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Water
Level Indicator With Alarm
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is a simple, versatile cir- cuit which indicates the level
of water in a tank. This circuit produces alarm when water
level is below the lowest level L1 and also when water
just touches the highest level L12. The circuit is designed
to display 12 different levels. However, these display
levels can be increased or decreased depending upon the
level resolution required. This can be done by increasing
or decreasing the number of level detector metal strips
(L1 to L12) and their associated components. In the circuit,
diodes D1, D2 and D13 form half-wave rectifiers. The rectified
output is filtered using capacitors C1 through C3 respectively.
Initially, when water level is below strip L1, the mains
supply frequency oscillations are not transferred to diode
D1. Thus its output is low and LED1 does not glow. Also,
since base voltage of transister T1 is low, it is in cut-off
state and its collector voltage is high, which enables
tone generating IC1 (UM66) and alarm is sounded. When
water just touches level detector strip L1, the supply
frequency oscillations are transferred to diode D1. It
rectifies the supply voltage and a positive DC voltage
develops across capacitor C1, which lights up LED1. At
the same time base voltage for transistor T1 becomes high,
which makes it forward biased and its collector voltage
falls to near-ground potential. This disables IC1 (UM66)
and alarm cannot be sounded. Depending upon quantity of
water present in the tank, corresponding level indicating
LEDs glow. It thus displays intermediate water levels
in the tank in bar-graph style. When water in the tank
just touches the highest level detector strip L12, the
DC voltage is developed across capacitor C2. This enables
tone generating IC1 (UM66) and alarm is again sounded.
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