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CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
In this imperfect world, it is impossible to avoid faults because as the reliability of
devices depreciates with time, a time will come when the device or equipment will fail and
when this happens, if the equipment is in a delicate position, the loss of lives and properties is
inevitable. To reduce this loss, alarms are made to inform the people that a fault has been
detected.
A tone generator is any device that generates a steady sound signal at a particular
frequency from the oscillation of the voltage from a given voltage source. In this case, the
circuit generates a sound signal with two tones, hence the name.
This alarm is one that can be applied to any purpose as it can be on depending on which
fault you want to detect, this is because the circuit can be closed in many cases. Examples of
these cases are the detection of fire in a building, short-circuiting of a circuit and security
trespass in a secured area.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
This project brings a solution to the high loss of equipments and valuable materials due to
faults of different types depending on the sensor. This circuit can also be of help in the
alerting of people to a certain emergency, for example, the passing of a train, the passing of a
police van or the passage an ambulance.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH
The objective of this research is to design and construct a tone generator that produces
sound of only two tones that can be constantly connected to a power source and will be able
to create or generate this sound when the sensor it is connected to senses a fault in the
environment it is connected to. An example is the fire sensor, when the fire sensor detects a
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rapid change in temperature; it closes the switch of this tone generator therefore causing the
generator to generate its sound as an alarm to alert the people of this development.
Also, an objective is to design a circuit that would create a tone when a person wants to
alert group of people of a certain condition. This can be used as a police siren or ambulance
siren that would alert people in case of any emergency.
Finally, we hope to design a tone generator that would cost less and would use
components that are readily available so that other students can also use the project to
understand the working principles of the alarm and modify it.
1.4 SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH
There were times when people used only shouts to alarm people of a certain danger; that
era has been wiped from existence since the creation of electrical and mechanical alarms. The
electrical alarms were made by varying the output frequency that a device called an oscillator
produces. An oscillator is an electronic circuit that produces a repetitive, oscillating signal,
often a sine wave or a triangular wave. The varying of the output frequency from oscillators
give off sounds of different pitch which are usually alarming. In this modern era, the study of
electronics has shot technology to a very high place where these oscillators and and all the
components of a tone generator are all compacted into one integrated circuit.
For the reason of our limited knowledge and practical know how, this research is done
within the scope of our knowledge as students of this department in 500 level. To this regard,
this project revolves in the knowledge of digital oscillators called 555 timer, resistors and
sound amplifier to amplify the signal generated from the 555 timer.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH
In our everyday life, we see faults emerge in our different places of work, school and
recreation; this motivated us to learn the working principle of this device. The applicability of
this device is priceless as a little cost in the production of this device can help in saving
properties worth ten times its cost. In this project, we also see the possibility of the project to
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influence organizations in the state and country at large to make use of this type of devices as
it has many advantages and is cheap.
1.6 LITERATURE REVIEW
Tone generators are electronic devices that convert electric signals into sound waves.
These devices apply in many areas of use in our everyday life, it can be found nearly
everywhere, in public locations and private residences; examples of its use is as an alarm in
our place of work, banks, and other government parastatals with high security alert. Also, for
private use, Tone generators are used for door bells, music, and childrens play toys. It can
also be used as a way of informing people of the state of emergency of a certain item e.g.
police siren, ambulance siren, train horn, fire alarms and others.
In this project, we concentrated on the design and construction of an alarm inform people
of a certain emergency when the switch is closed. This is done using a 555 timer which was
created for many uses ranging from oscillators, time delays, pulse generation and pulse width
modulation but in this project, we made use of it as oscillator and a pulse width modulator.
This tone generation can also be designed using a transistor, Bipolar Junction Transistor
(BJT) or a Field Effect transistor (FET). These werent used because the 555 timer is an
integrated circuit that is basically made of transistors, resistors, capacitors and logic gates.
Therefore, the 555 timer is an upgrade of the transistors.






4






CHAPTER TWO
2.0 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
A tone generator is a device that oscillates an input DC voltage to give an oscillated
output of a particular frequency. This project makes use of a digital integrated circuit called
555 timer and these timers are generally referred to as oscillators. The general block diagram
of this tone generator circuit can be shown as
P O W E R
S U P P L Y
OSCILLATORS TRANSDUCER
Fig. 2.1: Block Diagram of a Tone Generator
We shall divide this theoretical background into three subtopics with respect to the
number of block diagrams, these subtopics are as follows;
i. Power supply unit
ii. Oscillating unit and
iii. Transducer unit.
2.1 Power Supply Unit
Every electrical circuit needs a source of power, we could have used a battery as our
source of power but in its stead, we used a circuit that converts AC voltage input of our
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laboratory to a regulated DC voltage needed by the circuit to improve its reliability and
longitivity as battery is mainly temporary and doesnt last long.
The power supply unit can be divided into these stages;
1. Transformer
2. Rectifier
3. Filter and
4. Voltage regulator.
They can be represented in block as

TRANSFORMER
RECTIFIER
FILTER
CAPACITOR
REGULATOR

Fig 2.2: Block diagram of the power supply stage
2.1.1 Transformer
A transformer makes use of Faraday's law and the ferromagnetic properties of an iron
core to efficiently raise or lower AC voltages. Since a transformer cannot increase the input
power, when the voltage is raised, the current is proportionally lowered and vice versa.
This device transfers energy by inductive coupling between its winding circuits. A
varying current in the primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformers
core and thus, a varying magnetic flux in the secondary winding. This varying magnetic flux
induces a varying electromotive force (EMF) or voltage in the secondary winding.
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The figure below gives a pictorial diagram of a transformer representing its flow of
current and magnetic flux.

Fig. 2.3: A diagram of a transformer showing its current and magnetic flux paths


The voltage across the secondary coil can be expressed mathematically from Faradays
law of induction as

Where V
s
=

= Voltage across secondary coil

7

N
s
= Number of coils

= Derivative of the magnetic flux through one coil

Transformers are made of input (primary) coils and output (secondary) coils that define
the ratio at which the voltage is stepped up or down. The formula for this ratio is defined
below;

Where

= transformer output EMF

= transformer output EMF

= number of output coils

= number of input coils

= transformer input current

= transformer output current

2.1.2 Rectifier
A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC), which
periodically reverses direction, to direct current (DC), which flows in only one direction. he
rectifier is classified into;
Half wave rectifier and,
Full wave rectifier

Half wave rectifier
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These rectifiers convert AC voltage by conducting only the positive signal parts. They are
made of a diode and sometimes a resistor, the diode conducts positive signals as forward bias
but blocks the negative part as it assumes it to be in a reverse bias configuration. Its diagram
is shown below;

Fig 2.4: A half wave rectifier

Full wave rectifier
This rectifier operates by conducting both negative parts of the wave but it inverts the
negative part to make it all a pulsating DC voltage. The diagram is shown below

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Fig 2.5: A full wave rectifier
In this project, the full wave rectifier was used as it has fewer ripples compared to the
half wave rectifier.
2.1.3 Filter
When rectifiers convert this AC signal to a DC signal, the DC signal possesses many
ripples causing us to by all means reduce this ripple by any means necessary to the barest
minimum. The circuit or component used to remove these ripples off a DC voltage signal is
called a filter.
A ripple is a small unwanted residual periodic variation of the direct current (DC) output
of power supply which has been derived from an alternating current (AC) source.
In this case, the filter used is a capacitor and is a basic type of power supply filter, the
capacitance of the capacitor to be used is calculated from the equation below;

Where C = capacitor value
I = current input
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= peak to peak ripple voltage

f = frequency
after the signal goes through the filter, the ripple of the signal is reduced, the effect of the
transformer, rectifier and filter on the signal is shown in the figure below;

Fig. The effects of transformer, rectifier and filter on the AC signal
2.1.4 Voltage Regulator
Voltage regulator ICs are available with fixed (typically 5, 12 and 15V) or variable
output voltages. They are also rated by the maximum current they can pass. Negative voltage
regulators are available, mainly for use in dual supplies. Most regulators include some
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automatic protection from excessive current ('overload protection') and overheating ('thermal
protection'). Many of the fixed voltage regulator ICs has 3 leads and look like power
transistors. They include a hole for attaching a heat sink if necessary.
2.2 OSCILLATORS
It consists of capacitors, resistors and 555 timers. The components of the oscillators are
hereby discussed below;
2.2.1 A Resistor
A resistor is a two terminal electronic component that is designed to oppose the flow of
electric currents by producing a voltage drop between its terminals hat is proportional to the
electric current that is passing through it.
In accordance to Ohms law, we have that,

Where V = voltage across the resistor,
I = current passing through resistor and
R = the resistance.
Resistors are used as part of an electrical network and electronic circuits as well. They are
also used in voltage division for input into some part of a circuit where much voltage is not
needed. There are two types of resistors which are;
i. Fixed resistors
ii. Variable resistors
The figure below shows the variable and the fixed resistors,

R1
100k
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Fixed resistor variable resistor
Fig. 2.6: Circuit representations of fixed and variable resistors.
A capacitor is a passive electronic component consisting of a pair of conductors separated
by a dielectric. When voltage potential difference exists between the conductors, an electric
field is present in the dielectric. The field stores energy and produces a mechanical force
between the plates. The effect is greatest between wide, flat, parallel, narrowly separated
conductors. An ideal capacitor is characterized by a single constant value, capacitance, which
is measured in farads. This is the ratio of electric charge on each conductor to the potential
difference between them. In practice, the dielectric between the plates passes a small amount
of leakage current.

The conductors and leads introduce an equivalent series resistance and the dielectric has
an electric field strength limit resulting in breakdown voltage. The properties of capacitors in
a circuit may determine the resonant frequency and quality factor of a resonant circuit, power
dissipation and operating frequency in a digital logic circuit, energy capacity in a high-power
system, and many other important aspects. Capacitors are used in a bypass condition in an
A.C filter network. There are of three types: the variable, polarized and non-polarized
capacitor. They are shown in the figure below. The capacitors in this circuit are used to set the
timing interval of the output signal and for noise reduction.

Non polarized capacitor variable capacitor polarized capacitor
Fig. 2.7: Types of capacitors.
2.2.3 The 555 Timer
C1
1.0pF
C1
1.0pF
C2
0.1uF-POL
13

The 555 timer is an integrated circuit used in a multitude of precise timing and waveform
generation applications. In this discussion, we will consider the 555 configured as an Astable
multi-vibrator and as a monostable multi-vibrator or one shot. Essentially, the Astable
Multivibrator is a circuit that outputs a quasi-rectangular waveform whose frequency and duty
cycle are established by the choice of external resistors and capacitor. In comparison, the one
shot receives an appropriate trigger signal and outputs a single pulse whose duration is set by
the selection of an external resistor and capacitor. The 555 timer requires a power supply and
external circuitry to achieve the desired operating characteristics. As illustrated in the table
below, the chip has eight pins and their functions are stated with them.







Pin Designation Description
1 GND Ground, low level (0 V)
2 TRIG OUT rises, and interval starts, when this input falls below 1/3
VCC.
3 OUT This output is driven to +VCC or GND.
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4 RESET A timing interval may be interrupted by driving this input to GND.
5 CTRL Voltage control that defines the mark-space ratio of a timer
6 THR The interval ends when the voltage at THR is greater than at
CTRL.
7 DIS Open collector output; may discharge a capacitor between
intervals.
8 V+, VCC Positive supply voltage is usually between 3 and 15 V.

2.2.3.1 Functional Block Diagram Of A 555-Timer
The main functional components of a 555-timer are two voltage comparators, a voltage
divider network with three equal resistors of 5k each, one RS flip flop and a discharge
transistor.
15


Fig. 2.8: Simplified Functional Block Diagram of a 555-Timer
As seen in the figure above, since the voltage divider has equal resistors, the top
comparator has trip point called;

The lower comparator has trip point called;

Pin 6 is connected to the upper comparator and the voltage on it is called the threshold.
The voltage comes from external components connected to the timer and when it is greater
than the UTP, the upper comparator has a high output.
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Pin 2 is connected to the lower comparator and the voltage on it is called the trigger.
When the voltage is lower or equal to the LTP, the lower comparator produces a high output.
The RS flip flop is a single memory cell with complementary outputs Q and . If the
voltage at the S input goes high, the flip flop is set and the output goes low while the Q
output goes high. If the voltage at the R input goes high, the flip flop is reset and then output
goes high at the same time as the Q output goes low.
The discharge transistor acts as a switch that is open when the flip flop is reset ( low)
and closed when the flip flop is set (Q high).
The three identical resistors are used to obtain the reference voltages V
cc
/3 and 2V
cc
/3 if
the control input is left open. The flip flop is then reset if the voltage at the trigger goes below
V
cc
/3. To set the flip flop, the voltage at the threshold input has to go above 2V
cc
/3.
2.2.3.1 Astable Configuration of the 555-Timer
As mentioned earlier, in an astable configuration, the 555-timer has no stable state which
means that it cannot remain indefinitely in either state. It produces rectangular waves with
variable duty cycle as shown in fig. 5 below.

Fig. 2.9: 555-Timer Used in Astable Mode
2.2.3.3 Functional Block Diagram Of A 555-Timer I n Astble Mode
In the astable operation of the 555-timer, three external components (two resistors and
one capacitor) are required to set the frequency of oscillations. In building this circuit, is
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recommended to use a 10nF capacitor from pin 5 (CTRL) to ground (GND). The capacitors
function is to suppress noise and deliver energy during the transition time of the output. The
functional block diagram of the 555-timer in astable mode is shown in the figure shown
below.

Fig. 2.10: 555-Timer Connected For Astable Operation
When Q is high, the transistor is cut off and the capacitor is charging through a total
resistance of R = R
1
+ R
2
. Because of this, the charging time constant is given as

And as the capacitor charges, the threshold voltage (pin 6) increases. Eventually, it
exceeds 2V
cc
/3 and then the upper comparator resets the flip flop. With Q low, the transistor
saturates and grounds (pin 7), the capacitor then discharges through R
2
. Therefore, the
discharging time constant is given as
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When the capacitor voltage drops to slightly less than V
cc
/3, the lower comparator sets
the flip flop. The figure below shows the wave forms.

Fig. 2.11: Capacitor and output waveforms for Astable operation
The timing capacitor has exponentially rising and falling voltages between UTP and LTP.
The output is a rectangular wave that swings between 0 and +V
cc
. Since the charging time
constant is longer than the discharging time constant, the output is non-symmetrical.
Depending on the resistances R
1
and R
2
, the duty cycle is between 50 and 100 percent.
By analyzing the equations for charging and discharging, the formulas can be derived;
The period of the output is given by;

The reciprocal of the period is the frequency given by;
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Therefore, the frequency equation can be simplified as

The duty cycle is obtained by dividing the pulse width by the period i.e.

Therefore, the duty cycle can be reduced to

When R
1
is much smaller than R
2
, the duty cycle approaches 50%, also, when R
1
is much
greater than R
2
, the duty cycle approaches 100%.
2.3 TRANSDUCER UNIT
Transducers are devices in which energy can be converted from one form to another, the
energy transmitted could be of any form. The two main types of transducers are
Active transducer and
Passive transducer


Passive transducers
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These are transducers that do not require an external supply to effect the conversion of
one form of signal to another e.g. resistance change transducers and capacitor change
transducers, loudspeakers etc.
Active transducers
These are transducers that are connected to an auxiliary source of power which supplies a
major part of the output power while the signal supplies only insignificant portion e.g.
thermoelectric transducers and electromagnetic transducers.
2.3.1 Sound Output Transducer (speaker)
The electrical signal from the second 555-timer is fed to the speaker which is an output
transducer; output transducers are transducers that converts signal from an electrical signal to
an audio signal. It is also basically made up of a diaphragm that varies as the electrical signal
is fed into the speaker.








CHAPTER THREE
DESIGN AND ANALYSIS
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3.0 DESIGN CONSIDERATION
In this project, we are expected to design a two tone generator that gives off two tones of
different frequencies; these frequencies are expected to vary periodically as time goes. The
design for this two tone generator is shown below;

Fig. 3.1: Circuit diagram of the two tone generator
We shall consider each stage of this project and show how this project was designed; the
analysis of the stage shall also be considered. The stages that would be considered are;
i. Power supply stage.
ii. Modulating Astable multivibrator stage.
iii. Pulse width modulation stage and
iv. Output transducer stage.
U1
LM555CM
GND
1
DIS
7
OUT
3
RST
4
VCC
8
THR
6
CON
5
TRI
2
C1
100nF
U2
LM555CM
GND
1
DIS
7
OUT
3
RST
4
VCC
8
THR
6
CON
5
TRI
2
R3
3.0k
C2
10uF-POL
R2
36k
R1
3.0k
R4
1.0k
R5
4.3k
C3
0.1uF-POL
VCC
12V
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3.1 The Power Supply Unit
The circuit diagram of the 12V DC power supply for this project is shown below;

Figure 3.2 Diagram of 9V Regulated Power Supply
The transformer used in this circuit is the 15 Volts step down transformer and the four
diodes serves as a rectifier to convert the input AC signal to a DC signal.
The Capacitor

is called a filter capacitor and the purpose of the filter capacitor is to

remove or smooth out the ripple in the rectified ac voltage. The residual amount of ripple is
determined by the value of the filter capacitor; the larger the value of the filter capacitor the
smaller the ripple.
The equation below is used to calculate the value of the filter capacitor:
U1
2
V1
240 V
50 Hz
0Deg
5
6
7
1
C1
2200uF-POL
U2
LM7812CT
LINE VREG
COMMON
VOLTAGE
4
2
12V
0
3
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Where

The multiplication of the line frequency by two to get the ripple frequency is because the
rectifier is a full wave rectifier. if the rectifier had been a half wave rectifier, the ripple
frequency would have been equal to the line frequency.
Therefore, for this power supply,


From the data sheet of the LM7812, it was confirmed that the dropout voltage of the
LM7812 is 2.5 V. Therefore, the valley of the peak-to-peak ripple should be

Since the rectified DC voltage is 15 V, the minimum negative peak of the ripple voltage
is

The peak-to-peak ripple voltage is double the peak voltage, so the peak to peak voltage of
the capacitor is 1.0V.
Plugging these values into the formula;
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Since is not a standard value, we scale the capacitor to the nearest standard
value of capacitor which is
The output voltage of the capacitor is

Where,

Also,

Therefore,

Therefore,

Hence, we chose a capacitor.
3.2 ASTABLE MULTIVIBRATOR STAGE
This stage creates a low frequency signal that modulates the frequency signal of the
second stage; it consists of a 555 timer, three resistors and a discharging capacitor. The circuit
below shows the placement of the components in this stage.
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Fig.3.3: Astable Multivibrator Circuit Diagram
This first stage is used to modulate the output of the second stage, this modulation varies
the frequency of the second stage. Therefore, the low pulse time (T
L
) and the high pulse time
(T
L
) of this stage determines time the second stage remains in a particular frequency.
In this project, we want the low pulse time (T
L
) to be 25 seconds and so we choose a
discharge capacitor value to be 10F. therefore, if

Therefore,

U1
LM555CM
GND
1
DIS
7
OUT
3
RST
4
VCC
8
THR
6
CON
5
TRI
2
C1
100nF
R3
3.0k
C2
10uF-POL
R2
36k
VCC
12V
R1
3.0k
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If we choose the high pulse time to be 0.27 seconds, the value of the R
1
resistor is gotten
by using the equation below;

Therefore,

Also, duty cycle is

Therefore,




The duty cycle is therefore 52% meaning the ration of the high pulse time to the total
period of the wave is 0.52.
The resistor R
3
is used to create a little voltage drop so that the maximum control
voltage of the second stage 555-timer would be a little lower than the input voltage. We chose
the value as

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3.4 PULSE WIDTH MODULATION STAGE
The first stage is wired as a slow astable multivibrator operating at around 2Hz at 52%
duty cycle and this stage is wired as a fast astable multivibrator operating at around 1500Hz.
The output of first astable mutivibrator is connected to the control voltage input (pin5) of this
second stage 555-timer. This makes the output of the second stage to be modulated by the
output frequency of the first stage, giving a siren effect. Therefore, it is correct to say that the
output frequency of the second stage is controlled by the output of the first stage.
The circuit below shows the circuit diagram of the second stage of this two tone
generator.


U2
LM555CM
GND
1
DIS
7
OUT
3
RST
4
VCC
8
THR
6
CON
5
TRI
2
VCC
12V
R4
1.0k
R5
4.3k
C3
0.1uF-POL
FROM STAGE 1
28

Fig.3.4: Circuit diagram of the carrier astable multivibrator
If we choose our output frequency to be 1500 Hz, then the period of the output signal
would be gotten as

Therefore,
Let,

If

Then

Also, if

Then

From the values of resistors and capacitors calculated, the duty cycle can be calculated
as

Therefore,




The duty cycle is therefore 55% meaning the ration of the high pulse time to the total
period of the wave is 0.55.
29

Therefore, the above found values of resistors and capacitor is used to give the output
carrier frequency of 1500 Hz.
After simulating this circuit, the simulation gave a representation of the output
waveform on an oscilloscope as shown below;

fig.3.5: Representation of output on the oscilloscope

3.4 THE OUTPUT TRANSDUCER STAGE
This stage is made up of the speaker and the coupling capacitor which is arranged in the
circuit as shown below,
30

Vo
C

fig. Output stage of the tone generator
The value of capacitor chosen as 10F is connected to the output voltage of 12V.
Therefore the voltage rating of this capacitor is given as


It is therefore assumed that the capacitor voltage rating should be 17V but a 25V rating
would be chosen because it is most readily available. This capacitor helps to smoothen the
signal from the tone generator circuit.
The speaker used is a 16, 5 W speaker.