/1.085 µs
Duration of ‘high’ bit (time for If the value of the timer is ‘x,’ then
which P2.0 is ‘1’)= Ts/2 = ts1 (half-time FFFF–x+1 = ts/(1.085x10-6)
period) From this equation, the value of ‘x’
Duration of ‘low’ bit (time for can be calculated.
which P2.0 is ‘0’)= Ts/2 = ts1 (half-time 1’s and 0’s are continuously gener-
period) ated from port pin P2.0 at an interval
So you need to use two timers for of ‘ts’ seconds alternatively until dura-
duration D and half-time period ‘ts.’ tion ‘D’ (in seconds) completes (refer
Use one timer to generate 1’s and 0’s Table II).
at a time interval of ‘ts’ and the other
timer to interrupt the PWM signal after Circuit description
time interval D. Fig. 3 shows the circuit of the micro-
We have used two timers for time- controller-based ring tone generator.

5 6 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION
At the heart of the circuit is microcon-
troller AT89C51. It is a low-power,
high-performance, 8-bit microcontrol-
ler with 4kB Flash programmable and
erasable read-only memory. It has 128
bytes of RAM, 32 input/output (I/O)
lines, two 16-bit timers/counters, a
five-vector two-level interrupt archi-
tecture, on-chip oscillator and clock
circuitry.
The 11.0592MHz crystal provides
the basic clock frequency to the mi-
crocontroller. Port pin P2.0 of the
microcontroller provides the ring
tone melody signal for speaker LS1.
Transistor BC337 is used for amplifica-
tion. The power-‘on’ reset signal for
the microcontroller is generated by
the combination of capacitor C3 and
resistor R2. Switch S1 provides manual
reset to the microcontroller.
The 230V AC mains is stepped
down by transformer X1 to deliver
the secondary output of 9V, 500
mA. The transformer output is recti-
fied by a full-wave bridge rectifier
comprising diodes D1 through D4,
filtered by capacitor C1 and regu-
lated by IC 7805 (IC2). Capacitor C2
bypasses the ripples present in the
regulated power supply. LED1 acts
as the power-‘on’ indicator and re-
sistor R1 limits the current through
LED1.
An actual-size, single-side PCB for
the microcontroller-based ring tone
generator is shown in Fig. 4 and its
component layout in Fig. 5.
Software
The program plays “happy birthday
to you” in RTTTL ring tone format
using the microcontroller AT89C51.
The source program, written in As-
sembly language and assembled us-
ing assembler ASM51, is self-explana-
tory and easy to understand.
Initialise timer 0 and timer 1 as
16-bit timers with predetermined
value. When you start timer 0, the data
pointer register is loaded with memory
address labeled as ‘SONG.’ After play-
ing the current note, the control jumps
to the next note and it starts playing.
This process continues until the end
of music data is reached. Thereafter,
it starts playing the music from the
beginning.
Nokia RTTTL ringtones can be
downloaded from the following web-
sites:
1. http://www.2thumbswap.
com/members/tones/nokia/tones_
nokia_latest.html
2. http://nokiatone.ifrance.com/
nokiatone/rtttf.htm
3. http://ringtones.frostzone.com/
index.htm
4. http://arcadetones.emuunlim.
com/files.htm
RTTL ringtones can also be tested
on the computer, the software for
which can be downloaded from the
link ‘http://arcadetones.emuunlim.
com/files/nokring_full.zip.’
(Refer “A Cell Phone Player Em-
bedded in Microcontroller” by Manoel
Gomes de Andrade for details.)
EFY note. The source code and other
relevant files of this article are included
in this month’s EFY-CD.

ringtones.asm
$mod51 RET DB 1,24,0FDH,06CH
FLAG EQU 07FH PLAY_NOTE: DB 0,6,0,0
SPEAKER EQU P2.0 CONTINUE: DB 1,48,0FDH,045H
BEGIN: CLR A DB 0,12,0,0
ORG 0000H MOVC A,@A+DPTR DB 1,12,0FCH,08FH
AJMP MAIN MOV R0,A DB 0,6,0,0
INC DPTR DB 1,6,0FCH,08FH
ISR: CLR A DB 0,6,0,0
ORG 000BH MOVC A,@A+DPTR DB 1,24,0FCH,0EFH
LCALL ACTION MOV R1,A DB 0,6,0,0
RETI INC DPTR DB 1,24,0FCH,08FH
ORG 0050H CLR A DB 0,6,0,0
MAIN: MOVC A,@A+DPTR DB 1,24,0FDH,0B4H
MOV TMOD,#00010001B ; MOV R2,A DB 0,6,0,0
MOV IE,#82H ; INC DPTR DB 1,48,0FDH,06CH
MOV TH0,#0DCH CLR A DB 0,24,0,0
MOV TL0,#00H MOVC A,@A+DPTR DB 1,12,0FCH,08FH
SETB TR0 MOV R3,A DB 0,6,0,0
MOV DPTR,#SONG INC DPTR DB 1,6,0FCH,08FH
MOV R0,#02 RET DB 0,6,0,0
LOOP1: ACTION: DB 1,24,0FEH,048H
ACALL PLAY_NOTE CLR TR0 DB 0,6,0,0
CJNE R0,#02,CARRY_ON CJNE R1,#0,DO2 DB 1,24,0FBH,0E9H
SJMP MAIN ;end of mu- CLR FLAG DB 0,6,0,0
sic has been detected so start again SJMP DO3 DB 1,24,0FDH,06CH
CARRY_ON: DO2: DEC R1 DB 0,6,0,0
ACALL PLAY DO3: DB 1,24,0FDH,045H
SJMP LOOP1 MOV TH0,#0DCH DB 0,6,0,0
PLAY: MOV TL0,#00H DB 1,24,0FCH,0EFH
CLR EA SETB TR0 DB 0,6,0,0
SETB FLAG RET DB 1,12,0FCH,023H
SETB EA SONG: ; HAPPY BIRTHDAY DB 0,6,0,0
RUN: JNB FLAG,STOP ; R0 R1 R2 R3 DB 1,6,0FCH,023H
DO: CJNE R0,#0,START DB 0,6,0,0
SJMP RUN DB 1, 12, 0FCH, 08FH ;R0=1 DB 1,24,0FBH,0E9H
START: MOV TH1,R2 indicates there is a note to played DB 0,6,0,0
MOV TL1,R3 DB 0,6,0,0 ;R0=0 DB 1,24,0FDH,06CH
SETB TR1 indicates there is no note to be played DB 0,6,0,0
HERE: JNB TF1,HERE DB 1,6,0FCH,08FH DB 1,24,0FDH,0B4H
CLR TF1 DB 0,6,0,0 DB 0,6,0,0
CLR TR1 DB 1,24,0FCH,0EFH DB 1,48,0FDH,06CH
CPL SPEAKER DB 0,6,0,0 DB 2,0,0,0 ;R0=2 indicates
SJMP RUN DB 1,24,0FCH,08FH end of music
STOP: CLR SPEAKER DB 0,6,0,0 END 

5 8 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION

Microcontroller-Based
Ring Tone Player sunil ku
mar

 Subhajit Roy frequency.

A cylindrical air column with both

M
obile phone ring tones sound ends open vibrates with a fundamental So λ =2L1
like real audio recordings. frequency. Each end of the column Frequency n1 = V/λ (where ‘V’ is
It’s not because of the way must be an antinode, with one node at the velocity of sound)
the melodies are composed, but the the centre for By putting the value of ‘λ,’ we get:
protocol behind playing the melody. the air motion. n1 = V/2L1
The ring tone text transfer language Therefore if If length is half, then:
(RTTTL) is behind those wonderful ‘λ’ is the wave- Frequency n2 = V/L1
lullabies and songs you have on your length of the n1/n2 = (V/2L1) × (L1/V) = 1/2
mobile phone. sound pro- or n1 = 2n2
Basically, a ring tone is the sound duced by an Thus halving the length doubles
made by a mobile phone to indicate an open cylindri- the frequency, i.e., frequency n1 is cre-
incoming call or text message. Here we cal air column, ated with one octave higher (2n1).
present a microcontroller-based ring its length ‘L1’ If the length is made quarter of the
tone generator. Fig. 1: Fundamental
frequency vibration in an
will be: original, the frequency becomes 4n1,
open air column L1 = λ/2 (λ/4+ i.e., two octaves higher.
The basics λ/4) If n1 is octave 1, then
The lowest resonant frequency of a vi- n2 is octave 2,
brating object is called its fundamental then
frequency. Most vibrating objects have n3 is octave 3,
more than one resonant frequency and and so on.
those used in musical instruments If the length is
typically vibrate at harmonics of the doubled, the fre-
fundamental. A harmonic is defined as quency is halved.
an integer multiple of the fundamental That is, the fre-
Fig. 2: PWM signal, where Ts1, ts1 and D1 are the time period, half time
period and duration of note 1, while Ts2, ts2 and D2 are the time period, half
quency becomes
Parts List time period and duration of note 2 n1/2, which is one
Semiconductors: octave lower.
IC1 - AT89C51 microcontroller In music, fre-
IC2 - 7805, 5V regulator Table I quency n1 is called a
T1 - BC337 npn transistor Nokia RTTL Frequencies (Hz) note. The pitch of a
D1-D4 - 1N4007 rectifier diode
LED1 - 5mm LED (For Octave 4 to Octave 7) piano key or guitar
Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon): No. Octave=4 Octave=5 Octave=6 Octave=7 string is described
R1 - 330-ohm by the note.
1 A 220.000 440.000 880.000 1,760.000
R2 - 8.2-kilo-ohm According to
R3 - 10-kilo-ohm
2 A# 233.082 466.164 932.328 1,864.655
musical frequency
R4 - 1-kilo-ohm 3 B 246.942 493.883 987.767 1,975.533
conventions, there
Capacitors: 4 C 261.626 523.251 1,046.502 2,093.005
are twelve notes in
C1 - 1000µF, 25V electrolytic 5 C# 277.183 554.365 1,108.731 2,217.461
C2, C6 - 0.1µF ceramic disk
all, namely, A, A#,
6 D 293.665 587.330 1,174.659 2,349.318
C3 - 10µF, 16V electrolytic B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F,
7 D# 311.127 622.254 1,244.508 2,489.016
C4, C5 - 22pF ceramic disk F#, G and G#, where
8 E 329.628 659.255 1,318.510 2,637.020
Miscellaneous: ‘# ‘sign indicates a
9 F 349.228 698.456 1,396.913 2,793.826
X1 - 220V AC primary to 9V, sharp note.
500mA transformer 10 F# 369.994 739.989 1,479.978 2,959.955
According to
XTAL - 11.0592MHz crystal 11 G 391.995 783.991 1,567.982 3,135.963 Nokia RTTTL spec-
LS1 - 8-ohm, 1W speaker
12 G# 415.305 830.609 1,661.219 3,322.438 ifications, note A

5 2 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION

Table II
Values in Hex to be Loaded to Timer 1 (Oscillator Frequency 11.0592 MHz)
Notes a a# b c c# d d# e f f# g g#
Octave 4: A4=220 Hz F7D1 F847 F8B6 F91F F982 F9DF FA37 FA8A FAD9 FB23 FB68 FBAA
Octave 5: A5=440 Hz FBE9 FC23 FC58 FC8F FCC1 FCEF FD1B FD45 FD6C FD91 FDB4 FDD5
Octave 6: A6=880 Hz FDF4 FE12 FE2D FE48 FE60 FE78 FE8E FEA3 FEB6 FEC9 FEDA FEEB
Octave 7: A7=1.76 kHz FEFA FF09 FF17 FF24 FF30 FF3C FF47 FF51 FF5B FF64 FF6D FF75
Octave 8: A8=3.52 kHz FF7D FF44 FF8B FF92 FF98 FF9E FFA3 FFA9 FFAE FFB2 FFB7 FFBB

is not specified
for a particu-
lar note, the
default values
are assumed.
After get-
ting the notes,
you must
calculate the
duration for
which a note is
to be played:
Number
of notes per
second to be
played (N) =
60/beats per
minute (b)
=60/125
Net dura-
Fig. 3: Circuit of microcontroller-based ringtone generator tion D in sec-
onds for which
with octave 5 has a frequency of 440 32p, 32c, 32p, 8d, 32p, 8c, 32p, 8g, 32p, a note is to be played = No. of notes
Hz (refer Table I): f, 8p, 16c, 32p, 32c, 32p, 8c6, 32p, 8a, per second × (Default note duration)/
A5 = 440 Hz 32p, 8f, 32p, 8e, 32p, 8d, 32p, 16a#, 32p, (Duration specified for the current
So we get: 32a#, 32p, 8a, 32p, 8f, 32p, 8g, 32p note)
A6 = 880 Hz (A5x2) 1. The first section is the name of = N×d/dn
A7 = 1760 Hz (A6x2) the RTTTL melody, i.e., ‘Happy Birth- = (60/125) ×(4/8)
The space between two consecutive day Song.’ = 30/125
octaves like A5 and A6 is divided into 2. The second section defines the So to play music, all you need to
eleven equally spaced parts on the log- default values for the file. There are do is to get the RTTTL ring tone of the
arithmic scale. Thus there are twelve three categories of default values: du- particular music, then read its note and
equally spaced notes per octave: A5, ration (d=4), octave (o=5) and beat per generate the frequency for the calcu-
A#5, B5, C5, C#5, D5, D#5, E5, F5, F#5, minute (b=125). lated duration (D).
G5, G#5 and then A6 starts. 3. The third section describes the “If the note is dotted; for example,
RTTTL is a simple text-based for- melody. ‘2b’ (here ‘b’ denotes note, not beats
mat that you can use to create ring It is a set of notes separated by a per second), the duration is made 1.5
tones. An RTTTL file is made up of a comma. The notes are given in the fol- times, so that D=1.5D.”
single string divided into three sections lowing format: Generation of PWM frequency.
separated by colons (:). Duration (dn) Note Octave Since we are dealing with digital
In the example of a Happy Birthday 8 c 6 systems, we need to generate PWM
song given below: where ‘dn’ is the duration of the (pulse-width-modulated) signals from
d=4, o=5, b=125:16c, 32p, 32c, 32p, present note. port pin P2.0 of the microcontrol-
8d, 32p, 8c, 32p, 8f, 32p, e, 16p, 16c, If either the duration (dn) or octave ler. A PWM signal consists of ‘high’

5 4 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION
period calculation as follows:
1. Timer 0 for calculating
the duration (D)
2. Timer 1 for calculating
the half time period (ts)
The CPU takes certain
number of clock cycles to ex-
ecute an instruction. The sim-
plest instruction takes a single
byte of code and executes in
one machine cycle. The stand-
ard 8051 machine cycle is equal
to twelve oscillator cycles.
We have used a 11.0592MHz
Fig. 4: Actual-size, single-side PCB for the microcontroller-
crystal.
based ring tone generator So time period =
1/(11.0592×106) = 0.0904 µs
Time period of a machine
cycle = 0.0905×12 = 1.085 µs
Timer 0. Timer 0 is a 16-bit
timer that is used for dura-
tion ‘D.’ It is loaded with
value DC00H. Therefore the
number of machine cycles
taken by the timer before it is
reset=FFFF–DC00+1=2400H=
9216 in decimal.
Therefore time taken ‘t’
= 9216×1.085 µs
= 0.001 second
So after timer 0 is set, it will
take 0.001 second to reset.
Fig. 5: Component layout for the PCB For 1-second duration,
the timer needs to be set
(P2.0 = 1) and ‘low’ (P2.0 = 0), i.e., the 1/0.001=100 times.
bit remains ‘high’ for a certain period For duration ‘D,’ timer 0 needs to
of time and ‘low’ for the same period be set Dx100 times.
of time (refer Fig. 2). Timer 1. The half time period is
Time period of the note (Ts) = ‘ts.’
1/frequency of note Therefore the number of machine
Therefore, cycles needed = ts/1.085 µs
Duration of ‘high’ bit (time for If the value of the timer is ‘x,’ then
which P2.0 is ‘1’)= Ts/2 = ts1 (half-time FFFF–x+1 = ts/(1.085x10-6)
period) From this equation, the value of ‘x’
Duration of ‘low’ bit (time for can be calculated.
which P2.0 is ‘0’)= Ts/2 = ts1 (half-time 1’s and 0’s are continuously gener-
period) ated from port pin P2.0 at an interval
So you need to use two timers for of ‘ts’ seconds alternatively until dura-
duration D and half-time period ‘ts.’ tion ‘D’ (in seconds) completes (refer
Use one timer to generate 1’s and 0’s Table II).
at a time interval of ‘ts’ and the other
timer to interrupt the PWM signal after Circuit description
time interval D. Fig. 3 shows the circuit of the micro-
We have used two timers for time- controller-based ring tone generator.

5 6 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION
At the heart of the circuit is microcon-
troller AT89C51. It is a low-power,
high-performance, 8-bit microcontrol-
ler with 4kB Flash programmable and
erasable read-only memory. It has 128
bytes of RAM, 32 input/output (I/O)
lines, two 16-bit timers/counters, a
five-vector two-level interrupt archi-
tecture, on-chip oscillator and clock
circuitry.
The 11.0592MHz crystal provides
the basic clock frequency to the mi-
crocontroller. Port pin P2.0 of the
microcontroller provides the ring
tone melody signal for speaker LS1.
Transistor BC337 is used for amplifica-
tion. The power-‘on’ reset signal for
the microcontroller is generated by
the combination of capacitor C3 and
resistor R2. Switch S1 provides manual
reset to the microcontroller.
The 230V AC mains is stepped
down by transformer X1 to deliver
the secondary output of 9V, 500
mA. The transformer output is recti-
fied by a full-wave bridge rectifier
comprising diodes D1 through D4,
filtered by capacitor C1 and regu-
lated by IC 7805 (IC2). Capacitor C2
bypasses the ripples present in the
regulated power supply. LED1 acts
as the power-‘on’ indicator and re-
sistor R1 limits the current through
LED1.
An actual-size, single-side PCB for
the microcontroller-based ring tone
generator is shown in Fig. 4 and its
component layout in Fig. 5.
Software
The program plays “happy birthday
to you” in RTTTL ring tone format
using the microcontroller AT89C51.
The source program, written in As-
sembly language and assembled us-
ing assembler ASM51, is self-explana-
tory and easy to understand.
Initialise timer 0 and timer 1 as
16-bit timers with predetermined
value. When you start timer 0, the data
pointer register is loaded with memory
address labeled as ‘SONG.’ After play-
ing the current note, the control jumps
to the next note and it starts playing.
This process continues until the end
of music data is reached. Thereafter,
it starts playing the music from the
beginning.
Nokia RTTTL ringtones can be
downloaded from the following web-
sites:
1. http://www.2thumbswap.
com/members/tones/nokia/tones_
nokia_latest.html
2. http://nokiatone.ifrance.com/
nokiatone/rtttf.htm
3. http://ringtones.frostzone.com/
index.htm
4. http://arcadetones.emuunlim.
com/files.htm
RTTL ringtones can also be tested
on the computer, the software for
which can be downloaded from the
link ‘http://arcadetones.emuunlim.
com/files/nokring_full.zip.’
(Refer “A Cell Phone Player Em-
bedded in Microcontroller” by Manoel
Gomes de Andrade for details.)
EFY note. The source code and other
relevant files of this article are included
in this month’s EFY-CD.

ringtones.asm
$mod51 RET DB 1,24,0FDH,06CH
FLAG EQU 07FH PLAY_NOTE: DB 0,6,0,0
SPEAKER EQU P2.0 CONTINUE: DB 1,48,0FDH,045H
BEGIN: CLR A DB 0,12,0,0
ORG 0000H MOVC A,@A+DPTR DB 1,12,0FCH,08FH
AJMP MAIN MOV R0,A DB 0,6,0,0
INC DPTR DB 1,6,0FCH,08FH
ISR: CLR A DB 0,6,0,0
ORG 000BH MOVC A,@A+DPTR DB 1,24,0FCH,0EFH
LCALL ACTION MOV R1,A DB 0,6,0,0
RETI INC DPTR DB 1,24,0FCH,08FH
ORG 0050H CLR A DB 0,6,0,0
MAIN: MOVC A,@A+DPTR DB 1,24,0FDH,0B4H
MOV TMOD,#00010001B ; MOV R2,A DB 0,6,0,0
MOV IE,#82H ; INC DPTR DB 1,48,0FDH,06CH
MOV TH0,#0DCH CLR A DB 0,24,0,0
MOV TL0,#00H MOVC A,@A+DPTR DB 1,12,0FCH,08FH
SETB TR0 MOV R3,A DB 0,6,0,0
MOV DPTR,#SONG INC DPTR DB 1,6,0FCH,08FH
MOV R0,#02 RET DB 0,6,0,0
LOOP1: ACTION: DB 1,24,0FEH,048H
ACALL PLAY_NOTE CLR TR0 DB 0,6,0,0
CJNE R0,#02,CARRY_ON CJNE R1,#0,DO2 DB 1,24,0FBH,0E9H
SJMP MAIN ;end of mu- CLR FLAG DB 0,6,0,0
sic has been detected so start again SJMP DO3 DB 1,24,0FDH,06CH
CARRY_ON: DO2: DEC R1 DB 0,6,0,0
ACALL PLAY DO3: DB 1,24,0FDH,045H
SJMP LOOP1 MOV TH0,#0DCH DB 0,6,0,0
PLAY: MOV TL0,#00H DB 1,24,0FCH,0EFH
CLR EA SETB TR0 DB 0,6,0,0
SETB FLAG RET DB 1,12,0FCH,023H
SETB EA SONG: ; HAPPY BIRTHDAY DB 0,6,0,0
RUN: JNB FLAG,STOP ; R0 R1 R2 R3 DB 1,6,0FCH,023H
DO: CJNE R0,#0,START DB 0,6,0,0
SJMP RUN DB 1, 12, 0FCH, 08FH ;R0=1 DB 1,24,0FBH,0E9H
START: MOV TH1,R2 indicates there is a note to played DB 0,6,0,0
MOV TL1,R3 DB 0,6,0,0 ;R0=0 DB 1,24,0FDH,06CH
SETB TR1 indicates there is no note to be played DB 0,6,0,0
HERE: JNB TF1,HERE DB 1,6,0FCH,08FH DB 1,24,0FDH,0B4H
CLR TF1 DB 0,6,0,0 DB 0,6,0,0
CLR TR1 DB 1,24,0FCH,0EFH DB 1,48,0FDH,06CH
CPL SPEAKER DB 0,6,0,0 DB 2,0,0,0 ;R0=2 indicates
SJMP RUN DB 1,24,0FCH,08FH end of music
STOP: CLR SPEAKER DB 0,6,0,0 END 

5 8 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION
PC-BASED WIRELESS
STEPPER MOTOR control
 V. Mariyappan
S
tepper motors find lots of ap-
plications in process control,
machine tools and robotics. Es-
pecially in robotics and process control,
it is necessary to control the stepper
motor from a remote place.
Here we describe how to wirelessly
control a stepper motor from a remote
place by using RF modules. For this
wireless stepper-motor control system,
you need to design and develop the
required hardware and software. The
parallel port of the PC is used to con-
trol the direction of the stepper motor
at the transmitter side. RF interface is
used instead of IR to overcome all the
drawbacks of the IR interface. The PC
Table I
Output Power and Current
Drain w.r.t. VCC
VCC O/P Current
5V DC –0 dbm 1.0 mA
12V DC +9 dbm 3 mA
Table II
Technical Specifications of
RF Receiver RX-433
Description Value
Working voltage 4.5V-5.5V
Bandwidth 12 MHz
Sensitivity –103 dbm
Data rate 4800 bps
Max. data rate 9600 bps
Standby current 1, 2 mA
Antenna Whip, strip line or helical
Fig. 1: Block diagram for PC-based wireless control of a stepper motor
6 0 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
mar
sunil ku
signals are transmitted from the RF Parts List
transmitter and received by the RF
Semiconductors:
receiver. IC1 - HT12E Holtek encoder
IC2 - 7806, 6V regulator
Circuit description IC3 - HT12D Holtek decoder
IC4 - CD40106 hex inverter
Fig. 1 shows the block diagram for IC5 - ULN2003 Darlington array
PC-based wireless control of a stepper T1-T4 - BC547 npn transistor
motor. The signals from the parallel T5 - BC548 npn transistor
port of the PC are interfaced to the RF D1-D4 - 1N4148 switching diode
D5-D10 - 1N4007 rectifier diode
transmitter through an encoder. The TX1 - TX-433 RF transmitter
encoder continuously reads the status RX1 - RX-433 RF receiver
of the relay switches, passes the data LED1 - 5mm LED
to the RF transmitter and the transmit- Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon):
R1 - 1-mega-ohm
ter transmits the data. At the receiving R2-R5 - 10-kilo-ohm
end, the RF receiver receives this data R6-R9 - 1.2-kilo-ohm
and gives it to the decoder. The de- R10 - 1-kilo-ohm
R11 - 47-kilo-ohm
coder converts the single-bit data into
R12 - 3.9-kilo-ohm
four-bit data and presents to the step- R13 - 470-ohm
per-motor driver. Now, the driver per- Capacitors:
forms the corresponding C1, C3 - 100µF, 16V electrolytic
action, i.e., it rotates the C2 - 0.1µF ceramic disk
stepper motor clockwise
C4 - 10µF, 16V electrolytic
Miscellaneous:
or anticlockwise. BATT.1 - 9V battery
Remote control. BATT.2 - 6V, 4.5Ah battery
For remote control, we S1, S2 - On/off switch
DIP-SW1,
have used the Holtek
DIP-SW2
- 8-way DIP switch
Fig. 2: Pin encoder-decoder pair - 25-pin D-type male
configuration of HT12E and HT12D. connector
of the rf
transmitter Both of these are 18-pin
module DIP ICs. Encoder HT12E has eight address and
Operation of Holtek another four address/data lines. The
HT12E and data set on these twelve lines (address
H T 1 2 D . and address/data lines) is serially
HT12E and transmitted when transmit-enable pin
HT12D are TE is taken low. The data output ap-
CMOS ICs pears serially on DOUT pin. It is trans-
with a work- mitted four times in succession.
ing voltage The data consists of differing
Fig. 3: Pin configuration of the r a n g e of lengths of positive-going pulses for
rf receiver module 2.4V to 12V. ‘1’ and ‘0,’ the pulse width for ‘0’ be-
ing twice the width of the pulse
for ‘1.’ The frequency of these
pulses may lie between 1.5 and 7
kHz depending on the resistance
value between OSC1 and OSC2
pins. The internal oscillator fre-
quency of decoder HT12D is 50
times the oscillator frequency of
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION

Fig. 4: Transmitter circuit for wireless stepper motor control

encoder HT12E. The values of timing
resistors connected between OSC1
and OSC2 pins of HT12E and HT12D,
for the given supply voltages, can be
found out from the graphs given in
the datasheets of the respective chips
(included in this month’s EFY-CD).
The resistance values used in the
circuits are chosen here for approxi-
mately 3kHz frequency of the encoder
(HT12E) at Vcc of 9V and 150 kHz of
the decoder (HT12D) at Vcc of 5V.
The HT12D receives the data from
the HT12E on its DIN pin serially. If
the address part of the data received
matches the levels on A0 through A7
pins four times in succession, the valid
transmission pin (VT) is taken high.
The data on pins AD8 through AD11 of
the HT12E appear on pins D8 through
D11 of the HT12D. Thus the device acts
as a receiver of 4-bit data (16 possible
codes) with 8-bit addressing (256 pos-
sible channels).

Fig. 5: Actual-size, single-side PCB for the transmitter circuit Fig. 6: Component layout for the PCB shown in Fig. 5

6 2 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION
Fig. 7: Receiver-cum-decoder circuit for wireless stepper motor control
Once the frequency of the pair
is aligned, then on ground of any
data pin of the encoder, LED1 of
the decoder should glow. You can
also check the transfer of data on
pins AD8 through AD11, which
is latched to D8 through D11 pins
of the decoder once TE pin is mo-
mentarily taken low by grounding
it through diodes D1 through D4.
RF transmitter and receiver. RF
transmitter and receiver modules
from Alpus India, Mumbai, have
Fig. 8: Actual-size, single-side PCB for the receiver-cum-
been used for RF remote control.
decoder circuit The RF transmitter TX-433 is
AM/ASK type. Its features in-
clude:
1. 5V-12V single-supply opera-
tion
2. On-off keying (OOK)/am-
plitude shift keying (ASK) data
format
3. Up to 9.6kbps data rate
4. +9dBm output power (about
200m range)
5. SAW-based architecture
6. A 45cm wire is adequate for
the antenna
The output power and current
Fig. 9: Component layout for the PCB shown in Fig. 8 drain for Vcc of 5V and 12V are
6 4 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
shown in Table I.
The pin configuration
of the transmitter module
is shown in Fig. 2.
The RF receiver RX-
433 is a 433MHz module.
Its pin configuration is
shown in Fig. 3, while the
technical specifications
are given in Table II.
Transmitter. Fig. 4
shows the circuit of the
transmitter for wireless
stepper motor control.
The receiver address to
be transmitted can be set
with the help of 8-way
DIP switch SW1. When
any of the switch con-
tacts is open the respec-
tive pin will be at logic
1, and when any of the
switch contacts is closed
the respective pin will be
at logic 0. The data pins are pulled high
via resistors R2 through R5.
When pin 2 of the parallel port
goes high, transistor T1 is driven into
saturation and relay RL1 energises. Pin
10 (AD8) goes low through relay RL1
contacts and a ‘0’ is sent at that data
position, while other data pins repre-
sent logic-1 state. The logic circuitry at
the receiver-decoder end decodes the
data appropriately for controlling the
stepper motor.
An actual-size, single-side PCB for
the transmitter circuit (Fig. 4) is shown
in Fig. 5 and its component layout in
Fig. 6.
Receiver and decoder. Fig. 7 shows
the circuit of the receiver-cum-decoder
for wireless stepper motor control.
Assuming that identical address is
selected on the encoder and decoder,
when any of the data pins of the PC’s
parallel port on the transmitter side
is low, the corresponding data pin
of the decoder will go low. The data
outputs (D8 through D11) of HT12D
are fed to inverters N1 through N4,
which, in turn, are connected to driver
ULN2003. The low output of ULN2003
drives the stepper motor. When any
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION
Fig. 10: Main screen of wireless stepper motor
control
data is received, valid transmission
(VT) pin goes high to drive transistor
T5 into saturation and LED1 lights
up.
An actual-size, single-side PCB for
the receiver-cum-decoder circuit (Fig.
7) is shown in Fig. 8 and its component
layout in Fig. 9.
Software
The software program for the user
interface to control the stepper motor
is written in ‘C’ language. The signals
are generated by the outport( ) func-
tion. The speed of rotation of the step-
per motor can be varied by changing
the argument of the delay( ) function.
Direction of rotation (clockwise or
anticlockwise) depends on the switch
function.
When the program (WSTEPPER.
C) is loaded and run, the screen shows
the welcome message. Pressing any key
will lead to the main screen shown in
Fig. 10. The main screen displays three
messages. Pressing ‘c’ key rotates the
stepper motor in clockwise direction,
while pressing ‘a’ key rotates the step-
per motor in anti-clockwise direction.
The program can be terminated by
pressing ‘q’ key.
EFY note. The source code and
other relevant files of this article are
included in this month’s EFY-CD.

WSTEPPER.C
/*PC BASED WIRELESS STEPPER MOTOR CON- tact”}; getch();
TROL*/ int j; }
#include<stdio.h> char ex1[31]={“Email-marietech2003@ya-
#include<conio.h> hoo.co.in”}; void clock(void)
#include<dos.h> int k; {
void main() void clock(void); int p=0x0378;
{ void anty(void); char e;
void dub(void); char ch; clrscr();
char ex[26]={“Programmed by clrscr(); textcolor(14);gotoxy(31,12);
V.MARIYAPPAN”}; textcolor(14);gotoxy(20,6); cprintf(“CLOCKWISE DIRECTION”);
int i; cprintf(“PC BASED WIRELESS STEPPER MO- textcolor(9);gotoxy(1,25);
char ex1[22]={“Programming Language: TOR CONTROL”); cprintf(“Press any key to stop”);
C”}; textcolor(11); gotoxy(24,14); do
int j; cprintf(“FOR CLOCKWISE ROTATION PRESS {
char ex2[28]={“Operating system: Win- ‘c’”); outport(p,1);
dows 98”}; textcolor(11);gotoxy(22,16); delay(200);
int k; cprintf(“FOR ANTICLOCKWISE ROTATION outport(p,2);
char ex3[39]={“PC BASED WIRELESS STEPPER PRESS ‘a’”); delay(200);
MOTOR CONTROL”}; textcolor(9);gotoxy(31,20); outport(p,4);
int l; cprintf(“FOR EXIT PRESS ‘q’”); delay(200);
clrscr(); ch=getch(); outport(p,8);
for(l=0;l<39;l++) switch(ch) delay(200);
{ { outport(p,0);
textcolor(14);gotoxy(21+l,9); case ‘c’:clock();break; sound(1000);
cprintf(“%c”,ex3[l]); case ‘a’:anty();break; delay(200);
delay(50); case ‘q’: nosound();
} clrscr(); }
sound(1900); { while(!kbhit());
delay(500); for(j=0;j<29;j++) getch();
nosound(); { dub();
delay(100); textcolor(9);gotoxy(27+j,14); }
for(i=0;i<26;i++) cprintf(“%c”,ex[j]);
{ delay(30); void anty(void)
textcolor(11);gotoxy(27+i,16); } {
cprintf(“%c”,ex[i]); for(k=0;k<31;k++) int p=0x0378;
delay(30); { char e;
} textcolor(9);gotoxy(26+k,15); clrscr();
for(k=0;k<28;k++) cprintf(“%c”,ex1[k]); textcolor(14);gotoxy(30,12);
{ delay(30); cprintf(“ANTI CLOCKWISE DIRECTION”);
textcolor(9);gotoxy(26+k,18); } textcolor(9);gotoxy(1,25);
cprintf(“%c”,ex2[k]); outport(0x0378,0); cprintf(“Press any key to stop”);
delay(30); textcolor(14);gotoxy(1,25); do
} cprintf(“Press any key”); {
for(j=0;j<22;j++) getch(); outport(p,8);
{ exit(0); delay(200);
textcolor(9);gotoxy(29+j,20); } outport(p,4);
cprintf(“%c”,ex1[j]); default: clrscr(); delay(200);
delay(30); textcolor(12);gotoxy(33,1 outport(p,2);
} 4); delay(200);
sound(1800); cprintf(“WRONG KEY outport(p,1);
delay(500); PRESSED”); delay(200);
nosound(); for(i=0;i<5;i++) outport(p,0);
getch(); { sound(2000);
dub(); sound(1000); delay(200);
} delay(100); nosound();
nosound(); }
void dub(void) delay(100); while(!kbhit());
{ } getch();
int i; dub(); dub();
char ex[29]={“For any clarification con- } } 

6 6 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 first look!
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6 8 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
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w w w. e f y m ag . co m

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7 0 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
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automatic projector gives high-quality umes of all audio devices connected to
output in almost any condition. The the projector, such as external speakers,
projector has a brilliant 4300 ANSI lu- DVD player and notebook.
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 first look!
Tabletop Desktops Airtel IPTV
The HP CQ 2000 series desktops weigh only 3.5 kg and come loaded
with Compaq Bhasha vernacular interface
Service
Airtel’s digital TV interactive
The Compaq Presario CQ 2000 series and do what you need to.  The CQ offers telephone, broadband
and TV on a single line
of Hewlett Packard (HP) is a sleek, eco- 2000 is Energy Star certified for being
friendly machine at an affordable price energy-efficient.
of around Rs 18,990. Designed for the Bharti Airtel has launched the digital
modern households, this small device Price: Rs 18,990 plus taxes TV interactive—its Internet protocol
can easily replace your music television (IPTV) service. With this,
system and DVD player as Airtel delivers the triple-play advan-
you can attach it to your tage of telephony, broad-
LCD monitor and speak- band and entertainment
ers or simply enjoy online service to its customers. The
video clips on YouTube. triple-play service will be
The CQ 2000 also comes initially available to custom-
with the Compaq My Bha- ers in Delhi, Gurgaon and
sha software—a commu- Noida.
nication enabler providing Airtel digital TV inter-
vernacular interface. active claims to bring many
With a 6-in-1 digital firsts to the TV viewing
media reader and USB experience: Interactive 2.0
drives, all you need to offers a completely interac-
do is plug-in, sit back tive experience including
the freedom of ordering pizzas
and movie tickets from the

Ultra-Short-Throw Projector comfort of your TV set. Time-shift

TV transforms TV into a two-way ex-
perience, allowing you to pause and
Hitachi’s CP-A100 projector eliminates shadowing effects

The presenter’s shadow on the screen jection capability means that the
during a presentation and the projector Hitachi CP-A100 projector can
glare which blinds the presenter, have be mounted very close to the
been the two major problems with the screen. This brings additional
projectors.  Hitachi has developed an convenience, viewing comfort and
ultra-short-throw projec- safety while eliminating shadowing
tor that overcomes these effects common with conventional Entry cost: Rs 3999
problems. projectors.
The dramatic reduction The high-quality 3LCD panel rewind live TV as well as auto-record
in throw distance (ca- provides crisp, flicker-free images and store favourite programmes for
pability to project at XGA resolution. Brightness seven days. Movie-on-demand with
an image onto a level is 2000 lumens 100 blockbuster titles means you can
203cm screen in normal mode view movie of your choice at any
from a dis- and 2500 lumens time. 
tance of in bright mode. The  The entry cost for the Airtel dig-
merely 24.8 contrast ratio is 400:1. ital TV interactive subscriber is Rs
cm) and the In whisper mode the 3999 only. This includes a one-time
introduction projector has quietness of activation cost, Internet connection
of a high-angle pro- 28 dB—the same as that of with modem and landline, and set-
Price: Rs 125,000 a guest room in a hotel! top box.

7 2 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 Buyers’
Guide

Personal
Music Players
Personal music players are available in a multitude
of formats, sizes and feature sets. So you are
bound to get confused in selecting the right one.
Here are the guidelines for a smart buy

iPod touch

Uma Bansal There is loss of quality with each sub- dedicated CD players, MP3-enabled

P

ersonal music players are
of two types: analogue and
digital. Analogue players
are long-play gramophone
record/cassette type, while
digital players can be uncompressed
(capable of CD playback) or com-
pressed (capable of MP3/WMA/AAC
playback).
The quality of analogue music is
excellent to start with but deteriorates
over the usage period of time. Also,
mechanical devices are used for play-
back, which are bulky and prone to
wear and tear. Portability is lesser.
sequent copy. Storage becomes head-
ache when collection grows bigger.
On the other hand, the quality of
digital music varies from average to
excellent depending upon the conver-
sion format and compression technique
used, quality and the technological
advancement of replay device. Con-
sistency of music quality is very high.
Playback devices are compact to ultra-
compact. And storage is no issue for
compressed music.
What’s available in digital?
When going for a personal music
player, you have a choice between
mobiles and portable MP3 players.
Of these, MP3 players are ubiquitous
today.
Portable MP3 players. These are
continually evolving from simple
audio players to complex multimedia
devices. Most can show digital photos
transferred from your computer, some-
times with accompanying music. Many
can also play movies and music videos
downloaded from the Web.
Among the flurry of models avail-
able, Apple’s iPods account for ma-
jority of MP3 players sold. Apple’s
success rests in part on its creation of
a self-contained digital entertainment

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 7 3
Buyers’
Guide
system. Its online iTunes store offers
a large library of online video content,
supplementing its dominance over
online music sales.
MP3 players score high over mo-
biles on the following counts:
1. The sound clarity of portable
MP3 players is far superior to MP3-
enabled mobiles.
2. The battery life of MP3 players
can be up to 35 hours, without requir-
ing recharging even for weeks.
3. Some MP3 players come with
very high ease of use while searching
for the songs or storing and retrieving
different album arts.
There are hundreds of MP3 players
to choose from, all with their own ad-
vantages. Major brands of MP3 players
include Apple, Creative Labs, iRiver,
Philips, RCA, Samsung, SanDisk, Sony
and Toshiba. Brands from smaller com-
panies are also available in the market.
MP3 playback has also been incor-
porated into handheld products like
CD players, cell phones and personal
digital assistants (PDAs).
Digital MP3 players can be differ-
entiated based on the type of memory
used: Flash and hard-disk.
Flash-memory type. Players that use
Philips personal audio player
7 4 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
MP4 players, also known as personal video players,
let you view video clipping/video films apart from
listening to audio. These score over MP3 players
in that they have a larger display screen and can
support more formats.
flash memory are extremely sturdy
and robust for usage on the move. The
reason is these have no moving parts,
so you can take them for jogging and
your music won’t skip. They are the
smallest and lightest players, measur-
ing no bigger than a pack of playing
cards. Flash memory is available up
to 64 GB. In India, you can get up to
16GB only. Most users prefer flash
memory-based music players. MP3
players can also double as USB mem-
ory sticks. Some may have expansion
slots to add more memory via card
slots on the player.
However, MP3 players are little
expensive in terms of per GB cost com-
pared to hard-disk type.
A good example of MP3 players is
Sony’s Walkman. Catering to music
fanatics with countless CDs at home,
Sony’s collection of MP3 Walkman is
able to shrink your multitude of CDs
into just one small device. The flash
memory digital music player range
does not only look good, it can accom-
modate unlimited music transfers or
even serve as a data storage device.
Some of the latest Walkman video
MP3 players include NWZ-E436F/P
and NWZ-E435F/B. Both of these are
compact and light-weight, come with
FM tuner, support high-quality video
playback and have a user-friendly
interface for easy operation. The 4GB
NWZ-E436F/P is available for Rs 6490,
while the 2GB NWZ-E435F/B is priced
at Rs 4990.
Hard-disk memory type. These play-
ers use mechanical parts and are prone
to usage issues when used while
skipping or dropped down. They are
larger and heavier than flash players.
The memory capacity cost per GB is
low. In India, you can get up to 160GB
hard-disk player. It can store up to
40,000 songs.
Hard-disk MP3 players like Apple
iPods lead the portable audio world
in terms of storage. The limiting fac-
tor is usually price. In general, buy
as large a memory as you can afford,
but if you only need the space to hold
a thousand tunes, there is no reason
to spend the extra money for a 40GB
player.
Portable MP3 players can be further
differentiated based on the formats:
1. MP3-only audio players. Branded
good-quality MP3-only players are
available for Rs 1500 to Rs 6000. Chi-
nese unbranded versions can come for
as less as Rs 600-Rs 2000.
2. MP4 players. MP4 players, also
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Buyers’
Guide
known as personal video players,
let you view video clipping/video
films apart from listening to audio.
These score over MP3 players in that
they have a larger display screen and
can support more formats than MP3
players. Like MP3 players, these may
come in hard drive or flash memory
versions. Good-quality branded MP4
players are priced between Rs 2000
and Rs 18,000.
MP4 players from Humx are avail-
able in screen sizes ranging from 7.1
cm (2.8 inches) to 7.6 cm (3 inches),
with built-in capacity of 1 GB, 2 GB
or 4 GB. There are four models in all:
MP252, MP342, MP432 and MP522.
All are MLC flash memory-based and
support rechargeable Li-ion battery,
20 FM channels, numerous audio and
video formats (MP3, WMA, WAV,
DAT, VOB, MP4, MOV, ASF, ASX and
WMV), e-book and game function.
The MP252 and MP432 also support
RM/RMVB, AVI, FLV, 3GP and MPG
formats.
CD players with ‘MP3’ compat-
ibility. Other than flash-memory and
hard-disk portable players, many of
today’s portable CD players also let
you play digital music saved on disks.
But these don’t support the copyright-
protected formats from online music
stores. Controls and displays are as
good as in portable MP3 players, and
Humx MP4 player
7 8 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
you can group songs on each disk
according to artist, genre and other
categories.
A CD, with its 650 to 800MB stor-
age capacity (about 150 to 200 songs),
can hold more than ten hours of MP3-
format music at the standard CD-qual-
ity setting. You can create MP3 CDs
using the proper software and your
PC’s CD burner.
Cell phones. An increasing number
of phones have built-in MP3 play-
ers—some with controls and features
that rival standalone players. Some
cell-phone providers let subscribers
download music over their networks.
Song capacity is often determined by
the size of the external memory card,
as well as the phone manufacturer,
carrier or music provider.
What to look for in an
mP3 player?
Size, weight and design. Let’s face it,
aesthetics go a long way. Just like mo-
bile phones, MP3 players have become
fashion accessories. The player should
also be lightweight, compact and easy
to operate with one hand. Some MP3
players are so small that these can
hang off a keychain, while others will
barely fit in your hand.
Tomonori Moroda, division head,
personal audio, Sony India, says that
the smallest players are great for
workout routines, jogging or even
clipping to a shirt lapel for everyday
use. Larger MP3 players are fantastic
for playing video and enjoying music,
but these are typically much more ex-
pensive and can be considered niche
products with far fewer accessories.
Appearance aside, a player’s design
also goes hand in hand with its size
and weight. This can vary a lot be-
tween devices, the lightest weighing
around 20 gm.
Hard-disk players tend to be much
heavier than their flash counterparts
due to the weight of the hard disk
and the larger battery required. Light-
weight and sleek flash-memory-based
players are the current style state-
ment.
Whichever MP3 player you choose,
make sure you’ll be comfortable using
the device. Look for a display that is
easy to read. Also, the controls should
be easily accessible.
Audio format. MP3 (Moving Pic-
tures Expert Group Audio Layer 3)
is just one of the many formats you
can play on digital audio players. It
is a digital audio format encoded on
computer from a source such as CD.
The files are compressed but retain
near-original sound quality. Most
MP3 players can play one or more
other compressed audio formats
too, such as Advanced Audio Cod-
ing (AAC), Ogg Vorbis (OGG) and
Microsoft’s Windows Media Audio
(WMA). Make sure that your player
is compatible with MP3, WMA and
AAC at least.
Here’s how these audio formats
differ:
WMA. A Windows Media Audio
file is about half the size of an MP3 file,
but offers similar sound quality.
If you want to fit as many songs
as possible onto your audio player,
look for WMA compatibility. A 60GB
WMA-compatible MP3 player can
store up to 30,000 songs in WMA for-
mat—or just 15,000 in MP3.
MP3Pro. It has better audio quality
than MP3, but isn’t widely popular
among manufacturers.
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 Buyers’
Guide
Pros and cons of MP3 players
Pros
• Most MP3 players are compact and light
• With the lack of moving parts, unlike CD players, there is no chance of skip, whether
the user is jogging, on a bumpy car ride or cycling
• These can store large collections of music, thus usually supporting your playlists on
a single device
• Often contain extra features such as radio
Cons
• More expensive than older-format devices
• Some storage formats (such as MP3) could be superseded
• Encoding files and transferring data can be time consuming and require other devices
such as PCs
—Tomonori Moroda, division head, personal audio, Sony India

OGG. Ogg Vorbis format has ex-
cellent sound quality and is gaining
popularity.
AAC. Dolby’s Advanced Audio
Coding format is used in Apple iPods
and can be downloaded from Apple’s
Internet music store ‘iTunes.’
WAV. It’s uncompressed audio, just
as you would hear on a standard CD.
Storage capacity and format.
The storage capacity of an M3 player
depends on the memory used. As
mentioned earlier, in India you can
get up to 16GB flash player or up to
160GB hard disk player. A 1GB player
can store around 250 songs (16 hours
of music).
Hard disk-based players can store a
fairly large collection of songs, but are
expensive and not as sturdy as flash
memory-based players.
Some players may use memory

Sony NWZ-B130F series

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 7 9
Buyers’
Guide
cards such as MultiMediaCard (MMC),
SecureDigital, CompactFlash and
MemoryStick (for Sony) for storage. In
case you have a handheld gadget like
cellphone or digicam using memory
card, make sure that you choose an
MP3 player that accepts that particular
card too.
Battery type, replaceability and
life. Most players come with an inbuilt
rechargeable battery. When you con-
nect it to your computer or laptop, the
battery gets charged automatically.
After full charging, it can play audio
for up to 15-30 hours and video for up
to 2-6 hours depending upon the brand
and model of player you are using.
Battery life of no less than 12 hours
for music and four hours for video is
a good bet. Rechargeable batteries last
up to three years depending on the
usage.
A few players have battery bays
for AA or AAA batteries. Generally,
users don’t prefer the recurring cost of
replaceable batteries.
Display. The display lets you eas-
ily select your music by artist, album
or genre. It is also useful when you’re
looking for a particular radio station.
In audio formats, the displays avail-
able are 2.5cm black & white (capable
of one to three lines), 2.5cm colour and
3.8cm OLED.
In video formats, the screen size
varies from 3.8 cm (1.5 inches) to 8.9
cm (3.5 inches) with 262,000 colours.
The screen type varies from TFT to
QVGA/WQVGA. The resolution also
varies from 128x128 to 240x400.
Hard disk players may come with
a colour screen for song info and for
viewing your digital photos.
Music store. Online music buying
is not very prevalent in India but is a
normal practice in West. The benefits
of online music buying are:
1. Offers instant, legal access to
hundreds and thousands of songs
2. Allows you to preview/prelisten
and purchase individual songs instead
of the whole album
3. Legal source complies with copy-
right laws
8 0 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
4. More consistent and higher-qual-
ity metadata
Software bundled with the player.
Good bundled software is a great bo-
nus as the quality of your recordings
depends on the quality of software
you use.
Media player is the software used
for playback of multimedia files. Typi-
cal features of such a software are:
1. Rips music from a CD and saves
it as an MP3 file
2. Burns MP3 file to CD or DVD
3. Organises MP3 files with ID3
data tags
4. Allows you to create your own
playlists
It’s important that the media player
software is supported by the operating
system of your computer.
Some common software are iTunes,
Real Player, Windows Media Player,
Quick Time and KM player.
Other extra features (like FM tuner,
voice recording, games, etc). Most
MP3 players come with FM tuner. FM
comes very handy for current news
update and change in music enter-
tainment. Lots of college students are
using voice recording feature very in-
novatively. They record lectures in the
classroom and prepare notes at leisure.
This helps them focus on the content at
the time of lectures. A 1GB MP3 player
can support voice recording of up to 65
hours, while a 2GB player can support
up to 135 hours.
FM tuner and voice recording are
standard features on all Philips digital
players. Also, high-end players from
Philips come with inbuilt noise cancel-
lation feature.
Accessories. Flash-based MP3 play-
ers need speakers and amplifiers for
loud sound. Lots of docking systems
are available for these music players.
The small and sleek players can be
worn on the body as ornaments. The
related accessories are available in
various shapes and sizes. Philips pro-
vides high-definition earphones with
noise-isolation technique. 
The author is a deputy editor at EFY
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 circuit
ideas
Triple Power Supply s.c. dwiv
edi

 Sandip Trivedi and P.D. Lele is used for op-amp-based analogue

circuit experiments.

T
his low-cost, multipurpose
power supply fulfils the re-
quirements of almost all labora-
tory experiments. Nonetheless, it can
be easily fabricated by hobbyists.
A single transformer is used to
build this triple power supply. Regula-
tor IC LM317 generates variable power
supply of 1.25 to 20V, 1A. The dual
±12V, 1A power supply is generated
by regulators 7812 and 7912. Similarly,
dual ±5V, 1A power supply is gener-
ated by regulators 7805 and 7905.
‘On’/‘off’ switches (S2 through S4)
select the required power supply. Vari-
able power supply is used to study the
characteristics of devices. Fixed +5V
power supply is used for all digital,
microprocessor and microcontroller
experiments. Dual ±12V power supply
Fig. 1 shows the circuit of the triple
power supply, while Fig. 2 shows the
pin configuration of the regulators
used in the circuit. Transformer X1
steps down the mains power to deliver
the secondary output of 18V-0-18V.
The transformer output is rectified by
full-wave bridge rectifier BR1, filtered
by capacitors C1, C2, C3, C7 and C8,
and regulated by IC1 through IC5.
Regulator IC1 (LM317) provides vari-
able voltages (1.25 to 20V), while IC2
and IC4 provide regulated +12V and
–12V, respectively. The output of IC2 is
fed to regulator IC3 (7805), which pro-
vides fixed +5V. Similarly, the output
of IC4 is fed to regulator IC5 (7905),
which provides fixed –5V. Capacitors
C4 through C6, and C9 through C11,
are used for further filtering of ripples
in positive and negative regulated
power supplies. LED1 glows to indi-
cate that +5V is available, while LED2
indicates that –5V is available.
Switch S1 is used for mains ‘on’/
‘off’. Using switches S2 through
S4, any of the three supplies can be
independently turned off when not
required in a particular experiment.
This reduces unnecessary power dis-
sipation and increases the life and
reliability of the power supply. Since
the circuit uses three terminal regula-
tors, only capacitors are required at
the input and output. The use of few
components makes the circuit very
simple. The three terminal regulators
have heat-sink provision to directly
deliver 1A output current. To ensure
the maximum output, do not forget to

HEAT SINK

S2 = FOR VARIABLE VOLTAGE IN IC1 OUT

3
LM317 2
S3 = FOR +12V AND +5V S2 1
R1
ADJ. +1.25 TO 20V
S4 = FOR –12V AND –5V 120

S1-S4 = ON/OFF SWITCH C3

0.1µ
VR1 GND
2.2K
+12V
POT

S1
ON/OFF HEAT SINK HEAT SINK
SWITCH
IN IC2 OUT IN IC3 OUT
1 7812 3 1 7805 3
X1 S3 2 2
F1
1.5A GND GND
R2
FUSE
BR1 330
C1 C4 C5
L W04 1000µ C2 100µ 10µ
+5V
C6
230V AC 35V 0.1µ 25V 16V 0.1µ
50Hz
BR1 LED1
N W04

GND
X1 = 230V AC
PRIMARY TO 18V-0-18V, C7 C8 C9 C10 R3
1.5A SECONDARY 1000µ 0.1µ 100µ 10µ 330
TRANSFORMER 35V 25V 16V C11 –5V
0.1µ
GND GND
1 1 LED2
BR1-W04 2 IC4 3 2 IC5 3
1.5A, BRIDGE S4 IN 7912 OUT IN 7905 OUT
RECTIFIER

HEAT SINK HEAT SINK

–12V
GND

Fig. 1: Tripple power supply

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 8 1
circuit
ideas
Fig. 2: Pin configurations of regulators
use heat-sinks for the regulators.
The three-terminal regulators are
almost non-destructible. These have
inbuilt protection circuits including
the thermal shutdown protection. Even
if there is overload or shorting of the
output, the inbuilt overload protection
circuit will limit the current and slowly
reduce the output voltage to zero.
Similarly, if the temperature increases
beyond a certain value due to excessive
load and heat dissipation, the in-built
thermal shutdown circuit will reduce
the output current and the output volt-
age (gradually) to zero. Thus complete
protection is provided to the circuitry.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and enclose in a box as
shown in Fig. 3.
The step-by-step procedure to build
the triple power supply for the labora-
tory follows:
earthing tag.
5. If the 18V-0-18V
transformer is replaced
with 15V-0-15V trans-
former, the output
voltage of the variable
supply using LM317
will be correspond-
ingly lower.
6. If proper voltages
are available, go to step
Fig. 3: Proposed cabinet for power supply 7. Otherwise, check the
connections.
1. Collect all the components shown 7. Connect variable regulator
in the circuit diagram. LM317 to the circuit and check 1.25V
2. Connect switch S1, fuse, trans- to 20V output by varying the 2.2-kilo-
former and mains cord to the assem- ohm linear potentiometers.
bled PCB as well as the box. 8. Now connect ICs 7812, 7912, 7805
3. Keep the multimeter in DC volt- and 7905 to the circuit and check their
age range (more than 25V DC) and output voltage.
measure the DC voltage across ca- 9. Connect terminals, potmeter,
pacitors C1 and C7 (1000 µF, 35V). This switches and indicator LED on the
voltage should be around 18V×1.41=25 front panel of the box and complete
to 26V DC. Check both positive and the connections. Close the box by us-
negative voltages with respect to ing screws.
ground. Precaution. At the primary side of
4. It is advisable to use three-wire the transformer, 230V AC could give
mains cable and plug. If you are using lethal shocks. So be careful not to touch
any metallic box, earthing wire/pin of this part. EFY will not be responsible
the mains plug should be soldered to for any resulting loss or harm to the
the body of the metallic box using an user. 

unique Water Pump Controller

edi
s.c. dwiv A R4
12K S1
ON/OFF
B SWITCH

7 R6
3 +
 D. Mohan Kumar IC1 6
220
T1

H
µA741 +
D1 BC558 12V
–
ere is a simple solution for 2 4 1N4148 DC

automatic pumping of water

to the overhead tank. Unlike C1
220
other water-level indicators, it does 25V N/O

not use probes to detect the water level R5

MOTOR

VR1 LED4
10K 12K D2
and hence there is no probe corrosion PRESET 1N4007 N/C
C2
problem. It has no direct contact with
RL1
470µ 230V
25V
water, so the chance of accidental leak- L AC N
50Hz
age of electricity to the water tank is RL1 = 12V, 1 C/O RELAY
also eliminated. Two important advan-
tages of the circuit are that the water Fig. 1: Water pump controller

8 2 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

Fig. 2: Sensor circuit
level never goes below a particular
level and no modification in the water
tank is required.
Fig. 1 shows the circuit of the wa-
terpump controller. The circuit uses an
LDR-white LEDs assembly to sense the
water level. It forms a triggering switch
to energise the relay for controlling the
pump. The LDR-LEDs assembly (shown
in Fig. 2) is fixed on the inner side of the
cap of the water tank without making
contact with water. The light reflected
from the water tank is used to control
the resistance of LDR1.
When the water level is high
enough, light from the white LEDs
(LED1 through LED3) reflects to fall
on LDR1. This reduces the resistance
of LDR1, increasing the voltage at the
non-inverting input (pin 3) of IC1.
IC1 is used in the circuit as a voltage
comparator. Resistors R4 and R5 form
a potential divider to fix half of supply
voltage to the inverting input of IC1.
Normally, when the water tank is
full, LDR1 gets more of reflected light
because the distance between the water
THREE-COMPONENT FLASHER
 T.A. Babu
S
ince this flasher system uses
only three components, it is rel-
atively easy to build and install.
It can be used for signal flashing, haz-
ard warning and alternate flashing.
At the heart of this circuit is a
single-pole double-through (SPDT)
contacts relay (see Fig. 1). It is a 12V,
400-ohm, single-changeover (1C/O),
PCB-mounted relay with contacts cur-
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Fig. 3: Sensor assembly
level and the face of LDR1 is minimal.
When white light falls on LDR1, the
voltage at the non-inverting input (pin
3) of IC1 increases and its output goes
high. This high output makes pnp
transistor T1 non-conducting and the
relay remains de-energised. LED1 also
remains ‘off.’ Since the water-pump
power supply is connected to the nor-
mally-open (N/O) contacts of relay
RL1, pumping is stopped.
When water level falls, the amount
of light reflected to LDR1 decreases
and its resistance increases. This re-
duces the voltage at pin 3 of IC1 and
its output goes low. This low output
from IC1 makes transistor T1 conduct.
Relay RL1 energises to close the N/O
contacts and the motor starts pump-
ing water. LED1 glows to indicate the
edi
s.c. dwiv
rent rating of 5A.
The working of the circuit is very
simple. Initially, bulk capacitor C1
charges through resistor R1 and the
bulb filament. When capacitor C1
charges, relay RL1 energises and
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 8 3
circuit
ideas
pumping of water.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and enclose in a suitable
cabinet. Solder the white LEDs-LDR1
assembly on a separate PCB and use
a separate power supply for it. Mount
LEDs behind the LDR. Otherwise, light
from the LEDs will affect the working
of the circuit. Connect LDR1 to the main
circuit board at ‘A’ and ‘B’ points.
Fix the LEDs-LDR1 assembly on
the inner side of the water-tank cap as
shown in Fig. 3. Orient the LEDs and
the LDR such that when the water tank
is full, the light emitted from the LEDs
and reflected from the water surface
falls directly on LDR1. The distance
between the upper level of water and
the LEDs-LDR setup should be mini-
mal, ensuring that water doesn’t touch
LDR1. Otherwise, the circuit will not
function properly. By using more white
LEDs, this distance can be increased.
Cover the LDR with a black tube to
increase its sensitivity.
You can fix the main unit at a
convenient place and connect it to the
LEDs-LDR assembly through wire.
Select the relay according to the horse-
power (HP) of the water pump. After
arranging the setup (with maximum
water in the tank), adjust VR1 until
LED1 stops glowing. In this state, the re-
lay should de-energise. When the water
level decreases, the relay automatically
energises to connect mains to the motor
and it starts pumping water. 
Fig. 1: Simple flasher circuit
circuit
ideas

Fig. 4: Circuit of alternate flasher

the left or right.

Fig. 2: Circuit of turn signal flasher
throws its contacts to the other posi-
tion. Capacitor C1 holds the contacts
until there is enough charge to keep
the relay energised. Bulb L1 (12V, 5W)
glows for a while through the N/O
contacts of the relay. When the charge
in the capacitor ceases, the relay con-
tacts return to their initial normally-
closed position.
The charging cycle repeats to give
a flashing effect in the bulb. The ‘on’
time of the flasher is controlled by the
Fig. 3: Circuit of hazard-warning flasher
charge stored in the capacitor. The ‘off’
time is controlled by the discharging
time of the capacitor.
The signal flasher is a four-bulb
system as shown in Fig. 2. Two bulbs
are used at the front of the vehicle and
the other two at the back of the vehicle.
The primary function of the ‘turn’ sig-
nal flasher is to flash the lamps when
the ‘turn’ signal switch is activated to
The circuit of the hazard-warn-
ing flasher is shown in Fig. 3. Used in
vehicle lighting systems, it flashes all
the four bulbs when hazard-warning
switch S3 is ‘on.’ During hazard warn-
ing, switch S2 can be in the left or right
position.
The alternate flasher circuit is
shown in Fig. 4. It flashes the lamps
alternately when the system is acti-
vated. This type of flasher is typically
used in emergency vehicles and school
buses. 

In-Car Food and Beverage Warmer

edi
s.c. dwiv

 Ashok K. Doctor

T
his is a very useful
device for those
who are frequently
on the move. It will keep
your tea, coffee or food
warm while consuming
little power.
The circuit is simple.
The ubiquitous timer 555
is used as a free-running astable mul- nected in reverse direction to facilitate Power transistor T1 is Darlington type
tivibrator. Diodes 1N4148 are con- maximum variation of the duty cycles. with 5A capacity and output of more

8 4 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

than 60 watts. The chosen discrete
components assure fixed frequency of
1 Hz (approximately) at pin 3 of timer
IC1 (555). Resister R1 and potmeter VR1
(1-mega-ohm) allow adjustment of the
duty cycle. The higher the duty cycle,
the higher the output of the heater.
You can connect up to five 10W
heating elements in parallel, totaling 50
watts. The consumption of current will
be significantly less if fewer coil ele-
ments are connected in parallel through
toggle switches S2 through S4. Each of
these switches has a 6A rating.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB. Mount power transistor
TIP120 on a thick heat-sink. Isolate the
circuit from the heating elements using
circuit
ideas
only two wire connections. Use wires
that can carry more than 6A current.
Fix the coil elements below an alumin-
ium or steel rectangular plate which
is at least 1mm thick. Do not forget
to insulate the heating plate from the
elements. Use the car battery for the
power supply with a proper current-
carrying-capacity wire. 

WHITE LIGHT FOR REFRIGERATOR

 Uday ShEnde The circuit is transformerless
and uses a capacitor for provid-

N
ormally, the refrigerator lights ing the power supply to the white edi
s.c. dwiv
are yellow in colour and go LEDs. Mains input is fed to capaci-
bad very often. If you want tor C1 and resistor R1, rectified by a
a long-lasting white light for your re- bridge rectifier comprising diodes D1
frigerator, this circuit is especially for through D4, and filtered by capaci- white LEDs in 2×8 parallel-connec-
you. The circuit is easy to install inside tor C2 to provide sufficient voltage tion configuration.
the refrigerator. Also, it consumes very to drive the white LEDs. Resistor R2 Assemble the circuit on a gen-
little power compared to the traditional limits the current flowing through eral-purpose PCB along with 16 white
yellow bulb. the LEDs. The circuit uses 16 bright LEDs. Connect the LEDs in series with
resistor R2. Take out
the two wires from
the usual bulb con-
nection and connect
to the circuit. After
connecting the supply
wires, wrap electrical
tape around the wires
properly. Enclose the
entire PCB (exclud-
ing LEDs) in a plastic
box and wrap the box
properly with tape to
seal it against mois-
ture. 

Smart Hearing Aid sani the

o

Devrishi Khanna and when sound is detected. The sensi-

Rohit Modi tivity of the detection section and the
‘on’ time duration of the sound am- microphone, earphone, and sound

N
ormally, hearing aid circuits
consume battery power
continuously once they are
switched on. The circuit given here
saves battery power by switching
on the sound amplifier section only
plifier circuit can be set by the user.
Also the circuit uses only a single
condenser mic for sound detection
and amplification.
As is clear from the above, this
hearing aid consists of a condenser
detection and amplification sections.
The sound detection section employs
a quad op-amp IC LM324 (IC1(A)) and
a timer NE555 (IC2). The sound signal
received at the mic is pre-amplified
by transistor BC549 (T1). The voltage

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 8 5
circuit
ideas
at its collector is fed to the inverting
terminal (pin 2) of op-amp IC1(A),
which is used as a comparator. The
reference voltage (Vref) at the non-
inverting terminal (pin 3) of IC1(A)
is set using preset VR1. The preset is
also used to control the sensitivity of
the sound signals received by the cir-
cuit. The output from pin 1 of IC1(A)
is fed to the trigger input (pin 2) of
timer NE555, which is configured in
monostable mode.
When sufficient sound signal
strength is detected at the base of tran-
sistor T1, the pulsating voltage at its
collector exceeds the reference voltage
at pin 3. As a result, output pin 1 of
IC1(A) goes low. The low output from
8 6 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
IC1(A) triggers the NE555 timer and its
output goes high for a preset duration.
R4 and C2 are the timing components
for setting the time duration. The high
output of the timer is directly used as
the power source for the sound ampli-
fier section.
The sound amplifier section is built
around transistors T2 through T5. The
last amplifier stage T5 (pnp transistor
BC558) drives the earphone. The sound
signal received from the mic is fed to
the non-inverting pin of the second
op-amp of IC1(B) which is wired in
unity follower configuration. The unity
follower mode resolves the problem
of impedance mismatch which would
have occured if the output of the mic
is fed directly to amplifier stage. The
output from pin 7 of IC1(B) is fed to the
base of transistor T2. The weak signal
received at transistor stage T2 is further
amplified by transistors T3, T4 and T5.
An earphone to listen to the sound is
connected between the collector of T5
and ground. It is recommended to use
a mono earphone with volume control
attached.
With 9V DC supply, when sound is
detected through the mic, the amplifier
section is automatically triggered and
the current consumption of the circuit
is about 96 mA. When the amplifier cir-
cuit is ‘off,’ the circuit draws a current
of about 6 mA only, thus saving con-
siderable amount of battery power. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

LAN-based Online Exam
 Rahul Bagai
U
sing this program, examina-
tions can be conducted online
for students of various sub-
jects in schools and colleges. The ex-
amination result along with solutions
to the questions is displayed at the end
of the exam.
The questions are randomly gener-
ated from a bank of questions stored
in a database maintained by the ad-
ministrator. These are multiple-choice
with four possible answers. Each
question is worth one mark. The stu-
dent has to select one subject at a time,
so the questions will be on that topic
only. For example, a subject may have
many chapters and multiple questions
related to that chapter are stored in
the database. From here, only 15
questions from selected chapter are
generated randomly for the test. The
software has the facility to store many
chapters under one particular subject.
The exam paper will be made up of
some questions taken from every
topic/chapter.
The administrator can change this
content by adding new topics and
changing the number of questions for
each topic. He can add any number of
questions and topics.
The student can answer each ques-
tion by clicking a radio button, so from
four possible answers only one answer
is selected per question. After answer-
ing all the questions, the student
needs to click a button at the bottom.
All the answers by the student are
stored in the PC and the marks scored
displayed.
Software program
The program is developed using J2SE
software development kit (JDK1.6) and
MS Access application on a Windows
XP machine. It is designed on a cli-
ent-server architecture which operates
only when the server provides services
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
to the client. The question database
is stored at the server end. The client
accesses the database from the server
machine and displays the contents on
its output screen.
The project includes three Java
source code files: ServerOnline.java,
Fig. 1: First page on the client PC
Fig. 2: Instructions for the students
Fig. 3: Screenshot to select a chapter
Fig. 4: Screenshot of the online question
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 8 7
Software
section
sani the
o
ConnectDatabase1.java and Clien-
tOnline.java. There is an Online
Exams.mdb Microsoft Access data-
base file which contains the list of
questions and answers. The detailed
questions are saved in GIF (graphic
interchange format). The ‘Questions
and Answers’ folder contains the
images of the multiple-choice ques-
tions. There are also some other images
and MP3 files included for the project.
All the image and MP3 files are linked
to the MS Access database through
configurations as explained under the
testing steps.
Operation of the program
1. As soon as the client program is
started, a Java applet page as shown
in Fig. 1 loads into its output screen.
Here the student can select his class
(10th or 12th) and the subject (physics,
chemistry, biology or mathematics) for
which he wants to give the exam. In
the database for this project, we have
included sample questions on biol-
ogy and mathematics only. As soon
as a radio button corresponding to a
particular subject
is selected using
mouse, the client
machine needs
to connect to the
database stored
in the server ma-
chine. So click
‘Connect to Da-
tabase’ button to
start the test.
2. Next, the
instruction page
is loaded. It dis-
plays some in-
structions to be
software
section
followed. Click ‘Continue’ button
(refer Fig. 2).
3. Select a chapter of your choice
using a pull-down menu (refer Fig. 3).
4. Start attempting the questions
(refer Fig. 4). The questions here are
generated randomly from the database
stored in the server machine. You can
select the respective radio button for
your choice of answer.
5. As soon as you select an option,
click ‘submit’ button to submit the an-
swer and move to the next question.
Note that chapters stored in the
database can store any number of
questions but from those questions,
only 15 are displayed on the client side
for each test.
At the end of 15 questions, a test
report is generated (refer Fig. 5), where
you can view your performance.
To view the correct answers after
the test, just click ‘Get Answers’ button
on the test report screen (refer Fig. 6).
Testing steps to run the
program on a PC
Using a single PC, server and client
programs can be run at the same time.
Here, the server program is under the
control of the administrator and the
client program is accessed by the stu-
dent. To achieve this, first the server
program is made to run, followed
by the client program as explained
below:
1. Download ‘Java SE Develop-
ment Kit (JDK) 6’ from ‘http://java.
sun.com/javase/downloads/index.
jsp’ website.
2. Install JDK in your machine. By
default it is installed under ‘c:\pro-
gram files\java\jdk1.6.0\bin’ direc-
tory.
3. Install MS Access application
program and configure the data source
for accessing MS Access database from
Java as follows:
(a) Open ‘Administrative Tools’
from ‘Control Panel.’
(b) Now open ‘Data Sources’
(ODBC) and click ‘Add’ button.
(c) Locate ‘Microsoft Access Driver’
(*.mdb) and click ‘Finish.’
8 8 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
Fig. 5: Test report
(d) Type ‘Data Source Name’ as
‘OnlineExams’ while observing case
sensitivity.
(e) Assuming that all the relevant
programs of this project are stored
under ‘D:\Rahul’ folder, locate
the database stored in ‘D:\Rahul\’
by using ‘Select’ button of the same
window. When the database is se-
lected, you will see the path of your
database under ‘Database’ of the same
window.
(f) Click ‘Ok’ to complete the con-
figurations.
4. Run the server program. All the
questions are stored in ‘Questions
And Answers’ file of ‘Rahul’ folder.
Open the command prompt from
‘Start\Run...’ option and type ‘cmd’
from the keyboard. Open ‘Rahul’
folder from ‘D’ drive. Type the ap-
propriate path against the prompt as
given below:
“Path = c:\program files\java\
jdk1.6.0\bin”
This is the path where the JDK files
like javac, java and appletviewer are
located.
5. Now type command ‘javac Serve-
rOnline.java’ to compile the ServerOn-
line.java program. If you have set the
path correctly, you will find class files
under ‘d:\rahul.’ Else, you will find
error. Ignore warnings, if any.
6. Next type ‘Java ServerOnline’ on
first command prompt to execute the
software. You will see “Server Started
!!!” in the next line.
7. Minimise the window and then
Fig. 6: Solutions to the questions
go to the next step to run the client
program.
The steps for compiling and run-
ning the client program are the same as
mentioned above. That is, click ‘Start/
Run’ option followed by ‘cmd.’ Open
‘D:\Rahul’ folder and give the path of
the JDK files.
8. Now instead of ‘ServerOnline.
java,’ type ‘ClientOnline.java’ against
the prompt.
If you run the ClientOnline pro-
gram successfully, you will see the
screen as shown in Fig. 1. A PC can
handle multiple clients, so you can
minimise the current client operation
and open another client program on
the same machine.
Testing steps to run on
two PCs
1. Make sure that the PCs used for the
project are connected on a local area
network (LAN).
2. Place ‘Rahul’ folder in server and
client machines. This is mandatory.
Next, follow Steps 1 through 3 under
sub-heading “Testing steps to run the
program on a single PC.”
3. Provide an appropriate path
for JDK as mentioned in Step 4 of the
above sub-heading. Compile the Serve-
rOnline.java program and run it on the
server machine.
4. On the client PC, the Connect-
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

Database1.java file, which is located
under ‘Rahul’ folder, requires the IP
address of the server. So open the
ConnectDatabase1.java source file and
replace ‘localhost’ with the IP address
of the server wherever ‘localhost’ ap-
pears. Save the file and close it.
5. Provide an appropriate path for
JDK as mentioned in Step 4 under the
previous sub-heading, and compile
Software
section
both ConnectDatabase1.java and Cli-
entOnline.java programs.
6. Run the ClientOnline.java pro-
gram. You will see the program output
as shown in Fig. 1. Click the appropri-
ate button to proceed for the online
exams.
EFY-CD. All the relevant files and
source codes of this article have been
included in this month’s EFY-CD.

serveronline.java
import java.net.*; BufferedReader is = null;
import java.io.*; PrintStream os = null;
import java.sql.*; Socket clientSocket = null;

public class ServerOnline { Connection conn;

public static void main(String Statement stmt;
args[]) {
try { String chapterSelected = “”,pass;

DriverManager.registerDriver(new public connection(Socket client-

sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver()); Socket) {
this.clientSocket = clientSocket;
}catch(Exception e) {
System.out.println(“Error oc- try {
cured : “+e.getMessage()); is = new BufferedReader(new
} InputStreamReader(clientSocket.getInput-
new ServerClass(); Stream()));
} os = new
} PrintStream(clientSocket.getOutput-
Stream());
class ServerClass implements Runna-
ble { }catch(IOException e) {
try {
Thread t; clientSocket.close();
ServerSocket echoServer = null; }catch(Exception ex) {}
Socket clientSocket = null; System.err.println(“Unable to
setup stream “+e);
ServerClass() { return;
try { }
echoServer = new ServerSock- t = new Thread(this,””);
et(1111); t.start();
}
}catch(IOException e) {
System.out.println(“Could not public void run() {
start server.” + e );
System.exit(1); try {
}
conn = DriverManager.
t = new Thread(this); getConnection(“jdbc:odbc:OnlineExams”);
System.out.println(“Server started stmt = conn.createStatement(Resu
!!!”); ltSet.TYPE_SCROLL_INSENSITIVE,ResultSet.
t.start(); CONCUR_READ_ONLY);
}
}catch(Exception e) {
public void run() { System.out.println(“Error oc-
try { cured : “+e.getMessage());
}
while(true) {
clientSocket = echoServer. try {
accept();
connection con = new connec pass = is.readLine();
tion(clientSocket);
} if(pass.equals(“1”)) {

}catch(IOException e) { tableName =
System.err.println(“Not listen- is.readLine(); //subject-
ing.” + e); Selected
System.exit(1); tableName +=
} is.readLine(); //classSe-
} lected
}
ResultSet rset = stmt.
class connection implements Runnable { executeQuery(“Select * from “+tableNa-
me);
Thread t; rset.last();
String tableName = “”; //this gets os.println(rset.get-
the name of the tablename from where String(1)); //lastSNo
the question and options are to be re-
trieved rset = stmt.
String requestQuestion = “”; executeQuery(“Select * from “+tableNa-

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 8 9
software
section
me); lected); }
while(rset.next()) { rset.last();
os.println(rset.get- os.println(rset.get- }catch(Exception e) {
String(2)); //chapterNos String(1)); System.out.println(“Error oc-
os.println(rset.get- cured while sending/retrieving data:
String(3)); //chapterNames rset = stmt. “+e);
} executeQuery(“Select * from “+chapterSe- }finally {
} lected + “ where QNo = “+requestQues- try {
tion); clientSocket.close();
else if(pass.equals(“2”)) if(rset.next()) { is.close();
{ os.println(rset.get- os.close();
chapterSelected = String(2)); //send ques- stmt.close();
is.readLine(); //chapterSelected tion conn.close();
os.println(rset.get-
requestQuestion = String(3)); //send An- }catch(Exception e) {}
(String)is.readLine(); swer }
os.println(rset.get- }
ResultSet rset = stmt. String(4)); //send hint }
executeQuery(“Select * from “+chapterSe- }

clientonline.java
import java.awt.*; Group(); JRadioButton chemistry = new JRadi
import java.awt.event.*; bg.add(physics); oButton(“Chemistry”);
import javax.swing.*; bg.add(chemistry); chemistry.addActionListener(this);
bg.add(biology); add(chemistry);
public class ClientOnline extends bg.add(mathematics);
JFrame { JRadioButton biology = new
JButton connect = new JRadioButton(“Biology”);
public ClientOnline() { JButton(“Connect to DataBase”); biology.addActionListener(this);
connect.addActionListener(this); add(biology);
JTabbedPane jtp = new JTabbed- add(connect);
Pane(); } JRadioButton mathematics = new
jtp.addTab(“Class 10th”,new JRadioButton(“Mathematics”);
Class10th()); public void actionPerformed(ActionE mathematics.
jtp.addTab(“Class 12th”,new vent ae) { addActionListener(this);
Class12th()); add(mathematics);
getContentPane().add(jtp); if(ae.getActionCommand().
equals(“Connect to DataBase”) && sub- ButtonGroup bg = new Button-
addWindowListener(new WindowA- jectSelected != “”) { Group();
dapter() { try { bg.add(physics);
public void windowClosing(Wind new ConnectDatabase1(classS bg.add(chemistry);
owEvent we) { elected,subjectSelected,1,1,0,img,img,r bg.add(biology);
dispose(); andomQnoStored); bg.add(mathematics);
}
}); }catch(Exception e) { JButton connect = new
} System.out.println(“Could JButton(“Connect to DataBase”);
not connect to the database Server connect.addActionListener(this);
public static void main(String !!!”+e); add(connect);
args[]) { } }
ClientOnline clonlie = new Clien- }
tOnline(); public void actionPerformed(ActionE
clonlie.setSize(400,150); else if(ae.getActionCommand(). vent ae) {
clonlie.setVisible(true); equals(“Physics”)) { if(ae.getActionCommand().
} subjectSelected = “Physics”; equals(“Connect to DataBase”) && sub-
} } jectSelected != “”) {

class Class10th extends JPanel imple- else if(ae.getActionCommand(). try{

ments ActionListener { equals(“Chemistry”)) { new ConnectDatabase1(classS
subjectSelected = “Chemistry”; elected,subjectSelected,1,1,0,img,img,r
String subjectSelected = “”; } andomQnoStored);
String classSelected = “10”; }catch(Exception e) {
String[] img = new String[15]; else if(ae.getActionCommand(). System.out.println(“Could
int[] randomQnoStored = new int[15]; equals(“Biology”)) { not connect to database !!!”);
subjectSelected = “Biology”; }
public Class10th() { } }

JRadioButton physics = new else if(ae.getActionCommand(). else if(ae.getActionCommand().

JRadioButton(“Physics”);
physics.addActionListener(this);
add(physics);
JRadioButton chemistry = new JRadi
oButton(“Chemistry”);
chemistry.addActionListener(this);
add(chemistry);
JRadioButton biology = new
JRadioButton(“Biology”);
biology.addActionListener(this);
add(biology);
JRadioButton mathematics = new
JRadioButton(“Mathematics”);
mathematics.
addActionListener(this);
add(mathematics);
ButtonGroup bg = new
equals(“Mathematics”)) { equals(“Physics”)) {
subjectSelected = “Mathemat- subjectSelected = “Physics”;
ics”; }
}
} else if(ae.getActionCommand().
} equals(“Chemistry”)) {
subjectSelected = “Chemistry”;
class Class12th extends JPanel imple- }
ments ActionListener {
else if(ae.getActionCommand().
String subjectSelected = “”; equals(“Biology”)) {
String classSelected = “12”; subjectSelected = “Biology”;
String[] img = new String[15]; }
int[] randomQnoStored = new int[15];
else if(ae.getActionCommand().
public Class12th() { equals(“Mathematics”)) {
subjectSelected = “Mathemat-
JRadioButton physics = new ics”;
JRadioButton(“Physics”); }
physics.addActionListener(this); }
Button- add(physics); } 

9 0 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Power Supply

Charging Lithium-Ion
Batteries
Properly restoring energy using the latest battery technology for today’s portable
products requires careful consideration. An understanding of the charging
characteristics of the battery and the application’s requirements is essential in
order to design an appropriate and reliable battery charging system.
Linear and switch-mode charging solutions for Li-ion batteries are presented
here. Also given are the guidelines and considerations that should be taken into
account when developing any battery charging system
Each application is unique, but
one common theme rings through:
maximise battery capacity usage. This
theme directly relates to how energy is
properly restored to rechargeable bat-
teries. No single method is ideal for all
applications. An understanding of the
charging characteristics of the battery
and the application’s requirements is
essential in order to design an appro-
priate and reliable battery charging
system. Each method has its associated
advantages and disadvantages.
It is the particular application
with its individual requirements that
determines which method will be the
best to use.
Far too often, the charging system
is given low priority, especially in cost-
sensitive applications. The quality of
the charging system, however, plays a
key role in the life and reliability of the
battery. In this article, the fundamen-
tals of charging Lithium-ion (Li-ion)
batteries are explored. In particular,
linear charging solutions and a micro-
controller-based, switch-mode solution
shall be explored.

 Scott Dearborn batteries as a prime power source is on
the rise. As a result, a burden has been
Li-ion charging
The rate of charge or discharge is often
expressed in relation to the capacity of
the battery. This rate is known as the
C-rate. The C-rate equates to a charge

P
owering today’s portable world placed on the system designer to create or discharge current and is defined as:
poses many challenges for sophisticated systems utilising the bat- I = M × Cn
system designers. The use of tery’s full potential. where ‘I’ is charge or discharge current

9 2 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Power Supply
Fig. 1: Li-ion charge profile
Fig. 2: Capacity loss vs undercharge voltage
Fig. 3: Typical linear solution
in amperes, ‘M’ is the multiple or frac-
tion of ‘C,’ ‘C’ is the numerical value of
9 4 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
current of 100 mA.
Typically, manufacturers specify
the capacity of a battery at a 5-hour
rate, n = 5. For example, the above-
mentioned battery would provide
five hours of operating time when
discharged at a constant current of
200 mA. In theory, the battery would
provide one hour of operating time
when discharged at a constant current
of 1000 mA. In practice, however, the
operating time will be less than one
hour due to inefficiencies in the dis-
charge cycle.
So how is energy properly restored
to a Li-ion battery? The preferred
charge algorithm for Li-ion battery
chemistries is a constant-current, con-
stant-voltage algorithm that can be
broken up into four stages, namely,
trickle charge, constant-current charge,
constant-voltage charge and charge
termination (refer to Fig. 1):
Stage 1 (trickle charge): Trickle
charge is employed to restore charge
to deeply depleted cells. When the cell
voltage is below approximately 3V, the
cell is charged with a constant current
of 0.1C maximum.
Stage 2 (constant-current charge):
After the cell voltage has risen above
the trickle-charge threshold, the charge
current is raised to perform constant-
current charging. The constant-current
charge should be in the 0.2C to 1.0C
range. The constant current does not
need to be precise and semi-constant
current is allowed. Often, in linear
chargers, the current is ramped-up as
the rated capacity in the cell voltage rises in order to mini-
Ah and ‘n’ is the time mise heat dissipation in the pass tran-
in hours at which ‘C’ sistor.
is declared. Charging at constant current rates
A battery dis- above 1C does not reduce the overall
charging at a C-rate charge cycle time and should be avoid-
of ‘1’ will deliver its ed. When charging at higher currents,
nominal rated capac- the cell voltage rises more rapidly due
ity in one hour. For to over-voltage in the electrode reac-
example, if the rated tions and the increased voltage across
capacity is 1000 mAh, the internal resistance of the cell. The
a discharge rate of constant-current stage becomes shorter,
1C corresponds to a but the overall charge cycle time is not
discharge current of 1000 mA. A rate reduced because the percentage of time
of C/10 corresponds to a discharge in the constant voltage stage increases
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 Power Supply
proportionately.
Stage 3 (constant voltage): Constant
current charge ends and the constant-
voltage stage is invoked when the
cell voltage reaches 4.2V. In order to
maximise performance, the voltage
regulation tolerance should be better
than 1 per cent.
Stage 4 (charge termination): Un-
like nickel-based batteries, it is not
recommended to continue to trickle-
charge Li-ion batteries. Continuing Fig. 4: Typical, fully integrated, linear solution
to trickle charge can cause plating
of metallic lithium—a condition that
makes the battery unstable. The result
can be sudden, automatic and rapid
disassembly.
Charging is typically terminated by
one of two methods: minimum charge
current or a timer (or a combination
of the two). The minimum current
approach monitors the charge cur-
rent during the constant voltage stage
and terminates the charge when the
charge current diminishes in the range
of 0.02C to 0.07C. The second method
determines when the constant voltage
stage is invoked. Charging continues
for an additional two hours, and then
the charge is terminated. Fig. 5: MCP73843 charge cycle waveforms
Charging in this manner replenish-
es a deeply depleted battery in roughly age can vary from 90Vrms to 132Vrms of 9V to 18V.
2.5 to 3 hours. for a standard wall outlet. Assuming Constant-current charge rate and
Advanced chargers employ ad- a nominal input voltage of 120Vrms, accuracy. The choice of topology for a
ditional safety features. For example, the tolerance is +10 per cent, –25 per given application may be determined
the charge is suspended if the cell tem- cent. The charger must provide proper by the desired constant current. Many
perature is outside a specified window, regulation to the battery independent high-constant-current, or multiple-cell,
typically 0°C to 45°C. of its input voltage. The input voltage applications rely on a switch-mode
to the charger will scale in accordance charging solution for improved effi-
Li-ion charging: system to the AC mains voltage and the charge ciency and less heat generation.
considerations current: Linear solutions are desirable in
A high-performance charging system VO =√2×VIN×a–1O (REQ+RPTC) – 2×VFD low to moderate fast-charge-current
is required to recharge any battery REQ is the resistance of the second- applications for their superior size and
quickly and reliably. The following ary winding plus the reflected resist- cost considerations. However, a linear
system parameters should be consid- ance of the primary winding (RP/a2), solution purposely dissipates excess
ered in order to ensure a reliable, cost- RPTC is the resistance of the PTC and power in the form of heat.
effective solution. VFD is the forward drop of the bridge The tolerance on the constant-
Input source. Many applications rectifiers. In addition, transformer-core current charge becomes extremely
use very inexpensive wall cubes for loss will slightly reduce the output important to a linear system. If the
the input supply. The output voltage voltage. regulation tolerance is loose, pass
is highly dependent on the AC input Applications that charge from a transistors and other components
voltage and the load current being car adaptor can experience a similar will need to be oversized adding size
drawn from the wall cube. problem. The output voltage of a car and cost. In addition, if the constant-
In the US, the AC mains input volt- adaptor will be typically in the range current charge is low, the complete

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 9 5
Power Supply

Fig. 6: Switch mode SEPIC charger

9 6 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

charge cycle will be extended.
Output-voltage regulation accu-
racy. The output-voltage regulation
accuracy is critical in order to obtain
the desired goal: maximise the battery
capacity usage. A small decrease in
output voltage accuracy results in a
large decrease in capacity. However,
the output voltage cannot be set arbi-
trarily high because of safety and reli-
ability concerns.
Fig. 2 depicts the importance of
output-voltage regulation accuracy.
Charge termination method. It can-
not be stressed enough that over-charg-
ing is the Achilles’ heal of Li-ion cells.
Accurate charge termination methods
are essential for a safe, reliable, charg-
ing system.
Cell temperature monitoring. The
temperature range over which a Li-ion
battery should be charged is 0°C to
45°C, typically. Charging the battery
at temperatures outside of this range
may cause the battery to become hot.
During a charge cycle, the pressure
inside the battery increases causing
the battery to swell. Temperature and
pressure are directly related. As the
temperature rises, the pressure can
become excessive. This can lead to
a mechanical breakdown inside the
battery or venting. Charging the bat-
tery outside of this temperature range
may also harm the performance of
the battery or reduce the battery’s life
expectance.
Generally, thermistors are included
in Lithium-ion battery packs in order
to accurately measure the battery
temperature. The charger measures
the resistance value of the thermis-
tor between the thermistor terminal
and the negative terminal. Charging
is inhibited when the resistance, and
therefore the temperature, is outside
the specified operating range.
Battery discharge current or reverse
leakage current. In many applications,
the charging system remains connected
to the battery in the absence of input
power. The charging system should
minimise the current drain from the
battery when input power is not
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Power Supply
present. The maximum current drain
should be below a few microamperes
and, typically, below one microam-
pere.
Application examples
Taking the above system consid-
erations into account, an appropriate
charge management system can be
developed.
Linear solutions. Linear charg-
ing solutions are generally employed
when a well-regulated input source
is available. Linear solutions, in these
applications, offer advantages of ease
of use, size and cost.
Due to the low efficiency of a
linear charging solution, the most
important factor is the thermal design.
The thermal design is a direct function
of the input voltage, charge current
and thermal impedance between the
pass transistor and the ambient cool-
ing air. The worst-case situation is
when the device transitions from the
trickle charge stage to the constant-
current stage. In this situation, the
pass transistor has to dissipate the
maximum power. A trade-off must
be made between the charge current,
size, cost and thermal requirements of
the charging system.
Take, for example, an application
required to charge a 1000mAh, single
Li-Ion cell from a 5V±5% input at a
constant-current charge rate of 0.5C
or 1C. Fig. 3 depicts a low-cost, stan-
dalone linear solution. With a few
external components, the preferred
charge algorithm is implemented.
The MCP73843 combines high-accu-
racy constant-current, constant-volt-
age regulation with automatic charge
termination.
In an effort to further reduce the
size, cost and complexity of linear
solutions, many of the external compo-
nents can be integrated into the charge
management controller. Advanced
packaging and reduced flexibility
come along with higher integration.
These packages require advanced
equipment for manufacturing, and,
in many instances, preclude rework.
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 9 7
Power Supply
Fig. 7: Switch-mode charge cycles with and without PS700, 2200mAh
Typically, integration encompasses
charge-current sensing, the pass tran-
sistor and reverse-discharge protection.
In addition, these charge-management
controllers typically employ some type
of thermal regulation. Thermal regula-
tion optimises the charge cycle time
while maintaining device reliability by
limiting the charge current based on
the device die temperature. Thermal
regulation greatly reduces the thermal
design effort.
Fig. 4 depicts a fully integrated,
linear solution utilising the MCP73861.
The MCP73861 incorporates all the
features of the MCP73843 along with
charge-current sensing, the pass tran-
sistor, reverse-discharge protection and
cell temperature monitoring.
Charge-cycle waveforms. Fig. 5 de-
picts complete charge cycles utilising
the MCP73843 with constant-current
charge rates of 1C ad 0.5C. Charging
at a rate of 0.5C instead of 1C takes
about one hour longer for the end of
charge to be reached. The MCP73843
scales the charge termination current
proportionately with the fast charge
current. The result is an increase of
36 per cent in charge time with the
benefit of a 2 per cent gain in capacity
and reduced power dissipation. The
change in termination current from
0.07C to 0.035C results in an increase
in final capacity from around 98
per cent to 100 per cent. The system
9 8 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
designer has to make a trade-off be-
tween charge time, power dissipation
and available capacity.
Switch-mode charging solutions.
Switch-mode charging solutions are
generally employed in applications
that have a wide-ranging input or a
high input-to-output voltage differen-
tial. In these applications, switch-mode
solutions have the advantage of im-
proved efficiency. The disadvantages
are system complexity, size and cost.
Take, for example, an application
required to charge a 2200mAh, single
Li-ion cell from a car adaptor at a con-
stant-current charge rate of 0.5C or 1C.
It would be extremely difficult to utilise
a linear solution in this application due
to the thermal issues involved. A linear
solution employing thermal regulation
could be utilised, but the charge cycle
times at the reduced charge currents
may be prohibitive.
The first step to designing a suc-
cessful switch-mode charging solution
is to choose a topology: buck, boost,
buck-boost, flyback, single-ended pri-
mary inductive converter (SEPIC) or
other. Knowing the input and output
requirements, and experience, quickly
narrows the choices down to two for
this application: buck or SEPIC. A buck
converter has the advantage of requir-
ing a single inductor. Disadvantages
of this topology include an additional
diode required for reverse-discharge
protection, high-side gate drive and
current sense, and pulsed input current
(EMI concern).
The SEPIC topology has advantag-
es that include low-side gate drive and
current sense, continuous input current
and DC isolation from input to output.
The main disadvantage of the SEPIC
topology is the use of two inductors
and an energy transfer capacitor.
Fig. 6 depicts a schematic for a
switch-mode charger. A high-speed
pulse-width modulator (PWM),
MCP1630, has been utilised in a
pseudo smart battery charger ap-
plication. The MCP1630 is a high-
speed, microcontroller-adaptable,
pulse-width modulator. When used
in conjunction with a microcontroller,
the MCP1630 will control the power
system duty cycle to provide output
voltage or current regulation. The
microcontroller, PIC16F684, can be
used to regulate the output voltage
or current, switching frequency and
maximum duty cycle. The MCP1630
generates duty cycle, and provides
fast over-current protection based
on various external inputs. External
signals include the input oscillator,
the reference voltage, the feedback
voltage and the current sense. The
output signal is a square-wave pulse.
The power train used for the charger
is SEPIC.
The microcontroller provides an
enormous amount of design flexibility.
In addition, it can communicate with
a battery monitor inside the battery
pack to significantly reduce charge-
cycle times.
Charge-cycle waveforms. Fig. 7 shows
complete charge cycles utilising the
switch-mode charging solution. By
utilising a battery monitor in the
charging system, charge cycles can
be significantly reduced. The battery
monitor eliminates sensing the voltage
produced across the pack’s protection
circuitry and contact resistance by the
charging current. 
The author is principal applications engineer at
Microchip Technology Inc., Chandler, USA
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
design
Part 1 of 3
Reading the Datasheets of
Electronic Devices
A thorough understanding of datasheets allows the designers to select the right
device for their application and subsequently exploit the potential of the device
to the fullest. Beginning this month in a series of three articles, we would focus
on how to read a datasheet and then go on to discuss the datasheets of two of
the most commonly used electronics devices representing discrete devices and
integrated circuits
 Anil Kumar Maini and
Varsha Agrawal

M
ost of the present-day electron-
ics designers and application
engineers do not find it neces-
sary to look beyond the first page of the
datasheets of the electronic components
or devices while selecting one for their
application. They consider the knowl-
edge of a few major specifications of the
device sufficient for the design exercise
that they wish to undertake. Though
it may be adequate in some cases, the
design where the components are chosen
without giving due consideration to the
information contained in the datasheet
may not be the optimal one.
The datasheet of a device reveals its
true character and hence its suitability
for a given application. In addition to
listing down the device parameters, it
gives the electrical and environmental
conditions at which these parameters Fig. 1: First page of datasheet of power Mosfet type IRF250
have been measured and also contains
information on variation of important ally available from manufacturers. The Surely, the technical data of a given
parameters as a function of other word ‘comprehensive’ is used here to device in the short-form catalogue will
relevant electrical and environmental differentiate between the datasheet of a not be as comprehensive as it would
parameters. It is vital information device found in a short-form catalogue be in the detailed catalogue. In the
particularly when you are designing a and another datasheet of the same de- condensed version, one is likely to find
circuit or a module that has to qualify vice available in the detailed version. salient features, major performance
stringent environment standards. A For example, a company manufactur- specifications, package information
comprehensive datasheet almost in- ing a range of semiconductor devices and electrical characteristics along with
variably includes application circuits may have one condensed catalogue the condition for which they are valid.
recommended by the manufacturer. containing data on all categories of On the other hand, a detailed datasheet
devices like diodes, bipolar transistors, offers a range of characteristic curves
Comprehensive and MOSFETs and thyristors that it manu- showing variation of important pa-
condensed datasheets factures. It may also offer detailed rameters as a function of other relevant
Both comprehensive as well as con- catalogues separately for each of these parameters and typical application
densed versions of datasheets are usu- categories. circuits.

1 0 0 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
design
capability and a low ther-
mal resistance… designed
primarily for half-wave AC
power control such as motor
controls, heating controls…
(taken from the datasheet
of S2800 series SCR)… high
photosensitivity, hermeti-
cally sealed… fast optical
sensor of high-modulation
bandwidth... (taken from the
data sheet of PIN photodiode
type BPX-65)… single-pulse
avalanche energy rated, na-
nosecond switching speeds,
linear transfer characteristics,
high input impedance… well
suited for applications such
as switching regulators, mo-
tor drivers, relay drivers…
Fig. 2: Package styles of op-amp type LM741 (taken from the datasheet
of power MOSFET type
IRF250 shown in Fig. 1)” are
representative of the first
page of the datasheet of the
device. This gives designers
a fair idea of the important
features and applications
without going through the
whole datasheet.
Device package outline.
A sketch with device dimen-
sions and lead identification,
outline of the package styles
of the device and other me-
chanical information are in-
cluded in this part. Quite of-
ten a given device is made in
more than one package style
either with no difference in
performance specifications
(such as medium-power sili-
con transistor type 2N6045/
MJE6045 made in TO220AB
Fig. 3: Internal schematic of op-amp type LM741
and TO127 package styles),
or with a minor difference
Common features ing features. All datasheets begin with (such as bipolar transistor 2N2222 in
A study of the datasheets of a variety typical applications as suggested by TO-92 plastic and TO-18 metal can
of devices, be they discrete or integrat- the manufacturer and the outstanding packages), and occasionally with a
ed circuit (IC), reveals a commonality features of the device. This informa- major difference (such as IC regulator
in the type of data and characteristic tion appears on the first page of the type 78-series in TO-92 plastic, TO-220
curves. These common features are datasheet and is an essential part of and TO-3 packages).
outlined in the following paragraphs. both condensed and detailed versions. Fig. 2 shows the package options
Typical applications and outstand- Statements like “It has high dv/dt for the operational amplifier LM741.

1 0 2 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 design

Absolute Maximum Ratings (Note 1)

If military/aerospace specified devices are required, contact the National Semiconductor Sales Office/Distributors
for availability and specifications.

LF155/6 LF256/7/LF356B LF355/6/7

Supply voltage ±22V ±22V ±18V

Differential input voltage ±40V ±40V ±30V
Input voltage range (Note 2) ±20V ±20V ±16V
Output short circuit duration Continuous Continuous Continuous
TJMAX
H-package 150°C 115°C 115°C
N-package — 100°C 100°C
M-package — 100°C 100°C
Power dissipation at TA=25°C (Notes 1, 8)
H-package (still air) 560 mW 400 mW 400 mW
H-package (400 LF/min air flow) 1200 mW 1000 mW 1000 mW
N-package — 670 mW 670 mW
M-package — 380 mW 380 mW
Thermal resistance (typical) θJA
H-package (still air) 160°C/W 160°C/W 160°C/W
H-package (400 LF/min air flow) 65°C/W 65°C/W 65°C/W
N-package — 130°C/W 130°C/W
M-package — 195°C/W 195°C/W
(Typical) θJC
H-package 23°C/W 23°C/W 23°C/W
Storage temperature range –65°C to +150°C –65°C to +150°C –65°C to +150°C
Soldering information (lead temp.)
Metal can package
Soldering (10 sec.) 300°C 300°C 300°C
Dual-in-line package
Soldering (10 sec.) 260°C 260°C 260°C
Small outline package
Vapour phase (60 sec.) — 215°C 215°C
Infrared (15 sec.) — 220°C 220°C
See AN-450 ‘Surface Mounting Methods and Their Effect on Product Reliability’ for other methods of soldering
surface mount devices.
ESD tolerance
(100 pF discharged through 1.5kΩ) 1000V 1000V 1000V
Absolute maximum ratings tell the designer the conditions that will damage the device. Remember these are
not maximum operating limits

Fig. 4: Absolute maximum ratings for op-amp type LF156/256/356

As you can see from the figure, it is
available in three packages, namely,
the metal can package, dual-in-line
package and ceramic flatpak pack-
age.
Schematic diagram. Detailed sche-
matic of the internal structure of the
device is also given in the datasheet.
Fig. 3 shows the internal schematic of
operational amplifier LM741. It helps
the designer to correlate the electrical
features of the device with its internal
architecture. This sometimes helps the
designer to explain the device behav-
iour that is otherwise not described in
the datasheet.
Absolute maximum ratings. Abso-
lute maximum ratings (Fig. 4) contain
information on voltages, currents, pow-
ers and temperature range that should
never be exceeded. As is evident from
the figure, the maximum supply volt-
age for operational amplifier LF356 is
±18V.

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 1 0 3
design

Fig. 5: Performance curves of diodes 1N4001 to 1N4007

Performance curves. Perform- characteristics of the device, such characteristics) in the case of FETs,
ance curves of interest as a function as drain current versus drain volt- emitter voltage versus emitter cur-
of voltage, current, temperature, age (drain characteristics) or drain rent in the case of UJTs and forward
etc follow next. These include the current versus gate voltage (transfer voltage versus forward current in the

1 0 4 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

case of diodes. Fig. 5 shows the char-
acteristics curves for diodes 1N4001
Fig. 6: Thyristor-cathode voltage vs. cathode current for different
temperatures
Fig. 7: Electrical characteristics of Mosfet type number IRF250
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
to 1N4007.
It could also be variation of the cath-
ode voltage vs cathode
current as a function of
temperature (Fig. 6) in
the case of a thyristor, or
dark current as a func-
tion of applied reverse
bias in the case of a PIN
photodiode, or transcon-
ductance versus drain
current as a function of
temperature in the case
of power MOSFET. The
curve in the first case
emphasises that the re-
lationship between the
cathode voltage and cath-
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 1 0 5
design
ode current changes with temperature.
The curve in the second illustration
indicates critical dependence of the
dark current of the PIN photodiode
on the applied reverse bias voltage.
And the third demonstrates significant
reduction in the transconductance of the
MOSFET at a fixed drain current with
increase in temperature. These are all
very important aspects of design and
therefore should not be side-stepped.
Electrical characteristics. Electri-
cal characteristics are usually given
in tabular form indicating spread
in parameter values that is likely to
occur in a batch of devices in terms
of minimum, typical and maximum
values. It is a vital design input as in
design
These are always
an asset to the
designers, more
so for those who
are a little short
of design experi-
ence. Quite of-
ten, expressions
used to calculate
different compo-
nent values in a
given application
circuit are also
presented.
Fig. 8 shows
some of the appli-
cation circuits for
operational ampli-
fier LF356 given
in its datasheet.
The information
contained in Fig.
8 is reproduced
from the detailed
datasheet of LF
355/356/357 se-
ries of FET input
op-amps.

To sum up...
This part of the
article highlighted
the importance of
reading a datash-
eet and the host
of technical infor-
mation contained
therein. In par-
ticular, it focused
Fig. 8: Some application circuits of op-amp type LF156/256/356 on salient features
that are common
some cases, spread in values could be to the datasheets of all categories of
as much as an order of magnitude. devices illustrating the significance of
To substantiate the statement, the different parameters with practical ex-
datasheet of C122-series of SCRs from amples. The next part of the article will
RCA tells that its dv/dt rating could focus on semiconductor diodes.
be anywhere between 10V/s and …To be continued
100V/s. Similarly, the gate-source
threshold voltage of power MOSFET Anil Kumar Maini is the head of EOCM and Op-
type IRF250 could vary from 2V to toelectronics Division and associate director at
4V (Fig. 7). Laser Science and Technology Centre (Defence
R&D Organisation) and Varsha Agrawal is a senior
Application circuits. Application scientist in EOCM and Optoelectronics Division at
circuits are usually included only in Laser Science and Technology Centre (Defence
the detailed version of the datasheet. R&D Organisation)

1 0 6 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 do-it-yourself

A Versatile
Frequency Counter
Often, the need for a frequency counter is felt that operates in the LF, HF
and VHF ranges. The most common deterrents are the lack of programming
knowledge and the non-availability of VHF prescalers to bring down VHF to a
manageable HF range. Here we show how a commonly available low-cost radio
may be ripped apart and used as a frequency counter covering frequencies
from 500 kHz to 150 MHz
 Vasuki Prasad this section. It is used
only to keep track of

C
hinese radio company Kchibo COM1 1 36 VDD time.
makes radios based on the CX- COM2 2 35 FMIN The on-chip oscil-
A1619BM IC. This IC is a sur- COM3 3
lator is a NOT gate
34 VSS
face-mount version of the CXA1619BS, that requires an exter-
SEG0 4 33 AMIN
which most designers are familiar nal 32.768kHz crystal
with; FM boards available in the mar- SEG1 5 32 AM/FM-SEL to generate the timing
ket are built using this IC. Kchibo and SEG2 6 31 RANGE base.
other companies went a step ahead The adder/subtrac-
SEG3 7 30 NC
and thought of implementing a radio tor unit works like this:
frequency display, along with an alarm SEG4 8 29 IF70K A super heterodyne
clock, in their radios so that any station SEG5 9 28 AL-OUT radio receiver requires
can be tuned into, without doubting
SEG6 10
6610 27 AL-SIG
a local oscillator operat-
the actual frequency which the radio ing at a fixed frequency
is tuned to (no blind or approximate SEG7 11 26 CLKFREQ-SEL above the incoming
tuning). This is not a radio synthesiser; SEG8 12 25 NC signal’s frequency. This
it’s a conventional, mechanically tuned SEG9 13
fixed frequency is called
24 HR-SET
radio that sports a frequency display. intermediate frequency,
SEG10 14 23 MIN-SET
As opposed to conventional radios or IF. For commercial
which use a single IC (the CXA1619BS/ SEG11 15 22 AL DISP FM radios, it is 10.7
BM), the so-called digital radio uses SEG12 16 21 AL ON/OFF MHz for FM and 455
two ICs: the radio receiver IC and the kHz for AM/SW.
OSC IN 17 20 RST
UTC6610. Now, if the frequen-
At the heart of this project is OSC OUT 18 19 VLCD cy counter was reading
UTC6610. It comes in many pack- the actual frequency of
ages, but these radios use the chip-on- Fig. 1: Pin configuration of UTC6610 the oscillator, the user
board variety. The UTC6610 comes would have been put to
equipped with a frequency counter low-to-high) within a set period. great trouble in determining the actual
circuitry, prescaler for VHF, clock cir- The prescaler for VHF is a divide- receiving frequency. For example, for a
cuitry (time), on-chip oscillator, simple by-ten block that probably uses high- 100MHz signal to be detected, the local
adder/subtractor or offset unit, and speed CMOS circuitry to divide the oscillator is made to run at 110.7 MHz
LCD driver. As can be seen, this unit number of pulses. When a 150MHz (100+10.7=110.7 MHz). So to display
is completely self-sufficient. The only signal is fed to the prescalar, the output the intended receiving frequency, the
external components required are is 15 MHz. Datasheets specify 300mV UTC6610 subtracts 10.7 MHz from the
crystal and LCD. peak-to-peak input; higher voltages will counted frequency. This means that if
The frequency counter circuitry of destroy the IC. The prescaler is activated you are to use the UTC6610 as a fre-
the IC measures the frequency of the only in the FM mode of operation. quency counter, always bear in mind
incoming RF wave by counting the As regards clock circuitry, we’re that the actual frequency is 10.7 MHz
number of transitions (high-to-low or not interested in it and hence skipping higher than the displayed frequency

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 1 0 7
 do-it-yourself

Modes of Operation
FM mode AM mode
Function details details
Input frequency range 11 to 150 MHz 0.5 to 30 MHz
Prescaler In operation Not in operation
Input voltage 300mV pk-pk recommended 300mV pk-pk recommended
Frequency resolution 10 kHz: 11.00 to 99.99 MHz 1 kHz: 500 to 9999 kHz
100 kHz: 11.0 MHz to 149.9 MHz 10 kHz: 0.50 to 29.99 MHz
Set in radio to 100kHz resolution Set in radio to 10kHz resolution for
SW and 1kHz resolution for MW Fig. 5: The brown PCB with the metallic shield,
which is our target
IF offset 10.7 MHz 455 kHz
70 kHz also available
Input resistance 150 ohms 2000 ohms

COL S1
AM
MHz
FM KHz
PM AL
DP2 DP1

(a)

Fig. 6: Opened up: The frequency counter

UTC6610 hidden away behind the LCD, while
the flip-flop circuitry (just to set FM, AM states) is
visible as the SMD transistors
Fig. 3: The radio

(b)

Fig. 2: (a) 4 digit-LCD and (b) image of the LCD

in the FM mode. In the AM mode, it is

455 kHz above the displayed frequen-
cy. 70kHz offsets are also available as
Fig. 7: The back side: RF shield-cum-LCD
an option in the FM mode, but we are mechanical support. Notice the purple and black
skipping this for now as the radios wire for VHF and HF input, respectively
we rip these modules from have no
70kHz IF.
The LCD driver converts binary
data into voltages necessary to drive
the LCD unit.

Opening up the radio

The best part about Kchibo KK-939B
radio is use of minimal external points.
Also, it is simple to understand and
operate, has an LED light to illuminate
the LCD, and looks good. I recommend
beginners to buy this radio and rip it
apart for a clean, high-performance
frequency counter.
To access the frequency counter
board, the radio (Kchibo KK-939B) has
to be opened up. In the close-up of the
Fig. 4: Opened up radio; note that the brown
PCB is the frequency counter and LCD section
and green PCB is the radio receiver
frequency counter PCB (Fig. 9), you
will notice the solder joints marked VH
input, HF input, points ‘1’ through ‘5,’
FM and AM. VHF input is to be con-
nected to the RF source whose frequen-
cy you want to determine (from 11 to
150 MHz). HF input is to be connected
to the RF source whose frequency you
Fig. 8: The purple line leads to the take-off point
for the VHF oscillator (FM section), while the
rightmost black wire leads to the take-off point
for the AM oscillator
want to determine (up to 30 MHz).
‘1’ is an input point. It has to be
kept at 0V for FM (VHF) operation
and 10kHz resolution in the AM mode

1 0 8 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

Fig. 9: Close-up of the frequency counter PCB
Fig. 10: The chip-on-board is the UTC6610
(HF opera-
tion). Setting
it to Vcc in HF
mode only sets
the display
resolution to
1 kHz. ‘2’ is an
output point
Fig. 11: Connect a small
switch between point ‘1’ for the radio
and GND and Vcc which lets
the IC know
whether it’s the AM (SW/MW) mode
or FM mode. ‘3’ is an input point at
Vcc (3V, do not exceed 3.3V). ‘4’ is the
input point at GND. ‘5’ is the output
point that controls power to the radio,
shutting off power to the IC when in
clock mode.
Pressing FM button activates the
VHF counter with a resolution of 100
kHz and frequency range of 11 MHz
to 150 MHz. The input is via the pur-
ple wire (shown in Fig. 9); the colour
may differ in your radio. You must set
point 1 to 0V for proper operation. The
display reading must be added to 10.7
MHz to get the actual frequency.
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Fig. 12: Crude connection example
A flip-flop comprising SMD transis-
tors on the PCB locks the UTC in this
mode until the AM button is pressed.
Default mode on startup is the FM
mode.
Pressing AM button activates the
HF counter with frequency range of 0.5
to 30 MHz. The input is via the black
wire (shown in Fig. 9); the colour may
differ in your radio. Set point 1 to Vcc
for 1kHz resolution and RF input of
0.5 to 9.999 MHz. Set point 1 to 0V for
10kHz resolution and 0.5 MHz to 29.99
MHz. Actual tests show it exceeds
75 MHz in this mode, which is good.
Reading on the display must be added
to 455 kHz to get the actual frequency.
A flip-flop comprising SMD transis-
tors on the PCB locks the UTC in this
mode until the FM button is pressed.
Default mode on startup is the FM
mode. To activate the AM mode, this
button has to be pressed.
Notice the blob of solder above the
VHF input point. This is the ground.
Of course, the clock pushbuttons
are still working perfectly, so you may
use them to set the clock too. You will
have to shift the SPDT switch (the
switch which controls the radio ‘on’
and ‘off’) to ‘off’ position in order to
activate the clock, and to ‘on’ position
in order to activate the RF counter.
Please note that here we’re not try-
ing to use the UTC6610 directly. Most
of the hard work of wiring up the 6610
IC, providing an LCD, making the PCB
and adding components has been done
by the radio manufacturer; in this case,
Kchibo. All we are attempting to do
here is to understand operation of the
UTC6610, and in turn operation of the
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 1 0 9
do-it-yourself
PCB provided by the manufacturer of
the radio, so as to come up with a quick,
compact, cost-effective RF counter.
To have a look at the IC, lift the
LCD, and you will see that the chip-
on-board (COB) is the UTC 6610 (see
Fig. 10).
Making the RF counter
1. Cut out the 5-wire ribbon cable. Un-
solder it from the counter board.
2. Cut the VHF and HF input wires
from the points on the radio PCB, not
the counter PCB.
3. The counter PCB is now sepa-
rated from the radio receiver PCB.
4. Solder a red wire to point ‘3’ of
the counter PCB. This is your positive
3V supply wire.
5. Solder a green wire to point ‘4’ of
the PCB. This serves as ground.
6. Connect a small switch between
point ‘1’ and GND and Vcc, as shown
in Fig. 11. Push the switch to 1kHz
position for 1kHz resolution in the
AM mode, and to 10kHz resolution for
10kHz in the AM mode. The switch has
to be kept in the 10kHz resolution mode
for proper VHF operation (FM mode).
With this, your crude-looking but
great-performance RF counter is set to
go. But bear a few things in mind:
1. Keep the VHF and HF wires as
short as possible. Their length will not
affect the performance of the counter,
but the circuit under test (for example,
the oscillator you might have built).
2. Couple the HF and VHF wires to
the RF sources via a 2pF capacitor.
3. Preferably, replace the VHF and
HF crude wires with easily available
75-ohm cable TV coax. This provides
RF shielding and noise immunity to a
good degree.
Fig. 12 shows a crude connection
example. Note how the green wire (HF
wire) is directly fed to the output of the
oscillator (very crude, do not attempt
this), without any capacitor or buffer.
(I admit this green wire belongs to a
different counter, but the operation
and concept are the same, as it too uses
the UTC6610.) Once I disconnected the
counter from the oscillator I had made,
 do-it-yourself
the frequency moved up by 1 MHz.
What is important to understand
here is: If you’re keeping the counter
connected to the output of a non-
buffered oscillator, the reading of the
counter plus 455/10.7 (as the case may
be, FM or AM mode, as shown on the
LCD) will be the true reading. At-
tempting to count the frequency and
then disconnecting the counter will set
the oscillator at a different frequency
after counting due to the capacitance
and loading effect of the counter. The
reading got then is invalid as the fre-
quency changes on the removal of the
counter.
Keeping this effect in mind, it is
important to:
1. Use the 2pF capacitor. It causes
minimal frequency shift due to mini-
mal capacitance effect, so that the
reading obtained, and the frequency
after removing the counter from your
oscillator, don’t differ much.
2. Buffer your oscillator. Buffer-
ing of oscillators is very important to
prevent your oscillators from being
affected by external components.
Fig. 13: Suggested connection
Fig. 13 shows the suggested con-
nection. Never connect the HF and
VHF counter pins together. Use sepa-
rate ports and coax cables for both.
Why it’s good for
beginners?
There are other radio receiver models
available with more work to do (in
terms of points). Fig. 14 shows an
example: As you can see, the number
of lines is more, and more connec-
tions have to be made in order to get
it working. But for a beginner, the KK-
939B is a great radio with a great coun-
ter board. It has on-board flip-flops
that make the external connections
simple. In the case of the board shown
in Fig. 14, all the flip-flops are on the
radio PCB, so the number of connec-
Fig. 14: Another radio receiver example
tions is much more. Besides, separating
the counter PCB from the radio PCB
removes the luxury of pushbuttons
and flip-flops; which are present in the
KK-939B.
It took me two month to under-
stand the operation of the counter
shown in Fig. 14. After all the UTC6610
learning and circuit decoding (exten-
sive), the KK-939 took only 17 minutes
flat. That’s why it’s good for beginners.
Enjoy and have fun with your inexpen-
sive counter. The radio should be avail-
able for Rs 250 or less. Have fun! 
The author is from Manipal Institute of Technol-
ogy

Statement about ownership and other particulars about

Electronics For You
FORM IV (See Rule 8)
1. Place of publication : New Delhi
2. Periodicity of its publication : Monthly
3. Printer’s Name : Ramesh Chopra
Nationality : Indian
Address : Electronics For You
D-87/1, Okhla Industrial Area,
Phase I, New Delhi 110020
4. Publisher’s Name : Same as (3) above
Nationality
and address
5. Names and addresses of : EFY Enterprises Pvt Ltd
individuals who own the D-87/1, Okhla Industrial Area,
newspaper & partners or Phase 1, New Delhi 110020
shareholders holding more
than 1% of the total capital

I, Ramesh Chopra, hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of
my knowledge and belief.
Date: 28-2-2009
Ramesh Chopra
Publisher

1 1 0 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
wireless
Bluetooth Scatternets
A Cost-Effective Solution for Communication
The most popular application of Bluetooth is communication between
two directly paired devices. Here, we explore a less popular but powerful
application of Bluetooth which can help extend the range of Bluetooth
communication and provide a free infrastructure for communication
 Ahzam Ali
B
luetooth is a low-power, low-
cost and short-range wireless
technology. It was originally
developed by Ericsson for short-range
communication between personal
devices, e.g., data transfer between
a cellphone and a computer, or com-
munication with a printer. Bluetooth
devices use the unlicensed ISM band
at 2.4 GHz.
Nowadays most of the mobile de-
vices, including mobile phones, MP3
players, digital cameras, video cam-
eras, PDAs, laptop PCs, tablet PCs and
so forth, are equipped with Bluetooth.
So you can exchange data between
these devices without requiring the
use of wires. Bluetooth is considered
to be a high-potential technology for
providing wireless communication in
a home-networking environment.
1 1 2 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
Bluetooth is an evolving technol-
ogy. It has gone through three (stand-
ardised) revisions of the approved
standard by Bluetooth Special Interest
Group (SIG), the latest one being Blue-
tooth 2.1 EDR (enhanced data rate) in
early part of 2008. The latest standard
supports enhanced usability, i.e., pair-
ing of devices by means of near-field
communication (NFC), enhanced
security and broader range of device
profiles.
When a number of Bluetooth de-
vices communicate to each other in the
same vicinity, there is a high level of
interference. To combat interference,
Bluetooth technology applies a fast
frequency-hopping scheme which hops
over 79 channels 1600 times per second.
For devices to communicate to each
other using Bluetooth they need to be
paired with each other to have synchro-
nised frequency-hopping sequence.
Scatternets: A set of
piconets
When there is a collection of devices
paired with each other, it forms a
small personal area network called
‘piconet.’ A piconet consists of a mas-
ter and at most seven active slaves.
Each piconet has its own hopping se-
quence and the master and all slaves
share the same channel. In a piconet,
the master and slave devices trans-
mit packets in even and odd slots,
respectively.
Two or more piconets connected
to each other by means of a device
(called ‘bridge’) participating in both
the piconets, form a scatternet. The role
of the bridge is to transmit data across
piconets. Fig. 1 shows a scatternet
structure in which devices ‘a’ and ‘c’
play the master role and device ‘b’ acts
as the bridge.
The scatternet formation has not
been formally defined in the Bluetooth
SIG specifications. As a result, numer-
ous protocols have been proposed.
While modeling ad-hoc networking,
in general, is complex, the additional
restrictions imposed by the Bluetooth
specifications—such as low cost of
the device, low power consumption
and network resilience while using
piconets that have a maximum of
seven active nodes—have created a
P1 c P2
a b
MASTER
SLAVE
BRIDGE
Fig. 1: Scatternet structure
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

significant challenge.
Formation of scatternets
There has been a comprehensive study
to propose an efficient formation of con-
nected scatternet. One important prob-
lem that exists with scatternet as well
as piconet formation is to keep track of
the device that comes in and goes out of
the network—since these are low-power
handheld devices with limited commu-
nication range over Bluetooth. A device
connects to another device at random,
according to their 48-bit Bluetooth ad-
dresses and clocks, which control the
hopping behaviour in inquiry or inquiry
scan states. Most protocols seek to re-
duce the scatternet formation time and
form fast routing algorithms.
It turns out that a good scatternet
formation protocol should:
1. Be fully distributed and rely on
local information
2. Generate connected scatternets
3. Be resilient to the disconnection
of nodes anywhere in the scatternet
4. Provide multiple routes for ro-
bustness and be self-healing
5. Limit the number of bridges
6. Limit the number of roles a de-
vice can assume
7. Be aware of device resources
While forming a scatternet, keep
in mind that you are dealing with, in
general, small, energy- and process-
ing-power-starved devices. The fol-
lowing points should be taken care of
while developing scatternet formation
protocols:
1. Minimise scatternet construction
time
2. Minimise the amount of control
data transmitted
3. Minimise the number of hops
required for communication between
devices, in order to improve response
times
4. Minimise power consumption.
Master-and-bridge mode of operation
requires more power than slave mode
5. Minimise the number of roles
assigned to nodes
6. Minimise the number of piconets
to provide faster routing and reduced
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Fig. 2: Showing efficient network after role
switching
Fig. 3: Unnecessary bridge elimination
packet collisions
7. Maximise the amount of data
throughput
Given a scatternet, you can evaluate
its performance based on the number
of piconets, the number of nodes per
piconet, the number of bridge nodes,
the number of roles per node, average
traffic delay, throughput and maxi-
mum traffic delay.
Numerous models have been
proposed for constructing Bluetooth
scatternets, some of which may require
modifications to the existing Bluetooth
specifications.
Role switching
Role switching enables two devices
to exchange roles very rapidly, rather
than reconnecting by executing the
time-consuming inquiry and inquiry
scan processes. The role switching
operation involves fewer slots than the
inquiry/inquiry scan and page/page
scan operations in switching the roles
of the devices.
There are three major types of role
switching operations:
1. Combining. A situation where a
single node works both as slave in one
piconet and master in another.
2. Splitting. A piconet with a large
number of devices divided in two
piconets with smaller number of de-
vices.
3. Take-over. When the existing
mast or a bridge is about to move out
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 1 1 3
wireless
of the scatternet, it transfers its re-
sponsibilities to another device in the
scatternet.
There is a switching delay (called
‘guard time’) introduced by bridges
while they try to transmit packets
across the piconets. Eliminating the
unnecessary bridges from the net-
work will improve the perform-
ance of the scatternet. There exist
various protocols and algorithms
to optimise the roles that a device
assumes in a scatternet.
We see in the following exam-
ples how effective role assignment
can reduce the hop count while
routing a packet, help reduce
the number of bridges in the network
and result in an efficient scatternet
structure.
In Fig. 2, the original network was
formed with ‘c’ as a bridge node and ‘a’
and ‘b’ as the masters on two different
piconets p1 and p2. Using role switch-
ing, with the help of ‘c,’ improves the
structure of the scatternet (now formed
as a ‘piconet’), shortens the routing
path and eliminates the bridge delay
in the network.
Fig. 3 shows another example of
better role switching operation that
results in an improved network struc-
ture.
Scatternet applications
By now you might be wondering what
possible use these scatternets could be
put to. Well, there are papers proposing
voice communication between two mo-
bile devices connected over a Bluetooth
scatternet, up to a distance of 100 metres
in an indoor environment. One of the
popular applications developed by No-
kia, called ‘sensor,’ works on somewhat
similar principles. It lets users communi-
cate to each other, bypassing the service
provider’s network, over Bluetooth.
Sensor networks are another ex-
ample where the Bluetooth scatternets
can be used. Since sensor networks are
generally ad-hoc, Bluetooth scatternet
can be used for communication of
sensors with each other and the base.
This will eliminate the requirement of
wireless
developing a special-purpose protocol
for sensor networks.
Problems to be addressed
The Bluetooth scatternet formation
devices are generally small, running on
batteries, with low-powered CPU and
low memory. At the same time, these are
highly mobile and may frequently move
in and out of the network. This leads us
to think about:
1. Topology and size of scatternets.
What is the optimal number of piconets
in the scatternet and how many nodes
are there? The number of bridge nodes
increases (proportionally) with the
increasing number of piconets. The in-
creases, in turn, incur significant over-
head: loss of one or more time slots to
readjust clocking when shifting from
one piconet to another, more traffic
than non-bridge nodes and increased
battery power consumption to perform
these tasks.
What is the optimal number of
piconets in which a bridge should par-
ticipate? The more the piconets with
which a bridge communicates, the less
the time during which the bridge will
be available for dealing with traffic
from/to each individual piconet, thus
increasing the likelihood of bottlenecks,
at the bridge itself.
2. Formation delay and resilience.
How much time is required to con-
struct, optimise and maintain the scat-
ternet? The ad-hoc, dynamic nature of
a Bluetooth network requires constant
modifications to the scatternet topol-
ogy to support devices that join and
leave. How to handle the nodes that
join or leave the scatternets?
3. Polling and scheduling. In what
order will the slaves be polled by the
master? Does the scatternet topology
impact the ability to handle scheduled
communications from slaves in sniff or
hold state?
4. Routing. Does the scatternet topol-
ogy allow efficient routing of messages?
Work in the area
There are a number of papers discuss-
ing the effective routing protocols
1 1 4 • m a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
for Bluetooth scatternets. Also, there
are quite a few papers which discuss
the point of organising the scatternet
in an efficient fashion, dealing with
disparate aspects of scatternet opti-
misation. A proposal in ‘Bluetooth
Scatternet Formation for Supporting
Device Mobility,’ by Chorng-Horng
Yang and Yi- Sheng Chen, deals with
mobility support in a Bluetooth scat-
ternet network, but relies on a Blue-
tooth backbone network consisting of
devices that are not mobile. Another
work done on similar lines is ‘Tracking
the Optimal Configuration of a Blue-
tooth Scatternet’ by Csaba Kiss Kalló
and Carla-Fabiana Chiasserini, which
deals with similar problem of redefin-
ing the role of nodes in scatternets but
concentrates on improving the energy
efficiency of the nodes. Also, there are
numerous proposals for routing proto-
cols including MANET (mobile ad-hoc
network) protocols.
Future in Bluetooth
The new Bluetooth specification, called
the Bluetooth 2.1, is already published.
It is fully backward-compatible with
1.1. The specification includes many
new security and usability enhance-
ments. The most interesting of these
is incorporation of the near-field
communication (NFC) device, which
helps in pairing of two Bluetooth de-
vices equipped with NFC chip by just
bringing them close to each other. For
example, a headset can be paired with
a Bluetooth 2.1 phone having NFC
chip just by bringing the two devices
close to each other. Another example
is automatic uploading of photos from
a mobile phone to a digital picture
frame just by bringing the phone close
to the frame. Features like this and
other security enhancements will help
Bluetooth gain user confidence.
A lot of work is in progress in
the area of Bluetooth, to enhance and
widen the application of Bluetooth
protocol. In the future, we may expect
features like:
1. Broadcast channels. These will
enable Bluetooth information points
that broadcast information to all Blue-
tooth devices in the vicinity. So users
will be able to pull relevant informa-
tion from the system.
2. Topology manger. It will enable
better configuration of piconets and
even scatternets.
3. Alternate media access physical
layer. It will enable use of some other
wireless technology for actual data
transfer at higher rate while maintain-
ing the initial pairing on standard
Bluetooth.
4. QoS improvements. These will
enable audio and video data transmis-
sion at a higher quality.
Nokia and Bluetooth SIG have an-
nounced that Wibree (Nokia’s low pow-
er wireless communication protocol) will
be a part of the Bluetooth specification
as an ultra-low-power Bluetooth tech-
nology, to be used in caller ID watches,
sports sensors (used for monitoring the
wearer’s heart rate during exercise) as
well as medical devices. A medical de-
vices profile and associated protocols are
being developed by the Medical Devices
Working Group (MDWG).
Bluetooth 3.0. The next version of
Bluetooth after v2.1, code-named Seat-
tle, is proposed to adopt ultra-wide-
band (UWB) radio technology. This
will allow Bluetooth use over UWB
radio, enabling very fast data transfers
of up to 480 Mbps, while taking the ad-
vantage of very low-power idle modes
of Bluetooth.
Extending the scope
Even though work on Bluetooth scat-
ternet is going on for about a decade
now, it has failed to generate interest
amongst general consumer electronics
goods manufacturers. Bluetooth scat-
ternets find most of their use in sensor
networks. When there is a limitation
on setting up the communication in-
frastructure, Bluetooth scatternet could
turn out to be a cost-effective solution.
In future, as the processing power of
electronic devices grows and they be-
come more energy-efficient, Bluetooth
might see its way into already evolving
Bluetooth standards. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION
PC-BASED WIRELESS
STEPPER MOTOR control
 V. Mariyappan
S
tepper motors find lots of ap-
plications in process control,
machine tools and robotics. Es-
pecially in robotics and process control,
it is necessary to control the stepper
motor from a remote place.
Here we describe how to wirelessly
control a stepper motor from a remote
place by using RF modules. For this
wireless stepper-motor control system,
you need to design and develop the
required hardware and software. The
parallel port of the PC is used to con-
trol the direction of the stepper motor
at the transmitter side. RF interface is
used instead of IR to overcome all the
drawbacks of the IR interface. The PC
Table I
Output Power and Current
Drain w.r.t. VCC
VCC O/P Current
5V DC –0 dbm 1.0 mA
12V DC +9 dbm 3 mA
Table II
Technical Specifications of
RF Receiver RX-433
Description Value
Working voltage 4.5V-5.5V
Bandwidth 12 MHz
Sensitivity –103 dbm
Data rate 4800 bps
Max. data rate 9600 bps
Standby current 1, 2 mA
Antenna Whip, strip line or helical
Fig. 1: Block diagram for PC-based wireless control of a stepper motor
6 0 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
mar
sunil ku
signals are transmitted from the RF Parts List
transmitter and received by the RF
Semiconductors:
receiver. IC1 - HT12E Holtek encoder
IC2 - 7806, 6V regulator
Circuit description IC3 - HT12D Holtek decoder
IC4 - CD40106 hex inverter
Fig. 1 shows the block diagram for IC5 - ULN2003 Darlington array
PC-based wireless control of a stepper T1-T4 - BC547 npn transistor
motor. The signals from the parallel T5 - BC548 npn transistor
port of the PC are interfaced to the RF D1-D4 - 1N4148 switching diode
D5-D10 - 1N4007 rectifier diode
transmitter through an encoder. The TX1 - TX-433 RF transmitter
encoder continuously reads the status RX1 - RX-433 RF receiver
of the relay switches, passes the data LED1 - 5mm LED
to the RF transmitter and the transmit- Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon):
R1 - 1-mega-ohm
ter transmits the data. At the receiving R2-R5 - 10-kilo-ohm
end, the RF receiver receives this data R6-R9 - 1.2-kilo-ohm
and gives it to the decoder. The de- R10 - 1-kilo-ohm
R11 - 47-kilo-ohm
coder converts the single-bit data into
R12 - 3.9-kilo-ohm
four-bit data and presents to the step- R13 - 470-ohm
per-motor driver. Now, the driver per- Capacitors:
forms the corresponding C1, C3 - 100µF, 16V electrolytic
action, i.e., it rotates the C2 - 0.1µF ceramic disk
stepper motor clockwise
C4 - 10µF, 16V electrolytic
Miscellaneous:
or anticlockwise. BATT.1 - 9V battery
Remote control. BATT.2 - 6V, 4.5Ah battery
For remote control, we S1, S2 - On/off switch
DIP-SW1,
have used the Holtek
DIP-SW2
- 8-way DIP switch
Fig. 2: Pin encoder-decoder pair - 25-pin D-type male
configuration of HT12E and HT12D. connector
of the rf
transmitter Both of these are 18-pin
module DIP ICs. Encoder HT12E has eight address and
Operation of Holtek another four address/data lines. The
HT12E and data set on these twelve lines (address
H T 1 2 D . and address/data lines) is serially
HT12E and transmitted when transmit-enable pin
HT12D are TE is taken low. The data output ap-
CMOS ICs pears serially on DOUT pin. It is trans-
with a work- mitted four times in succession.
ing voltage The data consists of differing
Fig. 3: Pin configuration of the r a n g e of lengths of positive-going pulses for
rf receiver module 2.4V to 12V. ‘1’ and ‘0,’ the pulse width for ‘0’ be-
ing twice the width of the pulse
for ‘1.’ The frequency of these
pulses may lie between 1.5 and 7
kHz depending on the resistance
value between OSC1 and OSC2
pins. The internal oscillator fre-
quency of decoder HT12D is 50
times the oscillator frequency of
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION

Fig. 4: Transmitter circuit for wireless stepper motor control

encoder HT12E. The values of timing
resistors connected between OSC1
and OSC2 pins of HT12E and HT12D,
for the given supply voltages, can be
found out from the graphs given in
the datasheets of the respective chips
(included in this month’s EFY-CD).
The resistance values used in the
circuits are chosen here for approxi-
mately 3kHz frequency of the encoder
(HT12E) at Vcc of 9V and 150 kHz of
the decoder (HT12D) at Vcc of 5V.
The HT12D receives the data from
the HT12E on its DIN pin serially. If
the address part of the data received
matches the levels on A0 through A7
pins four times in succession, the valid
transmission pin (VT) is taken high.
The data on pins AD8 through AD11 of
the HT12E appear on pins D8 through
D11 of the HT12D. Thus the device acts
as a receiver of 4-bit data (16 possible
codes) with 8-bit addressing (256 pos-
sible channels).

Fig. 5: Actual-size, single-side PCB for the transmitter circuit Fig. 6: Component layout for the PCB shown in Fig. 5

6 2 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION
Fig. 7: Receiver-cum-decoder circuit for wireless stepper motor control
Once the frequency of the pair
is aligned, then on ground of any
data pin of the encoder, LED1 of
the decoder should glow. You can
also check the transfer of data on
pins AD8 through AD11, which
is latched to D8 through D11 pins
of the decoder once TE pin is mo-
mentarily taken low by grounding
it through diodes D1 through D4.
RF transmitter and receiver. RF
transmitter and receiver modules
from Alpus India, Mumbai, have
Fig. 8: Actual-size, single-side PCB for the receiver-cum-
been used for RF remote control.
decoder circuit The RF transmitter TX-433 is
AM/ASK type. Its features in-
clude:
1. 5V-12V single-supply opera-
tion
2. On-off keying (OOK)/am-
plitude shift keying (ASK) data
format
3. Up to 9.6kbps data rate
4. +9dBm output power (about
200m range)
5. SAW-based architecture
6. A 45cm wire is adequate for
the antenna
The output power and current
Fig. 9: Component layout for the PCB shown in Fig. 8 drain for Vcc of 5V and 12V are
6 4 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
shown in Table I.
The pin configuration
of the transmitter module
is shown in Fig. 2.
The RF receiver RX-
433 is a 433MHz module.
Its pin configuration is
shown in Fig. 3, while the
technical specifications
are given in Table II.
Transmitter. Fig. 4
shows the circuit of the
transmitter for wireless
stepper motor control.
The receiver address to
be transmitted can be set
with the help of 8-way
DIP switch SW1. When
any of the switch con-
tacts is open the respec-
tive pin will be at logic
1, and when any of the
switch contacts is closed
the respective pin will be
at logic 0. The data pins are pulled high
via resistors R2 through R5.
When pin 2 of the parallel port
goes high, transistor T1 is driven into
saturation and relay RL1 energises. Pin
10 (AD8) goes low through relay RL1
contacts and a ‘0’ is sent at that data
position, while other data pins repre-
sent logic-1 state. The logic circuitry at
the receiver-decoder end decodes the
data appropriately for controlling the
stepper motor.
An actual-size, single-side PCB for
the transmitter circuit (Fig. 4) is shown
in Fig. 5 and its component layout in
Fig. 6.
Receiver and decoder. Fig. 7 shows
the circuit of the receiver-cum-decoder
for wireless stepper motor control.
Assuming that identical address is
selected on the encoder and decoder,
when any of the data pins of the PC’s
parallel port on the transmitter side
is low, the corresponding data pin
of the decoder will go low. The data
outputs (D8 through D11) of HT12D
are fed to inverters N1 through N4,
which, in turn, are connected to driver
ULN2003. The low output of ULN2003
drives the stepper motor. When any
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 cONSTRUCTION
Fig. 10: Main screen of wireless stepper motor
control
data is received, valid transmission
(VT) pin goes high to drive transistor
T5 into saturation and LED1 lights
up.
An actual-size, single-side PCB for
the receiver-cum-decoder circuit (Fig.
7) is shown in Fig. 8 and its component
layout in Fig. 9.
Software
The software program for the user
interface to control the stepper motor
is written in ‘C’ language. The signals
are generated by the outport( ) func-
tion. The speed of rotation of the step-
per motor can be varied by changing
the argument of the delay( ) function.
Direction of rotation (clockwise or
anticlockwise) depends on the switch
function.
When the program (WSTEPPER.
C) is loaded and run, the screen shows
the welcome message. Pressing any key
will lead to the main screen shown in
Fig. 10. The main screen displays three
messages. Pressing ‘c’ key rotates the
stepper motor in clockwise direction,
while pressing ‘a’ key rotates the step-
per motor in anti-clockwise direction.
The program can be terminated by
pressing ‘q’ key.
EFY note. The source code and
other relevant files of this article are
included in this month’s EFY-CD.

WSTEPPER.C
/*PC BASED WIRELESS STEPPER MOTOR CON- tact”}; getch();
TROL*/ int j; }
#include<stdio.h> char ex1[31]={“Email-marietech2003@ya-
#include<conio.h> hoo.co.in”}; void clock(void)
#include<dos.h> int k; {
void main() void clock(void); int p=0x0378;
{ void anty(void); char e;
void dub(void); char ch; clrscr();
char ex[26]={“Programmed by clrscr(); textcolor(14);gotoxy(31,12);
V.MARIYAPPAN”}; textcolor(14);gotoxy(20,6); cprintf(“CLOCKWISE DIRECTION”);
int i; cprintf(“PC BASED WIRELESS STEPPER MO- textcolor(9);gotoxy(1,25);
char ex1[22]={“Programming Language: TOR CONTROL”); cprintf(“Press any key to stop”);
C”}; textcolor(11); gotoxy(24,14); do
int j; cprintf(“FOR CLOCKWISE ROTATION PRESS {
char ex2[28]={“Operating system: Win- ‘c’”); outport(p,1);
dows 98”}; textcolor(11);gotoxy(22,16); delay(200);
int k; cprintf(“FOR ANTICLOCKWISE ROTATION outport(p,2);
char ex3[39]={“PC BASED WIRELESS STEPPER PRESS ‘a’”); delay(200);
MOTOR CONTROL”}; textcolor(9);gotoxy(31,20); outport(p,4);
int l; cprintf(“FOR EXIT PRESS ‘q’”); delay(200);
clrscr(); ch=getch(); outport(p,8);
for(l=0;l<39;l++) switch(ch) delay(200);
{ { outport(p,0);
textcolor(14);gotoxy(21+l,9); case ‘c’:clock();break; sound(1000);
cprintf(“%c”,ex3[l]); case ‘a’:anty();break; delay(200);
delay(50); case ‘q’: nosound();
} clrscr(); }
sound(1900); { while(!kbhit());
delay(500); for(j=0;j<29;j++) getch();
nosound(); { dub();
delay(100); textcolor(9);gotoxy(27+j,14); }
for(i=0;i<26;i++) cprintf(“%c”,ex[j]);
{ delay(30); void anty(void)
textcolor(11);gotoxy(27+i,16); } {
cprintf(“%c”,ex[i]); for(k=0;k<31;k++) int p=0x0378;
delay(30); { char e;
} textcolor(9);gotoxy(26+k,15); clrscr();
for(k=0;k<28;k++) cprintf(“%c”,ex1[k]); textcolor(14);gotoxy(30,12);
{ delay(30); cprintf(“ANTI CLOCKWISE DIRECTION”);
textcolor(9);gotoxy(26+k,18); } textcolor(9);gotoxy(1,25);
cprintf(“%c”,ex2[k]); outport(0x0378,0); cprintf(“Press any key to stop”);
delay(30); textcolor(14);gotoxy(1,25); do
} cprintf(“Press any key”); {
for(j=0;j<22;j++) getch(); outport(p,8);
{ exit(0); delay(200);
textcolor(9);gotoxy(29+j,20); } outport(p,4);
cprintf(“%c”,ex1[j]); default: clrscr(); delay(200);
delay(30); textcolor(12);gotoxy(33,1 outport(p,2);
} 4); delay(200);
sound(1800); cprintf(“WRONG KEY outport(p,1);
delay(500); PRESSED”); delay(200);
nosound(); for(i=0;i<5;i++) outport(p,0);
getch(); { sound(2000);
dub(); sound(1000); delay(200);
} delay(100); nosound();
nosound(); }
void dub(void) delay(100); while(!kbhit());
{ } getch();
int i; dub(); dub();
char ex[29]={“For any clarification con- } } 

6 6 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 circuit
ideas
Triple Power Supply s.c. dwiv
edi

 Sandip Trivedi and P.D. Lele is used for op-amp-based analogue

circuit experiments.

T
his low-cost, multipurpose
power supply fulfils the re-
quirements of almost all labora-
tory experiments. Nonetheless, it can
be easily fabricated by hobbyists.
A single transformer is used to
build this triple power supply. Regula-
tor IC LM317 generates variable power
supply of 1.25 to 20V, 1A. The dual
±12V, 1A power supply is generated
by regulators 7812 and 7912. Similarly,
dual ±5V, 1A power supply is gener-
ated by regulators 7805 and 7905.
‘On’/‘off’ switches (S2 through S4)
select the required power supply. Vari-
able power supply is used to study the
characteristics of devices. Fixed +5V
power supply is used for all digital,
microprocessor and microcontroller
experiments. Dual ±12V power supply
Fig. 1 shows the circuit of the triple
power supply, while Fig. 2 shows the
pin configuration of the regulators
used in the circuit. Transformer X1
steps down the mains power to deliver
the secondary output of 18V-0-18V.
The transformer output is rectified by
full-wave bridge rectifier BR1, filtered
by capacitors C1, C2, C3, C7 and C8,
and regulated by IC1 through IC5.
Regulator IC1 (LM317) provides vari-
able voltages (1.25 to 20V), while IC2
and IC4 provide regulated +12V and
–12V, respectively. The output of IC2 is
fed to regulator IC3 (7805), which pro-
vides fixed +5V. Similarly, the output
of IC4 is fed to regulator IC5 (7905),
which provides fixed –5V. Capacitors
C4 through C6, and C9 through C11,
are used for further filtering of ripples
in positive and negative regulated
power supplies. LED1 glows to indi-
cate that +5V is available, while LED2
indicates that –5V is available.
Switch S1 is used for mains ‘on’/
‘off’. Using switches S2 through
S4, any of the three supplies can be
independently turned off when not
required in a particular experiment.
This reduces unnecessary power dis-
sipation and increases the life and
reliability of the power supply. Since
the circuit uses three terminal regula-
tors, only capacitors are required at
the input and output. The use of few
components makes the circuit very
simple. The three terminal regulators
have heat-sink provision to directly
deliver 1A output current. To ensure
the maximum output, do not forget to

HEAT SINK

S2 = FOR VARIABLE VOLTAGE IN IC1 OUT

3
LM317 2
S3 = FOR +12V AND +5V S2 1
R1
ADJ. +1.25 TO 20V
S4 = FOR –12V AND –5V 120

S1-S4 = ON/OFF SWITCH C3

0.1µ
VR1 GND
2.2K
+12V
POT

S1
ON/OFF HEAT SINK HEAT SINK
SWITCH
IN IC2 OUT IN IC3 OUT
1 7812 3 1 7805 3
X1 S3 2 2
F1
1.5A GND GND
R2
FUSE
BR1 330
C1 C4 C5
L W04 1000µ C2 100µ 10µ
+5V
C6
230V AC 35V 0.1µ 25V 16V 0.1µ
50Hz
BR1 LED1
N W04

GND
X1 = 230V AC
PRIMARY TO 18V-0-18V, C7 C8 C9 C10 R3
1.5A SECONDARY 1000µ 0.1µ 100µ 10µ 330
TRANSFORMER 35V 25V 16V C11 –5V
0.1µ
GND GND
1 1 LED2
BR1-W04 2 IC4 3 2 IC5 3
1.5A, BRIDGE S4 IN 7912 OUT IN 7905 OUT
RECTIFIER

HEAT SINK HEAT SINK

–12V
GND

Fig. 1: Tripple power supply

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 8 1
circuit
ideas
Fig. 2: Pin configurations of regulators
use heat-sinks for the regulators.
The three-terminal regulators are
almost non-destructible. These have
inbuilt protection circuits including
the thermal shutdown protection. Even
if there is overload or shorting of the
output, the inbuilt overload protection
circuit will limit the current and slowly
reduce the output voltage to zero.
Similarly, if the temperature increases
beyond a certain value due to excessive
load and heat dissipation, the in-built
thermal shutdown circuit will reduce
the output current and the output volt-
age (gradually) to zero. Thus complete
protection is provided to the circuitry.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and enclose in a box as
shown in Fig. 3.
The step-by-step procedure to build
the triple power supply for the labora-
tory follows:
8 2 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
Fig. 3: Proposed cabinet for power supply
1. Collect all the components shown
in the circuit diagram.
2. Connect switch S1, fuse, trans-
former and mains cord to the assem-
bled PCB as well as the box.
3. Keep the multimeter in DC volt-
age range (more than 25V DC) and
measure the DC voltage across ca-
pacitors C1 and C7 (1000 µF, 35V). This
voltage should be around 18V×1.41=25
to 26V DC. Check both positive and
negative voltages with respect to
ground.
4. It is advisable to use three-wire
mains cable and plug. If you are using
any metallic box, earthing wire/pin of
the mains plug should be soldered to
the body of the metallic box using an
earthing tag.
5. If the 18V-0-18V
transformer is replaced
with 15V-0-15V trans-
former, the output
voltage of the variable
supply using LM317
will be correspond-
ingly lower.
6. If proper voltages
are available, go to step
7. Otherwise, check the
connections.
7. Connect variable regulator
LM317 to the circuit and check 1.25V
to 20V output by varying the 2.2-kilo-
ohm linear potentiometers.
8. Now connect ICs 7812, 7912, 7805
and 7905 to the circuit and check their
output voltage.
9. Connect terminals, potmeter,
switches and indicator LED on the
front panel of the box and complete
the connections. Close the box by us-
ing screws.
Precaution. At the primary side of
the transformer, 230V AC could give
lethal shocks. So be careful not to touch
this part. EFY will not be responsible
for any resulting loss or harm to the
user. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
circuit
ideas
Fig. 2: Pin configurations of regulators
use heat-sinks for the regulators.
The three-terminal regulators are
almost non-destructible. These have
inbuilt protection circuits including
the thermal shutdown protection. Even
if there is overload or shorting of the
output, the inbuilt overload protection
circuit will limit the current and slowly
reduce the output voltage to zero.
Similarly, if the temperature increases
beyond a certain value due to excessive
load and heat dissipation, the in-built
thermal shutdown circuit will reduce
the output current and the output volt-
age (gradually) to zero. Thus complete
protection is provided to the circuitry.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and enclose in a box as
shown in Fig. 3.
The step-by-step procedure to build
the triple power supply for the labora-
tory follows:
earthing tag.
5. If the 18V-0-18V
transformer is replaced
with 15V-0-15V trans-
former, the output
voltage of the variable
supply using LM317
will be correspond-
ingly lower.
6. If proper voltages
are available, go to step
Fig. 3: Proposed cabinet for power supply 7. Otherwise, check the
connections.
1. Collect all the components shown 7. Connect variable regulator
in the circuit diagram. LM317 to the circuit and check 1.25V
2. Connect switch S1, fuse, trans- to 20V output by varying the 2.2-kilo-
former and mains cord to the assem- ohm linear potentiometers.
bled PCB as well as the box. 8. Now connect ICs 7812, 7912, 7805
3. Keep the multimeter in DC volt- and 7905 to the circuit and check their
age range (more than 25V DC) and output voltage.
measure the DC voltage across ca- 9. Connect terminals, potmeter,
pacitors C1 and C7 (1000 µF, 35V). This switches and indicator LED on the
voltage should be around 18V×1.41=25 front panel of the box and complete
to 26V DC. Check both positive and the connections. Close the box by us-
negative voltages with respect to ing screws.
ground. Precaution. At the primary side of
4. It is advisable to use three-wire the transformer, 230V AC could give
mains cable and plug. If you are using lethal shocks. So be careful not to touch
any metallic box, earthing wire/pin of this part. EFY will not be responsible
the mains plug should be soldered to for any resulting loss or harm to the
the body of the metallic box using an user. 

unique Water Pump Controller

edi
s.c. dwiv A R4
12K S1
ON/OFF
B SWITCH

7 R6
3 +
 D. Mohan Kumar IC1 6
220
T1

H
µA741 +
D1 BC558 12V
–
ere is a simple solution for 2 4 1N4148 DC

automatic pumping of water

to the overhead tank. Unlike C1
220
other water-level indicators, it does 25V N/O

not use probes to detect the water level R5

MOTOR

VR1 LED4
10K 12K D2
and hence there is no probe corrosion PRESET 1N4007 N/C
C2
problem. It has no direct contact with
RL1
470µ 230V
25V
water, so the chance of accidental leak- L AC N
50Hz
age of electricity to the water tank is RL1 = 12V, 1 C/O RELAY
also eliminated. Two important advan-
tages of the circuit are that the water Fig. 1: Water pump controller

8 2 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

Fig. 2: Sensor circuit
level never goes below a particular
level and no modification in the water
tank is required.
Fig. 1 shows the circuit of the wa-
terpump controller. The circuit uses an
LDR-white LEDs assembly to sense the
water level. It forms a triggering switch
to energise the relay for controlling the
pump. The LDR-LEDs assembly (shown
in Fig. 2) is fixed on the inner side of the
cap of the water tank without making
contact with water. The light reflected
from the water tank is used to control
the resistance of LDR1.
When the water level is high
enough, light from the white LEDs
(LED1 through LED3) reflects to fall
on LDR1. This reduces the resistance
of LDR1, increasing the voltage at the
non-inverting input (pin 3) of IC1.
IC1 is used in the circuit as a voltage
comparator. Resistors R4 and R5 form
a potential divider to fix half of supply
voltage to the inverting input of IC1.
Normally, when the water tank is
full, LDR1 gets more of reflected light
because the distance between the water
THREE-COMPONENT FLASHER
 T.A. Babu
S
ince this flasher system uses
only three components, it is rel-
atively easy to build and install.
It can be used for signal flashing, haz-
ard warning and alternate flashing.
At the heart of this circuit is a
single-pole double-through (SPDT)
contacts relay (see Fig. 1). It is a 12V,
400-ohm, single-changeover (1C/O),
PCB-mounted relay with contacts cur-
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
Fig. 3: Sensor assembly
level and the face of LDR1 is minimal.
When white light falls on LDR1, the
voltage at the non-inverting input (pin
3) of IC1 increases and its output goes
high. This high output makes pnp
transistor T1 non-conducting and the
relay remains de-energised. LED1 also
remains ‘off.’ Since the water-pump
power supply is connected to the nor-
mally-open (N/O) contacts of relay
RL1, pumping is stopped.
When water level falls, the amount
of light reflected to LDR1 decreases
and its resistance increases. This re-
duces the voltage at pin 3 of IC1 and
its output goes low. This low output
from IC1 makes transistor T1 conduct.
Relay RL1 energises to close the N/O
contacts and the motor starts pump-
ing water. LED1 glows to indicate the
edi
s.c. dwiv
rent rating of 5A.
The working of the circuit is very
simple. Initially, bulk capacitor C1
charges through resistor R1 and the
bulb filament. When capacitor C1
charges, relay RL1 energises and
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 8 3
circuit
ideas
pumping of water.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and enclose in a suitable
cabinet. Solder the white LEDs-LDR1
assembly on a separate PCB and use
a separate power supply for it. Mount
LEDs behind the LDR. Otherwise, light
from the LEDs will affect the working
of the circuit. Connect LDR1 to the main
circuit board at ‘A’ and ‘B’ points.
Fix the LEDs-LDR1 assembly on
the inner side of the water-tank cap as
shown in Fig. 3. Orient the LEDs and
the LDR such that when the water tank
is full, the light emitted from the LEDs
and reflected from the water surface
falls directly on LDR1. The distance
between the upper level of water and
the LEDs-LDR setup should be mini-
mal, ensuring that water doesn’t touch
LDR1. Otherwise, the circuit will not
function properly. By using more white
LEDs, this distance can be increased.
Cover the LDR with a black tube to
increase its sensitivity.
You can fix the main unit at a
convenient place and connect it to the
LEDs-LDR assembly through wire.
Select the relay according to the horse-
power (HP) of the water pump. After
arranging the setup (with maximum
water in the tank), adjust VR1 until
LED1 stops glowing. In this state, the re-
lay should de-energise. When the water
level decreases, the relay automatically
energises to connect mains to the motor
and it starts pumping water. 
Fig. 1: Simple flasher circuit
circuit
ideas

Fig. 4: Circuit of alternate flasher

the left or right.

Fig. 2: Circuit of turn signal flasher
throws its contacts to the other posi-
tion. Capacitor C1 holds the contacts
until there is enough charge to keep
the relay energised. Bulb L1 (12V, 5W)
glows for a while through the N/O
contacts of the relay. When the charge
in the capacitor ceases, the relay con-
tacts return to their initial normally-
closed position.
The charging cycle repeats to give
a flashing effect in the bulb. The ‘on’
time of the flasher is controlled by the
Fig. 3: Circuit of hazard-warning flasher
charge stored in the capacitor. The ‘off’
time is controlled by the discharging
time of the capacitor.
The signal flasher is a four-bulb
system as shown in Fig. 2. Two bulbs
are used at the front of the vehicle and
the other two at the back of the vehicle.
The primary function of the ‘turn’ sig-
nal flasher is to flash the lamps when
the ‘turn’ signal switch is activated to
The circuit of the hazard-warn-
ing flasher is shown in Fig. 3. Used in
vehicle lighting systems, it flashes all
the four bulbs when hazard-warning
switch S3 is ‘on.’ During hazard warn-
ing, switch S2 can be in the left or right
position.
The alternate flasher circuit is
shown in Fig. 4. It flashes the lamps
alternately when the system is acti-
vated. This type of flasher is typically
used in emergency vehicles and school
buses. 

In-Car Food and Beverage Warmer

edi
s.c. dwiv

 Ashok K. Doctor

T
his is a very useful
device for those
who are frequently
on the move. It will keep
your tea, coffee or food
warm while consuming
little power.
The circuit is simple.
The ubiquitous timer 555
is used as a free-running astable mul- nected in reverse direction to facilitate Power transistor T1 is Darlington type
tivibrator. Diodes 1N4148 are con- maximum variation of the duty cycles. with 5A capacity and output of more

8 4 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

than 60 watts. The chosen discrete
components assure fixed frequency of
1 Hz (approximately) at pin 3 of timer
IC1 (555). Resister R1 and potmeter VR1
(1-mega-ohm) allow adjustment of the
duty cycle. The higher the duty cycle,
the higher the output of the heater.
You can connect up to five 10W
heating elements in parallel, totaling 50
watts. The consumption of current will
be significantly less if fewer coil ele-
ments are connected in parallel through
toggle switches S2 through S4. Each of
these switches has a 6A rating.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB. Mount power transistor
TIP120 on a thick heat-sink. Isolate the
circuit from the heating elements using
circuit
ideas
only two wire connections. Use wires
that can carry more than 6A current.
Fix the coil elements below an alumin-
ium or steel rectangular plate which
is at least 1mm thick. Do not forget
to insulate the heating plate from the
elements. Use the car battery for the
power supply with a proper current-
carrying-capacity wire. 

WHITE LIGHT FOR REFRIGERATOR

 Uday ShEnde The circuit is transformerless
and uses a capacitor for provid-

N
ormally, the refrigerator lights ing the power supply to the white edi
s.c. dwiv
are yellow in colour and go LEDs. Mains input is fed to capaci-
bad very often. If you want tor C1 and resistor R1, rectified by a
a long-lasting white light for your re- bridge rectifier comprising diodes D1
frigerator, this circuit is especially for through D4, and filtered by capaci- white LEDs in 2×8 parallel-connec-
you. The circuit is easy to install inside tor C2 to provide sufficient voltage tion configuration.
the refrigerator. Also, it consumes very to drive the white LEDs. Resistor R2 Assemble the circuit on a gen-
little power compared to the traditional limits the current flowing through eral-purpose PCB along with 16 white
yellow bulb. the LEDs. The circuit uses 16 bright LEDs. Connect the LEDs in series with
resistor R2. Take out
the two wires from
the usual bulb con-
nection and connect
to the circuit. After
connecting the supply
wires, wrap electrical
tape around the wires
properly. Enclose the
entire PCB (exclud-
ing LEDs) in a plastic
box and wrap the box
properly with tape to
seal it against mois-
ture. 

Smart Hearing Aid sani the

o

Devrishi Khanna and when sound is detected. The sensi-

Rohit Modi tivity of the detection section and the
‘on’ time duration of the sound am- microphone, earphone, and sound

N
ormally, hearing aid circuits
consume battery power
continuously once they are
switched on. The circuit given here
saves battery power by switching
on the sound amplifier section only
plifier circuit can be set by the user.
Also the circuit uses only a single
condenser mic for sound detection
and amplification.
As is clear from the above, this
hearing aid consists of a condenser
detection and amplification sections.
The sound detection section employs
a quad op-amp IC LM324 (IC1(A)) and
a timer NE555 (IC2). The sound signal
received at the mic is pre-amplified
by transistor BC549 (T1). The voltage

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 8 5
circuit
ideas
at its collector is fed to the inverting
terminal (pin 2) of op-amp IC1(A),
which is used as a comparator. The
reference voltage (Vref) at the non-
inverting terminal (pin 3) of IC1(A)
is set using preset VR1. The preset is
also used to control the sensitivity of
the sound signals received by the cir-
cuit. The output from pin 1 of IC1(A)
is fed to the trigger input (pin 2) of
timer NE555, which is configured in
monostable mode.
When sufficient sound signal
strength is detected at the base of tran-
sistor T1, the pulsating voltage at its
collector exceeds the reference voltage
at pin 3. As a result, output pin 1 of
IC1(A) goes low. The low output from
8 6 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
IC1(A) triggers the NE555 timer and its
output goes high for a preset duration.
R4 and C2 are the timing components
for setting the time duration. The high
output of the timer is directly used as
the power source for the sound ampli-
fier section.
The sound amplifier section is built
around transistors T2 through T5. The
last amplifier stage T5 (pnp transistor
BC558) drives the earphone. The sound
signal received from the mic is fed to
the non-inverting pin of the second
op-amp of IC1(B) which is wired in
unity follower configuration. The unity
follower mode resolves the problem
of impedance mismatch which would
have occured if the output of the mic
is fed directly to amplifier stage. The
output from pin 7 of IC1(B) is fed to the
base of transistor T2. The weak signal
received at transistor stage T2 is further
amplified by transistors T3, T4 and T5.
An earphone to listen to the sound is
connected between the collector of T5
and ground. It is recommended to use
a mono earphone with volume control
attached.
With 9V DC supply, when sound is
detected through the mic, the amplifier
section is automatically triggered and
the current consumption of the circuit
is about 96 mA. When the amplifier cir-
cuit is ‘off,’ the circuit draws a current
of about 6 mA only, thus saving con-
siderable amount of battery power. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
design
Part 1 of 3
Reading the Datasheets of
Electronic Devices
A thorough understanding of datasheets allows the designers to select the right
device for their application and subsequently exploit the potential of the device
to the fullest. Beginning this month in a series of three articles, we would focus
on how to read a datasheet and then go on to discuss the datasheets of two of
the most commonly used electronics devices representing discrete devices and
integrated circuits
 Anil Kumar Maini and
Varsha Agrawal

M
ost of the present-day electron-
ics designers and application
engineers do not find it neces-
sary to look beyond the first page of the
datasheets of the electronic components
or devices while selecting one for their
application. They consider the knowl-
edge of a few major specifications of the
device sufficient for the design exercise
that they wish to undertake. Though
it may be adequate in some cases, the
design where the components are chosen
without giving due consideration to the
information contained in the datasheet
may not be the optimal one.
The datasheet of a device reveals its
true character and hence its suitability
for a given application. In addition to
listing down the device parameters, it
gives the electrical and environmental
conditions at which these parameters Fig. 1: First page of datasheet of power Mosfet type IRF250
have been measured and also contains
information on variation of important ally available from manufacturers. The Surely, the technical data of a given
parameters as a function of other word ‘comprehensive’ is used here to device in the short-form catalogue will
relevant electrical and environmental differentiate between the datasheet of a not be as comprehensive as it would
parameters. It is vital information device found in a short-form catalogue be in the detailed catalogue. In the
particularly when you are designing a and another datasheet of the same de- condensed version, one is likely to find
circuit or a module that has to qualify vice available in the detailed version. salient features, major performance
stringent environment standards. A For example, a company manufactur- specifications, package information
comprehensive datasheet almost in- ing a range of semiconductor devices and electrical characteristics along with
variably includes application circuits may have one condensed catalogue the condition for which they are valid.
recommended by the manufacturer. containing data on all categories of On the other hand, a detailed datasheet
devices like diodes, bipolar transistors, offers a range of characteristic curves
Comprehensive and MOSFETs and thyristors that it manu- showing variation of important pa-
condensed datasheets factures. It may also offer detailed rameters as a function of other relevant
Both comprehensive as well as con- catalogues separately for each of these parameters and typical application
densed versions of datasheets are usu- categories. circuits.

1 0 0 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
design
capability and a low ther-
mal resistance… designed
primarily for half-wave AC
power control such as motor
controls, heating controls…
(taken from the datasheet
of S2800 series SCR)… high
photosensitivity, hermeti-
cally sealed… fast optical
sensor of high-modulation
bandwidth... (taken from the
data sheet of PIN photodiode
type BPX-65)… single-pulse
avalanche energy rated, na-
nosecond switching speeds,
linear transfer characteristics,
high input impedance… well
suited for applications such
as switching regulators, mo-
tor drivers, relay drivers…
Fig. 2: Package styles of op-amp type LM741 (taken from the datasheet
of power MOSFET type
IRF250 shown in Fig. 1)” are
representative of the first
page of the datasheet of the
device. This gives designers
a fair idea of the important
features and applications
without going through the
whole datasheet.
Device package outline.
A sketch with device dimen-
sions and lead identification,
outline of the package styles
of the device and other me-
chanical information are in-
cluded in this part. Quite of-
ten a given device is made in
more than one package style
either with no difference in
performance specifications
(such as medium-power sili-
con transistor type 2N6045/
MJE6045 made in TO220AB
Fig. 3: Internal schematic of op-amp type LM741
and TO127 package styles),
or with a minor difference
Common features ing features. All datasheets begin with (such as bipolar transistor 2N2222 in
A study of the datasheets of a variety typical applications as suggested by TO-92 plastic and TO-18 metal can
of devices, be they discrete or integrat- the manufacturer and the outstanding packages), and occasionally with a
ed circuit (IC), reveals a commonality features of the device. This informa- major difference (such as IC regulator
in the type of data and characteristic tion appears on the first page of the type 78-series in TO-92 plastic, TO-220
curves. These common features are datasheet and is an essential part of and TO-3 packages).
outlined in the following paragraphs. both condensed and detailed versions. Fig. 2 shows the package options
Typical applications and outstand- Statements like “It has high dv/dt for the operational amplifier LM741.

1 0 2 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 design

Absolute Maximum Ratings (Note 1)

If military/aerospace specified devices are required, contact the National Semiconductor Sales Office/Distributors
for availability and specifications.

LF155/6 LF256/7/LF356B LF355/6/7

Supply voltage ±22V ±22V ±18V

Differential input voltage ±40V ±40V ±30V
Input voltage range (Note 2) ±20V ±20V ±16V
Output short circuit duration Continuous Continuous Continuous
TJMAX
H-package 150°C 115°C 115°C
N-package — 100°C 100°C
M-package — 100°C 100°C
Power dissipation at TA=25°C (Notes 1, 8)
H-package (still air) 560 mW 400 mW 400 mW
H-package (400 LF/min air flow) 1200 mW 1000 mW 1000 mW
N-package — 670 mW 670 mW
M-package — 380 mW 380 mW
Thermal resistance (typical) θJA
H-package (still air) 160°C/W 160°C/W 160°C/W
H-package (400 LF/min air flow) 65°C/W 65°C/W 65°C/W
N-package — 130°C/W 130°C/W
M-package — 195°C/W 195°C/W
(Typical) θJC
H-package 23°C/W 23°C/W 23°C/W
Storage temperature range –65°C to +150°C –65°C to +150°C –65°C to +150°C
Soldering information (lead temp.)
Metal can package
Soldering (10 sec.) 300°C 300°C 300°C
Dual-in-line package
Soldering (10 sec.) 260°C 260°C 260°C
Small outline package
Vapour phase (60 sec.) — 215°C 215°C
Infrared (15 sec.) — 220°C 220°C
See AN-450 ‘Surface Mounting Methods and Their Effect on Product Reliability’ for other methods of soldering
surface mount devices.
ESD tolerance
(100 pF discharged through 1.5kΩ) 1000V 1000V 1000V
Absolute maximum ratings tell the designer the conditions that will damage the device. Remember these are
not maximum operating limits

Fig. 4: Absolute maximum ratings for op-amp type LF156/256/356

As you can see from the figure, it is
available in three packages, namely,
the metal can package, dual-in-line
package and ceramic flatpak pack-
age.
Schematic diagram. Detailed sche-
matic of the internal structure of the
device is also given in the datasheet.
Fig. 3 shows the internal schematic of
operational amplifier LM741. It helps
the designer to correlate the electrical
features of the device with its internal
architecture. This sometimes helps the
designer to explain the device behav-
iour that is otherwise not described in
the datasheet.
Absolute maximum ratings. Abso-
lute maximum ratings (Fig. 4) contain
information on voltages, currents, pow-
ers and temperature range that should
never be exceeded. As is evident from
the figure, the maximum supply volt-
age for operational amplifier LF356 is
±18V.

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 1 0 3
design

Fig. 5: Performance curves of diodes 1N4001 to 1N4007

Performance curves. Perform- characteristics of the device, such characteristics) in the case of FETs,
ance curves of interest as a function as drain current versus drain volt- emitter voltage versus emitter cur-
of voltage, current, temperature, age (drain characteristics) or drain rent in the case of UJTs and forward
etc follow next. These include the current versus gate voltage (transfer voltage versus forward current in the

1 0 4 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

case of diodes. Fig. 5 shows the char-
acteristics curves for diodes 1N4001
Fig. 6: Thyristor-cathode voltage vs. cathode current for different
temperatures
Fig. 7: Electrical characteristics of Mosfet type number IRF250
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
to 1N4007.
It could also be variation of the cath-
ode voltage vs cathode
current as a function of
temperature (Fig. 6) in
the case of a thyristor, or
dark current as a func-
tion of applied reverse
bias in the case of a PIN
photodiode, or transcon-
ductance versus drain
current as a function of
temperature in the case
of power MOSFET. The
curve in the first case
emphasises that the re-
lationship between the
cathode voltage and cath-
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • 1 0 5
design
ode current changes with temperature.
The curve in the second illustration
indicates critical dependence of the
dark current of the PIN photodiode
on the applied reverse bias voltage.
And the third demonstrates significant
reduction in the transconductance of the
MOSFET at a fixed drain current with
increase in temperature. These are all
very important aspects of design and
therefore should not be side-stepped.
Electrical characteristics. Electri-
cal characteristics are usually given
in tabular form indicating spread
in parameter values that is likely to
occur in a batch of devices in terms
of minimum, typical and maximum
values. It is a vital design input as in
design
These are always
an asset to the
designers, more
so for those who
are a little short
of design experi-
ence. Quite of-
ten, expressions
used to calculate
different compo-
nent values in a
given application
circuit are also
presented.
Fig. 8 shows
some of the appli-
cation circuits for
operational ampli-
fier LF356 given
in its datasheet.
The information
contained in Fig.
8 is reproduced
from the detailed
datasheet of LF
355/356/357 se-
ries of FET input
op-amps.

To sum up...
This part of the
article highlighted
the importance of
reading a datash-
eet and the host
of technical infor-
mation contained
therein. In par-
ticular, it focused
Fig. 8: Some application circuits of op-amp type LF156/256/356 on salient features
that are common
some cases, spread in values could be to the datasheets of all categories of
as much as an order of magnitude. devices illustrating the significance of
To substantiate the statement, the different parameters with practical ex-
datasheet of C122-series of SCRs from amples. The next part of the article will
RCA tells that its dv/dt rating could focus on semiconductor diodes.
be anywhere between 10V/s and …To be continued
100V/s. Similarly, the gate-source
threshold voltage of power MOSFET Anil Kumar Maini is the head of EOCM and Op-
type IRF250 could vary from 2V to toelectronics Division and associate director at
4V (Fig. 7). Laser Science and Technology Centre (Defence
R&D Organisation) and Varsha Agrawal is a senior
Application circuits. Application scientist in EOCM and Optoelectronics Division at
circuits are usually included only in Laser Science and Technology Centre (Defence
the detailed version of the datasheet. R&D Organisation)

1 0 6 • M a r c h 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
design

Part 2 of 3
Reading the Datasheets of
Electronic Devices
The device in focus this month is semiconductor diode. Depending upon the intended
application, semiconductor diodes are broadly classified into general-purpose diodes/
rectifiers, high-frequency/switching diodes and power diodes. Out of a wide range of
performance specifications included in the datasheet of a typical semiconductor diode,
some are more relevant for a particular application than the other

 Anil Kumar Maini and the right device for a particular ap- rectification.
Varsha Agrawal plication. For instance, when choosing Similarly, for diodes used for
a diode for rectification purpose, the switching applications, the impor-

T
he first part of this article
highlighted the importance of
reading a datasheet and the
host of technical information contained
therein. In particular, it focused on the
salient features that are common to the
datasheets of all categories of devices,
illustrating the significance of different
parameters with practical examples. In
continuation, here we focus on semi-
conductor diodes.
Selection criteria
for diodes
The specifications are the basis of selec-
tion criteria when it comes to choosing
Fig. 1: Half-wave rectifier
Fig. 2: Conventional full-wave rectifier
specifications to be taken into consid-
eration are the peak inverse voltage
(PIV), average forward current rating
and the ampere-square seconds (I2t)
rating of the diode. Specifications such
as reverse recovery time and switching
speed are irrelevant.
Note that here we are referring to
rectification of 50/60Hz AC mains,
and the same is not true in the case
of rectifiers used in switched-mode
power supply applications. In fact,
these parameters are not specified by
the manufacturers in the datasheets
of diodes intended for AC mains
Fig. 3: Bridge rectifier
Fig. 4: Cascade voltage multiplier chain
tant specifications to be considered
are PIV rating, reverse recovery
time and capacitance of the diode.
Specifications like average rectified
forward current do not have much
significance.
Knowledge of these major specifi-
cations and their proper interpretation
considerably helps a designer in choos-
ing a diode for any given application.
The specifications are defined in a
datasheet under three major heads:
absolute maximum ratings, electrical
characteristics and thermal character-
istics.
Absolute maximum
ratings
Reverse breakdown voltage or
the peak inverse voltage (VBR,
PIV). It is the maximum re-
verse voltage that a diode can
withstand without breaking
down. There are usually two
different PIV ratings specified
for diodes: repetitive peak in-
verse voltage (VR or VRRM) and
non-repetitive peak inverse
voltage (V RSM). The non-re-
petitive rating is obviously
greater than the repetitive
rating. The one that needs to
be considered depends upon
the intended application. In a
rectifier application, it is the
repetitive inverse voltage rat-

1 1 2 • a p r i l 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
design

Table I be allowed to pass through the diode

without exceeding its power dissipa-
Electrical Characteristics of 1N914B Diode
tion limits. The average current rating
Symbol Parameter Conditions Min. Max. Unit is lower than the continuous or peak
VF Forward voltage repetitive forward current.
1N914; 1N914A IF = 10 mA — 1 V For a half-wave rectified signal:
1N914B IF = 5 mA 0.62 0.72 V
1N914B IF = 100 mA — 1 V
IF(av) = Ipeak/π
For a full-wave rectified signal:
IR Reverse current
IF(av) = 2Ipeak/π
VR = 20V — 25 nA
VR = 75V — 5 µA where Ipeak is the peak repetitive for-
VR = 20V; Tj = 150°C — 50 µA ward current. It is useful in selecting
Cd Diode capacitance f = 1 MHz; VR = 0 — 4 pF diodes for rectification applications.
The maximum average rectified
trr Reverse recovery When switched from IF = 10 mA to — 8 ns
time IR = 10 mA; RL = 100Ω; measured at current rating of the selected diode
IR = 1 mA should be greater than the average cur-
When switched from IF = 10 mA to — 4 ns
rent flowing through it in a particular
IR = 60 mA; RL = 100Ω; measured at application. The average rectified cur-
IR = 1 mA rent rating of 1N4001-1N4007 series
Vfr Forward recovery When switched from IF = 50 mA; — 2.5 V general-purpose rectifier diodes is 1A
voltage tr = 20 ns for 1cm lead length at an ambient tem-
perature of 25°C.
multiplier chain (Fig. 4) should Peak repetitive forward current. It
have PIV rating greater than is the maximum instantaneous value of
the peak value of the AC sig- the repetitive forward current.
nal applied at the input of the Peak forward surge current. Dur-
multiplier chain. ing turn-on, malfunction, switching,
As an illustration, consider etc, high values of current may flow
diode 1N4001 with peak re- through the diode for brief time inter-
petitive inverse voltage of 50V. vals. Surge current ratings define the
When this diode is used for maximum value and time duration of
a conventional half-wave or such surges in the current level. For
bridge rectifier, it can handle instance, a surge rating of 10A for 10
an AC signal with maximum ms implies that the diode can handle
peak value of 50V. As a two- a maximum of 10A of forward current
diode full-wave rectifier it for time duration not exceeding 10 ms.
can handle an AC signal with The surge current rating is significantly
maximum peak value of 25V higher than the maximum rectified cur-
only. For AC signals having rent rating. This specification assumes
Fig. 5: Forward current vs forward voltage of 1N914B diode higher peak values, other more importance for switching diodes
diodes like 1N4002 through like 1N914 which have a peak forward
ing that is to be considered. Repetitive 1N4007 can be used depending upon surge current rating of 1A for a pulse
peak inverse voltage rating of 1N4007 the exact value of the peak voltage of width of 1 second and 4A for a pulse
is 1000 volts. the AC signal. width of 1 µs.
For conventional single-diode Maximum average rectified current Maximum junction temperature
half-wave rectifier (Fig. 1), two-diode (I F(av)
). It is the maximum average for- (Tj). It is the maximum allowable junc-
full-wave rectifier (Fig. 2) and bridge ward rectified output current that can tion temperature. It is significant in
rectifier configurations (Fig. 3), the
chosen diodes should have a repetitive PIV, average rectified forward current and I2t
peak inverse voltage rating equal to at ratings are the parameters of interest in the case
least the peak of the applied AC input,
twice the peak value of the applied AC
of rectifiers for 50/60Hz AC mains. The same is not
input and the peak value of the AC in- true for rectifiers needed for switched-mode power
put, respectively. The diode to be used supplies where reverse recovery time is of prime
in the cascade type of diode-capacitor concern.
1 1 4 • a p r i l 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
design
the case of power diodes and helps reverse current value at
in finding the size of the heat-sink to which it has been meas-
be used for a given diode current and ured. It also indicates the
chosen type. reverse-biased resistance
of the diode.
Electrical characteristics Reverse current (IR).
In the following paragraphs, we dis- It is the direct current
cuss the important electrical character- flowing through a re-
istics of a semiconductor diode along verse-biased diode.
with their interpretation and practical The datasheets spec-
importance. ify the reverse voltage
Forward voltage (VF). It is the volt- of the diode for one or
age applied across a forward-biased more values of the re-
diode. It is not a specification in itself. verse current, similar to
It is given along with the correspond- Fig. 6: Reverse-biased characteristics of 1N914B that for forward current
ing forward current value at which it and forward voltage.
has been measured. It indicates static These also specify the re-
resistance of the diode. For example, verse characteristics of the
general-purpose diode 1N3611 is diode showing the relation-
specified as 1.1V at 1000 mA and it ship between the reverse
indicates that its static resistance is voltage and the reverse
1.1 ohms. current (Fig. 6).
Forward current (IF). It is the direct As is evident from the
current flowing in a forward-biased reverse characteristics of
diode. diode 1N914B shown in Fig.
The datasheets specify the forward 6, reverse current exhibits a
voltage of the diode for one or more sharp increase as the reverse
values of the forward current. For in- voltage exceeds 50 per cent
stance, the datasheet of diode 1N914 of its peak inverse voltage
specifies that the maximum forward Fig. 7: Forward current derating curve of 1N4001-1N4007 of 100 volts. This implies
voltages of diode IN914B are 0.72V series rectifiers that the reverse blocking
and 1.0V at forward currents of 5.0 capability of the diode de-
mA and 100 mA, respectively (Table grades sharply as the reverse voltage
I). This information reveals that the approaches the peak inverse voltage
static resistance of the diode varies rating. In addition, both forward and
from about 140 ohms to 10 ohms as the reverse characteristics are a function
forward current increases from 5 mA of operating temperature. Refer to the
to 100 mA. datasheet of 1N4001–1N4007 series
The datasheet of diode 1N4001 rectifiers.
specifies that the forward voltage in If we look at the absolute maximum
this case is 1.1V at a forward current ratings shown in Table II, the average
of 1A. The datasheets also give the for- rectified current is specified to be 1A
ward characteristic curve of the diode up to an ambient temperature of 75°C.
showing the relationship between the This parameter needs to be derated for
forward voltage and the forward cur- temperatures greater than 75°C. It falls
rent. Fig. 5 shows the forward voltage Fig. 8: Capacitance versus reverse voltage
to 0.4A at 120°C (Fig. 7).
vs forward current curve for diode curve of 1N914 Diode capacitance (Cd, Cs). It is
1N914B. the inherent capacitance of the diode
The information contained in the age drop across the forward-biased junction. In the reverse-bias region
datasheet therefore allows you to know diode for the known value of forward the transition- or the depletion-region
the value of the resistance offered by current. capacitance (C d) is of importance,
the diode to DC for a known value of Reverse voltage (VR). It is the volt- whereas in the forward-bias region
forward current flowing through it. age across a reverse-biased diode. It diffusion or storage capacitance (Cs)
Said differently, it tells you the volt- is specified along with corresponding dominates. It plays a very significant

1 1 6 • a p r i l 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 design

The datasheet is particularly important in revealing

the dependence of different parameters on operating
temperature and also in revealing the dependence
of one parameter on another related parameter.
Forward and reverse current specifications being
functions of forward and reverse voltage drops,
respectively, are some examples. This helps the
designer in predicting the behaviour of the device
under different operating conditions.

role in the functioning of switching
diodes. Smaller value of diode capaci-
tance will give faster switching times.
It is typically a few pico-farads in
switching diodes.
For general-purpose diode 1N4001,
the total capacitance is 15 pF for a
reverse voltage of 4V, whereas in the
case of 1N914, which is a switching
diode, transition capacitance is less
than 1 pF at the same value of reverse-
bias voltage. The datasheets of switch-
ing diodes contain the characteristic
curve showing variation of the diode’s
capacitance with the applied reverse
bias (Fig. 8).
Ampere-square seconds (I 2t). It
indicates the sub-cycle current capabil-
ity of diodes when used as a rectifier.
It is usually specified for one complete
cycle of 50/60Hz operation. It can
be calculated from one cycle of peak
surge current rating of the diode as
the product of the square of the RMS
equivalent of the surge current and the
time period of the AC waveform. It is
useful when choosing an appropriate
diode rectifier.
The datasheets generally do not
directly specify the I2t rating; it is gen-
erally specified in the form of forward
surge current for a sine wave of a
specified time period. For instance, the
datasheet of diode 1N4001 specifies
the non-repetitive peak forward surge
current of 30A for 8.3ms single half-
sine-wave corresponding to 60Hz AC
mains (Table II). The I2t rating equals
(30/√2)2×8.3×10−3 = 3.735 A2s.
I2t rating allows designers to esti-
mate the peak forward surge current
that the device shall be able to handle
for any given value of sub-cycle time
period. For example, 1N4001 shall be
able to handle a non-repetitive forward
peak current of more than 6A for a 2ms
period.
Reverse recovery time (trr). When

Table II
Absolute Maximum Ratings*
Symbol Parameter Value Units
IF(AV) Average rectified current 1.0 A
0.375” lead length @ TA = 75°C
IFSM Non-repetitive peak forward surge current
8.3ms single half-sine-wave 30 A
Superimposed on rated load (JEDEC method)
PD Total device dissipation 2.5 W
Derate above 25°C 20 mW/°C
Rθ(J-A) Thermal resistance, junction to ambient 50 °C/W
Tstg Storage temperature range –55 to +175 °C
TJ Operating junction temperature –55 to +150 °C
*These ratings are limiting values above which the serviceability of any semiconductor device may be
impaired.
TA = 25°C unless otherwise noted

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • a p r i l 2 0 0 9 • 1 1 7
design
the diode is abruptly switched from
forward-biased condition to reverse-
biased condition, the time required
by the reverse current or voltage
to reach a specified value is called
‘reverse recovery time.’ The reverse
recovery time is a very significant
parameter in fast-recovery rectifiers
used in SMPS and in diodes used for
high-frequency switching applica-
tions. In fact, it is the most important
parameter to watch while choosing a
rectifier diode for an SMPS based on
the flyback principle.
The reverse recovery time varies
from a few nanoseconds for ultra-fast
diodes to about 500 nanoseconds for
a typical fast-recovery rectifier. For
example, reverse recovery time for
ultra-fast diode 1N914 is of the order
of 4 ns, while it is around 300 ns for
fast-recovery rectifier BY299. The re-
verse recovery time parameter of the
rectifier when used in a flyback-type
DC-to-DC converter puts an upper
limit on the maximum usable switch-
ing frequency.
Forward recovery time (tff). It is the
time required for the forward current
or voltage to reach a specified value
after the diode has been switched from
reverse-biased state to forward-biased
state. This parameter too is significant
in switching applications.
Thermal characteristics
Fig. 9: Power dissipation—temperature derating curve of 1N914
1 1 8 • a p r i l 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
Parameters defining thermal characteristics of the
device are intimately related to one another. Power
dissipation capability is a function of ambient
temperature. It is also related to the junction-to-
case thermal resistance and the maximum allowable
junction temperature. These parameters should
therefore not be seen in isolation.
Power dissipation and thermal re- junction-to-ambient temperature dif-
sistance are two important thermal ferential for a known value of power
parameters. The designers should dissipated in the device. It is expressed
not look at these parameters in iso- in °C/watt. For given values of
lation. They need to be considered power dissipation, ambient temperature
together to ensure that the diode’s and junction-to-ambient thermal resist-
maximum allowable junction tempera- ance of the device, one can estimate the
ture specification doesn’t exceed under junction temperature. If the device has
the operating conditions of the diode’s to safely dissipate the specified power
forward voltage, forward current and at an ambient temperature greater than
ambient temperature. We shall first the power dissipation rating is specified
define the two parameters and then for, it should be mounted on a heat-sink
illustrate their inter-relationship with to reduce its junction-to-ambient ther-
actual data quoted from a datasheet. mal resistance.
Power dissipation (PD). It is the Referring to the datasheet of 1N914,
maximum power that can be safely dis- the specified power dissipation rating
sipated in a diode for a given ambient is 500 mW at an ambient temperature
temperature in the absence of any heat of 25°C and its maximum junction tem-
sink. The value of maximum power perature specification is 175°C. This is
dissipation is usually specified at an in agreement with its thermal resist-
ambient temperature of 25°C. At higher ance specification, which is specified
operating temperature, its value should to be 300°C/watt. As per this speci-
be derated as per the power-tempera- fication, there will be a temperature
ture derating curve of the diode. As an differential of 150°C between ambient
illustration, the power derating curve and junction for a power dissipation of
of 1N914 is shown in Fig. 9. The maxi- 500 mW. This means that the junction
mum power temperature would be 175°C.
rating de- If this device has to safely dis-
creases line- sipate 500mW power at, say, 75°C,
arly with the the temperature differential cannot
increase in exceed 100°C. This would necessitate
temperature a thermal resistance from junction
at a rate of to ambient of 200°C/watt. It can be
3.33 mW/°C achieved by using a suitable heat-sink,
above 25°C. thus reducing case-to-ambient thermal
Thermal resistance component of the overall
resistance thermal resistance.
from junc- …To be concluded next month
tion-to-am-
bient (θ J-A ). Anil Kumar Maini is the head of EOCM and Op-
This param- toelectronics Division and associate director at
Laser Science and Technology Centre (Defence
eter is an R&D Organisation), and Varsha Agrawal is a senior
indicator of scientist in EOCM and Optoelectronics Division at
the diode’s Laser Science and Technology Centre
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
design

Part 3 of 3
Reading the Datasheets of
Electronic Devices
Designers have a large variety of operational amplifiers (op-amps) to choose from. So
we focus this month on op-amps to help designers decide which category is best suited
for a given set of applications

 Anil Kumar Maini and

Varsha Agrawal

D
epending upon the perform-
ance specifications and con-
sequently their application
areas, and also on the basis of their
internal circuit, op-amps are broadly
classified as general-purpose op-amps,
high-speed and high-bandwidth op-
amps, op-amp comparators, Norton
op-amps, instrumentation op-amps
and isolation op-amps.
Like other semiconductor devices,
op-amps too are characterised by a
wide range of performance specifi-
cations. Again, the importance and
relevance of a given performance pa-
rameter to a certain application circuit
could be more or less than the other
parameters.

Selection criteria
Choosing the right op-amp for a given
application is usually a three-step
process. First, appreciate relevant
performance parameters and the
level of these parameters required
for the intended application. Second,
identify the category of op-amps that
the desired device is likely to belong
to. Next, select the type number from
the device catalogues of the relevant
manufacturers.
For example, if you are looking for
an op-amp to be used in a trans-imped-
ance amplifier configuration to convert
the photo-current resulting from a laser
radiation pulse falling on a photodiode
into an equivalent voltage signal, first
Fig. 1: Frequency response of LF156
identify relevant parameters such as
gain bandwidth, slew rate and trans-
impedance gain available at the desired
bandwidth and then fix the desired
values for these parameters. Having
done that, see if any of the available
general-purpose op-amps meets the
required performance specifications
or you need a high-speed, high-band-
width op-amp.
Op-amps are characterised by
performance specifications like sup-
ply voltage range, power dissipation,
operating temperature range, open-
loop gain, gain bandwidth product,
common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR),
power supply rejection ratio (PSRR),
input impedance, slew rate, offsets,
offset drifts and noise-related specifi-
cations.
Open-loop gain is the ratio of
single-ended output to differential
input. It influences gain accuracy when
the op-amp is wired as an amplifier.
Higher open-loop gain is desirable as it
gives higher gain accuracy. It is, in fact,
the loop gain—ratio of open-loop gain
to the closed-loop gain—which decides
the gain accuracy.
Bandwidth represents the fre-

1 0 4 • M ay 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

quency response of the op-amp and
is usually expressed as gain-band-
width product or unity-gain crossover
frequency. This parameter gives the
small signal bandwidth. That is, signal
amplitude and frequency are such
that the rate of change of output does
not exceed the slew rate specification.
Fig. 1 shows the frequency response
of LF156.
Slew rate is the rate of change of
output with time under large signal
conditions. It is determined by ap-
plying a step input and monitoring
the output. It decides the large signal
bandwidth of the op-amp.
Fig. 2 shows the small-signal and
large-signal pulse response of LF156.
Increased rise time in the case of large-
signal pulse response due to slew rate
limitation is evident in Fig. 2(b).
Common-mode rejection ratio
(CMRR) is the ability of the op-amp to
amplify differential signals and reject
common-mode signals. This parameter
is particularly important in data acqui-
sition applications where it is desirable
to amplify low-level differential signals
riding on high-amplitude, common-
mode signals. CMRR of 80 to 90 dB
is common in general-purpose op-
amps. Instrumentation op-amps offer
CMRR in excess of 100 dB. AD524, an
instrumentation op-amp, has CMRR of
greater than 120 dB.
Input impedance is the impedance
across input terminals of the op-amp.
Usually expressed in terms of resist-
ance only, it is different for inverting
and non-inverting amplifier circuits.
For inverting amplifier circuits it
equals the input resistance connected
from the source of signal to the in-
verting input of the op-amp, and for
non-inverting amplifier circuits it
equals the product of loop gain and
Different categories of op-amps range from general-
purpose op-amps offering moderate values of all
key parameters to specialised types including
high-speed op-amps, op-amp comparators,
instrumentation op-amps, isolation op-amps and
Norton op-amps.
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
specified input impedance.
Types of op-amps
As mentioned earlier, the first step in
choosing the right op-amp for a given
application is to know and appreciate
the category that the desired op-amp
is likely to belong to. This helps in
quick identification of the device as the
operational amplifier manufacturers in
their databooks often categorise their
devices into one or more of the types
depending upon the range of devices
offered by them.
General-purpose op-amps are
those op-amps which have moderate
or reasonably good values of various
key parameters. None of the major
performance parameters is either ex-
ceptionally good or very poor. Among
the broad category of general-purpose
op-amps, those with better overall per-
formance specifications are referred to
as high-performance, general-purpose
op-amps. While LM741/741C is a gen-
eral-purpose op-amp, LF156/256/356
with its relatively better bandwidth,
slew rate, input impedance and noise
specifications may be categorised as
a high-performance, general-purpose
op-amp.
High-speed and high-bandwidth
op-amps have relatively much higher
slew rate and bandwidth specifica-
tions. These specifications are usu-
ally a couple of orders of magnitude
higher than general-purpose op-amps.
For example, the slew rate and gain-
bandwidth values of AD829, which
is a high-speed, high-bandwidth op-
amp from Analog Devices, are 230
V/µs and 120 MHz, respectively. You
can see the difference for yourself
when you compare these values with
the corresponding values of LM741C
and LF356. The slew rates of LM741C
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M ay 2 0 0 9 • 1 0 5
design
Output voltage swing
(50 mv/div)
Time (0.5 µs/DIV)
(a) Small-signal pulse response
Output voltage swing (5v/div)
Time (1 µs/DIV)
(b) Large-signal pulse response
Fig. 2: Signal pulse response of LF156
and LF356 are 0.5V/µs and 12V/µs,
respectively. Gain bandwidths are 1
MHz (for LM741C) and 5 MHz (for
LF356).
Op-amp comparators are specially
designed to operate in comparator
applications. These respond relatively
much faster—within a few nanosec-
onds to tens of nanoseconds. Their
outputs are usually compatible to
common logic families. One such op-
amp comparator is LM 119/219/319,
which is a dual comparator. Response
time is specified to be 80 ns and its
open-collector output with the rec-
ommended pull-up resistor can drive
RTL, DTL and TTL family devices.
Norton op-amps, also known as
current differencing op-amps, have
a different internal architecture that
makes them particularly suitable for
single-supply operation. While we
talk about differential input voltage in
the case of conventional op-amps, it is
differential input current for Norton
op-amps. Most general-purpose op-
amp applications can be realised using
Norton op-amps without significantly
compromising the performance char-
acteristics. This, coupled with low cost
and single supply operation, makes
design
Fig. 3: Product description page of LM119/219/319
Norton op-amps a popular choice in
many general-purpose op-amp ap-
plication circuits. LM3900 is a popular
Norton op-amp.
In the case of instrumentation
op-amps, input impedance, CMRR,
and values of offsets and offset drifts
approach ideal values. For example,
AD524 instrumentation op-amp from
Analog Devices offers a differential,
common-mode input resistance of
1 giga-ohm, CMRR of 120 dB, offset
1 0 6 • M ay 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
voltage of 50 µV and offset drift of 0.5
µV/°C. These features make instru-
mentation op-amps particularly suit-
able for amplifying low-level differen-
tial signals with high common-mode
content (such as those available from
The first step in choosing the right op-amp for a
given application is to know and appreciate the
category that the desired op-amp is likely to belong
to. This helps in quick identification of the device.
front-end circuits of data acquisition
systems). Another salient feature of
instrumentation op-amps is that the
gain is programmable with a single
externally connected resistor. Also,
some instrumentation op-amps offer
a set of fixed gain values without the
use of even the lone programmable
resistor. For example, AD524 can
be programmed for any gain value
between 1 and 1000 with a single ex-
ternally connected resistor, whereas
gain values of 1, 10, 100 and 1000
are achievable without any external
resistor.
Isolation op-amps, also called iso-
lation amplifiers, are op-amps with
their output stage electrically isolated
from the input differential stage. Iso-
lation impedance of 1000 giga-ohms
and isolation voltage of 1000 volts
are common. Isolation op-amps are
mainly used in medical instrumenta-
tion where isolation between the basic
sensor—which is usually in physical
contact with the patient’s body—and
the equipment is desired.
Op-amp datasheet
The datasheet of an op-amp begins
with general product description.
The information in this part almost
invariably includes a summary of its
performance parameters, product
highlights, package description and,
in some cases, technological aspects of
the device architecture. Fig. 3, which
is nothing but a compilation of the
information found on the first page of
the datasheet of op-amp comparator
LM119/219/319, illustrates the point.
Other sections of the datasheet
include essential components like
absolute maximum ratings, electrical
characteristics and thermal character-
istics. Electrical characteristics contain
a range of performance curves that
tell us about the variation of major
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
design
to the device or affect reliability of the
device.
Maximum supply voltage is speci-
fied for both positive and negative
supplies in the case of dual-supply
op-amps. Typically, values are in the
range of ±18V to ±22V. Operating
values are in the range of ±3V to ±15V.
Supply voltage parameter is significant
as most op-amp parameters depend on
it. Available peak-to-peak output volt-
age swing, input common-mode volt-
age range, supply current, open-loop
Fig. 4: Input common-mode voltage range Fig. 5: Output voltage swing versus supply
gain, slew rate and response time (in
versus supply voltage for AD829 voltage for AD829 the case of comparators) are supply-
voltage-dependent. The dependence
of these parameters on supply voltage
The organisation of an op-amp’s datasheet is is indicated in the datasheet either in
no different from that of discrete semiconductor the form of performance curves or by
devices. The information in the datasheet is again specifying the values of these param-
presented under the headings of general product eters for a given supply voltage.
description or salient features, absolute maximum Figs 4 and 5 show the dependence
ratings, electrical characteristics and thermal of input common-mode voltage range
and output voltage swing, respectively,
characteristics. on supply voltage for AD829. In the
performance parameters as a function put short-circuit duration, internal case of LM156/256/356, the datash-
of one or more relevant parameters. power dissipation, maximum junction eet specifies slew rate of 12 V/µs and
Power dissipation as a function of temperature, operating temperature gain-bandwidth of 5 MHz for supply
temperature, CMRR as a function of range and storage temperature range. voltage of ±15V (Table I).
frequency and closed-loop gain, PSRR It may be mentioned that absolute Input voltage parameter quanti-
as a function of frequency, offsets as maximum ratings are stress ratings. fies the maximum voltage that can be
a function of temperature and output Stresses above those listed under these applied to each of the input terminals.
voltage swing as a function of supply ratings may cause permanent damage This parameter too is supply-voltage-
voltage are some examples.
In addition, the datasheet Table I
includes detailed internal AC Electrical Characteristics
schematic of the device. TA = Tj = 25°C, VS = ±15V
Now, let’s look at the
Symbol Parameter Conditions LF155/355 LF156/256/ LF156/256/ LF257/357 Units
information contained under 356B 356/LF356B
the absolute maximum rat- Typ. Min. Typ. Typ.
ings, electrical characteristics
SR Slew rate LF155/6 5 7.5 12 — V/µs
and thermal characteristics AV=1, — — —
headings and see what all LF357: AV=5 — — — 50 V/µs
it has for the op-amp circuit GBW Gain bandwidth — 2.5 — 5 20 MHz
designers. product

Absolute maximum
ratings
Under the heading of ab-
solute maximum ratings,
the datasheet of an op-amp
typically includes supply
voltage, differential input
voltage, input voltage, out-
ts Setting time to
0.01 per cent
(Note 7) 4 — 1.5 1.5 µs
en Equivalent input RS=100Ω — — — — —
noise voltage f=100 Hz 25 — 15 15 nV/√Hz
f=1000 Hz 20 — 12 12 nV/√Hz
i n Equivalent input f=100 Hz 0.01 — 0.01 0.01 pA/√Hz
current noise f=1000 Hz 0.01 — 0.01 0.01 pA/√Hz
CIN Input capacitance — 3 — 3 3 pF

1 0 8 • M ay 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 design

Table II
(Note 3) DC Electrical Characteristics (Continued)
Symbol Parameter Conditions LF155/6 LF256/7 LF355/6/7 Units
LF356B
Min. Typ. Max. Min. Typ. Max. Min. Typ. Max.
I B Input bias current TJ=25°C (Notes 3, 5) — 30 100 — 30 100 — 30 200 pA
TJ≤High — — 50 — — 5 — — 8 nA
RIN Input resistance TJ=25°C — 1012 — — 1012 — — 1012 — Ω
AVOL Large signal VS=±15V, TA=25°C 50 200 — 50 200 — 25 200 — V/mV
voltage gain Vo=±10V, RL=2k
Over temperature 25 — — 25 — — 15 — — V/mV
Vo Output voltage VS=±15V, RL=10k ±12 ±13 — ±12 ±13 — ±12 ±13 — V
swing VS=±15V, RL=2k ±10 ±12 — ±10 ±12 — ±10 ±12 — V
VCM Input common-mode +15.1 — ±15.1 — +15.1 — V
voltage range VS=±15V ±11 –12 — ±11
–12 — +10
–12 — V
CMRR Common-mode — 85 100 — 85 100 — 80 100 — dB
rejection ratio
PSRR Supply voltage — 85 100 — 85 100 — 80 100 — dB
rejection ratio

dependent. Differential input voltage

is another related parameter. For some
op-amps, manufacturers recommend
use of resistors in series with the two
inputs in order to limit the input cur-
rent if the differential input voltage
rating were exceeded. High-speed op-
amp AD 829 is an example.
Power dissipation rating is typically
specified at an ambient temperature of
25°C and it must be de-rated for opera-
tion at elevated temperatures as per the
specified de-rating curve or for given
values of maximum allowable junction
temperature TJ (max) and junction-to- Fig. 6: Output voltage swing versus load Fig. 7: Output voltage swing as a function of
ambient thermal resistance θJ-A in the resistance for LF156 operating temperature for LF156
absence of any de-rating curve.
current, input offset voltage, offset supply, peak-to-peak output voltage
Electrical characteristics drifts with temperature, open-lop gain, swing is specified to be 24V for a load
Electrical characteristics are categorised input resistance, output voltage swing, resistance of 2 kilo-ohms (Table II).
by some manufacturers as DC and AC. input common-mode voltage range, The parameter falls rapidly for lower
Others specify all under a common CMRR and PSRR. Gain-bandwidth values of load resistance—as is evident
heading. Key DC characteristics in- product, slew rate and settling time are from the output voltage swing versus
clude input bias current, input offset the major AC characteristics. load resistance curve given in the da-
Each of the electrical characteristics tasheet (Fig. 6).
Dependence of key is specified under certain test condi- Output voltage swing is also a
parameters on operating tions. These test conditions should not strong function of operating tempera-
temperature, load be ignored while designing an applica- ture (see Fig. 7).
tion circuit. The specified values will As another illustration, response
resistance and supply be different under different conditions time parameter is observed to be
voltages should not be and in some cases the variation could strongly dependent upon input over-
ignored while designing be significant. As an illustration, while drive. For LM 119/219/319, it im-
an application circuit. operating op-amp LF156 on ±15V proves from about 100 ns to 50 ns as

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M ay 2 0 0 9 • 1 0 9
design
tion in supply voltage and operating
temperature. Thus, while using AD829
for an application circuit that is sup-
posed to work over a temperature
range of, say, –40°C to +85°C, slew
rate could vary from 125V/µs to 175V/
µs for a supply voltage of ±5V.
Similarly, you can notice the strong
dependence of CMRR specification
of an instrumentation op-amp—one
of the most important parameters for
this type of op-amp—on both the pro-
grammed gain as well as frequency of
Fig. 8: Response time as a function of input
overdrive for LM119/219/319 operation (Fig. 10).
Thermal characteristics
Power dissipation, operating tempera-
ture range, maximum junction tem-
perature and thermal resistance (from
junction-to-ambient) are the key thermal
parameters. As outlined earlier, power
dissipation is specified at a certain am-
bient temperature (usually 25°C) and
the specified power dissipation value is
such that the junction temperature for
the specified value of power dissipa-
tion and given thermal resistance value
equals the maximum junction tempera-
Fig. 9: Slew rate as a function of supply voltage ture. Therefore it must be de-rated for
and operating temperature for AD829 elevated operational temperatures.
Also, the type number designation
contains informa-
tion about the opera-
tional temperature
range. For example,
LM741 and LM741A
offer MIL-qualified
temperature range
of –55°C to +125°C,
while LM741C offers
commercial-grade
temperature range of
0°C to +70°C. Also,
AD829J, AD829A
and AD829S offer
operating tempera-
Fig. 10: CMRR as a function of gain and frequency for AD524 ture ranges of 0°C
to +70°C, –40°C to
the input overdrive changes from 2 mV +125°C, and –55°C to +125°C, respec-
to 20 mV (Fig. 8). tively.
Dependence of slew rate on both
the supply voltage as well as oper- Other information
ating temperature is evident from In addition to listing the performance
Fig. 9. Slew rate degrades with reduc- parameters and characteristic curves,
1 1 0 • M ay 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
comprehensive datasheets include
internal schematic to highlight archi-
tectural features of the device, package
dimensions and application circuits.
Some manufacturers even describe the
theory of operation of the device with
reference to its internal schematic ar-
rangement and explain specific features
to highlight the product’s capabilities.
The application section includes a lot
of useful information for the designer.
Quite often, the designers get the idea
for the intended application circuit
from the datasheet.
To sum up
Confining yourself to the informa-
tion contained on the first page of
the datasheet is completely unpro-
fessional when you set yourself out
to do an optimal design—one that
meets all the design objectives. The
impressive look of the first page
could more often than not kill your
design. The summary of performance
specifications and product highlights
presented on the first page of the
datasheet is intended to introduce
you to the product and help you to
make a preliminary judgment about
the suitability of the device for your
application. It should not be treated
as the final word.
The datasheet with detailed list-
ing of its parameters, test conditions
under which these parameters have
been measured, performance curves
depicting variation of the param-
eters with other relevant parameters,
recommended test and application
circuits, etc reveals the true nature
of the device from the perspective of
the designer. Therefore a thorough
analysis of the datasheet of the device
being considered for use should be
the designer’s imperative and not
discretion. 
Concluded
Anil Kumar Maini is the head of EOCM and Op-
toelectronics Division and associate director at
Laser Science and Technology Centre (Defence
R&D Organisation), and Varsha Agrawal is a senior
scientist in EOCM and Optoelectronics Division at
Laser Science and Technology Centre
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
circuit
ideas
Remote-operated Master Switch
 D. Mohan Kumar
G
enerally, a bedside master
switch is used to switch
on lamps both indoors and
outdoors when there is a threat of
intruder. This circuit can be used to
activate the master switch from the
bed without searching for the switch
in darkness. It can be activated by the
TV remote handset. The security lamps
glow for three minutes and then turn
off. The circuit is sensitive and can be
activated from a distance of up to 25
metres.
IR receiver module TSOP 1738
(IRX1) is used to sense the pulsed
38kHz IR rays from the TV remote
handset. The IR receiver module has
a PIN photodiode and a preamplifier
enclosed in an IR filter epoxy case. Its
open-collector output is 5 volts at 5mA
current in the standby mode.
In the standby mode, no IR rays
from the remote handset fall on the IR
receiver, so its output pin 3 remains
high and LED1 doesn’t glow. Through
resistor R2, the base of transistor T1
remains high and it does not conduct.
As a result, the voltage at pin 3 of IC
CA3130 (IC1) remains low. The poten-
8 8 • a p r i l 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
tial divider comprising resistors R4 and
R5 maintains half of 5.1V at pin 2 of
IC1. In brief, the voltage at pin 2 of IC1
is higher than at pin 3 and its output
remains low. LED2 remains ‘off’ and
transistor T2 does not conduct. Relay
RL1 remains de-energised and, as a re-
sult, security lamps (both indoors and
outdoors) remain switched off.
When you press any key of the
remote TV handset, IR rays fall on the
receiver (IRX1) and its output goes low.
LED1 flashes in sync with pulsation of
the IR rays. At the same time, transis-
tor T1 (BC558) conducts to take pin 3 of
IC1 high. IC1 is used as a comparator
with timer action.
When transistor T1 conducts, pin 3
of IC1 gets a higher voltage than pin 2
making the output of IC1 high. Mean-
while, capacitor C4 charges to full
voltage and keeps pin 3 high for a few
minutes even after T1 is non-conduct-
ing. Resistor R3 provides discharge
path for capacitor C4, which decides
the time period for which the output of
comparator IC1 should remain high.
The high output of IC1 energises re-
lay RL1 through relay-driver transistor
T2. Thus the load, i.e., security lamps,
turn on for three to four minutes. LED2
edi
s.c. dwiv
glows to indicate activation of the
relay as well as switching ‘on’ of the
security lights. Connect a single-pole,
single-throw ‘on’/‘off’ switch (MS) to
activate the security lamps manually
when required.
Zener diode ZD1 provides 5.1V DC
for safe operation of the IR receiver
and associated circuit. Power for the
circuit is derived from a step-down
transformer (X1) and a bridge recti-
fier comprising diodes D1 through D4.
Smoothing capacitor C1 removes rip-
ples, if any, from the power supply.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and enclose in a suitable
cabinet. Drill holes on the front panel
for mounting the IR sensor and LEDs.
Connect the master switch between the
normally-open (N/O) contact and pole
of relay RL1 so that the master switch
can be used when needed. The relay
contacts rating should be more than
4A. Mount the unit near the master
switch using minimal wiring. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 circuit
ideas

USB Power Socket s.c. dwiv

edi

 T.K. Hareendran

T
oday, almost all computers con-
tain logic blocks for implement-
ing a USB port. A USB port, in
practice, is capable of delivering more
than 100 mA of continuous current at
5V to the peripherals that are connected
to the bus. So a USB port can be used,
without any trouble, for powering 5V
DC operated tiny electronic gadgets.
Nowadays, many handheld de-
vices (for instance, portable reading Fig. 1: Circuit of USB power socket

lamps) utilise this facility of the USB

port to recharge their built-in bat- Assemble the
tery pack with the help of an internal CIGAR
COIL CORD
USB POWER SOCKET circuit on a gen-
PLUG WITH INDICATOR
circuitry. Usually 5V DC, 100mA cur- eral-purpose PCB
rent is required to satisfy the input and enclose in a
power demand. slim plastic cabi-
Fig. 1 shows the circuit of a versatile Fig. 2: Interconnection of cigar plug and USB power net along with the
socket using a coil cord Fig. 3: Pin
USB power socket that safely converts indicator and USB
configuration
the 12V battery voltage into stable 5V. of LM317L (To- socket. While wir-
This circuit makes it possible to power/ Capacitor C1 buffers any disorder in 92 package) ing the USB out-
recharge any USB power-operated de- the input supply. Resistors R1 and R2 let, ensure correct
vice, using in-dash board cigar lighter regulate the output of IC1 to steady 5V, polarity of the supply. For intercon-
socket of your car. which is available at the ‘A’ type female nection between the cigar plug pin
The DC supply available from the USB socket. Red LED1 indicates the out- and the device, use a long coil cord as
cigar lighter socket is fed to an adjust- put status and zener diode ZD1 acts as a shown in Fig. 2. Pin configuration of
able, three-pin regulator LM317L (IC1). protector against high voltage. LM317L is shown in Fig. 3. 

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • a p r i l 2 0 0 9 • 8 9
circuit
ideas
Solar Panel based Charger
and Small LED Lamp
 P.V. Vinod Kumar Thekkumuri
Y
ou can save on your electric-
ity bills by switching to alter-
native sources of power. The
photovoltaic module or solar panel
Fig. 1: Circuit of solar panel based charger
Fig. 2: LED lamp circuit
described here is capable of deliver-
ing a power of 5 watts. At full sun-
light, the solar panel outputs 16.5V.
It can deliver a current of 300-350
mA. Using it you can charge three
8 0 • M ay 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
types of batteries: lead acid, Ni-Cd
and Li-ion. The lead-acid batteries
are commonly used in emergency
lamps and UPS.
The working of the circuit is sim-
ple. The output of the solar panel is
fed via diode 1N5402 (D1), which
acts as a polarity guard and pro-
tects the solar panel. An ammeter
is connected in series between
diode D1 and fuse to measure the
current flowing during charging
of the batteries. As shown in Fig.
1, we have used an analogue mul-
timeter in 500mA range. Diode
D2 is used for protection against
reverse polarity in case of wrong
connection of the lead-acid battery.
When you connect wrong polarity,
the fuse will blow up.
For charging a lead-acid bat-
tery, shift switch S1 to ‘on’ posi-
tion and use connector ‘A.’ After
you connect the battery, charging
starts from the solar panel via diode
D1, multimeter and fuse. Note that
pulsating DC is the best for charging
lead-acid batteries. If you use this cir-
edi
s.c. dwiv
cuit for charging a lead-acid battery,
replace it with a normal pulsating DC
charger once a week. Keep checking
the water level of the lead-
acid battery. Pure DC voltage
normally leads to deposition
of sulphur on the plates of
lead-acid batteries.
For charging Ni-Cd cells,
shift switches S1 and S3 to
‘on’ position and use con-
nector ‘B.’ Regulator IC 7806
(IC1) is wired as a constant-
current source and its output
is taken from the middle ter-
minal (normally grounded).
Using this circuit, a constant
current goes to Ni-Cd cell for
charging. A total of four 1.2V
cells are used here. Resistor
R2 limits the charging cur-
rent.
For charging Li-ion battery
(used in mobile phones), shift switches
S1 and S2 to ‘on’ position and use con-
nector ‘C.’ Regulator IC 7805 (IC2) pro-
vides 5V for charging the Li-ion bat-
tery. Using this circuit, you can charge
a 3.6V Li-ion cell very easily. Resistor
R3 limits the charging current.
Fig. 2 shows the circuit for a small
LED-based lamp. It is simple and low-
cost. Six 10mm white LEDs (LED2
through LED7) are used here. Just
connect them in parallel and drive
directly by a 3.6V DC source. You can
use either pencil-type Ni-Cd batteries
or rechargeable batteries as the power
source.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and enclose in a small box.
Mount RCA socket on the front panel of
the box and wire RCA plug with cable
for connecting the battery and LED-
based lamp to the charger. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
circuit
ideas

PC POWER MANAGER s.c. dwiv

edi

 T.K. Hareendran fier comprising diodes D1 through D4,

smoothed by capacitors C1 and C2,

V
ery often we forget to switch and regulated by IC LM7812 (IC1). The To activate the PC manager circuit,
off the connected peripher- regulated 12V DC is used to energise proceed as follows: Press ‘start’ switch
als like monitor, scanner and relay RL1. LED1 works as a power- S1 and hold it in this position for a
printer while switching off our PC. ‘active’ indicator. few minutes. When power-‘active’
This leads to needless energy con- To set up the circuit, first connect indicator LED1 lights up, relay RL1
sumption and possible shortening of the input socket (SOC1) of the circuit energises and the 230V mains power
the life of the peripheral. PCs with to a proper AC mains wall outlet us- supply from SOC1 is fed to output
an ATX switch-mode power supply ing a three-core power cable. Now socket SOC2 through the contacts of
(SMPS) unit are not provided with a connect one end of a standard USB relay RL1.
mains switch outlet. It is therefore not cable to the B-type USB
possible to achieve automatic switch- input socket and the
ing (on/off) of peripheral units with other end of the cable
the computer power switch. to any vacant USB port
Here is a simple circuit that turns (A-type) of the PC. Fi-
the connected peripherals on/off along nally, plug one standard
with your PC. It consists of a regulated four-way switchboard
power supply, a simple USB interface (extension cord) into the
and two electromagnetic relays used as supply output socket
power switches. (SOC2) of the circuit
The power supply for the circuit is and take power from
derived from the AC mains via trans- this switchboard to acti-
former X1. The 15V AC available at vate all loads like moni-
the secondary winding of transformer tor, scanner, printer and
X1 is first rectified by a bridge recti- even your PC. Fig. 2: Wiring diagram for PC power manager

Fig. 1: Circuit of PC power manager

8 4 • J u n e 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

Now start your computer as usual,
by pressing the power button on the
front panel. When the PC runs, there
will be 5V DC at the USB interface
socket. As a result, relay RL2 energises
via diode D6. The contacts of relay RL2
close switch S1 permanently, and LED2
glows continuously.
Release ‘start’ switch S1. Now your
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
PC manager is ready to use.
When you switch off your PC, relay
RL2 de-energises. As a result, electric
power from the switchboard (to which
all peripherals are connected) is cut off.
Switch S2 works here as an emergency
bypass switch.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and enclose in a suitable
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • J u n e 2 0 0 9 • 8 5
circuit
ideas
cabinet. Connect SOC1, SOC2 and USB
socket along with switches S1 and S2
and LEDs (LED1 and LED2) on the
front panel of the cabinet. Refer Fig. 2
for connections.
EFY note. Take care during fab-
rication and testing, as the circuit is
at mains potential and may give you
lethal shock. 
circuit
ideas
Constant-Current
Battery Charger
 Monoj Das
T
here are many ways of battery
charging but constant-current
charging, in particular, is a
popular method for lead-acid and Ni-
Cd batteries. In this circuit, the battery
is charged with a constant current that
is generally one-tenth of the battery
capacity in ampere-hours. So for a
4.5Ah battery, constant charging cur-
rent would be 450 mA.
This battery charger has the follow-
ing features:
1. It can charge 6V, 9V and 12V bat-
teries. Batteries rated at other voltages
can be charged by changing the values
of zener diodes ZD1 and ZD2.
2. Constant current can be set as
per the battery capacity by using a
potmeter and multimeter in series with
the battery.
3. Once the battery is fully charged,
it will attain certain voltage level (e.g.
1 1 4 • Au g u s t 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
13.5-14.2V in the case of a 12V battery),
give indication and the charger will
switch off automatically. You need not
remove the battery from the circuit.
4. If the battery is discharged be-
low a limit, it will give deep-discharge
indication.
5. Quiescent current is less than 5
mA and mostly due to zeners.
6. DC source voltage (VCC) ranges
from 9V to 24V.
7. The charger is short-circuit pro-
tected.
D1 is a low-forward-drop schottky
diode SB560 having peak reverse volt-
age (PRV) of 60V at 5A or a 1N5822
diode having 40V PRV at 3A. Nor-
mally, the minimum DC source volt-
age should be ‘D1 drop+Full charged
battery voltage+VDSS+ R2 drop,’ which
is approximately ‘Full charged battery
voltage+5V.’ For example, if we take
full-charge voltage as 14V for a 12V
battery, the source voltage should be
s.c. dwiv
edi
14+5=19V.
For the sake of simplicity, this con-
stant-current battery charger circuit is
divided into three sections: constant-
current source, overcharge protection
and deep-discharge protection sec-
tions.
The constant-current source is
built around MOSFET T5, transistor
T1, diodes D1 and D2, resistors R1, R2,
R10 and R11, and potmeter VR1. Diode
D2 is a low-temperature-coefficient,
highly stable reference diode LM236-5.
LM336-5 can also be used with reduced
operating temperature range of 0 to
+70°C. Gate-source voltage (VGS) of T5
is set by adjusting VR1 slightly above
4V. By setting VGS, charging current
can be fixed depending on the battery
capacity. First, decide the charging
current (one-tenth of the battery’s Ah
capacity) and then calculate the nearest
standard value of R2 as follows:
R2 = 0.7/Safe fault current
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

R2 and T1 limit the charging cur-
rent if something fails or battery termi-
nals get short-circuited accidentally.
To set a charging current, while
a multimeter is connected in series
with the battery and source supply is
present, adjust potmeter VR1 slowly
until the charging current reaches its
required value.
Overcharge and deep-discharge
protection have been shown in dotted
areas of the circuit diagram. All com-
ponents in these areas are subjected to
a maximum of the battery voltage and
not the DC source voltage. This makes
the circuit work under a wide range of
source voltages and without any influ-
ence from the charging current value.
Set overcharge and deep-discharge
voltage of the battery using potmeters
VR1 and VR2 before charging the bat-
tery.
In overcharge protection, zener
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
diode ZD1 starts conducting after
its breakdown voltage is reached,
i.e., it conducts when the battery
voltage goes beyond a prefixed high
level. Adjust VR2 when the battery
is fully charged (say, 13.5V in case of
a 12V battery) so that VGS of T5 is set
to zero and hence charging current
stops flowing to the battery. LED1
glows to indicate that the battery is
fully charged. When LED1 glows, the
internal LED of the optocoupler also
glows and the internal transistor con-
ducts. As a result, gate-source voltage
(VGS) of MOSFET T5 becomes zero and
charging stops.
Normally, zener diode ZD2 con-
ducts to drive transistor T3 into con-
duction and thus make transistor T4
cut-off. If the battery terminal voltage
drops to, say, 11V in case of a 12V bat-
tery, adjust potmeter VR3 such that
transistor T3 is cut-off and T4 conducts.
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • Au g u s t 2 0 0 9 • 1 1 5
circuit
ideas
LED2 will glow to indicate that the bat-
tery voltage is low.
Values of zener diodes ZD1 and
ZD2 will be the same for 6V, 9V and
12V batteries. For other voltages, you
need to suitably change the values of
ZD1 and ZD2. Charging current pro-
vided by this circuit is 1 mA to 1 A, and
no heat-sink is required for T5. If the
maximum charging current required is
5A, put another LM236-5 in series with
diode D2, change the value of R11 to 1
kilo-ohm, replace D1 with two SB560
devices in parallel and provide a good
heat-sink for MOSFET T1. TO-220 pack-
age of IRF540 can handle up to 50W.
Assemble the circuit on a gen-
eral-purpose PCB and enclose in a
box after setting the charging current,
overcharge voltage and deep-discharge
voltage. Mount potmeters VR1, VR2
and VR3 on the front panel of the
box. 
circuit
ideas

Multitone Siren s.c. dwiv

edi

 Pradeep G. and small audio amplifier LM386. IC

4060 is used as the multitone genera-

T
his multitone siren is useful for tor. A 100µH inductor is used at the These multifrequency signals are
burglar alarms, reverse horns, input of IC 4060. So it oscillates within mixed and fed to the audio amplifier
etc. It produces five different the range of about 5MHz RF. IC 4060 built around IC LM386.
audio tones and is much more ear- itself divides RF signals into AF and The output of IC2 is fed to the
catching than a single-tone siren. ultrasonic ranges. Audio signals of speaker through capacitor C9. If you
The circuit is built around popular different frequencies are available at want louder sound, use power ampli-
CMOS oscillator-cum-divider IC 4060 pins 1, 2, 3, 13 and 15 of IC 4060 (IC1). fier TBA810 or TDA1010.
Only five out-
puts of IC1 are used
here as the other
five outputs (pins
4 through 7 and 14)
produce ultrasonic
signals, which are
not audible.
Assemble the
circuit on a gen-
eral-purpose PCB
and enclose in a
suitable cabinet.
Regulated 6V-12V
(or a battery) can be
used to power the
circuit. 

1 1 8 • Au g u s t 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
circuit
ideas
Mini UPS System
 D. Mohan Kumar
T
his circuit provides an uninter-
rupted power supply (UPS)
to operate 12V, 9V and 5V
DC-powered instruments at up to 1A
current. The backup battery takes up
the load without spikes or delay when
the mains power gets interrupted. It
can also be used as a workbench power
supply that provides 12V, 9V and 5V
operating voltages. The circuit im-
mediately disconnects the load when
the battery voltage reduces to 10.5V to
prevent deep discharge of the battery.
LED1 indication is provided to show
the full charge voltage level of the bat-
tery. miniature white LEDs (LED2 and
LED3) are used as emergency lamps
during power failure at night.
A standard step-down trans-
former provides 12V of AC, which
is rectified by diodes D1 and D2. Ca-
pacitor C1 provides ripple-free DC to
charge the battery and to the remain-
ing circuit. When the mains power is
on, diode D3 gets forward biased to
charge the battery. Resistor R1 limits
the charging current. Potentiometer
VR1 (10k) with transistor T1 acts as
the voltage comparator to indicate
the voltage level. VR1 is so adjusted
that LED1 is in the ‘off’ mode. when
the battery is fully charged, LED1
glows indicating a full voltage level
of 12V.
9 4 • N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
When the mains power fails,
diode D3 gets reverse biased and
D4 gets forward biased so that the
battery can automatically take up
the load without any delay. When
the battery voltage or input voltage
falls below 10.5V, a cut-off circuit is
used to prevent deep discharging of
the battery. Resistor R3, zener diode
ZD1 (10.5V) and transistor T2 form
the cut-off circuit. When the volt-
age level is above 10.5V, transistor
T2 conducts and its base becomes
negative (as set by R3, VR2 and ZD1).
But when the voltage reduces below
10.5V, the zener diode stops conduc-
tion and the base voltage of transis-
tor T2 becomes positive. It goes into
the ‘cut-off’ mode and prevents the
current in the output stage. Preset
VR2 (22k) adjusts the voltage below
0.6V to make T2 work if the voltage
is above 10.5V.
When power from the mains is
available, all output voltages—12V,
9V and 5V—are ready to run the
load. On the other hand, when the
mains power is down, output volt-
ages can run the load only when the
battery is fully charged (as indicated
by LED1). For the partially charged
battery, only 9V and 5V are available.
Also, no output is available when the
voltage goes below 10.5V. If battery
voltage varies between 10.5V and
13V, output at terminal A may also
s.c. dwiv
edi
vary between 10.5V and 12V, when
the UPS system is in battery mode.
Outputs at points B and C provide
9V and 5V, respectively, through regu-
lator ICs (IC1 and IC2), while output
A provides 12V through the zener
diode. The emergency lamp uses two
ultra-bright white LEDs (LED2 and
LED3) with current limiting resistors
R5 and R6. The lamp can be manually
switched ‘on’ and ‘off’ by S1.
the circuit is assembled on a gen-
eral-purpose PCB. There is adequate
space between the components to
avoid overlapping. heat sinks for tran-
sistor T2 and regulator ICs (7809 and
7805) to dissipate heat are used.
The positive and negative rails
should be strong enough to handle
high current. Before connecting the
circuit to the battery and transformer,
connect it to a variable power supply.
Provide 12V DC and adjust VR1 till
LED1 glows. After setting the high
voltage level, reduce the voltage to
10.5V and adjust VR2 till the output
trips off. After the settings are com-
plete, remove the variable power sup-
ply and connect a fully-charged battery
to the terminals and see that LED1 is
on. After making all the adjustments
connect the circuit to the battery and
transformer. The battery used in the
circuit is a 12V, 4.5Ah UPS battery. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
circuit
ideas
Pyroelectric fire alarm
 D. Mohan Kumar
H
ere is an ultra-sensitive fire
sensor that exploits the direct
piezoelectric property of an
ordinary piezo element to detect fire.
The lead zirconate titanate crystals in
the piezo element have the property
to deform and generate an electric
Fig. 1: Pyroelectric fire sensor
Fig. 2: Power supply with battery backup
potential when heated, thus convert-
ing the piezo element into a heat sen-
sor. The circuit described here is very
sensitive. It gives a warning alarm if
the room temperature increases more
than 10°C. The entire circuit has two
sections—the sensor and the power
supply section.
Sensor side circuit. Fig. 1 shows the
fire sensor circuit. The front end of the
circuit has a sensitive signal amplifier
built around IC1 (CA3130). It gives a
high output when temperature near
the piezo element increases. IC CA3130
is a CMOS operational amplifier with
9 2 • D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
gate protected p-channel MOSFETs
in the inputs. It has high speed of
performance and low input current re-
quirements. There are two inputs—the
non-inverting input (pin 3) connected
to the piezo element through diode D7
(OA71) that carries the voltage signal
from the piezo element and the invert-
ing input (pin 2) that gets a preset volt-
age through
VR1.
By ad-
justing VR1,
it is easy to
set the ref-
erence volt-
age level
at pin 2. In
normal con-
dition, IC1
gives a low
output and the remaining circuitry is
in a standby state. Capacitor C2 keeps
the non-inverting input of IC1 stable,
so that even a slight change in volt-
age level in the inputs can change the
output to high.
Normally, IC1 gives a low output,
keeping transistor T1 non-conduct-
ing. Reseting pin 12 of IC2 (CD4060)
connected to the collector of transistor
T1 gets a high voltage through R5 and
IC2 remains disabled. When the piezo
element gets heat from fire, asymmetry
in its crystals causes a potential change,
enabling capacitor C2 to discharge. It
s.c. dwiv
edi
momentarily changes the voltage level
at pin 3 of IC1 and its output swings
high. Transistor T1 conducts taking
the reset pin 12 of IC2 to ground. IC2
is now enabled and starts oscillating.
With the shown values of the oscil-
lating components C3 (0.22µ) and R6
(1M), the first output (Q3) turns high
after a few seconds and a red LED2
starts flashing. If heat near the piezo
persists, Q7 (pin 14) output of IC2 be-
comes high after one minute, and the
alarm starts beeping. If heat contin-
ues, Q9 (pin 15) turns high after four
minutes and turns on the relay driver
transistor T2. At the same time, diode
D8 conducts and IC2 stops oscillating
and toggles.
The solenoid pump connected to
the N/O (normally opened) contact of
the relay starts spraying the fire-ceas-
ing foam or water to the possible sites
of fire.
Power supply circuit. Power
supply section (Fig. 2) comprises a
0-12V, 1A step-down transformer
with a standard full-wave rectifier
formed by D1 through D4 and filter
capacitor C1. A battery backup is
provided if the mains supply is cut-off
due to short-circuit and fire. A 12V,
4.5Ah rechargeable battery is used
for backup to give sufficient current
to the solenoid pump. When mains
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

power is available, diode D5 forward
biases. It provides power to the circuit
and also charges the battery through
resistor R2, and it limits the charging
current to 120 mA. When power fails,
diode D5 reverse biases and diode D6
forward biases, giving instant backup
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
to the circuit. LED1 indicates the avail-
ability of mains power.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and enclose it in a suit-
able case. Connect the piezo element
to the circuit using a thin insulated
wire. Glue the flat side of the piezo el-
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 9 • 9 3
circuit
ideas
ement on a 30×30cm aluminium sheet
to increase its sensitivity. Fix the sheet
with the piezo sensor to the site where
protection is needed. The remaining
circuit can be fixed at a suitable place.
If only the alarm generator is needed,
omit the relay driver section. 