Light sensor using photodiode

Description

Description
This circuit shows the application of photodiode to detect the presence of light. This light sensor can be used as an intermediate circuit in various applications to detect the presence or absence of light. The sensitivity of the sensor can be adjusted using the preset.

Circuit Diagram:

A photodiode, used as a photo detector, generates current in the circuit when light incidents on it. This circuit uses the photodiode in reverse bias mode with resistor R1(10k ). This resistor does not allow too much current to flow through the photodiode in case a large amount of light falls on the detector. Initially when no light falls on the photodiode, it results in high potential at the inverting input of a comparator (pin6) of LM339. When light falls on the photodiode, it allows current to flow through the diode, and thus drops the voltage across it. The non-inverting input (pin7) is connected to a variable resistor VR2 (preset) which is used to set the reference voltage of the comparator. A comparator works on the principle that its output remains high as long as the non-inverting input is at higher level than that at its inverting input. Here, the output

(pin1) is connected to an LED. The reference voltage is set to correspond to a threshold illumination through a preset VR1 (10k ). The LED at the output will glow when light falls on the diode. In such a condition, the inverting input drops to a lower value than the reference set at the non-inverting input and so the output goes providing the necessary forwards bias to the LED.

Components: IC LM339

IC LM339
Image:

DataSheet: LM339.pdf

LM339 is a comparator IC with four inbuilt comparators. A comparator is a simple circuit that moves signals between the analog and digital worlds. It compares two input voltage levels and gives digital output to indicate the larger one. The two input pins are termed as inverting (V-) and non-inverting (V+). The output pin goes high when voltage at V+ is greater than that at V-, and vice versa. In common applications, one of the pins is provided with a reference voltage and the other one receives analog input from a sensor or any external device. If inverting pin (V-) is set as reference, then V+ must exceed this reference to result in high output. For inverted logic, the reference is set at V+ pin.

Pin Diagram:

Pin Description:

Pin No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Function Output of 2nd comparator Output of 1st comparator Supply voltage; 5V (+36 or 18V) Inverting input of 1st comparator Non-inverting input of 1st comparator Inverting input of 1st comparator Non-inverting input of 2nd comparator Inverting input of 3rd comparator Non-inverting input of 3rd comparator Inverting input of 4th comparator Non-inverting input of 4th comparator Ground (0V)

Name Output 2 Output 1 Vcc Input 1Input 1+ Input 2Input 2+ Input 3Input 3+ Input 4Input 4+ Ground

13 14

Output of 4th comparator Output of 3rd comparator

Output 4 Output 3

49 reads

LED Preset Resistor