EE 174: Industrial Electronics

AC Light Dimmer

EE 174:
INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS

Alternating Current
Light Dimmer

Submitted by:
Joseph Martin Buray
Xyrex Calang
Kenneth Rae Colipapa
James Edward Ortega

Submitted to:
Prof. Marven Jabian

EE 174: Industrial Electronics

AC Light Dimmer

Objective:
To simulate and materialize a light-dimmer circuit that uses Pulse Width
Modulation (PWM) as the main criterion for dimming instead of a circuit that
varies the amplitude to be fed to the output.

Circuit Connection:

EE 174: Industrial Electronics

AC Light Dimmer

Materials:
Resistors (0.5 watts):

R1 = 10k
R2 = 22k
R3 = 10k
R6 = 470
R8,R9 = 470k

Resistor (0.25 watts):

R7 = 100

Potentiometer: R4 = 1M
Capacitors:

C2,C3 = 10pF
C4 = 22pF

Transistors:

Q1, Q3 = PNP BC557A

Q2 = NPN BC547A

555 timer:

EE 174: Industrial Electronics

AC Light Dimmer

Triode for AC (Triac): D4 = Q4004l4

Load: Lamp 220v 40W

DC source: V2 = 5v

AC source: V1 = 220v 60Hz

Universal PCB

How it works:
The DC source 5v is applied as Vcc and Reset of the U1-555 timer.
Transistors Q1, Q2 and Q3 generate a pulse to trigger (pin 2) of the U1-555
timer. The time period output of the 555 timer can be adjusted through the
potentiometer R4 (1M).

555 Timer Behaviour

EE 174: Industrial Electronics

AC Light Dimmer

When the trigger pulse is 0 capacitor C2 will start to charge pass through R5
and R4. While C2 is charging at output of the 555 timer, it will have the same
level as the triac D4 which makes the triac unable to conduct current.

When C2 fully charges until the output of the 555 timer drops as Low, the
triac will be able to conduct current depending on the time constant of
capacitors C2 and C4, and the potentiometer R4.

Triac Behaviour

If the time constant is very high, the time for the triac to conduct current
would be less. But if the time constant is lower the conducting time period for
the triac would be higher.

Resistor R7 and Capacitor C5 serves as high frequency filter for the results
of switching the triac. The potentiometer serves as the controller for the time
constant and so controls the output of the circuit.

EE 174: Industrial Electronics

AC Light Dimmer

The potentiometer is considered the main controller of the circuit and so the
main controller of the level of light produced by the lamp.

Results:
Output Behaviour:
Graph below show the input vs. output characteristics.
Blue = input

Red = output

Time base and voltage scale for the 3 graphs:

EE 174: Industrial Electronics

AC Light Dimmer

Graph 1

Graph 1 shows the input(blue) vs output(red) when the potentiometer R4

(main controller of the circuit) has the lowest value. The output values
produced are almost the same as the input.

Graph 2

Graph 2 shows the results when the potentiometer R4 is at middle values. It is

clearly seen that the output has almost the same behaviour as triac. This
results to the light produced by the output load (lamp) to be halfly dimmed.

EE 174: Industrial Electronics

AC Light Dimmer

Graph 3

Graph 3 shows the results when the potentiometer R4 is at the highest values.
It is clearly observed that the output is very low compared to the input. This
results to the light produced by the output load (lamp) to be fully dimmed or
produces no light.

Actual Circuit:

EE 174: Industrial Electronics

AC Light Dimmer

Circuit Installed into Lamp:

EE 174: Industrial Electronics

AC Light Dimmer

Conclusion:
In this AC dimmer project, a 555 timer is used in its monostabe mode
which is used to produce an output with a finite duration. The duration of
producing the output is controlled by the resistor and capacitor connected to
its trigger pin. This makes the dimming process easier by just decreasing the
value of the resistor and capacitor dims the output and increasing it increases
its brightness. Also a triac is used in this project which the output of the 555
timer is connected to. The triac serves as a voltage driven switch which controls
the switching action of the dimmer.
After the experiment, we could observe that the 555 timer serves a great
purpose in controlling the voltage that goes in and also prevents the dissipation
of the voltage around the triac. With this we could conclude that the use of
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) as a highly efficient and the main criterion for a
light dimming circuit.