Abstract

Earthquake Alarm Systems (ElarmS) is a program for earthquake

early warning which uses measurement of P-wave predominant
period to predict the magnitude of an earthquake in progress
within the first four seconds of the Pwave arrival. ElarmS has
potential applications in areas where seismically hazardous faults
exist in close proximity to densely populated areas. In such
areas, the use of the P-wave to assess hazard provides valuable
additional seconds over more traditional frontal detection
methods which make use of maximum ground shaking
observations. ElarmS has been tested in an offline setting in
Southern California.
We present early results of the application of ElarmS in Northern
California generally and the San Francisco Bay Area particularly.
The initial calibration of ElarmS for Northern California is
complete. As of January 2006, ElarmS will be operating
automatically at the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory but
processing will be delayed by 10 to 15 minutes. This
implementation simulates actual real-time processing, but the
results do not realistically model telemetry problems or delays.
The execution of the code is initiated by the receipt of an advisory
e-mail from the Northern California Earthquake Data Center and
delayed by ten minutes to allow for sufficient data to be logged
for the processing to occur at one time after all the data are
available. This is in contrast to future real-time processing which
would occur while the data is being logged. Each event is also
reprocessed one week after it has occurred, in order to evaluate
the effect of data drop-out on the results.
1
Earthquake Alarm

Contents
INTRODUCTION
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE MODEL

FUNCTION
CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
FUNCTION OF THE CIRCUIT
ALARM UNIT
PIN ASSIGNMENT
ELECTROMAGNETIC RELAY

FUNCTION

ELECTROMECHANICAL RELAY CONSTRUCTION

ELECTRICAL RELAY CONTACT TIP MATERIALS
ELECTRICAL RELAY SNUBBER CIRCUIT
ELECTRICAL RELAY CONTACT CONFIGURATIONS
o POWER SUPPLY
BRIDGE RECTIFIER
IC VOLTAGE REGULATORS
2
Earthquake Alarm

 Introduction
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the
perceptible shaking of the surface of the Earth, which can be violent
enough to destroy major buildings and kill thousands of people. The
severity of the shaking can range from barely felt to violent enough to
toss people around. Earthquakes have destroyed whole cities. They
result from the sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that
creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an
area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced
over a period of time.
Earthquakes are measured using observations from seismometers.
The moment magnitude is the most common scale on which earthquakes
larger than approximately 5 are reported for the entire globe. The more
numerous earthquakes smaller than magnitude 5 reported by national
seismological observatories are measured mostly on the local magnitude
3
Earthquake Alarm

scale, also referred to as the Richter magnitude scale. These two scales
are numerically similar over their range of validity. Magnitude 3 or
lower earthquakes are mostly almost imperceptible or weak and
magnitude 7 and over potentially causes serious damage over larger
areas, depending on their depth. The largest earthquakes in historic times
have been of magnitude slightly over 9, although there is no limit to the
possible magnitude. The most recent large earthquake of magnitude 9.0
or larger was a 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Japan in 2011 (as of March
2014), and it was the largest Japanese earthquake since records began.
Intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale. The
shallower an earthquake, the more damage to structures it causes, all else
being equal.
At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and
sometimes displacement of the ground. When the epicenter of a large
earthquake is located offshore, the seabed may be displaced sufficiently
to cause a tsunami. Earthquakes can also trigger landslides, and
occasionally volcanic activity.
In its most general sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any
seismic event whether natural or caused by humans that generates
seismic waves. Earthquakes are caused mostly by rupture of
geological faults, but also by other events such as volcanic activity,
landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear tests. An earthquake's point of initial
4
Earthquake Alarm

rupture is called its focus or hypocenter. The epicenter is the point at

ground level directly above the hypocenter.
There is method to forecast the earthquake. So our model make alarm if
the earthquake will happen.

Block diagram of the model

Vibration
sensor

Detector unit

Function

5
Earthquake Alarm

Alarm

Vibration sensor is the device which detects the vibration & makes an
electrical signal. When the signal reach to the detector unit , it will
amplify it &send it to the alarm unit to make a sound for attention.

Circuit diagram

6
Earthquake Alarm

To Alarm

function of the circuit

This circuit used in conjunction with a thin piezoelectric plate, senses
the vibration generated on knocking a surface (such as a door or a table)
to activate the alarm. It uses readily-available, low-cost components and
can also be used to safeguard motor vehicles. The piezoelectric plate is
used as the sensor. The piezoelectric plate can convert any mechanical
vibration into electrical variation. As it doesnt sense sound from a
distance like a microphone, it avoids false triggering. The plate can be
fixed on a door, cash box, cupboard, etc using adhesive. A 1-1.5m long,
shielded wire is connected between the sensor plate and the input of the
7
Earthquake Alarm

circuit. When vibration happen on the door, the piezoelectric sensor

generates an electrical signal, which is amplified by transistors T1
through T3.
ALARM UNIT
The alarm unit made by IC UM 3561. This is an excellent ROM IC
that can generate Multi siren tones simulating Police siren,
Ambulance siren, Fire brigade siren and Machine gun sound. This 8
pin low power IC can work down to 2.4 volts. The UM 3561 is siren
generator designed for use in any applications. The IC has an inbuilt
oscillator and tone selection pins. It is easy to make a siren generator
with only a few external components. Only one external resistor and a
speaker driver transistor are sufficient to make a siren generator.
Inside the IC, there is an oscillator circuit and the frequency of
oscillations is controlled by the external resistor connected to OSC
1(Pin 7) and OSC2 (Pin 8). A 220 K resistor will give satisfactory
results. The oscillations thus generated will be then transferred to a
8
Earthquake Alarm

control circuit which function based on the tone selection through the
connections of SEL 1 (Pin 6) and SEL2 (Pin 1) . The control circuit
passes the signal to an address counter and then to the ROM. The tone
pulses thus generated will be available from the output pin 3. Since
the sound is weak, an amplifier is necessary to get loud sound. A
single NPN transistor will amplify the sound.

Pin Assignment

Pin 1 Tone 1
Pin 2 Gnd
Pin 3 Output
Pin 4 NC
Pin 5 +3V
Pin 6 Tone2
9

Earthquake Alarm

 Pin 7 Osc 1
Pin 8 Osc 2
Electromagnetic Relay
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electro
magnet to mechanically operate a switch, but other operating principles
are also used, such as solid-state relays. Relays are used where it is
necessary to control a circuit by a low-power signal (with complete
electrical isolation between control and controlled circuits), or where
several circuits must be controlled by one signal. The first relays were
used in long distance telegraph circuits as amplifiers: they repeated the
signal coming in from one circuit and re-transmitted it on another
circuit. Relays were used extensively in telephone exchanges and early
computers to perform logical operations.

A type of relay that can handle the high power required to directly
control an electric motor or other loads is called a contactor. Solid-state
10
Earthquake Alarm

relays control power circuits with no moving parts, instead using a

semiconductor device to perform switching. Relays with calibrated
operating characteristics and sometimes multiple operating coils are
used to protect electrical circuits from overload or faults; in modern
electric power systems these functions are performed by digital
instruments still called "protective relays".
Function
A simple electromagnetic relay consists of a coil of wire wrapped around
a soft iron core, an iron yoke which provides a low reluctance path for
magnetic flux, a movable iron armature, and one or more sets of contacts
(there are two in the relay pictured). The armature is hinged to the yoke
and mechanically linked to one or more sets of moving contacts. It is
held in place by a spring so that when the relay is de-energized there is
an air gap in the magnetic circuit. In this condition, one of the two sets
of contacts in the relay pictured is closed, and the other set is open.
Other relays may have more or fewer sets of contacts depending on their
11
Earthquake Alarm

function. The relay in the picture also has a wire connecting the armature
to the yoke. This ensures continuity of the circuit between the moving
contacts on the armature, and the circuit track on the printed circuit
board (PCB) via the yoke, which is soldered to the PCB.
When an electric current is passed through the coil it generates
a magnetic field that activates the armature and the consequent
movement of the movable contact either makes or breaks (depending
upon construction) a connection with a fixed contact. If the set of
contacts was closed when the relay was de-energized, then the
movement opens the contacts and breaks the connection, and vice versa
if the contacts were open. When the current to the coil is switched off,
the armature is returned by a force, approximately half as strong as the
magnetic force, to its relaxed position. Usually this force is provided by
a spring, but gravity is also used commonly in industrial motor starters.
Most relays are manufactured to operate quickly. In a low-voltage
application this reduces noise; in a high voltage or current application it
reduces arcing.
12
Earthquake Alarm

When the coil is energized with direct current, a diode is often placed
across the coil to dissipate the energy from the collapsing magnetic field
at

deactivation,

which

would

otherwise

generate

a voltage

spike dangerous to semiconductor circuit components. Such diodes were

not widely used before the application of transistors as relay drivers, but
soon became ubiquitous as early germanium transistors were easily
destroyed by this surge. Some automotive relays include a diode inside
the relay case.
If the relay is driving a large, or especially a reactive load, there may be
a similar problem of surge currents around the relay output contacts. In
this case a snubber circuit (a capacitor and resistor in series) across the
contacts may absorb the surge. Suitably rated capacitors and the
associated resistor are sold as a single packaged component for this
commonplace use.
If the coil is designed to be energized with alternating current (AC),
some method is used to split the flux into two out-of-phase components
which add together, increasing the minimum pull on the armature during
13
Earthquake Alarm

the AC cycle. Typically this is done with a small copper "shading ring"
crimped around a portion of the core that creates the delayed, out-ofphase component, which holds the contacts during the zero crossings of
the control voltage.

The most fundamental control of any equipment is the ability to turn it

ON and OFF. The easiest way to do this is using switches to
interrupt the electrical supply. Although switches can be used to control
something, they have their disadvantages. The biggest one is that they
have to be manually (physically) turned ON or OFF. Also, they are
relatively large, slow and only switch small electrical currents.
Electrical Relays however, are basically electrically operated switches
that come in many shapes, sizes and power ratings suitable for all types
14
Earthquake Alarm

of applications. Relays can also have single or multiple contacts within a

single package with the larger power relays used for mains voltage or
high current switching applications being called Contactors.
In this tutorial about electrical relays we are just concerned with the
fundamental operating principles of light duty electromechanical
relays we can use in motor control or robotic circuits. Such relays are
used in general electrical and electronic control or switching circuits
either mounted directly onto PCB boards or connected free standing and
in which the load currents are normally fractions of an ampere up to 20+
amperes. The relay circuit is common in Electronics applications.
As

their

name

implies,

electromechanical

relays

are electro-

magnetic devices that convert a magnetic flux generated by the

application of a low voltage electrical control signal either AC or DC
across the relay terminals, into a pulling mechanical force which
operates the electrical contacts within the relay. The most common form
of electromechanical relay consists of an energizing coil called the
primary circuit wound around a permeable iron core.
15
Earthquake Alarm

This iron core has both a fixed portion called the yoke, and a moveable
spring loaded part called the armature, that completes the magnetic field
circuit by closing the air gap between the fixed electrical coil and the
moveable armature. The armature is hinged or pivoted allowing it to
freely move within the generated magnetic field closing the electrical
contacts that are attached to it. Connected between the yoke and
armature is normally a spring (or springs) for the return stroke to reset
the contacts back to their initial rest position when the relay coil is in the
de-energized condition, ie. turned OFF.

Electromechanical Relay Construction

16
Earthquake Alarm

In our simple relay above, we have two sets of electrically conductive

contacts. Relays may be Normally Open, or Normally Closed. One
pair of contacts are classed as Normally Open, (NO) or make contacts
and another set which are classed as Normally Closed, (NC) or break
contacts. In the normally open position, the contacts are closed only
when the field current is ON and the switch contacts are pulled
towards the inductive coil.
In the normally closed position, the contacts are permanently closed
when the field current is OFF as the switch contacts return to their
17
Earthquake Alarm

normal position. These terms Normally Open, Normally Closedor Make

and Break Contacts refer to the state of the electrical contacts when the
relay coil is de-energized, i.e, no supply voltage connected to the relay
coil. Contact elements may be of single or double make or break
designs. An example of this arrangement is given below.

The relays contacts are electrically conductive pieces of metal which

touch together completing a circuit and allow the circuit current to flow,
just like a switch. When the contacts are open the resistance between the
contacts is very high in the Mega-Ohms, producing an open circuit
condition and no circuit current flows.

18
Earthquake Alarm

When the contacts are closed the contact resistance should be zero, a
short circuit, but this is not always the case. All relay contacts have a
certain amount of contact resistance when they are closed and this is
called the On-Resistance, similar to FETs.
With a new relay and contacts this ON-resistance will be very small,
generally less than 0.2s because the tips are new and clean, but over
time the tip resistance will increase.
For example. If the contacts are passing a load current of say 10A, then
the voltage drop across the contacts using Ohms Law is 0.2 x 10 = 2
volts, which if the supply voltage is say 12 volts then the load voltage
will be only 10 volts (12 2). As the contact tips begin to wear, and if
they are not properly protected from high inductive or capacitive loads,
they will start to show signs of arcing damage as the circuit current still
wants to flow as the contacts begin to open when the relay coil is deenergized.

19
Earthquake Alarm

This arcing or sparking across the contacts will cause the contact
resistance of the tips to increase further as the contact tips become
damaged. If allowed to continue the contact tips may become so burnt
and damaged to the point were they are physically closed but do not pass
any or very little current.
If this arcing damage becomes to severe the contacts will eventually
weld together producing a short circuit condition and possible damage
to the circuit they are controlling. If now the contact resistance has
increased due to arcing to say 1s the volt drop across the contacts for
the same load current increases to 1 x 10 = 10 volts dc. This high voltage
drop across the contacts may be unacceptable for the load circuit
especially if operating at 12 or even 24 volts, then the faulty relay will
have to be replaced.
To reduce the effects of contact arcing and high On-resistances,
modern contact tips are made of, or coated with, a variety of silver based
alloys to extend their life span as given in the following table.
20
Earthquake Alarm

Electrical Relay Contact Tip Materials

Ag (fine silver)
o 1. Electrical and thermal conductivity are the highest of all
the metals.
o 2. Exhibits low contact resistance, is inexpensive and widely
used.
o 3. Contacts tarnish easily through sulphurisation influence.
AgCu (silver copper)
o 1. Known as Hard silver contacts.
o Better wear resistance and less tendency to arc and weld, but
slightly higher contact resistance.
AgCdO (silver cadmium oxide)

21
Earthquake Alarm

o 1. Very little tendency to arc and weld, good wear resistance

and arc extinguishing properties.
AgW (silver tungsten)
o 1. Hardness and melting point are high, arc resistance is
excellent.
o 2. Not a precious metal.
o 3. High contact pressure is required to reduce resistance.
o 4. Contact resistance is relatively high, and resistance to
corrosion is poor.
AgNi (silver nickel)
o 1. Equals the electrical conductivity of silver, excellent arc
resistance.
AgPd (silver palladium)
o 1. Low contact wear, greater hardness.
22
Earthquake Alarm

o 2. Expensive.
Platinum, Gold and Silver Alloys
o 1. Excellent corrosion resistance, used mainly for low-current
circuits.
Relay manufacturers data sheets give maximum contact ratings for
resistive DC loads only and this rating is greatly reduced for either AC
loads or highly inductive or capacitive loads. In order to achieve long
life and high reliability when switching alternating currents with
inductive or capacitive loads some form of arc suppression or filtering is
required across the relay contacts.
Extending the life of relay tips by reducing the amount of arcing
generated as they open is achieved by connecting a Resistor-Capacitor
network called an RC Snubber Network electrically in parallel with an
electrical relay contact tips. The voltage peak, which occurs at the
instant the contacts open, will be safely short circuited by the RC
network, thus suppressing any arc generated at the contact tips.
23
Earthquake Alarm

Electrical Relay Snubber Circuit

Types of Electrical Relay

As well as the standard descriptions of Normally Open, (NO)
and Normally Closed, (NC) used to describe how the relays contacts are
connected, relay contact arrangements can also be classed by their
actions. Electrical relays can be made up of one or more individual
switch contacts with each contact being referred to as a pole. Each
24
Earthquake Alarm

one of these contacts or poles can be connected or thrown together by

energizing the relays coil and this gives rise to the description of the
contact types as being:
SPST Single Pole Single Throw
SPDT Single Pole Double Throw
DPST Double Pole Single Throw
DPDT Double Pole Double Throw
with the action of the contacts being described as Make (M) or
Break (B). Then a simple relay with one set of contacts as shown
above can have a contact description of:
"Single Pole Double Throw (Break before Make)", or SPDT (B-M)
Examples of just some of the more common diagrams used for electrical
relay contact types to identify relays in circuit or schematic diagrams is
given below but there are many more possible configurations.

25
Earthquake Alarm

Electrical Relay Contact Configurations

Where:

C is the Common terminal

NO is the Normally Open contact

NC is the Normally Closed contact

Electromechanical relays are also denoted by the combinations of their

contacts or switching elements and the number of contacts combined
within a single relay. For example, a contact which is normally open in
the de-energised position of the relay is called a Form A contact or
make contact. Whereas a contact which is normally closed in the de-

26
Earthquake Alarm

energised position of the relay is called a Form B contact or break

contact.
When both a make and a break set of contact elements are present at the
same time so that the two contacts are electrically connected to produce
a common point (identified by three connections), the set of contacts are
referred to as Form C contacts or change-over contacts. If no electrical
connection exists between the make and break contacts it is referred to
as a double change-over contact.
One final point to remember about using electrical relays. It is not
advisable at all to connect relay contacts in parallel to handle higher load
currents. For example, never attempt to supply a 10A load with two
relays in parallel that have 5A contact ratings each, as the mechanically
operated relay contacts never close or open at exactly the same instant of
time. The result is that one relay contact will always be overloaded even
for a brief instant in time resulting in premature failure of the relay over
time.
27
Earthquake Alarm

Also, while electrical relays can be used to allow low power electronic
or computer type circuits to switch relatively high currents or voltages
both ON or OFF. Never mix different load voltages through
adjacent contacts within the same relay such as for example, high
voltage AC (240v) and low voltage DC (12v), always use separate relays
for safety.
One of the more important parts of any electrical relay is its coil. This
converts electrical current into an electromagnetic flux which is used to
mechanically operate the relays contacts. The main problem with relay
coils is that they are highly inductive loads as they are made from
coils of wire. Any coil of wire has an impedance value made up of
resistance ( R ) and inductance ( L ) in series (LR Series Circuit).
As the current flows through the coil a self induced magnetic field is
generated around it. When the current in the coil is turned OFF, a
large back emf (electromotive force) voltage is produced as the magnetic
flux collapses within the coil (transformer theory). This induced reverse
voltage value may be very high in comparison to the switching voltage,
28
Earthquake Alarm

and may damage any semiconductor device such as a transistor, FET or

micro-controller used to operate the relay coil.

One way of preventing damage to the transistor or any switching

semiconductor device, is to connect a reverse biased diode across the
relay coil.
When the current flowing through the coil is switched OFF, an
induced back emf is generated as the magnetic flux collapses in the coil.
This reverse voltage forward biases the diode which conducts and
dissipates the stored energy preventing any damage to the semiconductor
transistor.
29
Earthquake Alarm

When used in this type of application the diode is generally known as

a Flywheel Diode, Free-wheeling Diode and even Fly-back Diode, but
they all mean the same thing. Other types of inductive loads which
require a flywheel diode for protection are solenoids, motors and
inductive coils.

1. Transistor as a switch
Transistors are commonly used in digital circuits as electronic switches
which can be either in an "on" or "off" state, both for high-power
applications such as switched-mode power supplies and for low-power
applications such as logic gates. Important parameters for this
application include the current switched, the voltage handled, and the
switching speed, characterized by the rise and fall times.

30
Earthquake Alarm

In a grounded-emitter transistor circuit, such as the light-switch circuit

shown, as the base voltage rises, the emitter and collector currents rise
exponentially. The collector voltage drops because of reduced resistance
from collector to emitter. If the voltage difference between the collector
and emitter were zero (or near zero), the collector current would be
limited only by the load resistance (light bulb) and the supply voltage.
This is called saturation because current is flowing from collector to
emitter freely. When saturated, the switch is said to be on
Providing sufficient base drive current is a key problem in the use of
bipolar transistors as switches. The transistor provides current gain,
allowing a relatively large current in the collector to be switched by a
much smaller current into the base terminal. The ratio of these currents
varies depending on the type of transistor, and even for a particular type,
varies depending on the collector current. In the example light-switch
circuit shown, the resistor is chosen to provide enough base current to
ensure the transistor will be saturated.

31
Earthquake Alarm

In a switching circuit, the idea is to simulate, as near as possible, the

ideal switch having the properties of open circuit when off, short circuit
when on, and an instantaneous transition between the two states.
Parameters are chosen such that the "off" output is limited to leakage
currents too small to affect connected circuitry; the resistance of the
transistor in the "on" state is too small to affect circuitry; and the
transition between the two states is fast enough not to have a detrimental
effect.

2. Transistor as an amplifier
The common-emitter amplifier is designed so that a small change in
voltage (Vin) changes the small current through the base of the transistor;
the transistor's current amplification combined with the properties of the
circuit mean that small swings in Vin produce large changes in Vout.

32
Earthquake Alarm

Various configurations of single transistor amplifier are possible, with

some providing current gain, some voltage gain, and some both.
From mobile phones to televisions, vast numbers of products include
amplifiers

for sound

reproduction, radio

transmission,

and signal

processing. The first discrete-transistor audio amplifiers barely supplied

a few hundred milliwatts, but power and audio fidelity gradually
increased as better transistors became available and amplifier
architecture evolved.

Transistor BC548
BC548 is general purpose silicon, NPN, bipolar junction transistor. It is
used for amplification and switching purposes. The current gain may
vary between 110 and 800. The maximum DC current gain is 800.
33
Earthquake Alarm

Its equivalent transistors are 2N3904 and 2SC1815. These equivalent

transistors however have different lead assignments. The variants of
BC548 are 548A, 548B and 548C which vary in range of current gain
and other characteristics.

The transistor terminals require a fixed DC voltage to operate in the

desired region of its characteristic curves. This is known as the biasing.
For amplification applications, the transistor is biased such that it is
partly on for all input conditions. The input signal at base is amplified
and taken at the emitter. BC548 is used in common emitter configuration
for amplifiers. The voltage divider is the commonly used biasing mode.
For switching applications, transistor is biased so that it remains fully on
if there is a signal at its base. In the absence of base signal, it gets
completely off.
Pin Diagram:
34
Earthquake Alarm

Power supply
Block diagram
The ac voltage, typically 220V, is connected to a transformer, which steps
that ac voltage down to the level of the desired dc output. A diode rectifier then
provides a full-wave rectified voltage that is initially filtered by a simple capacitor
filter to produce a dc voltage. This resulting dc voltage usually has some ripple or
ac voltage variation.
A regulator circuit removes the ripples and also remains the same dc value
even if the input dc voltage varies, or the load connected to the output dc voltage
changes. This voltage regulation is usually obtained using one of the popular
voltage regulator IC units.

TRANSFORMER

RECTIFIER

FILTER

35
Earthquake Alarm

IC REGULATOR

LOAD

 Working principle
Transformer
The potential transformer will step down the power supply voltage (0-230V)
to (0-6V) level. Then the secondary of the potential transformer will be connected
to the precision rectifier, which is constructed with the help of opamp. The
advantages of using precision rectifier are it will give peak voltage output as DC,
rest of the circuits will give only RMS output.

Bridge rectifier
When four diodes are connected as shown in figure, the circuit is called as
bridge rectifier. The input to the circuit is applied to the diagonally opposite
corners of the network, and the output is taken from the remaining two corners.
Let us assume that the transformer is working properly and there is a
positive potential, at point A and a negative potential at point B. the positive
potential at point A will forward bias D3 and reverse bias D4.
The negative potential at point B will forward bias D1 and reverse D2. At
this time D3 and D1 are forward biased and will allow current flow to pass through
them; D4 and D2 are reverse biased and will block current flow.
The path for current flow is from point B through D1, up through RL,
through D3, through the secondary of the transformer back to point B. this path is

36
Earthquake Alarm

indicated by the solid arrows. Waveforms (1) and (2) can be observed across D1
and D3.
One-half cycle later the polarity across the secondary of the transformer
reverse, forward biasing D2 and D4 and reverse biasing D1 and D3. Current flow
will now be from point A through D4, up through RL, through D2, through the
secondary of T1, and back to point A. This path is indicated by the broken arrows.
Waveforms (3) and (4) can be observed across D2 and D4. The current flow
through RL is always in the same direction. In flowing through RL this current
develops a voltage corresponding to that shown waveform (5). Since current flows
through the load (RL) during both half cycles of the applied voltage, this bridge
rectifier is a full-wave rectifier.
One advantage of a bridge rectifier over a conventional full-wave rectifier is
that with a given transformer the bridge rectifier produces a voltage output that is
nearly twice that of the conventional full-wave circuit.
This may be shown by assigning values to some of the components shown in
views A and B. assume that the same transformer is used in both circuits. The peak
voltage developed between points X and y is 1000 volts in both circuits. In the
conventional full-wave circuit shownin view A, the peak voltage from the center
tap to either X or Y is 500 volts. Since only one diode can conduct at any instant,
the maximum voltage that can be rectified at any instant is 500 volts.
The maximum voltage that appears across the load resistor is nearly-but
never exceeds-500 v0lts, as result of the small voltage drop across the diode. In the
bridge rectifier shown in view B, the maximum voltage that can be rectified is the
full secondary voltage, which is 1000 volts. Therefore, the peak output voltage
across the load resistor is nearly 1000 volts. With both circuits using the same
37
Earthquake Alarm

transformer, the bridge rectifier circuit produces a higher output voltage than the
conventional full-wave rectifier circuit.
IC voltage regulators
Voltage regulators comprise a class of widely used ICs. Regulator IC
units contain the circuitry for reference source, comparator amplifier, control
device, and overload protection all in a single IC. IC units provide regulation of
either a fixed positive voltage, a fixed negative voltage, or an adjustably set
voltage. The regulators can be selected for operation with load currents from
hundreds of milli amperes to tens of amperes, corresponding to power ratings from
milli watts to tens of watts.
Circuit diagram (Power supply)

fixed

three-

terminal voltage regulator has an unregulated dc input voltage, Vi, applied to one
input terminal, a regulated dc output voltage, Vo, from a second terminal, with the
third terminal connected to ground.

CONCLUSION
Through this paper a design of wireless earthquake alarm system is
discussed. This system has many advantages such as low cost, low
38
Earthquake Alarm

power consumption and small in size. As mentioned earlier it can be

used in multistoried building with many receiving part with single
transmitting part.

REFERENCES
39
Earthquake Alarm

[1] R.J.Geller, D.D. Jackson, and Y.Y. Kagan, and F. Mulargia, Enhanced
Earthquakes cannot be Predicted , Science, Vol 275.pp.1616-1620. 1997.
[2] Yih-Min Wu; Kanamori, H. Development of an Earthquake Early Warning
System Using Real Time Strong Motion Signals Sensors 8, pp1-9, 2008.
[3] Richard M. Allen, Paolo Gasparini, Osamu Kamigaichi and Maren Bose; The
Status of Earthquake Early Warning around the World: An Introductory
Overview, Seismological Research Letters; Volume 80, Number 5,
September/October; doi:10.1785/gssrl.80.5.682.
[4] Sanjib Kalita, J.N. Borole, Needs of Early Earthquake Warning System in
North-Eastern Region of India, International Journal of Engineering Research &
Technology (IJERT), pp

40
Earthquake Alarm