| "Good old" parking sonar |
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| Written by Alberto Ricci Bitti | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, 17 February 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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.
It works on the sonar principle, sending an ultrasound burst and listening for first echo. The burst 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. When the monostable expires, scanning is resumed and restarting the send-and-listen sequence. If no echo is received, the scanning never stops and all the leds are slightly lit.
To set up: Set TR2 for maximum sensitivity (usually 40 kHz for most commercially available ultrasonic transducer pairs).
Hints: First of all, be careful not to exchange the ultrasonic transmitter with the receiver: they look very similar, and I suggest you to mark them very clearly from the moment you buy them. I enjoyed the sonar for many years. It was installed below the car's rear bumper in a plastic case. Do not choose an enclosure too small: always separate the transducers by 7-10 cm and plenty of sound-absorbing material, otherwise the receiver will reveal the direct sound instead of the reflected one. The same applies if the sound travels through a rigid fixture, so it is a good idea to fix them with separated supports.
Files available: View or download full schematics (SONAR_SC.GIF, 18kB)
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