EEE 54 Switch-mode Light Dimmer using

Multivibrators
Hazelle P. Mamugay
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute
University of the Philippines Diliman
Quezon City, Philippines

Abstract – The purpose of this design problem was to For this design problem, the duty cycle and
integrate the lessons learned by the students in their frequency specifications asked for the output voltage were,
electronic circuits lab class. The objective was to 30% minimum, 90% maximum, and 4kHz frequency.
construct a circuit that would vary the intensity of the These output specifications should vary the light intensity
light of a bulb and make a TIP31C transistor saturated of the light bulb, through the switching mechanism
through the use of a monostable and an astable circuits, thoroughly explained in the previous paragraphs.
with different specifications. Upon working on the
problem, the proponents came across the problem of II. METHODS AND DISCUSSIONS
loading effect, thus a buffer circuit was also added to
tackle this. Computations were done as it were A. Astable Circuit
necessary to use the right - or near enough - values in
order to meet the specifications asked. As a result of the
computations, it lead to the usage of a potentiometer to
vary the duty cycle of the monostable circuit, which in
turn varied the intensity of the light of the bulb.

I. INTRODUCTION
Bipolar junction transistors are used in different
ways, may it be as an amplifier, oscillator, rectifier, filter,
and et cetera [1]. For this design problem, BJTs were used
as switches, as it was the primary purpose studied and
needed to enable the varying of light intensity of the bulb.
The flow of currents are rerouted by the transistors, as they
operate in their cut-off and saturation regions.. For this
report, all transistors to be described are NPN only as no
PNP transistor was used in the actual circuit, and for
simplicity also.
When a BJT is switched off, it is in its cut-off
Figure 1. The astable multivibrator
operation; it has a less than 0.7V base-emitter voltage, and
its BE and CB junctions are reverse-biased, therefore no
The astable circuit is the trigger used to start the
collector current is flowing, and essentially acts as an open
switching cycle of the monostable. There is a 12V voltage
circuit in this region. Meanwhile, for a switched on BJT,
supply in the upper node of this circuit although it is not
its operation is in the saturated region, and its base-emitter
visible in Figure 1. The output of this circuit is gotten from
voltage is greater than 0.7V, and both its BE and CB
the collector node of Q4. The values shown in Figure 1 are
junctions are forward biased. When the transistor is
the actual values used for the circuit, although standard
saturated, max current flows, essentially making it a short
values were initially used for the simulation.
circuit [2]. The circuits used for the switching in this design
The calculation shown for this astable circuit is
problem are the monostable and astable circuits.
supposedly for the BJT 2N3904, but due to limited
For the switching to occur, an input square wave
resources, it was changed with 2N4401. Replacing the bjt
voltage should be introduced in the circuit. The positive
did not lead to very far output values so the same values
voltage of the input triggers the transistor to saturate, while
were used.
the negative voltage brings the transistor to cut-off. When
The first values computed for this circuit were for
the transistor is shorted, the output voltage will show the
R7 and R5 in Figure 1. The collector currents and base
negative voltage of the input, and when the transistor is
currents were first assumed to be equal to 10mA and 1mA
open, the output voltage will be equal to the positive
respectively, for the transistors were assumed to be
voltage of the input. This happens with help of capacitors
saturated. With these assumed values, the resistances were
which charges and discharges.
calculated by:
 (12𝑅−𝑅𝑅1 )
𝑅5 = 𝑅7 = 10𝑅𝑅
, where𝑅𝑅1 =
𝑅𝑅𝑅(𝑅𝑅𝑅) + 𝑅𝑅 = 0.2𝑅 + 0.75𝑅 = 0.95𝑅
(12𝑅 − 0.95𝑅)
𝑅5 = 𝑅7 = = 1105Ω
10𝑅𝑅

VF is the forward voltage of the 1N4148 diode

and a higher standard resistance was used, i.e. 1.2kΩ. For
simplicity, the standard values were used for the
computations and not the actual ones seen in Figure 1 and
in the succeeding figures.
The base resistances, R6 and R8, were then
computed using KVL:
12𝑅 − 𝑅𝑅 𝑅3 − 𝑅𝑅𝑅(𝑅𝑅) − 𝑅𝑅 = 0,
𝑅𝑅
where𝑅𝑅 = ℎ = 100µ𝑅, hFE,min for
𝑅𝑅(𝑅𝑅𝑅)
2N3904 is 100
𝑅3 = 105000Ω

Using 100k base resistances yielded to a smaller

frequency, so the 91k was used as this resulted to a higher
frequency which is much nearer to the 4kHz needed in
the specifications.
For the computation of the capacitances, the
formula for the pulse width was used. In an astable
circuit, its output frequency has negligible effect to the
monostable circuit, thus only the frequency was set to
4kHz - which is the wanted specification - and the duty
cycle was assumed to be 50% for simplicity. Following
these, the capacitances were gotten by: Figure 2. Output Voltage Plot for the Astable
𝑅 = 0.69𝑅𝑅, where t is equal to PW, Circuit
1
𝑅 = 𝑅𝑅 = 𝑅 ∗ 𝑅 = 0.5 ∗ = 0.125𝑅𝑅 , Diodes were inserted between the emitters of the
4000
where D is the duty cycle, and T is the period transistors and the ground to protect the transistors from
0.125𝑅𝑅 = 0.69 ∗ 100𝑅Ω ∗ 𝑅 reverse biased currents.
𝑅 = 1.81𝑅𝑅(2nF std)
B. Astable - Monostable Buffer Circuit
After simulating the circuit with these values,
the plot given in Figure 2 is generated.
 Figure 3. buffer circuit connecting the astable
multivibrator to the monostable
multivibrator Figure 4. The monostable multivibrator

Directly connecting the astable circuit to For the monostable circuit, the datasheet of
the monostable circuit changes the output voltage 2N4401 is used, as the calculations for all the values had
of the former - which is better known as loading crucial differences which affect the output frequency, and
effect [3]. In order to tackle this, a buffer circuit duty cycles. Because of this, the values are computed as
as shown in Figure 3 was used, so that the same follows:
output voltage of the astable circuit would drive 2N440: Vce,sat = 0.4, Ic = 150mA as seen from
the monostable. This buffer consists of a high- the datasheet, and by KVL,
pass and a common-emitter circuit. The values of (12−𝑅𝑅2 )
the resistor and capacitance was only assumed 𝑅3 = 150𝑅𝑅
, where 𝑅𝑅2 =
such that the high-pass circuit has greater cut-off 𝑅𝑅𝑅(𝑅𝑅𝑅) + 𝑅𝑅 = 0.4 + 0.7 = 1.1𝑅
frequency than the frequency needed to be passed
𝑅3 = 73 𝑅ℎ𝑅𝑅
which is 4kHz. The diode also serves as a
(12−𝑅𝑅2 )
protection for the transistor. 𝑅1 = 150𝑅𝑅
, where 𝑅𝑅2 =
𝑅𝑅𝑅(𝑅𝑅𝑅) = 0.4
C. Monostable Circuit 𝑅1 = 77 ohms

These computed resistances lead to an output

voltage with dc offset, thus, through trial-and-error, higher
values were considered. The adjusted values for R1 and R3
are 500 and 300 ohms respectively as shown in Figure 4.
For the base resistance of Q2:
Ib = 150mA/hFE,min = 1.5mA, where hFE,min=100
12 - Vbe,on- VF =10.6V, where Vbe,on=VF=0.7V
(12 − 10.6)
𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 = = 7066.67Ω
1.5𝑅𝑅
To find the value of the capacitance, C5,
the first order equation for RC circuits was used:
Vf + (Vi - Vf)e-t/RC = Vb,
where Vb = Vbe,on + VF = 0.7+0.7 = 1.4V
Vi = Vce,sat - Vcap = 0.4-10.6 = -10.2V
Vcap = Vf - VF - Vbe,ont = 12-0.7-0.7=10.6V

For the maximum duty cycle, 90%,

t = 0.9/4kHz = 225µs
12 + (-10.2-12)e-225µ/(7066.67Ω)(C) = 1.4V
C = 43.1nF

Due to scarcity of components, the capacitor used

was a series of two 0.1µF parallel to a 3.3nF, which is
equivalent to 53.3nF. Adjusting the first computed
resistance and computing for the resistance at minimum
duty cycle:

12 + (-10.2-12)e-225µ/(R)(53.3nF) = 1.4V
R = 5710Ω
For the minimum duty cycle, 30%,
t = 0.3/4kHz = 75µs
12 + (-10.2-12)e-75µ/(R)(53.3nF) = 1.4V
 R13 = 1903Ω

A standard value of 2kΩ is used for R13 and since

a potentiometer of 1 Meg was already available, R10 was
computed such that
Figure 5. Output Voltage Plot for the Monostable
(1 Meg ∥ R10) + 2k Ω= 5710Ω
Circuit
R10 = 3723.8Ω
Again, due to scarce resources, R10 was adjusted
4680Ω and so D. Monostable to TIP31C and bulb with buffer
(1 Meg ∥ R10) + 2kΩ= 6658Ω

For the resistances R2 and R4,

R4 = (12V - Vbe,on)/(5(IB)+IB) = 1255.56Ω
R2 = (Vbe,on)/(5(IB)) = 93Ω
For some reason, the computed values for R4 and
R2 give an output of 10V. Upon some more tinkering,
multiplying both by 10 lead to the output voltage plot
shown in Figure 5. The new values of R4 and R2 are now,
R4 = 12550Ω ≅ 10kΩ
R2 = 930 Ω ≅ 1kΩ
as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 5 shows the simulated output voltage of

the monostable circuit.

Figure 6. The monostable output connected to the

base of the transistor, used as a buffer circuit, that connects
it to the TIP31C and the bulb

Just like in section C of this report, directly
connecting the monostable output to the TIP31C transistor
exhibits loading effect, thus a buffer circuit is again
essential. This loading effect can be seen by the non-
negligible drawn base current of the transistor TIP31C.
The computation for such is as follows:
Vce,sat for TIP31C is equal to 1.2V, hFE,min = 10
IBULB = (12V - 1.2V)/5Ω = 2.16A
IB = 2.16A/10 = 216mA
IB = 216mA > IC,SAT = 150mA
The value for R11 was computed by,
Let Vbe,on of 2N4401 be Vbe,onx, and Vbe,on of
TIP31C be Vbe,ony,
12V - Vbe,onx - Vbeon,y - IBR = 0
12 - 0.7 - 4 - 216mA*R = 0
R11 = 33.79Ω (100Ω)
Again, due to limited resources, a 50Ω resistor is
instead use. Using the 50Ω resulted to a little bit
noisy signal, so a higher resistor was again used
which is 100Ω.
Figure 7. The plot of the output voltage in the
collector of TIP31C
III. CONCLUSION
BJT’s can be utilized in different ways, but for
this design problem, its purpose as a switch was
highlighted. A transistor is switched off - and acts as a non-
conductive material - when it is in its cut-off region,
wherein it has a collector-emitter voltage equal to the
voltage supply, and no collector current. Meanwhile, a
transistor is switched on - and acts a fully conductive
material - when it is in its saturated region, wherein it has
minimum collector-emitter voltage, and a collector current
[5].
Using the concept mentioned above, the light
intensity of a bulb may be varied through a rigorous and
some trial-and-error solutions to meet the specifications
asked.
Using buffers and diodes are essential, as it help
maintain the properties of the input signal to be
transported, and protect the transistors from reverse biased
currents, respectively. Meanwhile, the varying of light
intensity may be achieved by manipulating the value of the
base resistance of the output transistor in the monostable
circuit. Passing only the required frequency through the
astable circuit is already enough to meet the required
frequency in the output signal.
IV. REFERENCES
[1] Oscarliang.com, ‘How to use BJT Bipolar Junction
Transistor - Beginner’s Tutorial’, 2013. [Online].
Available:
https://oscarliang.com/bjt-bipolar-junction-transistor-
beginner-tutorial/. [Accessed: 12- Apr- 2019].
[2] Electronics-tutorials.ws, ‘Transistor as a Switch’, 2011.
[Online]. Available:
https://www.electronics-
tutorials.ws/transistor/tran_4.html. [Accessed: 12- Apr-
2019].
[3] Nd.edu. ‘What is a Buffering Circuit?’, 2009. [Online].
Available:
https://www3.nd.edu/~lemmon/courses/ee224/web-
manual/web-manual/lab5/node6.html. [Accessed: 12-
Apr- 2019].
[4] Bell, Solid State Pulse Circuits. 1976, pp. 192-214
[5] A. H. Aseeri and F. R. Ali, “Bipolar Junction Transistor
as a Switch,” IOSR Journal of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering (IOSR-JEEE), Volume 13, Issue 1 Ver. I, PP
52-57, (Jan. – Feb. 2018). [Online]. Available:
http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-
jeee/Papers/Vol13%20Issue%201/Version-
1/H1301015257.pdf. [Accessed: 12- Apr- 2019].