Index

• aim of the project

• introduction
• light dependent resistance
• theory
• types of LDR
• uses
• advantages
• disadvantages
• experiment
• bibliography
AIM OF THE PROJECT

The aim of the project is to demonstrate the underlying

principles of electrical conduction under the influence
of light. Various applications are possible by
employing this simple principle such as
(A) Automatic switching of street lamps,
(B) Intruder s alarm,
(C) Morning wake up alarm
(F) Automatic elevator doors etc , to name a few.
(E) Light intensity meters,
In this project, I have demonstrated the intruder's
alarm in a simple manner which is easy to understand.
The heart of the project is an LDR or Light Dependent
Resistor. This project could have been done using a
photo-voltaic cell in place of LDR but the circuit
would have become complicated in the case of
photocell.

INTRODUCTION:
A photoresistor or light -dependent resistor (LDR) is
a light-controlled variable resistor. The resistance of a
photoresistor decreases with increasing incident light
intensity; in other words, it exhibits
photoconductivity.
A photoresistor can be applied in light-sensitive
detector circuits, and dark activated switching circuits.
These resistors Semiconductors like silicon or
germanium. When the light falls on the LDR, then the
electrons get excited by the incident photons and move
from the valence band to the conduction band and
therefore the number of charge carriers increases. In
other words, the conductivity goes up. use pure
Distinction needs to be made here between photocells
and LDRs. In a photocell, when it is exited by light
(photons), electricity is generated. Unlike photocells,
LDRs do not generate electricity but only change their
conductivity .The idea of Photoresistor developed
when photoconductivity in Selenium was discovered
by Willoughby Smith 1873.
Willoughby Smith (6 April 1828, in Great Yarmouth,
Norfolk - 17 July 1891, in Eastbourne, Sussex) was an
English electrical engineer who discovered the
photoconductivity of the element selenium. This
discovery led to the invention of photoelectric cells,
including those used in the earliest television systems.

LIGHT DEPENDENT RESISTANCE

What is light dependent resistance?

An LDR is a component that has a (variable)

resistance that changes with the light intensity that
falls upon it. This allows them to be used in light
sensing circuits.

Examples of LDR:

These resistors are used as light sensors and the

applications of LDR mainly include alarm clocks,
street lights, light intensity meters, burglar alarm
circuits.
Types of light dependent resistance:

According to the spectral characteristics of LDRs,

there are three types of LDRs:
- Ultraviolet LDR; more active to ultraviolet light,
including cadmium sulfide, cadmium selenide LDR,
etc., used for UV exploration.
 - Infrared LDR: Lead sulfide, lead telluride and
lead selenide are the main ones. LDRs such as indium
antimonide are widely used in missile guidance,
geography exploration, non-touch measurement,
human disease exploration, infrared spectroscopy,
infrared communications and other national defense,
scientific research, industrial and agricultural
production.
- visible light LDRs: including selenium, cadmium
sulfide, cadmium selenide, cadmium telluride, gallium
arsenide, silicon, germanium, zinc sulfide LDRs, etc. It is
mainly used for various photoelectric control systems, such
as photoelectric active switch portals, active on and off of
navigation lights, street lights and other lighting systems,
active water supply and active water shut-off equipment,
mechanical active maintenance equipment, and "azimuth
checkers", Thickness checkers for extremely thin parts,
active camera exposure equipment, photoelectric counters,
smoke alarms, photoelectric tracking systems, etc.
Uses of LDR:
Light-dependent resistors are simple and low-cost
devices. These devices are used where there is a need
to sense the presence and absence of light is necessary.

Advantages of LDR:

The advantages of LDR include the following.

• Sensitivity is High

• Simple & Small devices

• Easily used

• Inexpensive

• There is no union potential.

• The light-dark resistance ratio is high.

• Its connection is simple.

Disadvantages of LDR:

The disadvantages of LDR include the following.

• Spectral response is narrow

• Hysteresis effect

• Temperature stability is low for the best materials.

• In stable materials, it responds very slowly.

• The use of LDR is limited where the light signal
changes very quickly.

It is not so much a responsive device

• It provides incorrect results once working

temperature.

EXPERIMENT:

APPARATUS REQUIRED:
 The project consists of the following apparatus:

1. Light source (white, ultraviolet and laser)

2. LDR
3. Switching circuit
4. Relay
5. Buzzer
6. Batteries
7. Housing for the above
PROCEDURE:
An empty cardboard box was used to mimic a house.
An opening was cut on the box to present a door. Behind
the door, a light source is p[laced and in the line of vision
of the light source, an LDR is also placed.
A circuit is connected to the LDR which switches on
a relay when the light beam is intercepted. A
schematic diagram of the set-up is shown below:
As seen in the above diagram, a light source is
positioned behind the door on the right hand side and
an LDR is placed in the same line of vision at the
opposite end of the door. When the light beam falls on
the LDR, it lowers the resistance of the same and this
activates the switching transistor circuit. The
transistor circuit (described later) is connected to a
relay which is in turn connected to an external buzzer.

The relay is a special type of switch which is driven

by its magnetic coil. The relay has two positions. In
de-energized condition, position-1 will be active and
in energized condition, position-2 will be active.
When the circuit is powered, the relay goes to
position-1 to which the buzzer is connected. Thus, the
buzzer will start ringing. But when the light source is
switched on, the resistance of LDR falls and this
drives the transistor switching circuit and the relay
gets energized. This puts the relay switch in position-
2 which cuts off the buzzer. In this condition,
whenever the light beam is intercepted by an opaque
object, the LDR stops receiving the incident light and
its resistance becomes high. The de-energizes the
relay and puts it to position-1 and the buzzer starts
ringing.

Thus, to summarize, we can say that as long as the

light source is on and the LDR is illuminated, the
buzzer will not ring. But the moment the light source
is interrupted, the buzzer will start ringing.

We can Imagine the interruption of the light beam to

be caused by an intruder and hence this arrangement
can automatically detect any intruder by turning on the
buzzer.
The buzzer is just one of the devices we have
connected to the relay. As such we can connect many
devices to the relay such as sirens, flashing lights or
even an automatic dialer to the nearest police station.
This intruder alarm can be easily set up in houses,
banks, schools etc.

The same circuit can be rewired to reverse the effect

of light. Viz. We can make the buzzer ring whenever
light is
present and interestingly this setup can be used as a
morning alarm.

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

Now, let us understand how the switching takes place

when the LDR is illuminated by light. For the
automatic switching, we have used the following
circuit consisting of transistors. One of the most
common uses for transistors in an electronic circuit is
as simple switches. In short, a transistor conducts
current across the collector-emitter path only when
sufficient voltage is applied to its base.

When no sufficient base voltage is present, the switch

is off. When sufficient base voltage is present, the
switch is on.

The circuit uses two transistors, connected in series.

The base voltage of the first transistor is adjusted
carefully through the variable resistor (potentiometer)
so that the slightest increase in the base voltage can
fire the transistor T1. Thus, when there is no light on
the LDR, the transistor remains un-fired. But when
light falls on the LDR, the LDR starts conducting and
the net base voltage of transistor T1 crosses the
threshold voltage, causing T1 to fire. As a
consequence, the collector current of T1 drives
transistors T2 and T2 begins to fire. The collector
current of T2 is now large enough to energize the
relay. The relay gets energized and changes the
contact position from 1 to 2. When light is cut off, the
base voltage of T1 falls back to less then the threshold
voltage of its base -emitter junction and therefore, the
relay gets de-energized.

As stated earlier, the relay is connected to a buzzer

through a battery. So, whenever, light is interrupted,
the relay goes to position-1 where the buzzer is
connected and the buzzer starts ringing.

The ringing buzzer wards off the intruder and also

alerts the neighbors about the intrusion .In addition to
the buzzer, one can also connect a high intensity
flashlight to warn the people in the neighborhood
about the intrusion.
Needless to say, one has also to install a stealth switch
that is known only to the owner so that the owner can
disable it for his own entry.

OBSERVATION :

In the set up described, the following observation were

made by
(a) varying the nature of light source
(b) varying the translucency of the interceptor object
TablE of obsERvaTIoN
S.no TYPE OF MATERIAL RESULT
LIGHT INTERCEPTOR
SOURCE

1 White light Opaque Buzzer

rings
transparent Buzzer does
not ring
2 Near ultra- Opaque Buzzer ring
violet
Transparent Buzzer does
not ring
 3 Low Opaque Buzzer ring
intensity red
laser transparent Buzzer does
not ring

EXTENSION OF SCOPE IN
FUTURE:

The device was also tested under invisible light using

a TV remote control as an infrared light source. The
same observations were made as above. This extends
the scope of the project to the invisible light sources
such as ultraviolet and infrared. The advantage is that;
we can dupe the intruder by using invisible light as the
light rays will not be visible even in the night.

Another interesting application that can be thought of

is an automatic people counter that can be used to
measure the number of people traversing a certain
passage or entrance in an auditorium or theater. It can
 also be used as a traffic counter' in check posts and toll
gates. For this, we

CONCLUSION:

Based on the observation above, it can be concluded

that the LDR based electronic switch can be
successfully deployed for the following applications:
1. Intruder detection/burglar s alarm for home uses.
2. Anti-theft alarm for Banks and offices.
3. People Counter at Auditoriums.
4. Vehicle counter at traffic check posts.

PRECAUTIONS:

The project uses certain devices that can be harmful to

humans and animals if proper caution and care are not
observed.
1. Laser diode: Although we have used a low
intensity laser. this can be harmful if aimed
accidentally at the eyes or if the reflected beam is
seen through the naked eye. It is suggested to
 wear protective sun-glasses while
assembling/positioning the light source.
2. Ultraviolet LED: UV LED with wavelengths
between 315 and 400 nm, which emits the least
energetic and harmful type of UV light. However,
prolonged exposure should be avoided which can
damage the skin and eyes.
3. Buzzer: This device emits high frequency audio
sounds that can damage the ears when put close to the
ears or heard for a prolonged period.
4. The LDR: Should a need arise to destroy the
project; care should be taken to dispose off the LDR
properly as it contains harmful chemicals that can
damage.
Bibliography:

1.www.google.com
2.https://en.wikipedia.org/
3.www.electrical4u.com