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Design and Construction of an Inverter Amplifier Circuit for a Mosquito

Zapper

Article · June 2016

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International Journal of Latest Engineering and Management Research (IJLEMR)
ISSN: 2455-4847
www.ijlemr.com ǁ Volume 1 - Issue 6 ǁ July 2016 ǁ PP. 23-27

Design and Construction of an Inverter Amplifier Circuit for a

Mosquito Zapper
1
M. Alpha, 2JUMMAI .D. Makama., 3KURE .N., 4BELLO .I. A, 5T. O.
DANIEL., 6ISLAMIYAT .T. Salaudeen., 7ADOYI Emmanuel,
1&6Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology Minna, P.M.B 65,
5. Department of Physics/geophysics, federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, P.M.B 1010, Abakaliki, Nigeria
3. Department of Physics,kaduna state university
2&4 Department of Physics Ahmadu Bello University
7 Department of Physics, NDA Kaduna

Abstract: This work entails the design and construction of a high voltage inverter amplifier circuit for
mosquito zapper which can electrocute mosquitoes. It also consists of a power supply unit which is mainly used
to charge the battery and the casing was done using Perspex plastic material. The mesh dimension is 33 cm by
23 cm and had one inner mesh with 2 outer ones.
Key Words: Zapper, Inverter, amplifier, Mosquito

I. Introduction
A mosquito zapper is a device used for killing mosquitoes using high voltages, [3]. The power supply
is either battery or rectified voltage source. The control device is a switch to operate the Zapper. Current is
acceptable through a transistor which allows the current to flow through a primary coil, inducing voltage in the
secondary coil and the secondary coil in return induces voltage in feedback coil. This counter voltage in the
feedback coil causes the transistor to stop conducting and the magnetic field in the ferrite core to collapse via
electrical energy from secondary coil.[2] This process helps the transistor to conduct again, repeating the
process and creating pulsed DC. The changing magnetic field induces high voltage in the secondary coil.
Voltage induced in the secondary coil depends on the ratio of number of turns of Primary and Secondary
winding. This voltage will be in the order of a few hundreds or thousands.
This voltage is now further boosted using a mixture of Diodes and Capacitors, which is a voltage
amplifier. Characteristically, the circuit uses Voltage Triple, which triples the available voltage from secondary
winding of transformer[1].
Out of 3 layers of the mesh, the outer two layers are connected to -Ve/GND and the inner layer
connected to the generated high voltage. The distance between the meshes will not let the high voltage arc off
on its own. But when mosquito/bug flies in between, it helps in formation of low resistance path, which results
in arcing through the body of the mosquito, [4].

II. Materials and Methods

2.1: General Circuit Diagram and Its Operation Principle
The main body resistance of most bugs and mosquitoes fall within the range of 0.70 – 0.75Ω and the
required Zapper voltage is from 600 to 1200 volts ac. Figure 1.1 is the general circuit diagram of the Zapper. It
was concepted from the many on the net to be shown having four simple sections as earlier stated above.
The Zapper Circuit functions by the following principles; when the battery power is switched on, the
RC oscillator produces a waveform like a square wave which switches transistor T1 On and Off and as such
allows the battery current to be switched to and from the centre tapped transformer which sees the voltage as an
AC Voltage. This voltage is induced into the pulse transformer secondary winding through electromagnetic
induction. And because the transformer is in step up mode, the voltage is increased by 100 times to give an
output which when tripled produces the required voltage that can electrocute a bug or insect. The output of the
Tripler is connected to 2 meshes whereby the inner mesh called the hot mesh carries the high voltage while the
outer meshes carry a ground potential.

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 Design and Construction of an Inverter Amplifier Circuit for a Mosquito Zapper
Fig. 1.1 General Zapper circuit diagram

The Oscillatory Stage Design

The RC oscillator was chosen to avoid the bulkiness of inductive circuits and its easy application to
inverter circuits.

The RC tank used consists of a resistor and a capacitor as in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2 RC Oscillators

The time constant is τ = RC

For most Zapper oscillators the frequencies of 0 to 100 Hz are taken. Therefore a 1 MΩ resistor was chosen for
5Hz frequency, Clark (2003).

τ = RC (1.1)
1
= (1.2)
2𝜋𝑓𝑐

1
𝑓𝑐 = (1.3)
2𝜋𝑅𝐶

So therefore if fc = 5 Hz and R = 1MΩ then

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 Design and Construction of an Inverter Amplifier Circuit for a Mosquito Zapper
1
5=
2𝜋×1×10 6 ×𝐶

1
𝑐= = 20𝜇𝑓
5×10 6 ×2𝜋

After this test, the circuit was then connected beginning with the oscillator (RC) as shown in Figure
1.3. A test on the RC oscillator showed a low frequency distorted saw wave which is used to switch transistor
T1 thereby driving the transformer with collector current Ic

Figure 1.3 RC Oscillator Test

Other test carried out was with digital multi meter to obtain the voltage at the transformer output and
around the circuit.

Inverter Amplifier Design

The switching amplifier is a transistor switch which acts as an inverter power switch. The circuit of the
transistor amplifies the output of the oscillator so as to switch power through the transformer as shown in Figure
1.4.

Figure 1.4 One Transistor Inverter amplifiers

The transformer was designed based on the earlier findings that 1000 V was required to zap a bug so
there is a need to generate this voltage at the tripler output. But before this the voltage at the battery for the
inverter is 3.9 V. If the transformer has an input of 3.9 V and requires to give an output of 330 V that when
tripled will give the required 1000 V then the winding of the transformer can be designed for that reason. The
idea of the transformer output was taken from the specified voltage level for killing a bug. If the voltage is 1000

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 Design and Construction of an Inverter Amplifier Circuit for a Mosquito Zapper
V then that is what is expected at the output of the Tripler. The primary voltage is taken from a switched DC
source is 3.9 V. The transistor was selected based on the battery current which was obtained from the
specification as in table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Battery Specifications

V 3.9V

I 1020mAh

Is 30mA

Life expectancy 2973.761hours

Advanced Charging 6V

The transistor was selected to be capable of handling battery current of 30 mA and from data sheet of
the transistor a S8050 was chosen. Below is the data sheet of the transistor S8050 in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2 Absolute Maximum Ratings (Ta=25 C) S805

Rating Symbol Value Unit

Collector-Emitter Voltage VCEO 25 V dc

Collector-Base Voltage VCBO 40 V dc

Emitter-Base Voltage VEBO 5.0 V dc

Collector Current IC 500 mA dc

Total Device Dissipation TA=25 C PD 0.625 W

Junction Temperature Tj 150 C

Storage, Temperature T stg -55 to+150 C

Using a bread board the circuit was quickly assembled after winding the transformer and from a 3.9 V
battery a 334.2 V was obtained at the transformer output. This voltage can now be tripled by the Tripler circuit
to obtain the desired 1000 V required to zap bug or kill mosquito. An additional component R4 was added to the
circuit after this experiment because it was found out that residual voltage in the capacitor prevented transistor
from proper switching required by the inverter unit. Its value was taken as 4.7 KΩ to discharge the capacitor
after every cycle.

Measurement/Results
During the construction of this work some preliminary measurements were carried out on the
components to be sure they are in good working conditions. Table 1.3 shows the component test.

Table 1.3 Component test

Component Value Meter Test Value by colour code Remark

Resistor 1MΩ 0.999 MΩ 1MΩ ± 5%

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 Design and Construction of an Inverter Amplifier Circuit for a Mosquito Zapper
Diodes 1N4007 0.585 Ω Pass current in one direction

Transistor S8050 B→E→0.890 Good

B→C→0.699
B→E→ open circuit

B→ C→ open circuit

Transformer TLB114 Low Ω = Np Continuity

Capacitors C104 Very high resistance Considered open circuit

Conclusion
In Conclusion, induce voltage in the secondary coil induces voltage in feedback coil. This counter
voltage in the feedback coil causes the transistor to stop conducting and the magnetic field to collapse by means
of electrical energy from secondary coil. This process helps the transistor to conduct again, repeating the process
and creating pulsed dc. The changing magnetic field induces high voltage in the secondary coil. Voltage induced
in the secondary coil depends on the ratio of number of turns of Primary and Secondary winding. The distance
between the meshes will not let the high voltage arc off on its own. But when mosquito flies in between, it helps
in formation of a low resistance pathway, which results in arcing through the body of the mosquito.

REFERENCES
[1]. Alvin D. Willbanks (2000) Infrared Insect Mosquito Killing System. Retrieved from
www.google.com/patents/US6050025
[2]. Christopher Buckley (2003) History of the Bug Zapper. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/forbeslifemagazine2003/0526/088.html

[3]. F.Folmer and Harrison L.Chapin (1934) Insect Exterminator. Retrieved from
http://www.google.com/patents/US1962439
[4]. Zapper.(n.d.) American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.(2011).
Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/zapper

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