Digital Electronics Project

Project Title: Light Detector Using NAND Gate

Subject Code: EEE-2408
Electrical & Electronics Engineering
Year- 2nd, Semester-4th

SUBMITTED BY:
Mohammed Sohel (ET201008)
Md. Asif Rahat (ET201039)
Mohin Uddin (ET201040)

SUBMITTED TO:
Mohammad Jalal Uddin
DATE OF SUBMISSION:
29/06/2022
 Title Light Detector Using NAND Gate

Objective: Light Detector Using NAND Gate.

Apparatus:
 NAND gate IC-7400.
 LDR
 LED
 Resistor 470Ω, 10kΩ
 Connection Wires
 Bread Board

Theory:
In this project, we will build a light detector circuit using a NAND gate chip. A light
detector circuit is a circuit that can detect light. When a bright light shines on the
circuit, such as from a flashlight, we will make it so that a LED turns on.
The circuit is very basic. The component that will allow us to detect light is a photo
resistor (LDR). We will use a photo resistor's light-sensing ability to detect whether
the circuit is exposed to darkness or bright light. How this works is that a photo
resistor's resistance changes in proportion to the amount of light it is exposed to. In
darkness, it has very high resistance. In bright light, its resistance drops
dramatically. If placed in a voltage divider circuit with a fixed resistor, we can exploit
this resistance-altering behavior so that when connected to a NAND gate, we can
produce a logic HIGH output when the photo resistor is exposed to bright light and a
logic LOW output when the photo resistor is exposed to darkness. All of this will be
explained in detail below how exactly this works. But realize that a photo resistor's
resistance-changing ability allows us to distinctly know whether it is exposed to
darkness or bright light. Knowing this, we can effectively build a light detector
circuit.
The following chart shows NAND gate logic, which shows what output a NAND gate
chip will produce for a set of given inputs.

NAND Gate Logic

INPUTS OUTPUTS

0 0 1
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0

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 Title Light Detector Using NAND Gate

This means that if one of the inputs are a 0, the NAND gate will output a logic
HIGH at its output, which means the output will be drawn up to VCC and the
load will be powered. If both inputs feeding into the NAND gate are a 1, only
then will the NAND gate output a logic LOW at its output, which means the
output will be drawn down to GND, and the load will not be powered.
WHAT IS BREADBOARD
A breadboard is a device for testing temporary electronics projects. Components
used to test a circuit can be reused for other projects. None of the components
are damaged. Almost all people start to learn electronics using breadboard
because it is the simplest way of making circuit. The photograph shows a typical
small breadboard which is suitable for beginners building simple circuits with
one or two ICs (chips).

Figure 1

Connections on Breadboard
A breadboard has 4 rows of holes at the
top and 4 rows at the bottom and there
are several columns of holes in the
middle.
There are two groups of vertical columns
in the middle part, as you see in the
picture below it has been separated by a
blue rectangular block. None of the rows Figure 2
and columns are linked to one another. The holes in rows are linked horizontally
and column holes are linked vertically.
Converting a circuit diagram to a breadboard layout is not straight forward
because the arrangement of components on breadboard looks quite different
from the circuit diagram. When putting parts on breadboard you must
concentrate on their connections, not their positions on the circuit diagram.

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 Title Light Detector Using NAND Gate

2) LED
A semiconductor diode that emits light when
conducting current and is used in electronic
equipment

Figure 3

3) LDR (Light Dependent Resistor)

Light Dependent Resistor or Photo resistor,
which is a passive electronic component,
basically a resistor which has a resistance
that varies depending of the light intensity.
A photo resistor is made of a high resistance
semiconductor that absorbs photons and
based on the quantity and frequency of the
absorbed photons the semiconductor
material give bound electrons enough
Figure 4
energy to jump into the conduction band.
The resulting free electrons conduct electricity resulting in lowering resistance
of the photoresistor. The number of electrons is dependent of the photons
frequency.

4) Resistors
A resistor is an electrical component that limits
or regulates the flow of electrical current in an
electronic circuit. Resistors can also be used to
provide a specific voltage for an active device
such as a transistor.

Figure 5

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 Title Light Detector Using NAND Gate

IC-7400:
The IC 7400 is a 14-pin chip and it
includes four 2-input NAND gates. Every
gate utilizes 2-input pins & 1-output pin,
by the remaining 2-pins being power &
ground. This chip was made with
different packages like surface mount
and through-hole which includes ceramic
(or) plastic dual-in-line and flat pack.

Figure 6

6) 9 volts battery
A battery is an electrochemical cell (or
enclosed and protected material) that can be
charged electrically to provide a static potential
for power or released electrical charge when

Figure 7

Figure:

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 Title Light Detector Using NAND Gate

Figure 8

Procedure:
Firstly, we must give power to the NAND gate IC. We will feed it 9V of power, so
we give +9V to pin 14 and we connect pin 7 to GND. This establishes power to the
IC.
The circuit is very basic. The component that allows us to detect light is a photo
resistor (LDR). We set up a voltage divider circuit composed of a photo resistor and
a 10K fixed resistor. In a voltage divider circuit, voltage is distributed across the
components in direct proportion to the amount of resistance each component
offers. The more resistance a component offers in relation to the other, the more
voltage that will fall across that component. This is shown in the ohm's law
formula, V= IR. You can see the direct relationship between voltage and resistance
in the formula. The greater the resistance a component offers, the more voltage
that falls across it. Conversely, the less resistance a component offers, the less
voltage that falls across it. When a photo resistor is exposed to darkness, it has
very high resistance, in the order of a few mega ohms (M.0). With resistance this
high, most of the voltage from the power supply feeding the voltage divider circuit
falls across the photo resistor, with very little voltage falling across the 10K fixed
resistor. Thus, when connected to the inputs of NAND gate, with voltage so high,
the NAND gate will essentially interpret the voltage divider as if it were HIGH (or
1). When the voltage feeding the inputs of a NAND gate are greater than half of
the power supply Voltage, it will interpret it as a HIGH value.
Since we will tie both inputs together the NAND gate will interpret this as two
ones, so it will output a 0 (or LOW), which means the output will be drawn down

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 Title Light Detector Using NAND Gate

to GND and the load will not be powered. Remember, NAND gate logic, two is
gives a 0. This is the only time we get an output value of 0 in NAND gate logic. If a
0 is present anywhere in the inputs, including twice, the NAND gate will output.
When a photo resistor is exposed to bright light, its resistance drops dramatically,
in order of 20-30M, or less, depending on the type in use. With this resistance this
low, most of the voltage from the power supply falls across the 10K resistor, and
less than half falling across the photo resistor. With voltage this low, the NAND
gate will interpret as a logic level of O. Thus, the output will be drawn up to VCC
and the load, the LED, will be powered on. So you can see how this voltage divider
circuit allows us to get 2 different logic levels produced by the NAND gate IC in
different lighting conditions.

Step of Construction:
Step 1: Put the NAND gate(IC 7400) on breadboard as shown in the picture

Figure 9

Step 2: Shorting inputs that are pin1 and pin 2

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 Title Light Detector Using NAND Gate

Figure 10

Step 3: Connect LDR with shorted input and negative terminal of battery
(bottom row of the breadboard)

Figure 11

Step 4: Shorting 14 no pin with positive terminal of battery (2 nd bottom row of

breadboard)

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 Title Light Detector Using NAND Gate

Figure 12

Step 5: Shorting 7 no pin with negative terminal of battery

Figure 13

Step 6: Connect a 10k resistor with shorted pin and positive terminal of battery

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 Title Light Detector Using NAND Gate

Figure 14

Step 7: Connect a 470 ohm resistor with pin 3

Figure 15

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Step 8: Put the LED’s anode with 470 ohm resistor and cathode with negative
terminal of battery

Figure 16

Step 9: Connect battery’s positive terminal with 2 nd bottom row and negative
terminal with bottom row

Figure 17

Our Project Final Look:

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 Title Light Detector Using NAND Gate

Figure 18

Working:
Picture 1: When there is light detected

Figure 19

Picture 2: When there is no light detected

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Figure 20

FUTURE SCOPE:

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