KRAIG 106

106
KRAIG

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TOPICS
1. Pulse Width Modulation
2. IC 555

PWM
MOTIVATION

To understand the need of PWM, consider the

case when a motors speed needs to be varied.
We have two options:
1.Vary the input voltage to the motor However,
this also reduces the motors torque drastically
2.Supply pulses of digital signals which average
out to give the effect of an analog signal.

PULSE WIDTH
MODULATION

PWM or Pulse Width Modulation refers to the

concept of using a rapidly pulsating digital
signal to vary the average power delivered to an
electrical device.
Common application include controlling the
brightness of a LED, the speed of a motor, etc.
Power loss is very low for PWM, since when the
switch is off, there is practically no current and
when the switch is on, there is practically no voltage
drop across the switch.

PWM
PARAMETERS

1. Frequency The number of times one complete on-off cycle takes

place in a second
2. Duty Cycle is the ratio of the width of a pulse to the width of a
cycle. It is expressed as a percentage and the average power
delivered is proportional to the duty cycle.
Varying the width of the pulse varies the duty cycle and hence the output

FREQUENCY
If the frequency of the PWM signal is too low, then the continuous
ON-OFF will be visible as jerks.
However for high enough frequencies, the observed effect is that of
a time averaged signal
The working frequency for a motor drive is in the range of kHz
(thousands of times per second)

DUTY CYCLE
Many digital systems are powered by a 5-Volt power supply, so if
you filter a signal that has a 50% duty cycle you get an average
voltage of 2.5 Volts.
Other duty cycles produce any voltage (in discrete steps
depending on the resolution) in the range of 0 to 100% of the
high voltage.

AN EXAMPLE
If we closed the switch connecting the battery and lamp for
50ms, the bulb would receive 9V during that interval. If we
then opened the switch for the next 50ms, the bulb would
receive 0V. If we repeat this cycle 10 times a second, the bulb
will be lit as though it were connected to a 4.5V battery (50%
of 9V). We say that the duty cycle is 50% and the modulating
frequency is 10Hz.

HOW TO SUPPLY
PWM?
Most robots use a microcontroller to enable PWM. But
alternatively, a much simpler IC called the 555 Timer
can be used to generate PWM
This is a very widely used 8 pin IC, whose usage is
described in the following slides.

555 TIMER IC
The schematic pin diagram of the 555 IC is as
follows:
All details on the working of the IC are given in
its datasheet (available online). We will walk you
through the essentials here

ASTABLE MODE
OF OPERATION
The 555 timer has different modes of operation,
the most useful of which is the astable mode of
operation in which the output of the IC is
pulsating.

CIRCUIT FOR 555

IC IN ASTABLE
MODE

The PWM
parameters
(frequency and duty
cycle) depend on the
values of R1, R2 and
C.

PWM
PARAMETERS
FOR 555 IC

LOW DUTY
CYCLES