1

ABSTRACT

Stress is a term that refers to the sum of the physical, mental, and emotional strains or
tensions on a person. Feelings of stress in humans result from interactions between
persons and their environment that are perceived as straining or exceeding their
adaptive capacities and threatening their well-being. The element of perception
indicates that human stress responses reflect differences in personality as well as
differences in physical strength or health.

This Stress meter allows to assess one’s emotional pain. If the stress is very high, it
gives visual indication through LED display along with a warning yellow light.

Stress meter is based on the principle that the resistance of the skin varies in

accordance with your emotional states. Resistance varies inversely proportional to the

stress. If the stress level is high the skin offers less resistance, and if relaxed,

resistance is high.

In an article “Stress and Mind Control”, 21/03/2008, Roberto Bonomi stated that

“When we speak of the fabulous relaxation capacity that mind control gives us, the

first thing that comes to our mind, is that we will be able to take off, the excesses of

nervous tension, the stress; and this is a great benefit. Because suppose that you could

measure stress in inches, and that you have stress zero when the meter is located in

zero.” Based on this our project is aimed to give a visual indication of one’s stress

through a light-emitting diode display along with a warning light.

 2

LIST OF TABLES

1. Table 3.1: LED Color Vs. Potential difference…………………...13

2. Table 4.1: LED Vs. Threshold voltage…………………………...19

 3

LIST OF FIGURES

1) Fig 2.1: Block diagram of stress meter………………………….… .. 6

2) Fig 3.1: Dot/Bar display driver……………………………….…. ..... 8

3) Fig 3.2: The piezo element ……………………………………….… .9

4) Fig 3.3: Piezo electric diaphragm……………………………….…. ..10

5) Fig 3.4: Touch pad……………………………………………..…… .10

6) Fig 3.5: Light emitting diode……………………………………… ...11

7) Fig 3.6: Inside a light emitting diode………………………………. ..12

8) Fig 3.7: Regulated power supply……………………………….….. ..14

9) Fig 3.8: Voltage regulator…………………………………………… 14

10) Fig 3.9: Circuit diagram of Stress meter……………………………. .15

11) Fig 4.1: Basic block diagram showing the operation of the circuit… .17

12) Fig 4.2: Role played by touch pads…………………………………. 18

13) Fig 4.3: Bridge Rectifier Circuit…………………………………….. 20

14) Fig 4.4: The Power supply generation………………………………..21

 4

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 STRESS METER

Stress is the very common condition of every human being. Stress is nothing more
than a socially acceptable form of mental illness. This Stress meter allows to assess
the emotional pain. If the stress is very high, it gives visual indication on a LED
display along with a warning light.

Stress meter is based on the principle that the resistance of the skin varies in
accordance with your emotional states. Resistance varies inversely proportional to the
stress. If the stress level is high the skin offers less resistance, and if relaxed resistance
is high.

The low resistance of the skin during high stress is due to an increase in the blood
supply to the skin. This increases the permeability of the skin and hence the
conductivity for electric current. This property of the skin is used here to measure the
stress level. Using suitable circuitry we can convert the amount of stress a human
being feels to a varying analog voltage.

The LM3915 is a monolithic integrated circuit that senses analog voltage levels
and drives ten LED’s, LCD’s or vacuum fluorescent displays, providing a logarithmic
3dB/step analog display.

The touch pads of the stress meter sense the voltage variations across the touch
pads and convey the same to the circuit. The circuit is very sensitive and detects even
a minute voltage variation across the touch pad.
 5

1.2 EVOLUTION

In an article “Stress and Mind Control”, 21/03/2008, Roberto Bonomi stated that
“When we speak of the fabulous relaxation capacity that mind control gives us, the
first thing that comes to our mind, is that we will be able to take off, the excesses of
nervous tension, the stress; and this is a great benefit. Because suppose that you could
measure stress in inches, and that you have stress zero when the meter is located in
zero.”
Based on this, our project is aimed to give a visual indication of one’s stress
through a light-emitting diode display along with a warning yellow light.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT

The purpose of stress meter is to assess the emotional pain of human being. The
stress can cause hair to fall, acne to break out and many other problems. These
manifestations of stress can cause even more anxiety. Stress causes cortical levels to
increase within the body, which increases oil production, which causes acne
breakouts.
So this stress meter is to solve all the problems caused due to stress by checking
the stress of an individual and taking care before any serious problem occurs.
 6

Chapter 2

BLOCK DIAGRAM AND PROJECT

OVERVIEW

2.1 PRINCIPLE OF STRESS METER:

The stress meter is based on the principle that the

variations in the resistance of the skin due to blood
pressure of ones’ body can be directly converted and
transmitted into analog voltage levels to give the visual
indication of human stress using a proper circuitry.

2.2 BLOCK DIAGRAM:

230 volts
Input through
AC power
Touch Pads
Supply

Regulated Out Put

Dot/Bar
Stress Lev
Display
Transformer power Indication
Driver
supply

High Stre
Indicatio
 7

Fig: 2.1 Block diagram of stress meter

2.3 BLOCK DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION:

The 230 volts ac power supply is given to the transformer.

The transformer steps down the input voltage line and
isolates the power supply from the power line. A full wave
bridge rectifier circuit along with a voltage regulator is
used to give a regulated power supply to the circuit .The
input touch pads are used to sense the resistance of our skin
and this input is fed to the dot/bar display driver.

The dot/bar display driver accepts the input through the

touch pads which sense the small change in resistance the
dot/bar driver gives the output stress level indication
according the input. The output is indicated on a led
display .The ten led’s act like the stress level indicators
form zero stress level to high stress level on a scale of ten.
The high stress detected from the dot/ bar display driver is
indicated through a warning yellow light.

2.4 APPLICATION:

Each LED in stress meter operates with a 3dB difference

from the previous one, and a jumper is provided to allow
dot or bar mode. This project is an essential part of the
expandable analyzer and one meter circuit is used for each
frequency band. There are many other uses for a simple
LED meter. They are ideal as power meters on amplifiers,
can be used with mixers (including the high quality mixer),
preamps and any other application where it is important to
know the signal level.
 8

LM3915's 3 dB/step display is suited for signals with

wide dynamic range, such as audio level, power, light
intensity or vibration. Audio applications include average
or peak level indicators, power meters and RF signal
strength meters. Replacing conventional meters with an
LED bar graph results in a faster responding, more rugged
display with high visibility that retains the ease of
interpretation of an analog display.

Chapter 3
COMPONENTS OVERVIEW

3.1 DOT/BAR DISPLAY DRIVER:

The LM3915 is a monolithic integrated circuit that senses

analog voltage levels and drives ten LEDs, LCDs or
vacuum fluorescent displays, providing a logarithmic 3
dB/step analog display. One pin changes the display from a
bar graph to a moving dot display. LED current drive is
regulated and programmable, eliminating the need for
current limiting resistors. The whole display system can
operate from a single supply as low as 3V or as high as
25V.

LED current drive is regulated and programmable,

eliminating the need for current limiting resistors. The IC
contains an adjustable voltage reference and an accurate
ten-step voltage divider. The high-impedance input buffer
accepts signals down to ground and up to within 1.5V of
the positive supply. Further, it needs no protection against
inputs of ±35V. The input buffer drives 10 individual
 9

comparators referenced to the precision divider. Accuracy

is typically better than 1 dB.

Fig: 3.1 Dot/Bar display driver

3.2 THE PIEZO ELEMENT:

Piezoelectric diaphragm is a basic electronic sound

component. It has the advantages of simple structure,
stable performance and high reliability. It is not only the
core element of piezoelectric buzzers and the alarms, but
also used as shock sensors in many sensitive equipments.
 10

Fig 3.2 The piezo element

Basically, the sound source of a piezoelectric sound

component is a piezoelectric diaphragm. A piezoelectric
diaphragm consists of a piezoelectric ceramic plate which
has electrodes on both sides and a metal plate (brass or
stainless steel, etc.). A piezoelectric ceramic plate is
attached to a metal plate with adhesives. Applying D.C.
voltage between electrodes of a piezoelectric diaphragm
causes mechanical distortion due to the piezoelectric effect

Design Considerations:

These devices contain no electronics, and require external

circuitry to produce an audible tone. Presence of the
feedback tab enables the designer to simplify the drive
circuit. Voltage applied to the device produces mechanical
 11

distortions which are usable, among other applications, in

alarms and sensors.

Fig 3.3 Piezo electric diaphragm

The Touch Pad:

The Touch Pad is two tinned pads on the PC board. When

touched them with a finger, the resistance of the finger is
reduced by a factor of about 100 - 400 by the gain of the
emitter-follower transistor and this puts a HIGH on the
input pin of the chip. The input impedance of the chip is
fairly high (about 50k) but when you add a pull-down
resistor (to prevent stray signals being detected by the
chip), the impedance decreases. The answer is to add the
emitter-follower transistor.

Fig: 3.4 Touch pad

 12

3.3 LIGHT EMITTING DIODES:

A light emitting diode (LED) is a PN junction

semiconductor diode that emits photons when electrical
current passes through the junction in the forward
direction, the electrical carriers give up energy proportional
to the forward voltage drop across the diode junction, this
energy is emitted in the form of light.

Fig 3.5 Light Emitting Diode

LED’s are used in numerical displays such as those on

electronic digital watches and pocket calculators. By
definition, it is a solid-state device that controls current
without heated filaments and is therefore very reliable.
LED’s are highly monochromatic, emitting a pure color in
a narrow frequency range. The color emitted from an LED
is identified by peak wavelength and measured in
nanometers. LEDs are made from gallium-based crystals
that contain one or more additional materials such as
phosphorous to produce a distinct color. LED light output
varies with the type of chip, encapsulation, efficiency of
 13

individual wafer lots and other variables. Several LED

manufacturers use terms such as "super-bright," and "ultra-
bright" to describe LED intensity.

Because LED’s are solid-state devices they are not subject

to catastrophic failure when operated within design
parameters. LED’s are current-driven devices, not voltage
driven. Although drive current and light output are directly
related, exceeding the maximum current rating will
produce excessive heat within the LED chip due to
excessive power dissipation. The color of an LED is
determined by the semiconductor material, not by the
coloring of the 'package' (the plastic body). LEDs are
available in red, orange, amber, yellow, green, and blue
and white colors. LED’s are specially constructed to
release a large number of photons outward. Additionally,
they are housed in a plastic bulb that concentrates the light
in a particular direction

Fig 3.6 Inside a Light Emitting Diode

 14

Design Parameters:

Never an LED should be connected directly to a battery or

power supply. It will be destroyed almost instantly because
too much current will pass through and burn it out. An
LED must have a resistor connected in series to limit the
current through the LED; otherwise it will burn out almost
instantly and try to avoid connecting them in parallel.

LED Color Potential

Difference
Infrared 1.6V
red 1.8 to 2.1V
orange 2.2V
yellow 2.4V
green 2.6V
blue 3.0V to 3.5V
white 3.0V to 3.5V
ultraviolet 3.5V

Table 3.1 LED color vs. potential

difference

Equation to determine the required resistance:

Resistance = (Source Voltage – LED Voltage Drop) /

desired current

To drive an LED from a system, the following values are

used:

Source voltage = 13.4 volts (approximately)

Voltage drop = 3.6 volts (typical for a blue or white LED)

Desired current = 30 milliamps (typical value)

 15

So the resistor we need is:

(13.4 – 3.6) / (30 / 1000) = 327 ohms (Approximately 330

ohms).

3.4 REGULATED POWER SUPPLY:

In a typical linear power supply, AC line voltage is first

down-converted to a smaller peak voltage using a
transformer which is then rectified using a full wave bridge
rectifier circuit. A capacitor filter is then used to smoothen
the obtained sinusoidal signal. The residual periodic
variation or ripple in this filtered signal is eliminated using
an active regulator.

Fig: 3.7 Regulated power supply

To obtain a DC power supply with both positive and

negative output voltages, a center-tapped transformer is
used, where a third wire is attached to the middle of the
secondary winding and it is taken as the common ground
point. Then voltages from the opposite ends of the winding
will be positive or negative with respect to this point
 16

Care should be taken while connecting 78XX and 79XX

ICs.

Voltage Regulator:

The 7805 takes in a voltage between 7 and 30 volts and

regulates it down to exactly 5 volts. The first capacitor
takes out any ripple coming from the transformer so that
the 7805 is receiving a smooth input voltage, and the
second capacitor acts as a load balancer to ensure
consistent output from the 7805.

The 7805 has three

leads. If the 7805 is seen
from the front (the side
with printing on it), the
three leads are, from left
to right, input voltage (7
to 30 volts), ground, and
Fig 3.8 Voltage regulator
output voltage (5 volts).

3.5 CIRCUIT DIAGRAM OF STRESS METER:

 17

Fig 3.9 Circuit diagram of Stress meter

Chapter 4
 18

CIRCUIT OPERATION

4.1 OPERATION OF THE CIRCUIT:

This stress meter circuit uses just one IC and a very few
number of external components. It displays the input level
in terms of 10 LEDs. The suggested input voltage can vary
from 12V to 20V.

The LM3915 IC contains an adjustable voltage

reference and an accurate ten-step voltage divider. The
high-impedance input buffer accepts signals down to
ground and up to within 1.5V of the positive supply.
Further, it needs no protection against inputs of 35V. The
input buffer drives 10 individual comparators referenced to
the precision divider. Accuracy is typically better than 1
dB.

A high input impedance buffer operates with signals

from ground to 12V, and is protected against reverse and
over voltage signals. The signal is then applied to a series
of 10 comparators; each of which is biased to a different
comparison level by the resistor string.

The LM3915 is extremely easy to apply. A 1.2V full-

scale meter requires only one resistor in addition to the ten
LEDs. One more resistor programs the full-scale anywhere
from 1.2V to 12V independent of supply voltage. LED
brightness is easily controlled with a single pot.

The following relations can be used to know the

approximate values of current and reference voltages.

V ref = 1.25 (1+R2/R1) + R2* 80UA

I (LED) = (12.5V/R1) + (Vref/2.2K)

 19

The outputs can drive LCDs, vacuum fluorescents and

incandescent bulbs as well as LED’s of any color. Multiple
devices can be cascaded for a dot or bar mode display with
a range of 60 or 90 dB. LM3915s can also be cascaded
with LM3914s for a linear/log display or with LM3916s
for an extended-range VU meter.

4.2 CIRCUIT CONNECTIONS:

The pins 2, 4 and 8 of the LM3915 are grounded. 6 and 7

pins are shorted and a resistor is connected across them
which is grounded. Pin 1 and pins 10 to 18 are connected
to LED’s to be driven by the IC. Pin 9 and 11 are shorted
to give a bar mode display.3 pin is given the input voltage.
Pin 5 is used to connect the touch pads.
 20

Fig 4.1 Basic block diagram showing the operation of the

circuit

4.3 ROLE PLAYED BY TOUCH PADS:

The touch pad which is a piezoelectric substance senses the

skin resistance when touched with a finger and acts like the
 21

input to the circuit. The output stress level is indicated on

the LED display. The high stress level is indicated by a
warning yellow light.

The following figure gives a clear idea of the principle

behind the stress meter and the role played by the touch
pads.

Conducting pad
(upper) Resistance between the
pads varies based on
wetness and dryness of
the skin of the finger

Insulator strip
(between the upper
and lower pad)
Conducting pad
(lower)
Side View
Top view
sis

Fig 4.2 Role played by touch pads

4.4 THE LED DISPLAY:

 22

The output is indicated on a LED display .The ten LED’s

act like the stress level indicators form zero stress level to
high stress level on a scale of ten. The high stress detected
from the dot/ bar display driver is indicated by a yellow
light.

LED THRESHOLD
1 60mV
2 80mV
3 110mV
4 160mV
5 220mV
6 320mV
7 440mV
8 630mV
9 890mV
10 1.25V

Table 4.1 LED Vs. Threshold voltage

4.5 POWER SUPPLY GENERATION:

The 230 volts ac power supply is fed to the transformer

and the transformer in turn is connected to a bridge
rectifier circuit.

When four diodes are connected as shown in figure, the

circuit is called a BRIDGE RECTIFIER. The input to the
 23

circuit is applied to the diagonally opposite corners of the

network, and the output is taken from the remaining two
corners.

On the positive half cycle of transformer secondary

supply voltage, diodes D1 and D2 conduct, supplying this
voltage to the load. On the negative half cycle of supply
voltage, diodes D3 and D4 conduct supplying this voltage to
the load.

It can be seen from the waveforms that the peak inverse

voltage of the diodes is only Vm .The average output
voltage is the same as that for the center-tapped
transformer full-wave rectifier.

With a resistive load, the load current is identical in

shape to the output voltage. Most loads are inductive and
the load current with these loads depends on the value of
load resistance and load inductance so they do not conduct
any current.
 24

Fig 4.3 Bridge Rectifier Circuit

During the negative half-cycle, the top end of the

transformer winding is negative. Now, D1 and D4 are
forward biased, and D2 and D3 are reverse biased.
Therefore, electrons move through D1, the resistor, and D4
in the direction shown by the blue arrows. As with the
positive half-cycle, electrons move through the resistor
from left to right. In this manner, the diodes keep switching
the transformer connections to the resistor so that current
always flows in only one direction through the resistor.
The resistors can be replaced with any other circuit,
including more power supply circuitry (such as the filter),
and still see the same behavior from the bridge rectifier.

Fig 4.4 The Power supply generation

 25

The output from the bridge rectifier is thus connected to

voltage regulator 7805 to generate 5 volts regulated power
supply to the circuit. The capacitors are used as filters to
smoothen the sinusoidal signals.

4.6 THE STRESS METER:

 26

Chapter 5

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

 27

5.1 RESULTS:

The stress meter thus detects the resistance of skin which is

according to one’s mental stress and gives a visual
indication on a LED display. The LED’s on the stress
meter can be observed as stress level indicators form zero
to ten stress levels on a scale of ten. The high stress of a
person is indicated through a warning yellow light.

5.2 ANALYSIS:

Resistance varies inverse proportional to the stress. If the

stress level is high the skin offers less resistance, and if
relaxed resistance is high. The low resistance of the skin
during high stress is due to an increase in the blood supply
to the skin. This increases the permeability of the skin and
hence the conductivity for electric current.

The LED 1 glows by default when the circuit is on.

When a person touches the touch pad of the stress meter
with his finger, it senses the skin resistance and hence the
stress. On a scale of ten, stress levels from 0 to 10 can be
observed, where the LED 10 when on gives a warning
yellow light high stress indication.
 28

Chapter 6

CONCLUSION

6.1 SUMMARY:

In this project, is proposed a stress meter that indicates the

stress level of a human being based on one’s skin
resistance on a scale of ten. The circuit uses the IC
LM3915 which is a dot/bar display driver which can easily
drive ten led’s with a suggested input voltage.
The touch pad which is a piezoelectric substance senses
the skin resistance when touched with a finger and acts like
the input to the circuit. The output stress level is indicated
on the led display. The high stress level is indicated by a
warning yellow light.
The regulated power supply used in the project gives an
input voltage of 5V for the circuit to operate. A switch is
used to ON/OFF the circuit.

6.2 APPLICATIONS:

Stress meter is widely applicable in various meters and

indicators. It is used as
• A simple LED meter.
• Signal level indicator.
• In Peak detectors.
• Light, audio, and power meters.
• Multiple devices can be cascaded for a dot or bar
mode display with a range of 60 or 90 dB.
 29

• LM3915s can also be cascaded with LM3914s for a

linear/log display or with LM3916s for an
extended-range VU meter.
.
.

6.3 BENEFITS:

• The circuit is absolutely free from ambient light.

• It is economical and a low budget project.

• Not a complex circuit.

• The components are easily available in the market

and replaceable.

• Noise pulse do not have any effect on the

circuit.

• LED’s can withstand the voltage even if no

resistors are connected across.

• Can be used easily to regularly check one’s stress

level.
 30

APPENDIX

PIN DIAGRAM OF LM3915:

 31

DEFINITION OF TERMS:

Absolute Accuracy: The difference between the observed

threshold voltage and the ideal threshold voltage for each
comparator. Specified and tested with 10V across the
internal voltage divider so that resistor ratio matching error
predominates over comparator offset voltage.

Adjust Pin Current: Current flowing out of the reference

adjust pin when the reference amplifier is in the linear
region.

Comparator Gain: The ratio of the change in output

current (ILED) to the change in input voltage (VIN)
required to produce it for a comparator in the linear region.

http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/doc
0368.pdf
 32

Dropout Voltage: The voltage measured at the current

source outputs required to make the output current fall by
10%.

Input Bias Current: Current flowing out of the signal

input when the input buffer is in the linear region.

LED Current Regulation: The change in output current

over the specified range of LED supply voltage (VLED) as
measured at the current source outputs. As the forward
voltage of an LED does not change significantly with a
small change in forward current, this is equivalent to
changing the voltage at the LED anodes by the same
amount.

Line Regulation: The average change in reference output

voltage (VREF) over the specified range of supply voltage
(V+).

Load Regulation: The change in reference output voltage

over the specified range of load current (IL (REF)).

Offset Voltage: The differential input voltage which must

be applied to each comparator to bias the output in the
linear region. Most significant error when the voltage
across the internal voltage divider is small. Specified and
tested with pin 6 voltage (VRHI) equal to pin 4 voltage
(VRLO).

Relative Accuracy: The difference between any two

adjacent threshold points. Specified and tested with 10V
across the internal voltage divider so that resistor ratio
matching error predominates over comparator offset
voltage.
 33

LM3915 OUTPUT CHARACTERISTICS:

Output voltage Vs. Output current

 34

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Journals:

1. Roberto Bonomi, “Stress and Mind Control”, dated

21/03/2008

Reference Books:

1. Joseph Edminster and Mahmood Nahvi, Electric

circuits, Schaum’s Outline, 2003

2. Stanley G Burns and Paul R Bond, Principles of

Electronic Circuits, International Thomson publishing,
1997

3. Richard C Jaegar and Travis N Blalock, Micro

electronic circuit design, Third Edition Errata,
2008