Background and project aims: Electronic circuitries can be used to produce an oscillatory output

from a DC input. Multivibrators are such circuits, which could produce stable and unstable outputs

based on the circuit configurations. Astable multivibrator is a circuit, which produces two unstable

states and circuit oscillates between these two states without an external triggering. Therefore

Astable multivibrator circuits are useful in many applications where a square wave pulse is required.

The frequency of the pulse is fixed and only depends on the circuit parameters. Therefore Astable

multivibrators are also useful in timer circuits.

In the proposed project you are asked to design and implement an astable multivibrator circuit using

given components to create a LED blinking circuit with a set ON and OFF time based on your Student

number.

Task:

The basic configuration of an astable multivibrator circuit is shown below.

The signals at Output 1 and output 2 are having complementary outputs. These outputs can be used

to drive an LED. As both outputs are oscillating LED connected to the output starts to blink following
the frequency of the oscillatory signal at the output. As Astable multivibrators are typically designing

with high R values signal at the outputs may not be able to provide sufficient current to drive the

Course Title . ENG – ELECTRIC CIRCUITS

Assessment title Design Project 2

LED. In your design it is required to consider this factor and propose a method to drive the LED using

the knowledge gained from Project 1.

This circuit needs to be used as an indicator light in the night and therefore requires to detect the

light level and operate only in the dark. Propose and design a method to fulfil this requirement.

(NOTE: Automatic dark detection needs to be included in the report but not necessary to

implement)

Follow the steps below to find the corresponding ON and OFF time for your design:

Use the T-ON (ON time of the LED) and T- OFF (OFF time of LED) based on the remainder R as per

below:

R T-ON(s)+-0.1S T-OFF(s) +-0.1S

1 0.7 2.0

The circuit should be implemented on a pre punched protoboard or a PCB.

Following material is available for this projects:

1. NPN – Transistors – 2N3904

2. Light Emitting Diodes (LED)

3. Resistors

4. Capacitors

5. LDR

6. Protoboard

Report format

This is an individual report.

Following sections should be included in the report:

Cover page - The relevant cover sheet for the assessment item

Table of Content – Content of the report

Section 1 – Design overview (10%)

Task description and system specifications.

Section 2 – Research and Design development (20%)

Explain how time constant of a RC circuit influence the charging and discharging process with

suitable circuit diagrams. Also explain the importance of RC circuits in real electronic

applications (Provide at least three examples). Explain the operation of the astable multivibrator

circuit using your own words.

Section 3 – Design calculations (20%)

All design calculations should be presented in this section. It is important to demonstrate the use

of datasheets (transistor and LED) in these calculations. Also you have to explain the effect of

tolerance on your design calculations.

Use the LDR datasheet to explain what is the minimum light level required to operate the circuit.

Section 4 – Simulation (20%)

Verify your calculations with corresponding simulations. You can present the simulation results

(graphs and tables) to support your calculations. At least following figures and graphs must be

included:

- Simulated circuit

- Voltage variation at the collector with time

- Voltage variation at the base with time

- Current through LED with time

Section 5 – Reflection (15%)

Describe the application and limitations of your circuit. Suggest methods to improve the

operation of your circuit (you can suggest any other analogue circuit that can produce similar

outcome).

Section 6 – References (10%)

If you have referred any material (books, web content, reports…) present those information.

References can be listed in format described in :

http://www.ijssst.info/info/IEEE-Citation-StyleGuide.pdf

Page formatting -

Body Text - Times New Roman size 12 or equivalent, single line spacing.

Page Margins - Top - 2.5 cm ; Bottom - 2.5 cm ; Outside - 2 cm ; Inside – 2.5 cm

Figure captions – Below the figure and with the figure number. Text size – 11 Times New

Roman
Table captions – Above the table with Table number. Text size – 11 Times New Roman

Page limit – No more than 10 pages (This is the absolute maximum). There is no minimum page

limit as long as you cover the sections appropriately.

Content that is repeating or extra datasheets that has not been provided can be included into the

appendix.

Report format (5 Marks)