Ultrasonic Parking Sonar by 40106

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Feautures:

* automatic switch on on rear gear
* led-bargraph display
* audible bleep on last led
* “good old” design style, no microcontrollers!

This was one of my first designs: it is an ultrasonic parking sonar.
Based on an ultrasonic amplifier from an article seen on a 1982 magazine, it was once installed on the rear bumper of my Volvo Station Wagon. It served very well for many years. Connecting it to the reverse gear lights, it switches on automatically and shows you the distance to the nearest obstacle (according to his beam) on a led scale. When the last led lights, a buzzer is also activated telling you to stop immediately.sonar.jpg (2787 byte)

It works on the sonar principle, sending an ultrasound burst and listening for first echo. The burst generated by the oscillator built around U4D (you must set the frequency using TR2 to have 40 kHz or the maximum sensitivity), U4E buffers the output and U4F boost the signal doubling the voltage span across the TX piezo transducer .

A new burst is generated each time the decade counter (4017 in the circuit diagram) is in its reset state, that is output 0 is selected. The other outputs (1 to 9) are scanned sequentially following burst generation, until an echo strikes back the RX receiver. It is then amplified by the transistor input stage, triggering the monostable built around U4A - U4B. The monostable stops temporarly the scanning, and a led corresponding to the obstacle distance appears as continuously lit. The buzzer bleeps when the first led (minimum distance) il lit.

Read More Source: http://www.uashem.com/pageid-419.html
Thank you.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 7:16 am and is filed under Audio - Alarm, Automotive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.