This Instructable will show you how to make a Portable Digital Optical Tachometer

using an Arduino Uno.

Instead of a slotted sensor , it has a reflection based sensor. So :

1. You don't have to worry about the thickness of the rotor

2. The number of blades won't change your readings

3. It can also read the RPM of drum style rotors which slotted sensor can't

What is a tachometer ?

A tachometer is a device used to measure the RPM or Revolutions Per Minute of any
rotating body. Tachometers can be contact based or non-contact ones. The non-contact or
contact-less optical tachometers usually use laser or Infrared beam to monitor the rotation
of any body. This is done by calculating time taken for one rotation.

FEATURES
 It can measure RPM over 20k
 Sensor range extends upto 7~8 cm
 Displays Maximum RPM when left Idle
 Automatically toggles modes from "Idle" to "reading"
 Can be adjusted to match the ambient lighting conditions
 It is comparatively cheap and easy to build
 Can work without an LCD
 Programmable and supports customization
 Connect an SD card to the Arduino to keep logs

Attachments

 LCD_TACHOMETER.ino

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Step 1: Part List :

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Electronics

 Arduino
 Resistors - 33k , 270 ohm , 10k potentiometer
 LED - blue
 IR LED and Photodiode
 16 x 2 LCD
 74HC595 shift Register
 Ribbon cable ( 3 wire )
 Perfboard and headers

Tools and Hardware

 Soldering Iron
 Solder
 Pins
 Screws
 Motors and DC fan

Step 2: Build the Sensor

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For the sensor you'll need an IR LED and a Photodiode.

1. Start by sanding the LED and photodiode to make it flat ( do not sand it too much or
you'll destroy it ).

2. Then fold a strip of paper sheet as shown. Make two such Structures so that the LED and
Photodiode fit tightly into it. Joint these together by glue and paint them black.
3. Insert your LED and Photodiode in them in such a way that the positive ( longer ) lead of
the LED is right above the shorter lead of the photodiode.

4. Glue them into the cover using superglue and solder the positive ( longer ) lead of the
LED to the shorter lead of the photodiode.

5. Solder the 3 wire ribbon cable to the remaining leads

In my case :

1. Orange wire --> LED's positive pin and photodiode's shorter lead

2. Yellow wire --> photodiode's longer lead

3. Green Wire --> LED's ground pin

You're ready to make the board >>

Step 3: Making the Sensor Board

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Take a small piece of Perfboard and place the components according to the schematics.

The resistor values may vary depending on what kind of photodiode are you using.

The potentiometer helps in reducing or increasing the sensitivity of the sensor.

Finally solder the sensor wires as shown and solder 3 headers.

The headers ( in order ) are shown on the left side of the schematic.

make a cuboidal paper tube whose length is equal to the sensor wires.

Step 4: The 3-pin LCD

This method uses a 8-bit shift register 74HC595 with a 16 x 2 LCD. Normally this LCD
uses 6 pins but using a shift register reduces the pin requirement by 3.

The full instruction guide and the library can be downloaded from THIS WEBSITE !

## Recent Update : The library provided on the website has a lot of errors and
conflicts. I've uploaded my version of enhanced ShiftLCD library. I recommend you
to use the one attached below.

The only thing that I've changed is :

instead of going for (2, 4, 3) configuration I've used (8, 10, 9)

So be sure to change the pin mapping accordingly

Attachments

 ShiftLCD.rar

Step 5: Make the Box

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You can use any type of case for this but I've used a piece of cardboard to make enclosure.

Cut the cardboard as shown and cut appropriate sized slits for the USB port , power jack
and the sensor board.

Mount the Arduino on the platform using screws.

Attach the sensor and push it through the hole.

Connect the LCD to Arduino as shown.

Close the box and paint.

Step 6: Finishing Touch

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Make a small ( 5mm ) hole to fix the status LED. Solder a 270 ohm resistor to the LED and
insert it into pin 12 on Arduino.

Fold the cardboard along the lines to complete the enclosure. Keep the folds in place by
using pins.

Cover the sensor with a cubical paper tube to give additional mechanical strength.

Place the LCD module over the box.

Your device is ready for calibration and programming.

Step 7: Program
Code
COPY THIS CODE INTO YOUR ARDUINO IDE
#include<ShiftLCD.h>

ShiftLCD lcd(8 ,10 , 9); // DEFINE LCD PINS

volatile byte REV; // VOLATILE DATA TYPE TO STORE REVOLUTIONS

unsigned long int rpm, maxRPM; // DEFINE RPM AND MAXIMUM RPM

unsigned long time; // DEFINE TIME TAKEN TO COVER ONE REVOLUTION

int ledPin = 12; // STATUS LED

int led = 0,RPMlen , prevRPM; // INTEGERS TO STORE LED VALUE AND CURRENT RPM AND PREVIOUS RPM

int flag = 0; // A VARIABLE TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE LCD NEEDS TO BE CLEARED OR NOT

long prevtime = 0; // STORE IDLE TIME TO TOGGLE MENU

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600); // GET VALUES USING SERIAL MONITOR

lcd.begin(16, 2); // INITIATE LCD

attachInterrupt(0, RPMCount, RISING); // ADD A HIGH PRIORITY ACTION ( AN INTERRUPT) WHEN THE
SENSOR GOES FROM LOW TO HIGH

REV = 0; // START ALL THE VARIABLES FROM 0

rpm = 0;

time = 0;

pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);

pinMode(3, OUTPUT);

pinMode(4, OUTPUT);

digitalWrite(3, HIGH); // VCC PIN FOR SENSOR

digitalWrite(4, LOW); // GND PIN FOR SENSOR

lcd.print("TACHOMETER"); // STARTUP TEXT

lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
lcd.print("- ELECTRO18"); // THAT'S ME
delay(2000);
lcd.clear();

void loop()
{
long currtime = millis(); // GET CURRENT TIME

long idletime = currtime - prevtime; // CALCULATE IDLE TIME

if(REV >= 5 ) // IT WILL UPDATE AFETR EVERY 5 READINGS

{

if(flag==0) // CLEAR THE LCD TO AVOID ANY GARBAGE TEXT

{
lcd.clear();
lcd.print("SENSOR MEASURING");
flag=1; // AFTER FLAG = 1 , THE LOOP WILL NOT EXECUTE AGAIN
}

rpm = 30*1000/(millis() - time)*REV; // CALCULATE RPM USING REVOLUTIONS AND ELAPSED TIME

if(rpm > maxRPM)

maxRPM = rpm; // GET THE MAX RPM THROUGHOUT THE RUN

time = millis();
 REV = 0;

int x= rpm; // CALCULATE NUMBER OF DIGITS IN RPM

while(x!=0)
{
x = x/10;
RPMlen++;
}

if(RPMlen!=prevRPM) // IF THE RPM FALLS TO A LOWER NUMBER WITH LESS DIGITS , THE
LCD WILL GET CLEARED
{
lcd.clear();
prevRPM = RPMlen;
flag=0;
lcd.print("SENSOR MEASURING");
}

lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
lcd.print(rpm,DEC); // PRINT RPM IN DECIMAL SYSTEM

lcd.setCursor(6,1);
lcd.print("RPM");
delay(500);

prevtime = currtime; // RESET IDLETIME

if(idletime > 5000 ) // IF THERE ARE NO READING FOR 5 SEC , THE SCREEN WILL SHOW MAX RPM
{

if(flag==1) // CLEAR THE LCD

{
lcd.clear();
flag=0;
}

lcd.clear();
lcd.print("MAXIMUM RPM");
lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
lcd.print(maxRPM,DEC); // DISPLAY MAX RPM
lcd.print(" RPM");
delay(2000);
lcd.clear();
lcd.print("IDLE STATE");
lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
lcd.print("READY TO MEASURE");
delay(2000);
prevtime = currtime;
}

void RPMCount() // EVERYTIME WHEN THE SENSOR GOES FROM LOW TO HIGH , THIS
FUNCTION WILL BE INVOKED
{
REV++; // INCREASE REVOLUTIONS
 if (led == LOW)
{

led = HIGH; // TOGGLE STATUS LED

}

else
{
led = LOW;
}
digitalWrite(ledPin, led);
}
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// END OF THE PROGRAM ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Step 8: Explanation and Calculation

This program basically monitors the IR sensor's value constantly and with the highest
priority using Interrupts.

The Arduino Uno has 3 interrupts and the Interrupt 0 is pin 2 on the arduino.

attachInterrupt(0, RPMCount, RISING);

This line attaches an interrupt to pin 2 on arduino in "RISING" mode. This means that
whenever the sensor goes from LOW to HIGH , the function RPMCount(); is invoked.

This means that in one revolution , the function will be called twice ( REV++ ). Therefore
actualREV = REV/ 2.

rpm = 30*1000/(millis() - time)*REV;

To calculate the actual RPM, we need the time taken for one revolution. And (millis() -
time) is the time taken for one full revolutions.

In this case , let t be the time taken for one full revolution , so the total number of
revolutions RPM in 60sec ( 60*1000 millisecond ) is :

rpm = 60*1000 / t * actualREV => rpm = 60*1000 / (millis() - time ) * REV/2

OR rpm = 30*1000 / (millis() - time) * REV;

Step 9: Testing and Troubleshooting

Testing :

1. Take a DC fan and stick a white tape to one of it's blades. Place the sensor 2~7 cm from
the blades

2. The readings will appear on the LCD

3. If the sensor gets no readings for 5 sec then it will automatically display the idle screen

4. The Idle screen will display the maximum RPM reached in that particular run.

TROUBLESHOOTING :

1. If the status LED is not blinking, try to adjust the potentiometer until the sensor is able to
get readings

2. Ambient light may sometimes interfere with the sensor. Decreasing the sensitivity would
eliminate the chance of getting false readings.

3. Check the polarity of the photodiode properly.

4. If everything fails , check your sensor manually by using :

Serial.println( digitalRead(2) ) ;

if your sensor doesn't show " 1 " when any object is placed in front of it then try increasing
the value of 33k resistor.

Step 10: Conclusion

Though there are many optical tachometers available in the market, this device is
comparatively cheap and works quite well. I've tested it above 20000 RPM and it works
every time ! Being open source and programmable , there arise infinite possibilities of
customizing this project.

Feel free to ask anything about this project. Suggestions , queries , corrections and
"grammatical errors" are welcome !

Happy Tinkering :)