FUNDAMENTALS OF ELECTRONICS (APPLIED SUBJECT)

BICYCLE HAZARD LIGHTS

(WORK PORTFOLIO DOCUMENTS)

Supervisors: Mr. James Ker Mdm. Tong Mr. Liau Students Name: Cymbeline Kng

CONTENT PAGE
1- Project Plan 2- Project Situation 3- Circuit Specification 4- Analysis of Project specification 5- Research of 5 different kinds of circuits 6- Selected circuit for Modification 7- Action Plan 8- Modification/Enhancement of selected Circuit 9- Simulation Test of final circuit 10- Components used for final circuit 11- Pictures of Circuits on the breadboard 12- Testing/Evaluation of final circuit 13- Suggested improvements to final circuit 14- Instructions to operate the circuit 15- Datasheets

PROJECT PLAN
S/No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Project Planning Determine research methods Prepare portfolio work document Circuit design & computer simulation Project realization Test and measurements Writing project evaluation report Project submission Task Start Date 5/1/2011 12/1/2011 19/1/2011 26/1/2011 16/2/2011 22/6/2011 3/8/2011 10/8/2011 Duration in Days 7 7 7 21 126 42 7 7 End Date 11/1/2011 18/1/2011 25/1/2011 15/2/2011 21/6/2011 2/8/2011 9/8/2011 16/8/2011 Action Do Check Plan Remarks

5/1/11 Project Planning Determine research methods Prepare portfolio work document Circuit design & computer simulation Project realization Test and measurements Writing project evaluation report Project submission

24/2/11

15/4/11

4/6/11

24/7/11

PROJECT SITUATION
Serious bicycle accidents often occur during twilight and night hours. At twilight, the contrast between the bright sky and dark ground makes it difficult for motorists to see the cyclist ahead. At night, a cyclist is not very visible when he is at a distance in front of the car headlights, especially with oncoming car headlights and glare from the rear. In these conditions, the motorist often does not see the cyclist soon enough to avoid action or to stop in time.

CIRCUIT SPECIFICATIONS
This project is to design, build and test the bicycle hazard light unit which will have the following features: Battery powered (6 volts) Low cost, portable and easy to operate Light to be provided by 6 super bright LEDs Lights to blink at a rate of 1Hz (60on/off blinks per minute) Light unit to be able to set and detect different darkness levels, turning the LEDs on and off automatically at a present level - Minimal power consumption during standby mode

Analysis of project specification

1 Project specification Analysis Battery Powered Circuit can operate at the voltage supply from (6Volts) less than 6Volts to more than 6Volts. The circuit should be constructed to operate from as low as 4Volts to 12Volts or even 15Volts. This is to ensure the circuit can function even if there is a small surge or drop from the Voltage source. Circuit Current Low current consumption is to ensure no 10mA on standby components will be destroyed. If additional and 300mA during output devices are installed beside the 6 Super operation bright LEDs, the circuits total current remains below 300mA. The circuit must not draw than 150mA of current when operated. Sensor for light The LDR changes its resistance when it sets and detects different darkness levels, triggering the LEDs to turn on and off. Transistor amplifiers Darlington pair of the transistor can be considered for the circuit to have huge current gain for the transistor. The Darlington pair must also not provide too must current as it may destroy components. Output devices LEDs should be placed parallel. It must be Super bright LEDs protected by resistors connected in series with them.

3 4

RESEARCH OF 5 DIFFERENT KINDS OF CIRCUITS

(Circuit 1)

A few transistor multivibrator oscillators on the net are shown with the polarity of the capacitors backwards. The wire of each capacitor that connects to the base of the PNP transistors is near the positive supply voltage and the capacitor wire at the collectors goes to a much lower voltage. The circuits are also shown with the supply voltage too high (like this circuit) which causes avalanche breakdown of the reverse-biased emitter-base junction of the transistors. Diodes can prevent the avalanche breakdown.

(Circuit 2)

The multivibrator astable shows two LEDs alternately light up with an adjustable speed. The circuit uses two transistors conduct alternately by the capacitors charged and discharged. The rate at which this happens depends on the capacity of capacitors of R2 and R3 and P1, and the load of the transistors. If the LEDs blink fast or too slow, P1 can be adjusted or capacitors. Greater capacity and higher resistance, for lower frequency of blinks. R1, R4 = 1 kOhm R2, R3 = 4.7 kOhm P1 = 100 kOhm C1, C2 = 22 V F/16 D1, D2 = LED T1, T2 = BC 547B

(Circuit 3)

When the left most transistor, Q1 turns on, the potential at c1 drops from about five volts to close to zero. This causes an identical 5V potential decrease to happen on the other side of Cap1. This five volt drop causes the potential at b2 to drop to about -4.4V. This turns off Q2 causing the potential at c2 to rise to close to 5V. This further turns on Q1. When the middle transistor, Q2 turns on, the potential at c2 drops from about five volts to close to zero. This causes an identical 5V potential decrease to happen on the other side of Cap2. This five volt drop causes the potential at b1 to drop to about -4.4V. This turns off Q1 causing the potential at c1 to rise to close to 5V. This further turns on Q2. Neither of these states is stable. Whichever transistor is turned off, it will eventually turn back on due to the current recharging the capacitor and the base potential rising. The LED driver circuit makes the astable output visible without significantly upsetting the astable circuit.

(Circuit 4)

This is to make two LED blink back and forth. The technical term for this circuit is astable multivibrator. Its really easy to put together, with only 10 parts. [Part List] * 2 x LEDs any colour. Red, yellow, and green are safe. * 2 x NPN transistors just about any small transistor. I used PN2222A, but you can use 2N3904, 2N4401, etc. * 2 x Capacitor around 1022 uF. 6volts or higher. Electrochemical capacitors are the easiest to find. * 2 x 220 ohm resisters anything from 200 to 1k ohm of any type should work. * 2 x 47k ohm resisters anything from 22k to 100k ohm should work. Value of these changes the timing of blinking (larger the value, slower the blinking).

(Circuit 5)

Operate with 5 to 12 volts; this circuit can be useful to mainly monitor the capacity of the batteries, portable and easy to operate. LED D1 flashes to attire the users attention, signalling that the circuit are running. The circuit generate about two LED flashes per second with current consumption about 200uA. The sequences of LED flashes are generated with transistor Q1 and Q2 that wired as an uncommon complementary astable multivibrator. Both are off 99% of the time, saturating only when the LED illuminates, thus contributing to keep very low current consumption.

Advantages
Circuit 1
Comprehensible and simple circuit Easily constructed in Tina Pro

Disadvantages
Must beware of avalanche breakdown Polarity of capacitor must be accurate No variable resistor

Circuit 2
Repeated value of components A low cost circuit Comprehensible and simple circuit A commonly used circuit Easily put together Adjustable frequency Must beware of variable resistor which is always ignored Polarity of capacitor must be accurate

Circuit 3
Comprehensible and simple circuit A low cost circuit Polarity of capacitor must be accurate Voltage supply to low No variable resistor

Circuit 4
Easily put together Comprehensible and simple circuit No variable resistor Polarity of capacitor must be accurate

Circuit 5
Low current consumption Value of components not provided Quite confusing when constructed Confusing to construct in Tina Pro

Selected Circuit for modification

Circuit 2.
-The original astable multivibrator circuit has 2 output stages. It means that we can place more than 6 LEDs at the output. It offers flexibility of future enhancement to the circuit. -The astable multivibrator circuit is stable. It has 2 transistors alternate between the on stages an off state. These on/off states give rise to the flickering effect of LEDs. -The astable multivibrator circuit can be powered by battery of the values ranging from 4V to 20V. -The astable multivibrator circuit has no IC.

ACTION PLAN
START

Search for circuits

Use Tina Pro to test circuit

NO

CIRCUIT WORKS?
YES

Patch circuit onto breadboard

Test the hardware

Troubleshooting

NO

Hard ware works?

YES

Take measurements

Compile results and complete report for submission

Modification of Selected Circuit (Circuit 2)

- To make LEDs blink in darkness, LDR should be placed. The LDR resistor must remain high in daylight, preferably in the range of M. The high resistance of LDR limits the current flow into the base of transistor; therefore, the transistor cannot be turned on. In darkness, LDR resistance drops, preferably to k range. As such, current starts to flow into the base of transistor, turning on the transistor. Thus, the LDR we select to use must have high resistance when placed in daylight and low resistance when placed in darkness. - The circuit has to be modified to drive 6LEDs. Each transistor drives 3 LEDs. 2 other LEDs must be connected in parallel to the first LED. The LEDs must not be connected in series

because the brightness of each LED will be dimmed if they are connected in such configurations. They must be connected in parallel so that the amount of current flowing through the LED will be the same. This will ensure the brightness of the LEDs will be the same.

Power

How Relays Work

In figure 2a the relay is off. The metal arm is at its rest position and so there is contact between the Normally Closed (N.C.) switch contact and the 'common' switch contact. If a current is passed through the coil, the resulting magnetic field attracts the metal arm and there is now contact between the Normally Open (N.O.) switch contact and the common switch contact, as shown in figure 2b.

Disadvantages of Relay:

Their parts can wear out as the switch contacts become dirty - high voltages and currents cause sparks between the contacts. They cannot be switched on and off at high speeds because they have a slow response and the switch contacts will rapidly wear out due to the sparking. Their coils need a fairly high current to energise, which means some micro-electronic circuits can't drive them directly without additional circuitry.

Hence, remove the relay.

Description on how the circuit works:

The circuit built consists of main stages(I) Input stage, (II) Current gain stage, (III) Process stage, (IV) Output stage.

The input stage is made up of Variable Resistor 1 and Light Dependent Resistor. The Light dependent resistor varies over a range from 1k to 2 k. Under intense light, the Light dependent resistance value is about 2 k. In darkness, the Light dependent resistance value rises to about 11 k. The Variable resistor 1 and the light dependent resistor form a voltage divider which provides the base voltage of Q1. The base voltage provided must be less than 1.4V, as Q1 and Q2 form a Darlington pair which requires 1.4V to turn on. In darkness, when the value of Light dependent resistor rises to 11k, the base voltage rise to more than 1.4V. This results in Q1 and Q2 being switch on. In the current gain stage, consisting of Q1 and Q2, a small base current flowing into the current gain of Q2, will be amplified by a factor of 1 times 2, 1 being the current gain of Q1, 2 being the current gain of Q2. The output current IC2, Collector current of Q2, starts to flow from the process consisting of Astable multivibrator circuit. The Astable multivibrator circuit is thus turned on.

Astable Multivibrators
In the Astable multivibrator, there is 2 stable states that changes alternatively with maximum transition rate because of the accelerating positive feedbacks. It is implemented by Capacitor 1& Capacitor 2, which are coupling capacitors. These capacitors instantly transfer voltage changes because the voltage across a capacitor is unable to change out of a sudden. In each state, only 1 transistor is switched on, while the other is switched off. Also, one fully charged capacitor discharges slowly. Thus, it converts the time into an exponentially changing voltage. At the same time, the empty capacitor quickly discharges, thus restoring its change. The first capacitor acts as a time-setting capacitor while the second prepares to play this role in the next state. This results in the circuit to alternate between 2 states: State 1: Q3 is switched on, Q4 is switched off. State 2: Q3 is switched off, Q4 is switched on. The LEDs, which are connected to Q3 and Q4 are consequently being turned on and off alternately, giving rise to the flickering effect.
Frequency can be estimated by this formula:

Power

Power

Enhancement beyond basic design specification

- Add 7-segments into the circuit to enhance the appearance of the bicycle hazard light. - Add 7-segments into the circuit to make it more attractive and visible besides having super bright LEDs. - Add 2 switches to control the on/off of the 6 Super bright LEDs as well as the 7-Segments to minimize power consumption.

Final circuit

Power

SIMULATION TEST OF FINAL CIRCUIT

Components used for final circuit

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Components Variable Resistor Transistor Switch Light Dependent Resistor Seven Segment Capacitor Super Bright LEDs Resistor Resistor Resistor Resistor
1 11 2

Specification 100k BC547 5101AS 33uF/25V Green/Red 330 3.3k 470 1k

10

Quantity 2 4 2 1 2 2 6 6 2 2 1
7

3 6 4

PICTURES OF CIRCUITS ON THE BREADBOARD

TESTING/Evaluation OF FINAL CIRCUIT

Power

- Connect power supply to respective places to see if circuit works.

Test point

- Test for collectors current at respective places as shown. (Lowest = 0.88mA, Highest = 2.90mA)

Test point

- Test for total current at respective places as shown. (Lowest = 3.50mA, Highest = 4.78mA)

Test points

- Use oscilloscope to test circuit& off lights to see if LEDs lights up.

Testing of the circuits (If the circuit can function when switched on)
Test Procedure 1- Connect the circuit to the power supply which is set to 9V. The switch of the circuit is still left open. 2- Close the switch of the circuit. The LDR of the circuit is not covered. LDR is exposed to light. 3- To stimulate darkness cover the LDR of the circuit with the hand. Expected Result The circuit does not function. The 6 LEDs do not light up. The 6 LEDs do not flicker. The 6 LEDs flicker. Actual Result The circuit does not function. The 6 LEDs do not light up. The 6 LEDs do not flicker. The 6 LEDs flicker.

Testing the circuit for the frequency of LEDs

Test Procedure 1- Switch on the circuit. Cover the LDR of the circuit with hand. Time the flickering of LEDs with a stopwatch for 1 minute. The capacitor value is 3.3uF. The variable resistor value is 100k . Expected Results The LEDs flicker 60 times per minute. Actual Results The LEDs flicker 59/60/59 times per minute for three times respectively. Thus, average = 59.3 times per minute.

Testing the circuit for the range of voltages within which the circuit can function
Test Procedure 1- Connect the circuit to the power supply of 3V. Close the switch of the circuit. Cover the LDR of the circuit with hand. 2- Change 3V-4V. 3- Change to 5V. 4- Change to 6V. Expected Results The 6 LEDs can flicker. Actual Results The 6 LEDs cannot flicker.

The 6 LEDs can flicker. The 6 LEDs can flicker. The 6 LEDs can flicker.

The 6 LEDs can flicker. The 6 LEDs can flicker. The 6 LEDs can flicker.

Test Conclusions 1- The 6 LEDs of the circuit flicker at the rate of 60 times per minute. 2- The 6 LEDs of the circuit flickers in the darkness. 3- The circuit works with the supply voltage range from 4 V to 6V. 4- For this circuit, to give a frequency of 1Hz (60 times per minute), the value of capacitor used is 3.3uF, the value of the Variable Resistor is 100k.

SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS TO FINAL CIRCUIT

- Add more enhancements to the circuit to make the circuit more unique and attractive. - Make use of the seven segments. Use the seven segments to display the distance travelled by the cyclist instead of just making the circuit look more attractive.

INSTRUCTIONS TO OPERATE THE CIRCUIT

1) Install the circuit at the back of the bicycle 2) Turn on the slide switch 1. The circuit LEDs will flash when placed in darkness. 3) Turn on the slide switch 2 to let the numbers in the seven segments display. 4) Off/ on switch according to preferences.

Datasheets

Sources - Google.com
http://www.google.com.sg/imgres?q=LED+FLASHER+ASTABLE+MULTIVIBRATOR&um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbnid=4_3oLZv_RujXxM:&imgrefurl=h ttp://www.circuitdiagramlinks.com/115-2n3904-npn-transistor-ledflasher/&docid=fa7FuumKXSwNsM&w=294&h=293&ei=dZ02ToK_L4nkrAfF4Z3ICw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=169&vpy=59&dur=244&hovh=224&ho vw=225&tx=106&ty=113&page=1&tbnh=121&tbnw=122&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&biw=1264&bih=657 http://www.google.com.sg/imgres?q=LED+FLASHER+ASTABLE+MULTIVIBRATOR&um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbnid=N_HA1FE5Q2DkfM:&imgrefurl= http://www.electro-tech-online.com/electronic-projects-design-ideas-reviews/103591-transistor-astable-multivibratorproblem.html&docid=6niqCNd6hW0TZM&w=577&h=522&ei=dZ02ToK_L4nkrAfF4Z3ICw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=174&vpy=330&dur=352&hovh= 214&hovw=236&tx=173&ty=135&page=1&tbnh=117&tbnw=144&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0&biw=1264&bih=657 http://www.csus.edu/indiv/t/tatror/Projects/MET%20Highway%20Safety%20Project%202010/IR%20LED.pdf

- Wikipedia.org