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This circuit uses a Dallas DS1621 temperature sensor which indicates the temperature of the device. The temperature sensor has an thermal alarm output, which becomes high when the temperature of the device exceeds a user defined value. When the temperature drops below a user defined value, the alarm output becomes low. In this way any amount of hysteresis can be programmed. The values are stored in a special register of the device that is nonvolatile. The signal of the alarm output is amplified by a BC557 PNP transistor, that drives a relay that can switch a heater element or a blower on or off. The temperature settings and readings are communicated to/from the device over a simple 2-wire serial interface. An ATMEL 90S2313 microcontroller controls the serial communication to/from the DS1621.The microcontroller also controls three LED, only one of the LED's is on when the temperature is within a certain range. The range of the temperature in which the LED's are on can be set by the user in the program code. The circuit needs to be powered by a 5V power supply, which can be obtained from a wall-wart.

With this simple circuit you will be able to control the speed of a DC fan according to temperature measured by a temp sensor. It’s an ideal add-on for your PC cooling fans to eliminate produced noise. Requested by some correspondents, this simple design allows an accurate speed control of 12V dc fan motors, proportional to temperature. A n.t.c. Thermistor (R1) is used as temperature sensor, driving two directly coupled complementary transistors wired in a dc feedback circuit. An optional circuitry was added to remotely monitor fan operation and to allow some sort of rough speed indication by means of the increasing brightness of a LED.

The controller uses one or more ordinary silicon diodes as a sensor, and uses a cheap opamp as the amplifier. I designed this circuit to use 12V computer fans, as these are now very easy to get cheaply. These fans typically draw about 200mA when running, so a small power transistor will be fine as the switch. I used a BD140 (1A, 6.5W), but almost anything you have to hand will work just as well.

Here is a simple yet highly accurate thermal control circuit which can be used in applications where automatic temperature control is needed. The circuit switches a miniature relay ON or OFF according to the temperature detected by the single chip temperature sensor LM35DZ. When the LM35DZ detects a temperature higher than the preset level (set by VR1), the relay is actuated. When the temperature falls below the preset temperature, relay is de-energized. The circuit can be powered by any AC or DC 12V supply or battery (100mA min.)

Here is a very simple circuit that can b e used to check the hfe of transistors. Both PNP and NPN transistors can be checked using this circuit. Hfe as high as 1000 can be measured by using this circuit.The circuit is based on two constant current sources build around transistors Q1 and Q2.The Q1 is a PNP transistor and the constant current flows in the emitter lead. The value of constant current can be given by the equation; (V D1 -0.6)/ (R2+R4).The POT R4 can be adjusted to get a constant current of 10uA.

The basic theory behind the Parking Assistant is the Sound Navigation and Ranging (SONAR) technique that is used for finding the distance and direction of a remote object underwater by transmitting sound waves and detecting reflections from it. First, a series of short ultrasonic pulses are transmitted using a transducer that changes voltage into sound waves. The transmitted pulse is reflected off an object, and the reflected wave is then received by another transducer that converts sound waves into voltage. The transmitted signal is also known as the ‘ping’ and the received signal is known as the ‘pong’. By counting the elapsed time between the ping and the pong, the distance between the device and an object can be easily calculated by multiplying the elapsed time with the speed of sound.

It is well know that pests like rats, mice etc are repelled by ultrasonic frequency in the range of 30 kHz to 50 kHz. Human beings can’t hear these high-frequency sounds. Unfortunately, all pests do not react at the same ultrasonic frequency. While some pests get repelled at 35 kHz, some others get repelled at 38 to 40 kHz. Thus to increase the effectiveness, frequency of ultrasonic oscillator has to be continuously varied between certain limits. By using this circuit design, frequency of emission of ultrasonic sound is continuously varied step-by-step automatically.

The USB-Servo is a device to control a servo via USB. A servo is a motorized device that is commonly used in remote controlled cars and planes. I built this device to activate a toy puppet. The puppet has a button on its bottom, if you press the button the puppet collapses. When the computer is able to press the button, I can use the puppet to signal information like someone's online-state in the Jabber-network: when my friend goes online, the puppet stands up, when he logs off it collapses.

Servos are connected with three-wire-cables. A red and a black one for the power, and a yellow one for the signal. Power has to be between 4.8 and 6 volts, so the 5 volts from the USB-port is in the range. The signal doesn't take much current, so you can connect it directly to the controller. The angle of the servo is controlled with pulse width modulation (PWM). It gets a signal of about 50Hz (one pulse every 20ms), the length of the pulse tells the servo the angle to adjust.

An opto-coupler is a device that can be used to electrically isolate two circuits, so that a voltage spike or other problem on one side will not destroy the circuit on the other side. A common use for them is when you want to interface a computer to an AC-powered device, such as a light or a motor. Usually, the opto-coupler will not be used to control the device directly, and instead will just transfer a signal from one circuit to another.

The HSR312 and HSR412 devices consist of a AlGaAs infrared emitting diode optically coupled to a power MOSFET detector which is driven by a photovoltaic generator. The devices are housed in a 6-pin dual-in-line package. The HSR312L and HSR412L employ an active current limit circuitry enabling the device to withstand current surge transients.