1

A
PROJECT BASED LAB REPORT
On

AUTOMATIC WATER LEVEL CONTROLLER AND

INDICATOR
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the
Requirements for the award of the Degree of

Bachelor of Technology
IN

Electronics & Computer Science Engineering

Under the esteemed guidance of
Mr. ANJI REDDY
(Associate prof.)
ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

In the academic year- 2014-2015

K L University
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE
ENGINEERING

K L UNIVERSITY
Green Fields, Vaddeswaram
Department of Electronics & Computer Engineering

CERTIFICA
TE
This is to certify that this project based lab report entitled AUTOMATION OF
WATER LEVEL INDICATOR AND CONTROLLER is a bonafide work done by
B.HARIKRISHNA-13005055 in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of degree in
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY in Electronics and Computer Science Engineering
during the academic year 2014-2015.

Lecturer IN Charge
ANJI REDDY

Head of the Department

Dr. D. SUMAN

K L University
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE
ENGINEERING

DECLARATIO
N
We hereby declare that this project based lab report entitled AUTOMATION OF WATER
LEVEL CONTROLLER AND INDICATOR has been prepared by us in partial fulfilment of the
requirement for the award of degree BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY in ELECTRONICS AND
COMPUTER SCIENCE ENGINEERING during the academic year 2014-2015.
I also declare that this project based lab report is of our own effort and it has not been submitted
to any other university for the award of any degree.
Date:
Place: VADDESWARAM

BEZAWADA HARIKRISHNA-13005055

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My sincere thanks to ANJI REDDY in the Lab for their outstanding support throughout the
project for the successful completion of the work
We express our gratitude to Dr. SUMAN, Head of the Department for Electronics and Computer
Science Engineering for providing us with adequate facilities, ways and means by which we are
able to complete this term paper work.
We would like to place on record the deep sense of gratitude to the honourable Vice Chancellor,
K L University for providing the necessary facilities to carry the concluded term paper work.
Last but not the least, we thank all Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff of our department and
especially my classmates and my friends for their support in the completion of our term paper
work.
WE RESPECT AND THANK YOU ONE MORE TIME FOR GIVING THIS EXCELLENT
OPPORTUNITY SIR.

BEZAWADA HARIKRISHNA-13005055

ABSTRACT
This is used for controlling the water level of any tank by switching the pump motor
ON and OFF, depending upon the relevant levels of water in the tank and the
position of the immersed sensor points.

USE: Automatic water level controller cum indicator saves water and protects
motor and reduces electricity bill.

This is the circuit diagram and description for water level indicator.
A constant 5v power supply is given to the microcontroller and rest of the circuit
from a battery.
The tank has 9 conductive type sensors (other types of sensors have been
mentioned earlier but in our project only conductive type are used) embedded into
it and 8 wires of sensors out of 9 are connected to transistors and the 9th is
connected to 5v+ supply.
The use of transistor is it acts as inverter (i.e. in on state gives low voltage at
output and in a non-conducting state gives high voltage at its output), all transistors
outputs are connected to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 pins (PORTB) of microcontroller.
Seven segment display is connected to pin no. 33 to 40 (PORTA). It is connected in
common cathode fashion.
The Output for the 7th level is not only shown in seven segment display but also
indicated with a discontinuous buzzer sound.
Output for the 8th level (i.e. tank full condition) is not only shown in seven segment
display but also indicated with a continuous buzzer sound.

CONTENTS

TITLE
1-INTRODUCTION

PAG NO
1

2-COMPONENTS DESCRIPTION
2.1-NAND GATE

2.2-WATER PUMP

2.4-RELAY

2.5-DIODE

10

2.6-RESISTER

11

2.7-N-P-N TRANSISTOR

12

3-WORKING

13

4-APPLICATION

14

4-CONCLUSION

15

5-REFERENCES

15

INTRODUCTION
The Water Level Indicator employs a simple mechanism to detect and indicate the water level in an
overhead tank or any other water container. The sensing is done by using a set of nine probes which are
placed at nine different levels on the tank walls (with probe9 to probe1 placed in increasing order of
height, common probe (i.e. a supply carrying probe) is placed at the base of the tank). The level 9
represents the tank full condition while level 1 represents the tank empty condition.
When the water-level is below the minimum detectable level (MDL), the seven segment displays is
arranged to show the digit 1, indicating that the tank is empty, When the water reaches level1 (but is
below level2) the connection between the probes gets completed (through the conducting medium
water) and the base voltage of transistor increases. This causes the base-emitter junction of transistor to
get forward biased, this switches transistor from cut-off to conduction mode thus PIN (B0) of
microcontroller is pulled to ground hence, the corresponding digit displayed by the seven segment display
is 2.
The similar mechanism applies to the detection of all the other levels. When the tank is full, all inputs to
microcontroller become low and all its outputs go high. This causes the display shows a 9 also in this case
a buzzer sound is given, thereby indicating a tank full condition.
Most water level indicators are equipped to indicate and detect only a single level. The Water Level
Indicator implemented here can indicate up to nine such levels and the microcontroller displays the level
number on a seven segment display. So, not only is the circuit capable of cautioning a person that the
water tank has been filled up to a certain level, it also indicates that the water level has fallen below the
minimum detectable level. This circuit is important in appliances such as the water cooler where there is a
danger of motor-burnout when there is no water in the radiator used up also it can be used in fuel level
indication. In this project we show the water level indicator using eight transistors which conducts as
level rises, a buzzer is also added which will automatically start as the water level becomes full, auto
buzzer start with the help of microcontroller With the help of this project we not only show the level of
water with the help of seven segment display but also a buzzer.

COMPONENTS DESCRIPTION:
NAND GATE:
In digital electronics, a NAND gate (negative-AND) is a logic gate which produces an output that is false
only if all its inputs are true; thus its output is complement to that of the AND gate. A LOW (0) output
results only if both the inputs to the gate are HIGH (1); if one or both inputs are LOW (0), a HIGH (1)
output results. It is made using transistors. By De Morgan's theorem, AB=A+B, a NAND gate is
equivalent to inverters followed by an OR gate.
The NAND gate is significant because any Boolean function can be implemented by using a combination
of NAND gates. This property is called functional completeness.
Digital systems employing certain logic circuits take advantage of NAND's functional completeness.

1.1-nand gate

The 7400 series of transistortransistor logic (TTL) integrated circuits are the most popular family of TTL
integrated circuit logic.[2][3]Quickly replacing diodetransistor logic, it was used to build the mini and
mainframe computers of the 1960s and 1970s. Several generations of pin-compatible descendants of the
original family have since become de facto standard electronic components.

The 7400 series contains hundreds of devices that provide everything from basic logic gates, flip-flops, and
counters, to special purpose bus transceivers and arithmetic logic units (ALU). Specific functions are described
in a list of 7400 series integrated circuits.

WATER PUMP:

Now suppose the water inside the tank starts filling and reaches point B, it connects point C
and B, input of gate N1 becomes high making the output of N2 also high.

However due to the presence of D1, the positive from the output of N2 does not make any
difference to the preceding circuit.

Now when the water reaches point A, input of N3 becomes high and so does the output of N4.
N3and N4 gets latched due to the feedback resistor across the output of N4 and input of N3. The
high output from N4 switches ON the relay and the pump starts emptying the tank.

As the tank gets vacated, the position of water at some point of time goes below point A, however
this does not affect N3 and N4 as they are latched, and the motor keeps running.

However once the water level reaches below point B, point C and the input of N1 reverts to logic
low, output of N2 also becomes low.

Here the diode gets forward biased and pulls the input of N3 also to logic low, which in turn
makes the output of N4 low, subsequently switching OFF the relay and the pump motor.

Parts

Following parts are required for making this automatic water level controller circuit.

List

for

the

above

simple

automatic

water

level

controller

circuit

RELAY:
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electromagnet to mechanically operate a
switch, but other operating principles are also used, such as solid-state relays. Relays are used where it is
necessary to control a circuit by a low-power signal (with complete electrical isolation between control
and controlled circuits), or where several circuits must be controlled by one signal. The first relays were
used in long distance telegraph circuits as amplifiers: they repeated the signal coming in from one circuit
and re-transmitted it on another circuit. Relays were used extensively in telephone exchanges and early
computers to perform logical operations.
A type of relay that can handle the high power required to directly control an electric motor or other loads
is called a contactor. Solid-state relays control power circuits with no moving parts, instead using a
semiconductor device to perform switching. Relays with calibrated operating characteristics and
sometimes multiple operating coils are used to protect electrical circuits from overload or faults; in
modern electric power systems these functions are performed by digital instruments still called
"protective relays".

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DIODE:
Current passing through a diode can only go in one direction, called the forward direction.
Current trying to flow the reverse direction is blocked. They're like the one-way valve of
electronics. If the voltage across a diode is negative, no current can flow*, and the ideal
diode looks like an open circuit.

RESISTOR:
A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit
element. Resistors act to reduce current flow, and, at the same time, act to lower voltage levels within
circuits.

A variable resistor is a device that is used to change the resistance according to our needs in an electronic
circuit. It can be used as a three terminal as well as a two terminal device. Mostly they are used as a

three terminal device. Variable resistors are mostly used for device calibration.

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Working of Resistor:
As shown in the diagram below, a variable resistor consists of a track which provides the resistance
path. Two terminals of the device are connected to both the ends of the track. The third terminal is
connected to a wiper that decides the motion of the track. The motion of the wiper through the track
helps in increasing and decreasing the resistance.

N-P-N TRANSISTOR:
NPN is one of the two types of bipolar transistors, consisting of a layer of P-doped
semiconductor (the "base") between two N-doped layers. A small current entering the base is
amplified to produce a large collector and emitter current.

Circuit Description:
As we all know water (in its impure form) that we get in our homes through our house water supply
system, has a low resistance to electrical energy. In simple words, water conducts electricity albeit very
minutely.
Normally the resistance of tap water might be in the range of 100 K to 200 K.

This resistance value is quite enough for electronic for exploiting it for the project described in
this article that is for a simple water level controller circuit.

We have used four NAND Gates here for the required sensing, the whole operation may be
understood with the below given points.

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Referring to the below simple automatic water level controller indicator circuit, we see that point

B which is at the positive potential is placed somewhere at the bottom section of the tank.
Point C is placed at the bottom of the tank, while point A is pinned at the top most section of the

tank.
As long as water remains under point B, potentials at point A and point C remain at negative or
ground level. It also means that the inputs of the relevant NAND gates are also clamped at logic
low levels because of the 2M2 resistors.

Point C is placed at the bottom of the tank, while point A is pinned at the top most section of
the tank.

As long as water remains under point B, potentials at point A and point C remain at negative or
ground level. It also means that the inputs of the relevant NAND gates are also clamped at logic
low levels because of the 2M2 resistors.

The outputs from N2 and N4 also remain at low logic, keeping the relay and motor switched
OFF.

CIRCUIT:

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Applications:
Automatic Water level Controller for Hotels, Factories, Homes Apartments, Commercial Complexes,
Drainages, etc., it can be fixed for single phase motor, Single Phase Submersibles, Three Phase motors.
(For 3 and Single Phase Submersible Starter is necessary) and open well, Bore well and Sump. We can
control two motor and two sumps and two overhead tanks by single unit (Auto Change Over). Many
models available in different ranges.

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CONCLUSION:
The water level of any tank by switching the pump motor ON and OFF, depending upon the
relevant levels of water in the tank and the position of the immersed sensor points.

REFERENCES:
1) http://www.electronicshub.org/water-level-indicator
2) http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/relay.htm
3) http://www.idconline.com/technical_references/pdfs/electronic_engineering/
Water%20Level%20Indicator%20Project.pdf

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THANK
YOU