What is a Digital Alarm Clock

A digital clock is a one kind of clock used to display the time in the form of
digital includes  symbols or numerals. These clocks are frequently
connected with electronic drives, but the term digital  refers only to the LCD
display, not to the drive mechanism. The digital clock circuit uses the 50-
60hz oscillation of AC power.Most digital alarm clocks display the hour of
the day in the form of 12 hours or 24 hours with an indication of AM or PM.
Most digital alarm clocks use LCD display, seven segment display or VFD.
Digital clocks run with mains electricity and must be reset the time when
the power is off. Most of the clocks don’t have a battery back up, so this will
cause to fail to generate an alarm sound at the fixed time. To overcome this
problem, many digital alarm clocks are available to operate with a
battery during the power outage. Commercial digital clocks are generally
more consistent than consumer clocks. Because, these clocks give backup
to maintain the time using multi decade battery during power off.

8051 Microcontroller based Digital Alarm Clock with

LCD Display
The required components of this 8051 microcontroller based digital clock
circuit with LCD display mainly include LCD display, AT89C51
Microcontroller, Preset, piezo buzzer and speaker. The function of each
and every component of this project is discussed below.
LCD Display
A 16×2 LCD display is an electronic display and it is used in a wide range
of applications.These kind of displays is used in a multi segment LEDs an
7-segment displays. In this LCD display, each character is shown in 5×7
pixel matrix. This LCD display consists of two registers, they are data
register and command register. A command register is an order for  LCD
display to do a task like clearing of its screen, initializing, controlling of
display and cursor position setting. The data (ASCII value of the character)
register is used to display the stored data on LCD
display.

LCD Display
Microcontroller AT89C51
AT89C51 microcontroller belongs to 8051 microcontroller. It has 128 bytes of
RAM and 4kb of PEROM. It can be deleted and reprogram to a max of
1000 times. It consist of 40-pins and that are separated into four ports,
namely P1, P2, P3 and P4. These four ports are 8-bit bidirectional ports.
Except Port P0, remaining ports are used as both i/p and o/p ports

Microcontroller AT89C51
Ports P0 & P2 are used to offer high and low byte addresses when these
ports are connected to an external memory. Port 3 consist of multiplexed
pins for distinctive functions such as hardware interrupts, serial
communication, timer i/ps and read or write operation from external memory.
This microcontroller has an integral UART for serial communication. The
operation of the UART can be done based on the program at different baud
rates.
Preset
Preset is a three terminal electronic component, used to vary resistance in
a circuit by adjusting the rotary control on it.The controlling can be done by
using a similar tool and a screw driver. The resistance does not fluctuate
linearly, but slightly varies in logarithmic or exponential manner. Such
variable resistors are used to adjust sensitivity with a sensor. The variable
resistance is acquired across the front terminal and remaining two other
back terminals. The backside two terminals offer stable resistance which is
separated from the front leg. So whenever the back two terminals are used,
it acts as a stable resistor. Presets are stated by their static value
resistance.

Preset
Piezo Buzzer
The piezo buzzer is used to produce sound based on the opposite of the
piezoelectric effect. This buzzer can be used to give an alert to a user of an
event equivalent to a switching action, sensor input or counter signal. Piezo
buzzer is used in alarm circuits.

Piezo Buzzer
Buzzer
A buzzer is a transducer that alters electrical energy into sound. When an
electric signal is applied to the i/p pin of the speaker then it produces sound
waves. The remaining pin is connected to GND terminal. A speaker is
normally used to generate sound in response to a o/p of the sensor. For
instance, in an intruder alarm, whenever an interruption takes place the
speaker goes on
Buzzer
Digital Clock Circuit Diagram
This is an enhanced version of digital clock circuit with an LCD display. It
has an extra feature to set the alarm in the first. To reset, the display
stimulates the user to set an alarm. By pressing the corresponding
switches continuously components can be set. These switches are active
low switches and they can provide ground to the equivalent i/p pins of the
microcontroller. The AM and PM mode is fixed by the moving the switch
between VCC and GND terminal. GND would fix the CLK in AM mode
while Vcc would set in PM mode

Digital Clock Circuit

Diagram
After the alarm is fixed, the pin of an alarm is connected to VCC through
the switch. The process of setting  the time reminds the same as with a
simple digital clock. When the time of the digital clock becomes equivalent
to the alarm time, a message Alarm is shown on the LCD and the alarm pin
of AT89C51 microcontroller goes high for some duration. This alarm pin
can be associated to a buzzer or speaker to generate the alarm at the pre-
set time.

This is all about digital clock circuit, which is designed by using a

Microcontroller AT89C51, Preset, Piezo Buzzer, Buzzer and an LCD
display. We hope that you have got a better understanding of this digital
alarm clock project. Furthermore, any queries regarding this concept
or electronics projects please give your feedback by commenting in the
comment section below. Here is a question for you, what are the
applications of the digital alarm clock?
Photo Credits:
Digital Alarm Clock 

 LCD Display  Microcontroller AT89C51 

 Preset 
 Piezo Buzzer 
 Buzze