SEMINAR ON

WATER LEVEL INDICATOR

by…
Shaik .Shabuddin
ROLL NO:0711A0A4
4th B.TECH
ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING.

NARAYANA ENGINEERING COLLEGE.

 Water-Level Indicator
Generally when we are pumping liquids like water or may be any other liquis we need a human
to see whether the tank is filled or not or we will place a overflow pipe to know that the tank is
fill or not in case of water tank and we get confirmed from the water coming from overflow pipe
that the has been filled.here is lots of wastage of water and still we need a human to have a look
over it and so to avoid this and to save wastage of water or any other liquid that is being
filled.Here is a simple circuit for liquid level alarm this circuit only tells us when the tank is full
with a beep sound. It is built around two BC547 transistors (T1 and T2) and two timer 555 ICs
(IC1 and IC2). Both IC1 and IC2 are wired in astable multivibrator mode. Timer IC1 produces
low frequency, while timer IC2 produces high frequency. As a result, a beeping tone is generated
when the liquid tank is full. Initially, when the tank is empty, transistor T1 does not conduct.
Consequently, transistor T2 conducts and pin 4 of IC1 is low. This low voltage disables IC1 and
it does not oscillate. The low output of IC1 disables IC2 and it does not oscillate. As a result, no
sound is heard from the speaker. But when the tank gets filled up, transistor T1 conducts.
Consequently, transistor T2 is cut off and pin 4 of IC1 becomes high. This high voltage enables
IC1 and it oscillates to produce low frequencies at pin 3. This low-frequency output enables IC2
and it also oscillates to produce high frequencies. As a result, sound is produced from the
speaker. Using preset VR1 we can control the volume of the sound from the speaker. The circuit
can be powered from a 9V battery or from mains by using a 9V power adaptor. This circuit can
be easily designed and it is easy to Assemble the circuit on a general purpose PCB and we can
enclose it in a suitable cabinet.
The circuit is as shown below.

Circuit of water level indicator

How it works:
The circuit contains
i) Bc547 transistors
ii) Ic 555 timers
iii) Resistors
iv) Capacitors
v) Speaker or alarm
vi) 9v power supply(battery/ 9v adaptor)

Here we will install two water-level probes using metal strips such that one touches the bottom
of the tank and the other touches the maximum level of the water in the tank. Interconnect the
sensor and the circuit using a flexible wire as shown in above circuit diagram.when tank is empty
or until the liquid touches the probe present at maximm level the transistor T1 doesn’t conducts
and then output is high at collector of transistor T1, this drives the transistor T2 and transistor T2
is in on state, and the output at collector of transistor will be low and as it is connected to
pin4(reset pin) this disables ic1(555timer) and output at pin3 which is also low and as it is
connected to pin4 of ic2(555timer) and the output is also low at pin3and it does not produce any
sound .When the water or liquid level touches the second probe which is at maximum liquid
level, the transistor T1 conducts and then output is low at collector of transistor T1, this drives
the transistor T2 into cutoff and transistor T2 is in off state, and the output at collector of
transistor will be high and as it is connected to pin4(reset pin) this enables ic1(555timer) and
output at pin3 which is also high and as it is connected to pin4 of ic2(555timer) and the output is
produced at pin3and it produces sound. and by hearing sound we can confirm that the tank is
filled with liquid and we can stop filling it. Also we need a human to swith on and off the
pumping of water, instead of speaker we can use a automatic switch which can switch off the
pumping automatically.we can use a electronic switch which switches off when it is fed with a
non zero or high input.
In this circuit we can know only when the tank is completely filled, till then we cant find the
status of liquid level so to find the intermediate levels of tank while it is being filled we are going
for another cicuit.that is water level indicator using seven segment displays.
The circuit contains
i) Ic 7404 (not gates)
ii) Ic7408(2input and gates)
iii) Seven segment display
iv) Buzzer or alarm

Ic 7404:
Pin configuration of ic7404 is as shown in below.
Ic7404 is NOT gate circuit it has 6 NOT gates in it.
NOT gate1: input: pin1 output: pin2
NOT gate2: input: pin3 output: pin4
NOT gate3: input: pin5 output: pin6
NOT gate4: input: pin9 output: pin8
NOT gate5: input: pin11 output: pin10
NOT gate6: input: pin13 output: pin12
Pin 7: ground pin14: +Vcc

Ic 7408:
Pin configuration of ic7408 is as show below
Ic7408 is a 2input nand gates
It has 4 nand gates in it.
AND gate1: input pins:1,2 outputpins:3
AND gate2: input pins:4,5 outputpins:6
AND gate3: input pins:9,10 outputpins:8
AND gate4: input pins:12,13 outputpins:11
Pin 7: ground pin 14: +Vcc

The ciruit is constructed using these two ic’s (ic7404,ic7408) and the sevent segment displays
the circuit is as shown below
Circuit of water level indicator using 7-segment display

How it works:

This water-level indicator uses a 7-segment display, instead of LEDs, to indicate the water level
(low, half and full) in the tank. Moreover, a buzzer is used to alert of water overflowing from the
tank. The circuit shows the water level by displaying L, H and F for low, half and
full, respectively. The circuit uses five sensors to sense the different water levels in the tank.
Sensor A is connected to the negative terminal (GND) of the power supply. The other four
sensors (B through E) are connected to the inputs of NOT gate IC 7404. When there is a high
voltage at the input pin of the NOT gate, it outputs a low voltage. Similarly, for a low voltage at
the input pin of the NOT gate, it outputs a high voltage. When the tank is empty, the input
pins of IC 7404 are pulled high via a 1-mega-ohm resistor. So it outputs a low voltage. As water
starts filling the tank, a low voltage is available at the input pins of the gate and it outputs a
high voltage. When the water in the tank rises to touch the low level, there is a low voltage at
input pin 5 of gate N3 and high output at pin 6. Pin 6 of the gate is connected to pin 10 of gate
N9, so pin 10 also goes high. Now as both pins 9 and 10 of gate N9 are high, its output pin 8 also
goes high. As a result, positive supply is applied to DIS3 and it shows ‘L’ indicating low level of
water in the tank. Similarly, when water in the tank touches the half level, pins 4 and 5 of AND
gate N8 become high. As a result, its output also goes high and DIS2 shows ‘H’ indicating half
level of water in the tank. At this time, pin 9 of gate N9 also goes low via gate N4 and DIS3
stops glowing. When the water tank becomes full, the voltage at pin 1 of gate N1 and pin 3 of
gate N2 goes low. Output pin 3 of gate N7 goes high and DIS1 shows ‘F’ indicating that the
water tank is full. When water starts overflowing the tank, pin 13 of gate N6 goes low to make
output pin 12. The buzzer sounds to indicate that water is overflowing the tank and you need to
switch off the motor pump.
We can Assemble this circuit easily on a general-purpose PCB and we can enclose it in a suitable
box. we can Use a non-corrosive material such as steel strip for the five sensors and hang them
in the water tank as shown in the circuit diagram.
We can use 5v power supply or 5v adapter as +Vcc

Advantage:
i) No need to waste time to observe the water level time to time,
ii) Wastage of water can be prevented
iii) By using automatic switches instead of alarms we can turn off them automatically, so
we can make its switching off completely independent of human

Disadvantage:
We can’t completely depend on these circuits because if any of probes which are at
maximum level or the probe which is at bottom level gets disconnected or broken it will not
function correctly. So we have to provide security to it.

Conclusion:
Even though it is having one or two disadvantages it is simple in design and easy to construct
and its cost is also low so we can use these circuit to stop wastage of electricity and water and the
time also.