Digital Logic Design ECE 103 Mini Project

PLANT MOISTURE LEVEL MONITOR

Submitted by:Hosur Gowtham 10BEC0136 7200304969 gowtham_neo93@yahoo.com Slot: E2 Faculty: Prof. John Pradeep D

Aim:
To design and fabricate a digital circuit that signals by flashing LED when a plant needs to be watered.

Working Principle:
Circuit is intended to work under two conditions: 1) When the soil is very dry, the LED flashes brightly, since the soils resistance is very high. 2) When the soil is damp because it has been recently watered, the LED is off. A square wave is generated by Schmitt NAND gates which is fed to base of Transistor which acts as switch. When resistance across probe is high(less water in the soil) Transistor feds this square wave to LED. When resistance across probes is low, square wave is drawn into the probes through water in the soil and LED doesnt blink.

Components Required:

Quad 2 input Schmitt NAND Gate (IC 4093) PNP Transistor (BC 557) Diode (1N4148) LED Resistors Capacitors Probes(thick wires) Battery

Circuit Diagram:

Circuit Analysis:
IC1A is square wave generator. IC1A and related components R1 and C1 form a square wave oscillator feeding one gate input of IC1B through the voltage divider R2/R3.Sensitivity can be adjusted by varying Trimmer R2. IC1B monitors current flow through probes. One input of IC1B is always high while other input is connected parallel to probes.IC1B gives high or low output depending on current flow through probes. Output of IC1B is fed to IC1C. IC1C acts as inverter. Output of IC1B is inverted by IC1C and fed to IC1D. IC1D is another square wave generator. IC1D gets one input from IC1C while other end is connected to output feedback of same gate so as to create oscillation and produce square wave. This is fed to base of the Transistor. Emitter terminal of Transistor is connected to battery. Collector to the LED via resistance. Transistor drives LED on/off based on Base current. Probes are connected beside R2 via C2 which drives square wave to ground when resistance of soil is low.

Description:
IC Description(IC 4093):

The IC 4093 consists of four Schmitt-trigger circuits. Each circuit functions as a 2-input NAND gate with Schmitt trigger action on both inputs. The gate switches at different points for positive and negative-going signals. NAND gates used in this IC are Two-input Schmitt NAND. A Schmitt trigger input has two different thresholds unlike other NAND gates and maintains hysteresis .Its applicable when there is much noise in the circuit or input voltage is unreliable as in this case( Input voltage changes in accordance with soil resistance, so input value can be any value between high and low ) . Functioning(Truth Table) of Schmitt NAND is same as conventional NAND gate, except for input high and low are considered based on hysteresis. Schmitt Triggers are employed in Schmitt NAND gates. Schmitt trigger converts analog signal to digital signal as shown in figure below.

Schmitt trigger input and output

Circuit Working:
Wet condition:
When soil is wet, resistance across the probes is low C2 diverts the square wave to ground, IC1B is blocked and its output will go steady high. IC1C inverts the high status to low, thus keeping IC1D and transistor blocked: the LED is off.

Dry condition:
When the ground in the flower-pot is becoming too dry the resistance across the probes will increase and C2 will be no longer able to divert the square wave to ground. Therefore, IC1B output begins to transfer the signal to IC1C which, in turn, passes it to the oscillator built around IC1D. No longer disabled by a low level on its input, the IC1D oscillator slowly pulses Q1 base low causing the LED to flash, signalling the necessity to water the plant.

Applications:
This circuit can be effectively used as Plant watering indicator by placing it in a flower pot and inserting probes into the soil. Sensitivity of the device can be easily varied and can be customized to suit plants water need. It requires no further management and indicates by pulsating LED when water level is too low.

Difficulties Encountered:
If 3V is applied to the circuit using 2 AA batteries, circuit might not function properly, as precisely 3v is required for IC 4093 to function properly. Batteries might not strictly deliver prescribed voltage or batteries may wear out over time causing a voltage less than 3V being applied to the circuit. This might cause malfunctioning in the circuit. For 3V voltage, LED blinking is too dim to be noticed. Hence 9V is applied to the circuit.

Result:
Hence a digital circuit is designed and fabricated which signals by flashing LED when a plant needs to be watered.

Conclusion:
A digital circuit which signals water requirement for plant by a flashing LED is fabricated. Sensitivity of this circuit can be modified by changing resistance in the circuit and can be adapted for different grounds, pots and probe types.