Intrumentation and Control

Baltazar, Louela Jean O.

Roasa, Aibel P.
COE 41

1. Contactless Liquid Level Controller:

A water level controlling mechanism is developed which senses the water level in the tank
without any contact with the tank and accordingly controls the pump to fill water into the tank.
Here ultrasonic sensors are used to sense the water level in the tank.
The ultrasonic sensor senses the liquid level in the water tank and feeds this information to the
microcontroller. Based on the input from the sensor, the microcontroller accordingly controls the
switching of the relay switch, which is a combination of a transistor and a MOSFET in this case.
The relay is accordingly controlled to switch on the load in case the water level is less or switch
off the load incase the water level is more.

Problem: To be able to detect water level without direct contact.

How Ultrasonic proximity sensor works

An ultrasonic proximity sensor uses a piezoelectric transducer to send and detect sound waves.
Transducer generate high frequency sound waves and evaluate the echo by the detector which is
received back after reflecting off the target. Sensors calculate the time interval between sending
the signal and receiving the echo to determine the distance to the target. When the target enters
the operating range the output switches. The ultrasonic proximity switches are equipped with
temperature sensors and a compensation circuit, in order to be able to compensate for changes in
operating distance caused by temperature fluctuations. The ultrasonic sensor can work in diffuse,
reflex or thru-beam mode.
Thru-Beam: In this case the emitter and detector are 2 separate units. The emitter emits the light
which is detected by the detector. A target is detected when it passes in-between the emitter and
detector.

Diffuse Reflective: In this case the emitter and detector are put in the single package in such a
way that their field of view cross. Here the emitter continuously emits the light. When the target
comes within the operating range of the sensor the light from the emitter is reflected off the
target and detected by the detector.

Retro-Reflective: the main components of this sensor are the emitter, detector and the Retro-
reflector. The emitter and the detector are in the same package. The Retro-reflector is placed
little far from the sensor. The light from the emitter is reflected off the Retro-reflector and
detected by the detector. When the target passes between the sensor and the Retro-reflector the
beam is not reflected back to the detector. Here the problem can be that the beam could reflect
from the target itself. For this the polarising filter is used in the sensor. Hence only the light
reflected by the retro-reflector is detected by detector

The advantages of an Ultrasonic proximity sensor are:

 No physical contact with the object to be detected, therefore, no friction and wear
 Unlimited operating cycles since there is no mechanical contact with the target
 Ultrasonic proximity sensors are not affected by target colour or atmospheric dust, snow,
rain..etc
 Can work in adverse conditions
 Sensing distance is more compared to inductive or capacitive proximity sensors
 The targets to be detected can be in the solid, liquid, granular or powder state.
The disadvantages of the ultrasonic proximity sensor are:
 The sensor has a blind zone of several millimeters in front of it
 The application of ultrasonic proximity sensor is
 Proximity detection

2. Optimum Energy Management System:

(Air-conditioning System)
This system is used as a way to manage the consumption of energy in an optimal way. It defines
an easy way to save energy by controlling the switching of loads in a room only on the basis of
the number of persons entering the room. The project uses IR sensors to sense the persons
entering and leaving the room and accordingly the control unit controls the switching of the load.

Problem: To be able to manage consumption of energy by sensing the number of people

entering a room.

3. Density Based Traffic signal system using PIC microcontroller:

This system defines another way to optimize the use of energy and also to overcome the problem
of traffic jams. By sensing the number of vehicles on each side of a junction, the time for which
red light of the traffic signal glows can be controlled accordingly. This project achieves this by
using LEDs as the traffic lights for each side of the junction and using IR sensors for each side to
sense the number of vehicles.

Problem: To be able to sense the number of vehicles on each side of the junction so that the time
for which the red light of the traffic signal can be controlled accordingly.

IR Sensor Circuit Diagram and Working Principle

An infrared sensor circuit is one of the basic and popular sensor module in an electronic device.
This sensor is analogous to human’s visionary senses, which can be used to detect obstacles and
it is one of the common applications in real time

In this project, the transmitter section includes an IR sensor, which transmits continuous
IR rays to be received by an IR receiver module. An IR output terminal of the receiver varies
depending upon its receiving of IR rays. Since this variation cannot be analyzed as such,
therefore this output can be fed to a comparator circuit. Here an operational amplifier (op-amp)
of LM 339 is used as comparator circuit.

When the IR receiver does not receive a signal, the potential at the inverting input goes
higher than that non-inverting input of the comparator IC (LM339). Thus the output of the
comparator goes low, but the LED does not glow. When the IR receiver module receives signal
to the potential at the inverting input goes low. Thus the output of the comparator (LM 339) goes
high and the LED starts glowing. Resistor R1 (100 ), R2 (10k ) and R3 (330) are used to ensure
that minimum 10 mA current passes through the IR LED Devices like Photodiode and normal
LEDs respectively. Resistor VR2 (preset=5k ) is used to adjust the output terminals. Resistor
VR1 (preset=10k ) is used to set the sensitivity of the circuit Diagram. Read more about IR
sensors.

Different Types of IR Sensors and Their Applications

 IR sensors are classified into different types depending on the applications. Some of the
typical applications of different types of sensors are

 The speed sensor is used for synchronizing the speed of multiple motors. The temperature
sensor is used for industrial temperature control. PIR sensor is used for automatic door
opening system and Ultrasonic sensor are used for distance measurement.

IR Sensor Applications
IR sensors are used in various Sensor based projects and also in various electronic devices which
measures the temperature that are discussed in the below.

 Radiation Thermometers
IR sensors are used in radiation thermometers to measure the temperature depend upon the
temperature and the material of the object and these thermometers have some of the following
features:

 Measurement without direct contact with the object

 Faster response
 Easy pattern measurements
 Flame Monitors

These types of devices are used for detecting the light emitted from the flames and to monitor
how the flames are burning. The Light emitted from flames extend from UV to IR region types.
PbS, PbSe, Two-color detector, pyro electric detector are some of the commonly employed
detector used in flame monitors.

Moisture Analyzers
Moisture analyzers use wavelengths which are absorbed by the moisture in the IR region.
Objects are irradiated with light having these wavelengths(1.1 µm, 1.4 µm, 1.9 µm, and 2.7µm)
and also with reference wavelengths. The Lights reflected from the objects depend upon the
moisture content and is detected by analyzer to measure moisture (ratio of reflected light at these
wavelengths to the reflected light at reference wavelength). In GaAs PIN photodiodes, Pbs
photoconductive detectors are employed in moisture analyzer circuits.

Gas Analyzers
IR sensors are used in gas analyzers which use absorption characteristics of gases in the IR
region. Two types of methods are used to measure the density of gas such as dispersive and non
dispersive.
IR Imaging Devices
IR image device is one of the major applications of IR waves, primarily by virtue of its property
that is not visible. It is used for thermal imagers, night vision devices, etc.

For examples Water, rocks, soil, vegetation, an atmosphere, and human tissue all features emit
IR radiation. The Thermal infrared detectors measure these radiations in IR range and map the
spatial temperature distributions of the object/area on an image. Thermal imagers usually
composed of a Sb (indium antimonite), Gd Hg (mercury-doped germanium), Hg Cd Te
(mercury-cadmium-telluride) sensors.

An electronic detector is cooled to low temperatures using liquid helium or liquid nitrogen’s.
Then the Cooling the detectors ensures that the radiant energy (photons) recorded by the
detectors comes from the terrain and not from the ambient temperature of objects within the
scanner itself an IR imaging electronic devices.

Thus, this is all about IR sensor circuit with working and applications. These sensors are used in
many sensor based electronics projects. We believe that, you might have got a better
understanding of this IR sensor and its working principle.Furthermore, any doubts regarding this
article or projects please give your feedback by commenting in the comment section below.Here
is a question for you, can the infrared thermometer operate in complete darkness?