Digital Counter

This project was made by me for Digital Electronics Laboratory in my 2nd year B.Tech.

A counter whose logical output increments in steps on receiving clock pulses is used for a variety of counting and timing applications. It is at the heart of digital clock circuitry and other similar timing devices.

A decade counter is one that counts in decimal digits, rather than binary. It counts from 0 to 9 and then resets to zero.

Decade Counter

The counter which I made comprises two NAND gates of CD4011, up/down counter CD4510, 7-segment decoder CD4511 and some discrete components. NAND gates N1 and N2 are configured in the form of a flip-flop. When switch S1 is pressed, pin 4 of gate N2 goes high and generates a low-to-high clock pulse for counter CD4510. This clock pulse is counted by CD4511 and displayed on 7-segment display DIS1. IC CD4511 (IC3) is used to decode the data for the 7-segment display.




Equipments used:

IC CD4510

IC CD4511

7-segment LED

Pins 1 and 9 of IC2 are pulled down with resistors R11 and R12, then connected with switches S3 and S2, respectively. Switches S2 and S3 are used for reset and parallel data loading, respectively. If pin 10 of IC2 is high, the counter will be in ‘up’ mode.

Momentarily press micro-switch S1 once, thus sending one clock pulse. The display shows ‘1.’ Continue pressing and releasing switch S1 and you will notice that each clock pulse increments the 7-segment display by one digit. Continue this exercise until the display shows ‘9.’ The next press-and-release operation will change the display to ‘0,’ indicating that the counter has been reset and that it has completed its one cycle.

Now change the position of switch S4 to GND. Give a clock pulse from switch S1. The display will show ‘9’. This indicates that the counter has now started counting downwards. Reverse counting is justified as we have already selected the down-count mode.

For parallel data loading, first set the parallel data by switches S5 through S8 (either GND or Vcc) and then press switch S3. The set parallel data appears on the 7-segment display. Let us assume that parallel down-count data (maximum) is ‘0101.’ You will observe that the display changes to ‘5’ after switch S3 is pressed. LED1 acts as the power indicator.

My circuit: 

 
 

Read More

Wayfarer Track and our Bot

This part gives the details about our Bot & the Track.

Our bot used 4 DC motors of rating 200 rpm^[1] and 12V supply.

 This shows the front side of our bot. The rod has been used just to support the wires & so that they do not interfere with our bot during the competition.

This shows our bot with the wired controller. 2 DPDT^[2] switches have been used. One switch controls both the motors on one side of the bot in the same direction. The other switch does the same on the other side of the bot.

This shows the track used for the competition. It has obstruction regions containing pebbles, marbles & sand.

3 poles were inserted so that the players have to traverse through by making sharp turns.

rpm - revolutions per minute

DPDT - Double Pole Double Throw

Read More

Wayfarer'12 at IIT Ropar

Show time!!
Around 13 teams, each containing 5-6 members showed up for the competition.
The ambiance was vibrant with enthusiasm of the participants.

1. Round 1
• The time taken by a team to traverse the track was noted for all teams. Points were given to them with the shortest time getting the highest points. 
• Whenever a team would hit the bricks on the border of the track or hit the poles in between the track, points would be deducted from their scores.
• Whenever a team would get stuck in a hurdle and wish to retry the hurdle, points would be deducted from their scores.
• A team could skip a hurdle after 3 tries but it would result in a high penalty.
• After deducting the penalties, 3 teams with the highest scores would move on to round 2.
2. Round 2
• In this round, a small flat cardboard was attached at the front side of the bot. The teams had to traverse a ping-pong ball across the track by pushing it using the bot.
• The rules of Round 1 would be applicable in this round too.
• If the ping-pong ball would be lost by the bot during moving and it would roll back, then the team can either take their bot back towards the ball to collect it (which would cost time and hence less score) or they can restart from the point where they lost the ball and get a score penalty.
• The team with the highest score at the end of this round would be Winners!!

I'm proud to say that my team Robo-Titans emerged victorious.

Read More