3.

6 Relay
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use
an electromagnet to mechanically operate a switch, but other operating
principles are also used, such as solid-state relays. Relays are used where
it is necessary to control a circuit by a separate low-power signal, or
where several circuits must be controlled by one signal. The first relays
were used in long distance telegraph circuits as amplifiers: they repeated
the signal coming in from one circuit and re-transmitted it on another
circuit. Relays were used extensively in telephone exchanges and early
computers to perform logical operations.

A type of relay that can handle the high power required to directly
control an electric motor or other loads is called a contactor. Solid-state
relays control power circuits with no moving parts, instead using a
semiconductor device to perform switching. Relays with calibrated
operating characteristics and sometimes multiple operating coils are
used to protect electrical circuits from overload or faults; in modern
electric power systems these functions are performed by digital
instruments still called "protective relays".
Magnetic latching relays require one pulse of coil power to move their
contacts in one direction, and another, redirected pulse to move them
back. Repeated pulses from the same input have no effect. Magnetic
latching relays are useful in applications where interrupted power should
not be able to transition the contacts.
Magnetic latching relays can have either single or dual coils. On a single
coil device, the relay will operate in one direction when power is applied
with one polarity, and will reset when the polarity is reversed. On a dual
coil device, when polarized voltage is applied to the reset coil the
contacts will transition. AC controlled magnetic latch relays have single
coils that employ steering diodes to differentiate between operate and
reset commands.

3.6.1 Relay Pin Configuration

Pin
Pin Name Description
Number
 Used to trigger(On/Off) the Relay,
1 Coil End 1 Normally one end is connected to 5V
and the other end to ground

Used to trigger(On/Off) the Relay,

2 Coil End 2 Normally one end is connected to 5V
and the other end to ground

Common is connected to one End of

3 Common (COM)
the Load that is to be controlled

The other end of the load is either

Normally Close connected to NO or NC. If connected
4
(NC) to NC the load remains connected
before trigger

The other end of the load is either

Normally Open connected to NO or NC. If connected
5
(NO) to NO the load remains disconnected
before trigger

3.6.2 Features of 5-Pin 12V Relay

 Trigger Voltage (Voltage across coil) : 12V DC
 Trigger Current (Nominal current) : 70mA
 Maximum AC load current: 10A @ 250/125V AC
 Maximum DC load current: 10A @ 30/28V DC
  Compact 5-pin configuration with plastic moulding
 Operating time: 10msec Release time: 5msec
 Maximum switching: 300 operating/minute (mechanically)

3.6.3 How to use a Relay

Relays are most commonly used switching device in electronics. Let us
learn how to use one in our circuits based on the requirement of our
project.
Before we proceed with the circuit to drive the relay we have to consider
two important parameter of the relay. Once is the Trigger Voltage, this is
the voltage required to turn on the relay that is to change the contact
from Common->NC to Common->NO. Our relay here has 5V trigger
voltage, but you can also find relays of values 3V, 6V and even 12V so
select one based on the available voltage in your project. The other
parameter is your Load Voltage & Current, this is the amount of voltage
or current that the NC,NO or Common terminal of the relay could
withstand, in our case for DC it is maximum of 30V and 10A. Make sure
the load you are using falls into this range. 
The above circuit shows a bare-minimum concept for a relay to operate.
Since the relay has 5V trigger voltage we have used a +5V DC supply to
one end of the coil and the other end to ground through a switch.
This switch can be anything from a small transistor to a microcontroller
or a microprocessor which can perform switching operating. You can
also notice a diode connected across the coil of the relay, this diode is
called the Fly back Diode. The purpose of the diode is to protect the
switch from high voltage spike that can produced by the relay coil. As
shown one end of the load can be connected to the Common pin and the
other end is either connected to NO or NC. If connected to NO the load
remains disconnected before trigger and if connected to NC the load
remains connected before trigger.

POWER SUPPLY
Rectifier

In the previous section we discussed the use of alternating current to

form the basis of a power supply for electronic components. In that
section we learnt the difference between peak and rms voltage. At the
end of the section we posed an interesting problem which was that if an
alternating current supply is to be used to power modern electronic
circuits then we must have a way of changing a.c. into d.c.

There are a couple of stages in the conversion process, and we will

consider the first of these in this topic – the process of rectification. To
achieve this we will need to use one of the components we met in Topic
2.3, and this is the silicon diode.
 Anode Cathode

Conventional current flows in this direction.

You should remember from our previous work that the diode has the
following characteristic, i.e. only allows current to flow in one direction.
Silicon Diode Characteristic

18

16

14

12

10
Current (mA)

0
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1

-2
Voltage Applied (V)

Now we will consider what happens when an a.c. source is applied to a

silicon diode.

This symbol represents a transformer

– a device for changing the dangerous
high voltage

mains a.c. into low voltage a.c.

The graph from the oscilloscope below shows the effect of diode on the
a.c. voltage. The blue trace, shows the output from the step down
transformer or a.c. voltage source, and the red trace shows the output
after the diode.

ii

iii

There are a couple of things to notice from the graph:

i. The negative part of the a.c. graph has been removed.

 ii. The voltage across the resistor is now a variable voltage d.c. signal.
iii.The peak voltage across the resistor is 0.7V less than peak of the
input signal due to the voltage drop across the diode.
The process of changing a.c. into d.c. is called rectification. The graph
shows that we have created a variable voltage d.c. output from an a.c.
source.
Unfortunately this method of rectification wastes 50% of the energy
from the a.c. source because the negative half cycle is completely
blocked from the load resistor by the diode. This particular circuit is
called a half-wave rectifier.

A much improved version involves 3 extra diodes arranged in an

unusual pattern called a bridge rectifier as shown below.

Input
Voltage

Output
Voltage

Consider the flow of current during each half cycle of an a.c. input using
the diagrams below:

+
 First Half Cycle Second Half Cycle
+
A careful examination of the
current flowing through the load
_
resistor, shows that current flows
in both half cycles of the a.c.
input. The current also flows in
the same direction, i.e. we have
achieved a variable voltage d.c. output once again.
If we now consider the bridge rectifier in a circuit, and monitor the
output across the load resistor as before then the circuit and oscilloscope
trace will look like those shown below.
 FIG: VOLTAGE REGULATOR WAVEFORM
The blue trace shows the output of the transformer or a.c. source, and the
red trace shows the voltage across the resistor. There are a couple of
things to notice from the graph:

i. The negative part of the a.c. graph has been flipped to provide a
second positive pulse within the same cycle, called full-wave
rectification.
ii. The voltage across the resistor is now a variable voltage d.c. signal.
iii.The peak voltage across the resistor is 1.4V less than peak of the
input signal due to the voltage drop across the two conducting
diodes in the bridge rectifier.
The process of rectification is the first stage of converting an a.c. source
into a d.c. source suitable for operating electronic circuits. The output
produced by the half-wave rectifier and full-wave rectifier are both
unsuitable for electronic circuits because of the ‘pulsing’ nature of the
output.
We can use the work from our previous topic to determine the peak
value of any rms a.c. input voltage. The peak output voltage will then
depend on whether the rectification method is half-wave or full-wave.

i. If half-wave rectification is used then the peak output voltage value

will be 0.7V less than the peak a.c. voltage due to a single diode
being used.
ii. If full-wave rectification is used then the peak output voltage value
will be 1.4V less than the peak a.c. voltage due to two 0.7V diode
drops in the bridge rectifier.

Clearly we have not achieved a suitable d.c. supply for electronic

circuits yet, but we have completed everything needed for this particular
section – let’s look at a couple of examples before moving on.
Example: A 6V rms a.c. source is half wave rectified, and connected to
a 1kΩ load resistor.

i) Calculate the peak value of the output voltage.

ii) Draw a sketch graph of the input voltage and output voltage:

Label all important values.

Solution:
i) Input Voltage = 6V rms
 Peak voltage = √ 2×V rms =1. 414×6=8 . 48 V ≈8 .5 V

Peak Output voltage = 8 . 48−0. 7=7 .78 V ≈7 .8 V

ii) Draw a sketch graph of the input voltage and output voltage
on the grid below:

Voltage

8.5V
7.8V

time

-8.5V

Voltage regulator
7812 is a 12V Voltage Regulator that restricts the voltage output
to 12V and draws 12V regulated power supply. The 7812 is the most
common, as its regulated 12-volt supply provides a convenient power
source for most TTL components.
7812 is a series of 78XX voltage regulators. For ICs within the family,
the xx is replaced with two digits, indicating the output voltage (for
example, the 7805 has a 5-volt output, while the 7812 produces
12 volts).
 
Applications

 Circuits requiring steady 12v supply

 Protection for devices having specific voltage sensitivity
 DIY projects requiring specific voltage from an existing higher/
varying voltage supply

 
Features

 Fixed 12V voltage regulators

 Thermal overload protection
 Short circuit protection
 Output transition SOA protection
 Heatsink is required *

 
Specifications

 Output Type: Fixed

 Output Voltage: +12V DC
 Current Output: up to 1.5A
 Input Voltage: 14.6 - 35VDC
 Quiescent (standby) current: 8mA
 Dropout Voltage (Max): 2V @ 1A
 Category: Linear Voltage Regulators - Standard
 Polarity: Positive
 Operating Temperature: 0 to +125°C
 Mounting Style: Through Hole
 Pin Spacing Pitch: 2.54mm
  Hole Diameter: 3.8mm
 Dimensions: 10.4 x 4.6 x 9.15mm

FIG: 7812 PIN DIAGRAM

 
Linear regulator like 7812 has performance issues with respect to battery
life and Power loss. If you are looking for an alternative for 7812 with
better efficiency and less power loss, then we would recommend a DC
Buck Switching voltage regulator. 
7805
7805 is a voltage regulator integrated circuit. It is a member of 78xx
series of fixed linear voltage regulator ICs. The voltage source in a
circuit may have fluctuations and would not give the fixed voltage
output. The voltage regulator IC maintains the output voltage at a
constant value. The xx in 78xx indicates the fixed output voltage it is
designed to provide. 7805 provides +5V regulated power supply.
Capacitors of suitable values can be connected at input and output pins
depending upon the respective voltage levels.
 FIG: 7812 Pin description
Pin Description: 
 

Pin
Function Name
No

1 Input voltage (5V-18V) Input

2 Ground (0V) Ground

3 Regulated output; 5V (4.8V-5.2V) Output