utomatic Anchor Light

T.K. HAREENDRAN
February 28, 2020
39329

 
Federal and international regulations require boats to carry lights between
sunset and sunrise and during conditions of restricted visibility. The
number and colours of the lights vary with the size of the vessel.

Many commercial vessels carry special lights that identify them to the
others. This is important because right of way depends on the types of
vessels involved. Tugs and commercial fishing vessels have the right of
way over sailboats, which have the right of way over ordinary power
vessels.

Fig. 1: Anchor light position at the top of a

mast
Unique lights are carried by each one. For example, when you are
anchored (or tied to a mooring ball), you must display an anchor light that
is a white all-around light. It needs to be mounted high so it can be seen
from a distance (refer Fig. 1).

However, most of the cruisers do not use a masthead anchor light

because the light is too high above the water level and actually makes it
difficult to judge the position of the boat from just the anchor light,
especially in a pitch-dark anchorage. That is why many people have
devised their own forms of anchor lights that they stick lower to the deck
on both sides of their boat.

Fig. 2: A typical commercial anchor light

Here is the circuit of a compact yet inexpensive automatic anchor light
integrated with an ambient light sensor that turns it on and off
automatically. This 12-volt LED light can be used as a traditional masthead
anchor light and/or as an optional pretty clever custom-built anchor light.
A typical commercial anchor light is shown in Fig. 2.
 

Circuit and working

The circuit described here (refer Fig. 3) lets you control an electromagnetic
relay so that it turns on a white LED light when the preset light level is
reached and turns it off when a different preset level is reached. The
circuit is built around NE555 IC (IC1). The 5mm light dependent resistor
(LDR1) in the circuit triggers the 12V electromagnetic relay (RL1) as per the
ambient light level. RL1 drives the 10mm white LED light source (LED2).
Series resistor (R2) is included to limit the white LED current.
 Fig. 3:
Circuit diagram of the anchor light
Note that switching threshold is determined by a
470k potentiometer (VR1) that causes the output to toggle with the preset
threshold values. The light source (LED2) automatically switches on when
it gets dark and switches off when there is sufficient ambient light. The
100µF capacitor (C1) provides a bit of hysteresis to prevent the circuit from
jittering near the threshold level. The circuit is optimised for use with a
nominal DC voltage of 12V drawn from any standard accumulator
commonly used in boats.

Construction and testing

A single-side PCB pattern for the anchor light circuit is shown in Fig. 4 and
its component layout in Fig. 5.
 Fig. 4: PCB
pattern of the anchor light circuit

Fig. 5:
Component layout of the PCB Fig. 6: Suggested
enclosure layout

Download PCB and Component layout PDFs: click here

The circuit assembled on the small PCB can fit easily inside most
prototype/custom enclosures, which should be waterproof for mounting
on the masthead. If possible, try to add some optics (lens and reflector)
with the white LED (LED2) to spread the light outward. The 12V power
supply input wires can then be connected to corresponding wires
extending from the existing electric-points of the anchor light. Fig. 6 shows
how the prototype may be assembled. Author’s prototype is shown in Fig.
7.
 Fig. 7:
Author’s prototype

T.K. Hareendran is founder and promoter of TechNode Protolabz

This article was first published on 28 June 2016 and was updated on
28 February 2020.
Projects: Low-Cost

LPG Leakage Detector

Pamarthi Kanakaraja
May 22, 2019
213967

The circuit for an LPG

leakage detector is readily available in the market, but it is extremely
expensive and usually based on a microcontroller (MCU). Presented here
is a low-cost circuit for an LPG detector that you can build easily.

The main objective of the circuit is to detect LPG leakage anywhere. Fig. 1
shows the author’s prototype.
Fig. 1: Author’s prototypeFig. 2: Circuit diagram of the LPG detector
Circuit and Working of the LPG leakage detector
Circuit diagram of the low-cost LPG detector is shown in Fig. 2. It is built
around step-down transformer X1, two rectifier diodes 1N4007 (D1 and
D2), a 1000µF capacitor (C1), 7805 voltage regulator (IC1), MQ-6 LPG gas
sensor (GS1), dual comparator LM393 (IC2), darlington transistor TIP122
(T2), 12V high-gain siren/buzzer (PZ1) and a few other components.

The mains supply is stepped

down by transformer X1, rectified by a full-wave rectifier comprising
diodes D1 and D2, filtered by capacitor C1 and fed to regulator 7805 (IC1)
to maintain constant 5V DC output, which is fed to the circuit.

At the heart of the circuit is dual comparator IC LM393 (IC2). It is used to

compare two different voltages, namely, reference voltage and MQ-6 gas
sensor output voltage.
Reference voltage at non-inverting pin 3 of IC2 is set using potmeter VR1
to adjust voltage levels based on sensitivity requirements. LPG sensor
(MQ-6) output voltage is fed to inverting pin 2 of IC2.

If reference voltage (pin 3 of IC2) is less than sensor voltage (pin 2 of IC2),
output goes low, which means there is no LPG leakage. With low output,
T1 remains cut-off and there is no current flow through the buzzer; it does
not sound and remains in silence mode.

If reference voltage is greater than sensor voltage, output goes high, which
means there is LPG leakage. The high output switches on transistor T1 and
the buzzer rings loudly to alert the people around.

It is very easy to find gas leakages with this circuit, which uses low-cost
components and an interactive way to adjust different sensitivity levels,
based on customer needs, with the help of potmeter VR1.

Construction and testing

An PCB pattern of the LPG leakage detector is shown in Fig. 3 and its
component layout in Fig. 4.
 Fig. 3: PCB
pattern of the LPG detector

Fig. 4:
Component layout of the PCB
Download PCB and component layout PDFs: click here

After assembling the circuit on a PCB, enclose it in a box with an opening

for the gas to enter. Place the unit near the LPG cylinder or gas stove,
within a distance of one metre. Vary preset VR1 to adjust sensitivity of the
sensor.
Verify the voltages are as per test points table before using the circuit.
Now, spray the gas from the bottle (as shown on the left side of author’s
prototype) towards MQ-6 gas sensor and measure voltage at TP3; it
should be high.

If you do not have a gas-filled bottle, place the LPG leakage detector near
the gas stove burner and turn it on for a few seconds without igniting.
Then, turn the burner off and adjust VR1 until buzzer sounds.
Sr No Name of the student Phone No Father phone No village
1 Arun Ramesh 9870815259 9806051665 Visharvadi
2 Miss: Sita Ganpat 7381080057 Visharvadi
3 Miss: Nikita Dasu 7450385710
4 Aadesh Sundar 9647674992
5 Smita parsau 9112061910
6 Mahipal Jamas 9437273453
7 Suhani Ganesh 9404349251
8 Anita DIlip 9445404556
9 Eiesha Shiva 9673538411
10 Rohit Paatu 7972409361
11 Vipul Chiman 9112163563
12 Sharmila Sati 7030694756
13 Magara Ramesh 9376612015
14 Kaushalya Mar 9552084090
15 Anusaya Moti 9145691554
16 Aarati Sunil 7057717026
17 Khushiba Para 7030230498
18 Nisha Jerma 9145691940
19 Harish Laximan 9370308678
20 Gaytri Bava 7798821476
21 Rita Vilas 958860411
22 Rohita Jama 7391976077
23 Susanna Sunil 9809891218
24 Roshni Digambar 8805824140
25 Suman Vechya 7057033360 9284399919
26 Bhavesh Pandur 7666348659
27 Snehal Rajendra 9307236336 8806327141
28 Sarika Ratilal 9673704160
29 Rohini Narayan 9130787035
30 Vipul Ishwar 8766765620 97633365820
31 Aarati Ganesh 9168175667
32 Smita Gangar 9325246635
33 Rohit Jahagu 7822956002 944936446
34 Yogesh Dilip 9022614052
35 Rani Dilip 9579811791
36 Harish Nimesh 7030164077
37 Anjali Bhika 9373105840
38 Harshika Ma 7350930194
39 Dipesh Bansila 9421533489 9552488777
List of Visharvadi (2) students

AM Jr College Nadurbar

Mission High school

AC drive Operation Principle

For understanding the basic principles behind AC drive operation requires understanding three basic
section of AC drive: the Rectifier unit, DC Bus and the Inverter unit.

The supply voltage is firstly pass through a rectifier unit where in gets converted into AC to DC
supply, the three phase supply is fed with three phase full wave diode where it gets converts into DC
supply. The DC bus comprises with a filter section where the harmonics generated during the AC to
DC conversion are filtered out. The last section consists of an inverter section which comprises with
six IGBT where the filtered DC supply is being converted to quasi sinusoidal wave of AC supply which
is supply to the ac motor connected to it.

From the ac motor working principle, we know that the synchronous speed of motor (rpm) is
dependent upon frequency. Therefore by varying the frequency of the power supply through AC
drive we can control the synchronous motor speed:

Speed (rpm) = Frequency (Hertz) x 120 / No. of poles

Where:
Frequency = Electrical Frequency of the power supply in Hz. No. of Poles = Number of electrical poles
in the motor stator. Thus we can conveniently adjust the speed of an AC motor by changing the
frequency applied to the motor. There is also another way to make the ac motor work on different
speed by changing the no. of poles, but this change would be a physical change of the motor. As the
VFD provides the frequency and voltage of output necessary to change the speed of a motor, this is
done through Pulse Width Modulation VFDs. Pulse width modulation (PWM) variable frequency
drive produces pulses of varying widths which are combined to build the required waveform.

As the frequency can easily variable as compared with the poles of the motor therefore ac drives are
frequently used.
Constant V/F Ratio Operation
All AC drives maintain the output voltage - to - frequency (V/f) ratio constant at all speeds for the
reason that follows. The phase voltage V, frequency f and the magnetic flux ϕ of motor are related
by the equation:

V = 4.444 f N ϕm
or
V/f = 4.444×N ϕm

Where N = number of turns per phase.

ϕm = magnetic flux

If the same voltage is applied at the reduced frequency, the magnetic flux would increase and
saturate the magnetic core, significantly distorting the motor performance. The magnetic saturation
can be avoided by keeping the ϕm constant. Moreover, the ac motor torque is the product of stator
flux and rotor current. For maintaining the rated torque at all speeds the constant flux must be
maintained at its rated value, which is basically done by keeping the voltage - to - frequency (V/f)
ratio constant. That requires the lowering the ac motor voltage in the same proportion as the
frequency to avoid magnetic saturation due to high flux or lower than the rated torque due to low
flux.

How AC Drive Controls Motor Speed

As the AC drive provides the frequency and voltage of output necessary to control the speed of an
AC motor, this is done through PWM VFDs. PWM drives produce pulses of varying widths which are
combined to build the required waveform. A diode bridge is used in some converters to reduce
harmonics. PWM drives produce a current waveform that more closely matches a line source, which
reduces undesired heating. PWM VFD have almost constant power factor at all speeds which is
closely to unity. PWM drives can also operate multiple motors on a single VFD.
Thus the carrier frequency is derived from the speed of the power device switch remains ON and
OFF. It is also called switching frequency. Therefore higher the carrier frequency higher the
resolution for PWM contains. The typical carrier frequency ranges from 3KHz to 4 KHz or 3000 to
4000 times per second as compared with older SCR based carrier frequency which ranges from 250
to 500 times per second. Thus it is clear as much as higher the carrier frequency higher will be the
resolution of output waveform. It is also noted that the carrier frequency decreases the efficiency of
the VFD because it led to increase the heat of the VFD circuit.

Benefits of AC drive

 Large energy savings at lower speed.

 Increased life of rotating components due to lower operating speed.

 Reduced noise and vibration level.

 Reduction of thermal and mechanical stresses.

 Lower KVA

 High power factor

Simulation Circuit
For variable speed control of AC electrical machines several power electronics switches such as
IGBTs, MOSFETs and GTO use as forced - commutation method. Earlier techniques such as the DC
motor and Thyristor Bridge which are replaced with new techniques such as Voltage Sourced
Converters (VSC) are fed by PWM to the asynchronous machine. As the flexibility of speed and
torque control with DC machine, the same can be obtained by the combination of PWM technique
with modern control technique such as Field Oriented Technique (FOT) or Direct Torque Control
(DTC) methods. In this section a simulation of VFD working on an asynchronous machine is been
described.
The machine library of simulation consists of four most common three phase machine asynchronous
machine, permanent magnet synchronous machine, simplified and complete synchronous machine.
The following machine can be used either used as generating mode or motoring mode. These
machines can be used to simulate electromechanical transient in an electrical network when
combined with linear and non linear elements such as transformer line loads, breakers, etc. for
simulation of VFDs they are combined with power electronics devices. The power electronics library
of simulation contains diodes, thyristors, GTO, MOSFET and IGBT. These several blocks
interconnected with each other to form Three Phase Bridges.

Simulation of 3 HP, 4 pole motor is done with an ac drive using PWM technique. Frequency and
amplitude of output voltage is varied by using PWM technique and these controlled voltage and
frequency are used to control the ac motor speed.

Waveform Analysis
The voltage, current, speed and torque waveform are analyzed.

Performing Harmonics Analysis using the FFT Tool

At the time of simulation is running the fundamental component of voltage and current are allowed
by two Discrete Fourier Blocks. Thus for observing harmonics component we would require Discrete
Fourier Block for each harmonic. This approach is not convenient.

For displaying the frequency spectrum of current and voltage waveform we require FFT tool of
Powergui. With time variable generated by the scope block, the signals get stored in ASM structure
and signals are saved into the ASM structure is sampled at fixed step which satisfy FFT tool
requirements.

Thus the Powergui is opened and FFT analysis is selected. A new window is opened. The analyzed
signal, the time window and the frequency range is parameters are set as follows:

Structure ASM

Input Vab

Signal number 1

Start time 0.7 s

Number of cycles 2

Fundamental frequency 60 Hz
Max frequency 5000Hz

Frequency axis Harmonic order

Display style Bar (relative to Fund or DC)

Table 1: Parameters of FFT present in powergui block

As the Display option is clicked the analyzed signal is displayed. At the bottom window the frequency
the frequency spectrum is displayed.

FFT Analysis of Motor Line to Line Voltage

As the fundamental complement and the Total Harmonics Distortion (THD) of Vab is displayed in the
spectrum window the magnitude of ac drive voltage fundamental is (312V) which compared with the
theoretical value (311V for m=0.4).

Result
The simulation result is being calculated from a 4 pole ac motor of 3 HP and the Harmonics analysis
using FFT tool of simulation of maximum frequency 5000 Hz.

Fundamental Frequency Speed (RPM) Order of Harmonics THD of Voltage THD of Current

80 2400 62.5(even) 106.25% 30.49%

75 2250 66.66(even) 81.86% 19.65%

70 2100 71.42(odd) 67.89% 14.91%

65 1950 76.92(even) 55.46% 12.20%

60 1800 83.33(odd) 78.59% 11.46%

55 1650 90.90(even) 55.85% 18.72%

50 1500 100(even) 76.85% 32.86%

45 1350 111.11(odd) 126.29% 37.35%

Table 2: Data analysis of Frequency

It is clear that THD (V) level increases with as the value of fundamental frequency increases from
70Hz and also the fundamental frequency decreases 45 Hz or below. Thus the range of variations of
fundamental frequency should be kept in between 70 to 45 Hz. It is also seen that the values of THD
(V) in case of 70Hz, 60Hz and 45Hz is quit high as compared to other frequency presents in between
them, this is because of presence of ODD Harmonics in these frequencies, as we know that the ODD
harmonics is more harmful for the promotion of Distortion in the circuit than the EVEN Harmonics.
Since the maximum frequency is set as 5000Hz therefore it can be easily calculated the order of
Harmonics. Thus the consumption of electrical energy is depends on the load requirement. However
the variation of frequency leads to the harmonics distortion which can be mitigate by several
techniques of harmonics mitigation.

The variation of THD in between the fundamental frequencies is keep changing therefore there are
variation for distortion which leads to the calculation of energy savings is quite possible as well as
speed control of the ac motor. Further the introduction of filter techniques can lead to the
mitigation of harmonics level in the circuit. Basically the application of Band Pass Active Filter is quite
suitable for mitigation of harmonics in this level. It can be introduced as a future research work of
this article.

Conclusion
Thus from the analysis of table it is clear that the frequency variation leads to the harmonics change
in the machine also as the speed decreases the Total Harmonics Distortion in voltage as well as in
current increases and THD in voltage is lower than THD in current. It is also to be noted that too
much variation in frequency also leads to increase in the THD voltage as well as THD current levels.
Thus the VFD can make the ac motor work at variable speed as well as energy savings.

For high performance providing by the VFD for maximum process productivity always required a
complex engineering consideration. However rapid improvements in AC control technology
combined with ready availability of standard fixed frequency of AC motor have increased the
number of possible solution. With the process of PWM, the frequency given to the ac motor can be
set in order to control the speed of the ac motor. Thus the consumption of electrical energy is
depends on the load requirement. However the variation of frequency leads to the harmonics
distortion which can be mitigate by several techniques of harmonics mitigation.

The elimination techniques of harmonics are basically applied to lowest harmonic because as the
filtering is more practical at higher harmonics, the filtering component can be smaller and less
expensive. Also application of several multilevel ac drives provides another approach to harmonics
cancellation. For the mitigation of harmonics from the circuit of the AC drive application of active
filters are required into the circuit such as Band Pass Active Filter.

Thus after the study of AC drive working principle, it becomes possible to control the speed of AC
motor as well as to conserve the electrical energy, as we know that the energy conservation has
become an important subject to all over the world. Increase in efficient energy use, decrease in
energy consumption and/or consumption from conventional energy sources is reduced that leads to
the conservation of energy.

Expt no 1
Aim: study of ramp comparator fring circuit
lectronics and electrical engineering, a ramp generator is a circuit that creates a linear
rising or falling output with respect to time. The output variable is usually voltage,
although current ramps can be created. Linear ramp generators are also known as sweep
generators.

If the input voltage V1 is constant and RC = 1 s, then the output voltage Vo after a time t is
given by Vo = Vit. This means that the output voltage rises steadily with time (hence the
name of ramp generator). This increase continues until the op amp saturates at a voltage
just less than the supply voltage.

Op-amp Integrator Circuit

As its name implies, the Op-amp Integrator is an operational amplifier

circuit that performs the mathematical operation of Integration, that is we
can cause the output to respond to changes in the input voltage over time
as the op-amp integrator produces an output voltage which is proportional
to the integral of the input voltage.
In other words the magnitude of the output signal is determined by the
length of time a voltage is present at its input as the current through the
feedback loop charges or discharges the capacitor as the required negative
feedback occurs through the capacitor.
When a step voltage, Vin is firstly applied to the input of an integrating
amplifier, the uncharged capacitor C has very little resistance and acts a bit
like a short circuit allowing maximum current to flow via the input
resistor, Rin as potential difference exists between the two plates. No
current flows into the amplifiers input and point X is a virtual earth resulting
in zero output. As the impedance of the capacitor at this point is very low,
the gain ratio of XC/RIN is also very small giving an overall voltage gain of
less than one, ( voltage follower circuit ).
As the feedback capacitor, C begins to charge up due to the influence of
the input voltage, its impedance Xc slowly increase in proportion to its rate
of charge. The capacitor charges up at a rate determined by the RC time
constant, ( τ ) of the series RC network. Negative feedback forces the op-
amp to produce an output voltage that maintains a virtual earth at the op-
amp’s inverting input.
Since the capacitor is connected between the op-amp’s inverting input
(which is at virtual ground potential) and the op-amp’s output (which is now
negative), the potential voltage, Vc developed across the capacitor slowly
increases causing the charging current to decrease as the impedance of
the capacitor increases. This results in the ratio of Xc/Rin increasing
producing a linearly increasing ramp output voltage that continues to
increase until the capacitor is fully charged.
At this point the capacitor acts as an open circuit, blocking any more flow of
DC current. The ratio of feedback capacitor to input resistor ( XC/RIN ) is now
infinite resulting in infinite gain. The result of this high gain (similar to the
op-amps open-loop gain), is that the output of the amplifier goes into
saturation as shown below. (Saturation occurs when the output voltage of
the amplifier swings heavily to one voltage supply rail or the other with little
or no control in between).

The rate at which the output voltage increases (the rate of change) is
determined by the value of the resistor and the capacitor, “RC time
constant“. By changing this RC time constant value, either by changing the
value of the Capacitor, C or the Resistor, R, the time in which it takes the
output voltage to reach saturation can also be changed for example.
If we apply a constantly changing input signal such as a square wave to the
input of an Integrator Amplifier then the capacitor will charge and
discharge in response to changes in the input signal. This results in the
output signal being that of a sawtooth waveform whose output is affected
by the RC time constant of the resistor/capacitor combination because at
higher frequencies, the capacitor has less time to fully charge. This type of
circuit is also known as a Ramp Generator and the transfer function is
given below.

Op-amp Integrator Ramp Generator

We know from first principals that the voltage on the plates of a capacitor is
equal to the charge on the capacitor divided by its capacitance giving Q/C.
Then the voltage across the capacitor is output Vout therefore: -
Vout = Q/C. If the capacitor is charging and discharging, the rate of charge
of voltage across the capacitor is given as:

But dQ/dt is electric current and since the node voltage of the integrating
op-amp at its inverting input terminal is zero, X = 0, the input
current I(in) flowing through the input resistor, Rin is given as:
The current flowing through the feedback capacitor C is given as:

Assuming that the input impedance of the op-amp is infinite (ideal op-amp),
no current flows into the op-amp terminal. Therefore, the nodal equation at
the inverting input terminal is given as:

From which we derive an ideal voltage output for the Op-amp

Integrator as:

To simplify the math’s a little, this can also be re-written as:

Where: ω = 2πƒ and the output voltage Vout is a constant 1/RC times the

integral of the input voltage VIN with respect to time.
Thus the circuit has the transfer function of an inverting integrator with the
gain constant of -1/RC. The minus sign ( – ) indicates a 180o phase shift
because the input signal is connected directly to the inverting input terminal
of the operational amplifier.

The AC or Continuous Op-amp Integrator

If we changed the above square wave input signal to that of a sine wave of
varying frequency the Op-amp Integrator performs less like an integrator
and begins to behave more like an active “Low Pass Filter”, passing low
frequency signals while attenuating the high frequencies.
At zero frequency (0Hz) or DC, the capacitor acts like an open circuit due
to its reactance thus blocking any output voltage feedback. As a result very
little negative feedback is provided from the output back to the input of the
amplifier.
Therefore with just a single capacitor, C in the feedback path, at zero
frequency the op-amp is effectively connected as a normal open-loop
amplifier with very high open-loop gain. This results in the op-amp
becoming unstable cause undesirable output voltage conditions and
possible voltage rail saturation.
This circuit connects a high value resistance in parallel with a continuously
charging and discharging capacitor. The addition of this feedback
resistor, R2 across the capacitor, C gives the circuit the characteristics of an
inverting amplifier with finite closed-loop voltage gain given by: R2/R1.
The result is at high frequencies the capacitor shorts out this feedback
resistor, R2 due to the effects of capacitive reactance reducing the
amplifiers gain. At normal operating frequencies the circuit acts as an
standard integrator, while at very low frequencies approaching 0Hz,
when C becomes open-circuited due to its reactance, the magnitude of the
voltage gain is limited and controlled by the ratio of: R2/R1.

The AC Op-amp Integrator with DC Gain Control

Unlike the DC integrator amplifier above whose output voltage at any

instant will be the integral of a waveform so that when the input is a square
wave, the output waveform will be triangular. For an AC integrator, a
sinusoidal input waveform will produce another sine wave as its output
which will be 90o out-of-phase with the input producing a cosine wave.
Further more, when the input is triangular, the output waveform is also
sinusoidal. This then forms the basis of a Active Low Pass Filter as seen
before in the filters section tutorials with a corner frequency given as.
In the next tutorial about Operational Amplifiers, we will look at another type
of operational amplifier circuit which is the opposite or complement of
the Op-amp Integrator circuit above called the Differentiator Amplifier.
As its name implies, the differentiator amplifier produces an output signal
which is the mathematical operation of differentiation, that is it produces a
voltage output which is proportional to the input voltage’s rate-of-change
and the current flowing through the input capacitor.

Op-amp Comparator

Op-amp Comparator
The comparator is an electronic decision making circuit that makes use of an
operational amplifiers very high gain in its open-loop state, that is, there is no
feedback resistor.

The Op-amp comparator compares one analogue voltage level with

another analogue voltage level, or some preset reference voltage, VREF and
produces an output signal based on this voltage comparison. In other
words, the op-amp voltage comparator compares the magnitudes of two
voltage inputs and determines which is the largest of the two.
We have seen in previous tutorials that the operational amplifier can be
used with negative feedback to control the magnitude of its output signal in
the linear region performing a variety of different functions. We have also
seen that the standard operational amplifier is characterised by its open-
loop gain AO and that its output voltage is given by the
expression: VOUT = AO(V+ – V-) where V+ and V- correspond to the voltages
at the non-inverting and the inverting terminals respectively.
Voltage comparators on the other hand, either use positive feedback or no
feedback at all (open-loop mode) to switch its output between two
saturated states, because in the open-loop mode the amplifiers voltage
gain is basically equal to AVO. Then due to this high open loop gain, the
output from the comparator swings either fully to its positive supply
rail, +Vcc or fully to its negative supply rail, -Vcc on the application of
varying input signal which passes some preset threshold value.
The open-loop op-amp comparator is an analogue circuit that operates in
its non-linear region as changes in the two analogue
inputs, V+ and V- causes it to behave like a digital bistable device as
triggering causes it to have two possible output states, +Vcc or -Vcc. Then
we can say that the voltage comparator is essentially a 1-bit analogue to
digital converter, as the input signal is analogue but the output behaves
digitally.
Consider the basic op-amp voltage comparator circuit below.

Op-amp Comparator Circuit

With reference to the op-amp comparator circuit above, lets first assume
that VIN is less than the DC voltage level at VREF, ( VIN < VREF ). As the non-
inverting (positive) input of the comparator is less than the inverting
(negative) input, the output will be LOW and at the negative supply
voltage, -Vcc resulting in a negative saturation of the output.
If we now increase the input voltage, VIN so that its value is greater than the
reference voltage VREF on the inverting input, the output voltage rapidly
switches HIGH towards the positive supply voltage, +Vcc resulting in a
positive saturation of the output. If we reduce again the input voltage VIN, so
that it is slightly less than the reference voltage, the op-amp’s output
switches back to its negative saturation voltage acting as a threshold
detector.
Then we can see that the op-amp voltage comparator is a device whose
output is dependant on the value of the input voltage, VIN with respect to
some DC voltage level as the output is HIGH when the voltage on the non-
inverting input is greater than the voltage on the inverting input, and LOW
when the non-inverting input is less than the inverting input voltage. This
condition is true regardless of whether the input signal is connected to the
inverting or the non-inverting input of the comparator.
We can also see that the value of the output voltage is completely
dependent on the op-amps power supply voltage. In theory due to the op-
amps high open-loop gain the magnitude of its output voltage could be
infinite in both directions, (±∞). However practically, and for obvious
reasons it is limited by the op-amps supply rails
giving VOUT = +Vcc or VOUT = -Vcc.
We said before that the basic op-amp comparator produces a positive or
negative voltage output by comparing its input voltage against some preset
DC reference voltage. Generally, a resistive voltage divider is used to set
the input reference voltage of a comparator,

Firing Circuits:

Firing circuits should produce trigger pulses for the thyristor at

appropriate instants. There needs to be electrical isolation between firing
circuits and the thyristor. It is achieved using a pulse amplifier

To reduce gate power dissipation, SCR firing circuits generate a single pulse or a train of
pulses instead of a continuous DC gate signal. This allows precise control of the point at
which the SCR is fired. In addition, it is easy to provide electrical isolation between the SCR
and the gate trigger circuit.
optoisolator.
What are firing circuits of SCR?

To reduce gate power dissipation, SCR firing circuits generate a single pulse or a
train of pulses instead of a continuous DC gate signal. This allows precise control
of the point at which the SCR is fired. In addition, it is easy to provide electrical
isolation between the SCR and the gate trieering

Resistance – Capacitance (RC) Firing Circuit

By varying the variable resistance, triggering or firing angle is controlled in a full

positive half cycle of the input signal. ... In this, diode D1 prevents the negative
voltage between the gate and cathode during the negative half cycle of the input
through diode D

How firing angle can be changed?

In an SCR circuit, the angle of conduction can be changed by the variation in firing
angle or variation of conduction of SCR by delaying the application of gate
current. It can be done by two way: Phase Shifting Gate control: It causes 0 to 180⁰
delay of conduction.
 the angle after which the thyristor 'fires', or in other words, conducts.
For example, if firing angle is 45 degrees, then uptill 45 degrees of the input sine wave it
won't conduct, after that it'll conduct till the cycle completes (or till the next current zero,
as needed by the designer), and this is repeated again and again.
Varying this angle, alpha as it is generally put, changes the effective rms values of V and I
(and hence power).

Resistance – Capacitance (RC) Firing Circuit

By varying the variable resistance, triggering or firing angle is controlled in a full positive half
cycle of the input signal. ... In this, diode D1 prevents the negative voltage between the gate
and cathode during the negative half cycle of the input through diode DResistance –
Capacitance (RC) Firing Circuit

By varying the variable resistance, triggering or firing angle is controlled in a full positive half
cycle of the input signal. ... In this, diode D1 prevents the negative voltage between the gate
and cathode during the negative half cycle of the input through diode D