CIRCUIT IDEA

PARTS LIST

Visitors Counter EDI Semiconductors:

S.C. DWIV IC1, IC2 - CD4026 counter
T1 - BC547 npn transistor
LED1 - 5mm red LED
DIS1-DIS2 - LTS543 common-cathode
7-segment display
YUGAL SETHIYA at the exit gate from the count at the
Resistors (all ¼-watt, ±5% carbon):
entrance gate. The system should be R1 - 1-kilo-ohm
resented here is a simple counter installed on a door such that only one R2 - 10-kilo-ohm

P that counts the number of visi-

tors entering or exiting an audi-
torium or any other place where you
person can cross through at a time,
interrupting the light falling on the
LDR sensor.
R3, R4
R5
LDR1
Miscellaneous:
S1
- 100-ohm
- 4.7-kilo-ohm
- Light-dependent resistor

- Push-to-on switch
have installed this circuit at the gates. CON1 - 2-pin connector
On receiving an interrupt from light- Circuit and working - 6V battery/6V adaptor
dependent resistor (LDR) sensors, the The circuit is built around popular
circuit increments the count and shows CD4026 counter ICs (IC1 and IC2), ohms in presence of bright light.
it on a 7-segment display. light-dependent resistor (LDR1), tran- In this circuit, the amount of light
With these units installed at the sistor BC547 (T1), common-cathode falling on LDR1 decreases as a person
entrance and exit gates, you can cal- seven-segment displays (DIS1 and crosses the entrance/exit gate and his
culate the number of visitors present DIS2) and a few other components. shadow falls on LDR1. Consequently,
in the room by subtracting the count The advantage of using CD4026 coun- the resistance of LDR1 increases to
ter IC is that it drives a 7-segment dis- provide a clock pulse to pin 1 of IC1
Test Points play without the need of a driver IC. through transistor T1. During this time,
Test point Details The resistance of LDR1 decreases LED1 stops glowing momentarily,
when the intensity of light falling on indicating that someone is entering or
TP0 0V, GND
it increases and vice versa. In dark or exiting the hall.
TP1 6V
absence of light, the LDR exhibits a ICI consists of a Johnson decade
TP2 6V (when S1 pressed)
resistance in the range of mega-ohms, counter and an output decoder that
LED1 Blinks when a visitor is detected
which decreases to a few hundred converts the Johnson code into a 7-seg-
ment decoded output
DIS1− DIS2 = LTS543 COMMON CATHODE 7−SEGMENT DISPLAY
for driving one stage
TP1
in a numerical dis-
LED1
DIS2 8 3
R3
DIS1 8 3
play. When it receives
1 CLK 16 100E
VDD TP2 R4
CC CC CC CC
100E
a clock at pin 1, it
R1 2 INH 15
RST 5 dp a 7 5 dp a 7 advances the count
1K
3 EN IN
UNG C
14 on display DIS1 by
LDR1 4 EN OUT IC2 13 ‘one.’ Similarly, the
c 10 g b 6 10 g b 6
CD4026 count on the display
5 C OUT 12
b f e d c f e d c
6 f 11 9 1 2 4 9 1 2 4
advances by ‘one’
T1 e
BC547
with each person en-
7 g 10
a
tering through the
8 Vss 9
R2 d
S1
gate. When the count
10K RESET reaches ‘9,’ one cycle
1 CLK
VDD
16 completes.
2 INH
RST
15 Carry-out pin 5
3 EN IN 14 R5 of IC1 is connected
UNG C
− 4.7K
+
IC1
to clock pin 1 of IC2
CON1 4 EN OUT
c
13
6V CD4026 to cascade another
5 C OUT 12
b
counter. On the next
6 f 11
TP0
e clock after count ‘9,’ it
7 g
a
10 goes high to provide a
8 Vss d
9 clock pulse to IC2, ad-
GND
vancing its counter by
one. Now IC1 starts
all over again.
Fig. 1: Circuit of visitor counter DIS1 shows the

92 OCTOBER 2013 | ELECTRONICS FOR YOU WWW.EFYMAG.COM


Fig. 2: An actual-size, single-side PCB for the visitor counter
unit’s digit and DIS2 shows the ten’s
digit of the count. After completion of
each cycle, ten’s digit advances by one.
You can add more CD4026 counters
with 7-segment displays for further
extending the display to three digits,
four digits, etc. For this, you have to
connect carry-out pin 5 of each CD4026
to clock pin 1 of the next CD4026 as
shown in the circuit diagram. Pin 15
of both IC1 and IC2 are connected to
ground through resistor R5. A reset
switch (S1) is connected to 6V for
WWW.EFYMAG.COM
Fig. 3: Component layout for the PCB
resetting the display to ‘00.’
Construction and testing
An actual-size, single-side PCB for
the visitor counter is shown in Fig. 2
and its component layout in Fig. 3.
After assembling the circuit on a PCB,
enclose it in a suitable case. Fix LED1,
DIS1 and DIS2 on the front panel. Use
a two-pin connector for connecting the
power supply to the PCB.
This is a simple circuit and should
work immediately after assembly. To
CIRCUIT IDEA
check the circuit for proper function-
ing, verify voltage levels on various
test points as per the test point table.
Proper installation is very impor-
tant. Mount LDR1 on the gate such that
light falling on it is interrupted when
somebody passes through the gate. We
KDYHXVHGDÀ[HGUHVLVWRUKHUHEXWLI
necessary, you can use a preset in place
of R2 for tuning the system to your
environment. z
The author is a hobbyist and M.Tech from Banaras
Hindu University (BHU)
ELECTRONICS FOR YOU | OCTOBER 2013 93