Abstract

Metal detector using proximity IC sensor

REASON OF CHOOSING THE PROJECT:
The reason we have chosen this project is that it is an essential need for any
organization, shopping malls, hotels, cinema halls and airports for security reasons
and can also be used in other aspects like detecting materials underground, finding
materials under the oceans and metal detectors with scanner at airports. The project
we have made is very basic and is a very small application of metal detectors.

TDA0161 Proximity Detector IC:

TDA0161 is a Proximity Detector IC manufactured by STMicroelectronics. It can be

used detect metal objects by detecting the slight changes in the high frequency Eddy
current losses .The TDA0161 IC acts as an oscillator with the help of externally
tuned circuit. The changes in supply current will determine the output signal
i.e. current is high when a metal object is near and it is low when there is no metal
object .TDA0161 has 8 pins and it comes in Dual in line Package (DIP).

WORKING OF PROJECT:
Simple Metal Detector Circuit:
The main components a simple metal detector circuit are LC circuit, proximity sensor
and the buzzer. The LC circuit is nothing but inductor and capacitor, which are
connected in parallel .This circuit activates the proximity sensor when it senses any
metal close to it. This sensor glow the LED and makes a buzzer.

When the LC circuit has any resonating frequency from any metal which is close to
it, the electric field will be created, that will lead to induce current in the coil and
change the signal in the flow of the signal through the coil .A Variable resistor is used
to change the value of the sensor, which is equal to the LC circuit .When the metal is
detected, the circuit will have changed signal .This changed signal will be given to
the proximity detector, which will detect the change in the signal and react
accordingly. When the metal is detected by the coil, the o/p of the sensor will be of
1mA.When the coil is near to the metal, then the o/p of the sensor will be around
10mA.When the o/p pin is high, the R3 resistor will provide positive voltage to
transistor the Q1 to turn ON the LED ,which will glow and generate a buzzing sound.
Here, R2 resistor is used to limit the current flow.

Applications:
 This simple Metal Detector can be used to identify metals like iron, gold, silver etc.

 Since it is a simple project, we can use this in our home to scan for nails, metal
scraps etc. which are not easily spot by naked eye.

 The Proximity Detector IC TDA0161 based Metal Detector Circuit is a very simple
and easy to construct metal detector that can be used to detect small metals in
our homes, offices and gardens.

Advantages:

 The Proximity Detector IC TDA0161 based Metal Detector Circuit is a very

simple and easy to construct metal detector that can be used to detect small
metals in our homes, offices and gardens.
 There is need for any microcontroller as the Proximity Sensor will be sufficient
to implement the project.

Disadvantages:

 The main disadvantage of this Metal Detector Circuit is the range of detection.
The metal object has to be at a distance of 10mm for the detector to detect it.