How to make your own IR sensors

All those people who are very much into robotics and have
competed in autonomous events must be knowing the
importance of sensors. For autonomous robots sensors are
its eyes n ears. So if you are planning to participate in an
autonomous event and wish to win there, than make sure your
sensors are working just fine ;)

The most common sensor used is IR sensors (infrared

sensors). Their uses:
1) Detect obstacle
2) Differentiate between white n black colors.

Now let us make one for our self:

Things you will need to make an IR sensor:

1) IR led

Tips for novices: to check if IR LED is working or not , look

at the IR LED using your mobile camera. IF you can see a
purple glow than your led is working otherwise there’s a
problem.

2) Photo diode

Tips for novices: there are two ways to find polarity of an

LED:
1) longer of the two legs is the positive terminal of LED.

2) If in case the two legs are almost equal(rarely happens)

then look closely inside the bulb of LED. You will observe two
separate metal chips. The thinner of the two is the positive
one.

3) small piece of vero board

Tips for novices: one of the sides of vero board is shining
due to copper strips glued on it. Remember that the shiny
side is the back side of vero board and the soldering will be
done on this side.
4) 3 wires
5) multimeter n 5v supply

Now to make the IR sensor you have to implement the circuit

diagram given below:
Some important details about the above diagram:

1) IR transmitter = IR LED
IR receiver = photo diode
2) the different grounds shown should be connected to each
other
3) the bulbs of IR led and photo diode will be facing in
upward direction and should be soldered adjacent to each
other(as shown in figure below).
4) 3 wires will be used for 5v supply, ground and output
points respectively.
5) For 220 ohm resistance use a variable
resistance(potentiometer), so that by varying resistance in
the range of 170 to 270 to vary the brightness of IR LED.
Its an important feature to calibrate your sensor in
different environment.

After implementing the above circuit and following all the

above point you have your own WORKING IR sensor 

To check if its working, check the voltage variation across

the output and ground through multimeter:
When you will place your hand or white paper infront of the
IR sensor , output voltage wll be in the range of 0.5v-1.5v.
When you will remove your hand or place black paper infront
of it, output voltage will be in the range of 3.5v-4.5v.

Warning: The current supply to a sensor should not exceed 1-

2 mA otherwise the IR sensor would get damaged .