Varying brightness AC lamp
In this circuit, an SCR is used to slowly vary the intensity of a 120 volt light
bulb by controlling the time that the AC line voltage is applied to the lamp
during each half cycle.
Caution:
The circuit is directly connected to the AC power line and should be placed
inside an enclosure that will prevent direct contact with any of the components.
To avoid electrical shock, do not touch any part of the circuit while it is
connected to the AC power line. A 2K, 10 watt power resistor is used to drop the
line voltage down to 9 volts DC. This resistor will dissipate about 7 watts and
needs some ventilation.
Operation:
A couple NPN transistors are used to detect the beginning of each half cycle and
trigger a delay timer which in turn triggers the SCR at the end of the delay
time. The delay time is established by a current source which is controlled by a
4017 decade counter. The first count (pin 3) sets the current to a minimum which
corresponds to about 7 milliseconds of delay, or most of the half cycle time so
that the lamp is almost off. Full brightness is obtained on the sixth count (pin
1) which is not connected so that the current will be maximum and provide a
minimum delay and trigger the SCR near the beginning of the cycle. The remaining
8 counts increment the brightness 4 steps up and 4 steps down between maximum
and minimum. Each step up or down provides about twice or half the power, so
that the intensity appears to change linearly. The brightness of each step can
be adjusted with the 4 resistors (4.3K, 4.7K, 5.6K, 7.5K) connected to the
counter outputs.
The circuit has been built by Don Warkentien (WODEW) who suggsted adding a small 47uF capacitor from ground to the junction of the current source transistor (PNP) to reduce the digital stepping effect so the lamp will brighten and fade in a smoother fashion. The value of this capacitor will depend on the 4017 counting rate, a faster rate would require a smaller capacitor.
Varying brightness AC lamp circuit
Title: Varying brightness AC lamp
electronic circuit
Source: unknown
Published on: 2007-07-21
Reads: 883
Print version: 
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