circuit wiring

The circuit described here counts the number of times that an infrared beam is interrupted. It could be used to count the number of people entering a room, for instance, or how often a ball or another object passes through an opening (handy for playing shuffleboard). The heart of the circuit consists of you guessed it a light gate! Diode D1 is an IR diode that normally illuminates IR transistor T1. The light falling on T1 causes it to conduct to a certain extent. The resulting voltage on the collector of T1 should be just low enough to prevent the following transistor (T2) from conducting. This voltage can be adjusted within certain limits using P1.

Light Gate with Counter Circuit Diagram

As soon as an object comes between D1 and T1, the light shining on T1 will be partially or fully blocked, causing the IR transistor to conduct less current. As a result, the voltage on its collector will increase, producing a brief rise in the voltage on the base of T2. This will cause T2 to conduct and generate a negative edge at IC1. This negative edge will trigger the monostable multivibrator, which will then hold the output signal on pin 3 ‘high’ for a certain length of time (in this case, one second). Atthis point, two things will occur. First, a buzzer will be energised by the output of IC1 and produce a tone for approximately one second. When the buzzer stops, a negative edge will be applied to the clock input of IC2, causing the counter in IC2 to be incremented by 1. IC2 is conveniently equipped with an internal binary-to-BCD decoder, so its outputs only have to be buffered by IC3 and T3 to allow the state of the counter to be shown on the 7-segment display. Switch S1 can be used to reset the counter to zero. 

If a one-second interval does not suit your wishes, you can modify the values of R3 or C1 to adjust the time. Increasing the value of R3 lengthens the interval, and decreasing it naturally shortens the interval. The same is true of C1. When building the circuit, make sure that T1 is well illuminated by the light from D1, while at the same time ensuring that T1 ‘sees’ as little ambient light as possible. This can best be done by fitting T1 in a small tube that is precisely aimed toward D1. The longer the tube, the less ambient light will reach T1. The sensitivity of the circuit can be adjusted using P1.

Author : T.Hareendran - Copyright : Elektor

This article is of interest only to readers whose bicycle lights are powered by a dynamo. The laws on bicycle lights in the United Kingdom are stricter than in other countries and a dynamo is, therefore, a rarity in this country. From the point of view of traffic safety it is advisable (in UK obligatory) for cyclists to have the rear lamp of their bicycle to light even when they are at standstill.

In principle, it is not very difficult to modify the existing rear light with afterglow: all this needs is a large enough energy reservoir. Since the after-glow is required for short periods of time only, a battery is not required: a large value capacitor, say, 1 F, is quite sufficient.As the diagram shows, in the present circuit, the normal rear light bulb is replaced by two series-connected bright LEDs, D2 and D3. These are clearly visible with a current of only 6 mA (compared with 50 mA of the bulb).

The current is set with series resistor R1. The LEDs are shunted by the 1 F capacitor, C1. Since the working voltage of this component is only 5.5 V, it is, in spite of its high value, physically small. An effective regulator is needed to limit the dynamo voltage adequately. Normal regulators cannot be used here, since they do not work at low voltages. Moreover, such a device would discharge the capacitor when the cycle is at standstill.

Fortunately, there is a low-drop type that meets the present requirements nicely: the Type LP2950CZ5.0. Of course, the dynamo output voltage needs to be rectified before it can be applied to the regulator. In the present circuit, this is effected by half-wave rectifier D1 and buffer capacitor C2. Diode D1 is a Schottky type to keep any losses low – important for this application, because the ground connection via the bicycle frame usually causes some losses as well. The value of buffer capacitor has been chosen well above requirements to ensure that C1 is charged during the negative half cycles of the dynamo voltage.

Simple Current Controlled LED Tube Light Circuit Diagram