University Of Calcutta

Institute Of Radio Physics and Electronics

Project report of Mini-Project on Electronics Design

By

ABHISHEK KUMAR MAHATO

SAYANHODEEP BANERJEE
ARJUN GHOSH

TOPIC: DARKNESS DETECTOR

Subject: Electronics and Communication Engineering

Paper Code: EC 3.2.10
Paper Name: Mini-Project on Electronics Design
Year: 2023

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 GROUP MEMBERS

ABHISHEK KUMAR MAHATO

CLASS ROLL: 430
UNIVERISTY ROLL: T91/ECE/204054
REGISTRATION NUMBER: D01-1111-0071-20

SAYANHODEEP BANERJEE
CLASS ROLL: 431
UNIVERSITY ROLL: T91/ECE/204071
REGISTRATION NUMBER: D01-1111-0076-20

ARJUN GHOSH
CLASS ROLL: 439
UNIVERSITY ROLL: T91/OOE/204142
REGISTRATION NUMBER: D01-1111-0184-20

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 ABSTRACT

Absence of light is what causes darkness, and we can automatically detect darkness or intensity
of light using a Light Dependent Resistor (LDR). The circuit can be integrated with other
electronics circuits or projects to control lights of a small bulb for automating lighting of
something as large as whole city’s street lights. In this project, we have designed a
simple Darkness Detector circuit and made some improvisations to design a counter which
can count from 0 to 9.

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 THEORY AND WORKING PRINCIPLE

Light Dependent Resistor or Photoresistor

A photoresistor (also known as a photocell, or light-dependent resistor, LDR, or photo-

conductive cell) is a passive component that decreases resistance with respect to receiving
luminosity (light) on the component's sensitive surface. The resistance of a photoresistor
decreases with increase in incident light intensity; in other words, it exhibits photoconductivity.
A photoresistor can be applied in light-sensitive detector circuits and light-activated and dark-
activated switching circuits acting as a resistance semiconductor. In the dark, a photoresistor
can have a resistance as high as several megaohms (MΩ), while in the light, a photoresistor can
have a resistance as low as a few hundred ohms. If incident light on a photoresistor exceeds a
certain frequency, photons absorbed by the semiconductor give bound electrons enough
energy to jump into the conduction band. The resulting free electrons (and their hole partners)
conduct electricity, thereby lowering resistance. The resistance range and sensitivity of a
photoresistor can substantially differ among dissimilar devices. Moreover, unique
photoresistors may react substantially differently to photons within certain wavelength bands.

A photoelectric device can be either intrinsic or

extrinsic. An intrinsic semiconductor has its own charge
carriers and is not an efficient semiconductor (such as
silicon is). In intrinsic devices, most of the available
electrons are in the valence band, and hence the photon
must have enough energy to excite the electron across
the entire bandgap. Extrinsic devices have impurities,
also called dopants, added whose ground state energy is
closer to the conduction band; since the electrons do not
have as far to jump, lower energy photons (that is, longer
wavelengths and lower frequencies) are sufficient to
trigger the device. If a sample of silicon has some of its
atoms replaced by phosphorus atoms (impurities), there
will be extra electrons available for conduction. This is
an example of an extrinsic semiconductor.
FIG: LDR

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CIRCUIT ON PCB WITHOUT COUNTER
This is based on the transistor switching circuit where a BC548B NPN transistor is used to
switch between high and low voltage at emitter terminal depending on the input voltage applied
at its base terminal. A LDR (Light Dependent Resistor) is connected to the base and ground,
whose resistance and consequently voltage across it’s terminal, drops nearly to zero ideally
when illuminated with a light of high intensity and proper wavelength. There is a LED
connected to the emitter terminal which helps to see the switching mechanism visually. The
whole process works like this- when the LDR is illuminated, its resistance decreases, voltage

FIG: CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

drop across its terminal decreases, a very low voltage is applied to the base, hence the transistor
goes in the cutoff state and there is not enough voltage to make the LED glow . Similarly, when
the LDR is present in dark, it’s resistance increases, voltage drop across its terminal increases, the
transistor goes into saturation and the LED glows. The whole process can be summarised as-

 Darkness – LED glows

 Brightness- LED turns off
There is a voltage regulator circuit built with L7805 IC to produce a stable 5V power supply. The
transistor is powered with this supply. Further this circuit can be integrated with a decade counter and
seven segment LED, which is shown next.

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 CIRCUIT WITH COUNTER
The above circuit can be integrated with 4026 Decade counter IC which counts from 0 to 9
when a transition occurs from high to low voltage or vice versa. The counter is suitable to be
interfaced with a Seven Segment display and it can show numbers from 0 to 9. It is a 16 pin IC
with 2 terminals for power (VDD and VSS), 7 terminals for seven segment display (A, B, C,
D, E, F, and G), one Reset pin, clock, clock inhibit, display enable input, display enable output,
carry output and ungated C segment output. The interfacing circuit is shown below where the
clock pin is connected to the emitter terminal. Clock Inhibit is connected to the ground. In this
circuit when light is illuminated to LDR, clock pin goes in transition from high to low voltage.
Now when the LDR detect darkness, clock pin transits from low to high voltage. The counter

FIG: CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

detects this transition and increment its count by one. In this way we have made a circuit which
can detect the number of dark spots crossed in an illuminated region. The Reset button is
present to reset the display to zero. The resistors are used either as a current limiting resistor or
as a pull up/pull down resistor.

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 COMPONENTS REQUIRED

For Circuit Designing-

1 BC548B NPN TRANSISTOR
2 LIGHT DEPENDENT RESISTOR
3 L7805 VOLTAGE REGULATOR
4 MICROFARAD CAPACITORS
5 RESISTORS
6 HEADER PINS
7 LED
8 SEVEN EGMENT LED
9 4026 DECADE COUNTER
10 CONNECTING WIRES

For PCB Design

1. PCB substrate
2. Anhydrous Ferric Chloride
3. Nail Polish Remover
4. Drilling Machine
5. Soldering Equipment

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PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD (PCB) DESIGN

A PCB mechanically supports and electrically connects electronic components using conductive
tracks, pads and other features etched from sheets laminated on to a non- conductive substrate.
A PCB consists of a conducting layer that is made up of copper foil. The insulating layer dielectric is
laminated together with epoxy resin. The most common used PCB is ER-4. Boards may be single or
double sided.

PCB ETCHING PROCESS

All PCBs are made by bonding a layer of copper over the entire substrate. Sometimes on both sides.
Etching process has to be done to remove unnecessary copper after applying a temporary mark, leaving
only the desired copper tracks.
Though there are many methods available for etching, we have used the most common method by
using Ferric Chloride solution.

PCB DRILLING

The components that have to be attached to the multilayered PCB can be done by VIAS drilling. A
dremel drill press is used to punch the holes. Usually a 0.035 inch drill kit is used. For high volume
production automated drilling machines are used.

PCB ASSEMBLING

PCB assembling includes the assembling of the electronic components on the respective holes in the
PCB. The components leads are then soldered to the PCB using soldering equipment. The common
aspect of PCB assembling is that the components leads are electrically and mechanically fixed to the
board with a molten metal solder.

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DESIGNED PCB LAYOUT (IN EasyEDA)

FIG: PCB LAYOUT

FIG: 2D IMAGE OF PCB LAYOUT (BACK SIDE)

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FIG: 3D IMAGE OF PCB LAYOUT (FRONT SIDE)

FIG: PRINTABLE LAYOUT

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 PCB FABRICATION

FIG: DESIGN PRINTED ON BOARD FIG: FINAL PCB CIRCUIT

FIG: PCB ETCHING PROCESS FIG: PCB AFTER SOLDERING

FIG: PCB AFTER ETCHING

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 EXPERIMENTAL DATA AND TESTING

TRIGGERING VOLTAGE
It is found that the counter used in the circuit triggers when the clock input making transition
from low to high voltage, crosses the value of 2.77V, when supplied with a 5V power. The
triggering voltage is 1.8V, when triggered through the clock inhibit pin. Clock pin is used for
positive edge triggering and Clock inhibit pin is used for negative edge triggering .

FIG: LED GLOWING IN DARK

FIG: CIRCUIT IN LIGHT

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 RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS

1. Due to some loose connection or improper soldering, the circuit shows disturbance and
noise.

2. It is found that LED glows in the normal lighting condition. To make it turn off, intense
light is required to be focused on the LDR.

3. Due to cheaper components used and lack of calculation, the circuit is not that precise
and can misbehave sometimes.

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APPLICATIONS OF THIS CIRCUIT

1. This circuit can be used to detect darkness and

 make an alarm.
 switch on street lights or
 do some other work as per requirement.
2. This circuit in its best version can be integrated with a counter to
 Detect the number of cars or vehicles passing through a road crossing.
 Count the number of peoples coming to a shopping mall on various days
of a week and make a comparative graph of population vs day.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Photoresistor – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoresistor#:~:text=A%20photoresistor%20(also%20
known%20as,on%20the%20component's%20sensitive%20surface.
2. DIY Double Sided PCB- YouTube
https://youtu.be/h0AKHJ_4Xmw
3. Counter circuit using LDR- YouTube
https://youtu.be/XM5iWJ3LkZc

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