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0 Background of the Study Counting has been a crucial activity to human beings from remote antiquity. Counting is done for different purposes e.g. recording, planning, classifyingetc. Our ancestors relied on their brain and physical senses to do the count. However, as noted by Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia (2005): People can typically remember about seven items (plus and minus two) from a random list. This statement shows the unreliability of the human brain. Broadbent, a psychologist equated the brain to a communication channel with a limited throughput capacity. This is why beyond 100, counting becomes difficult and the possibility of making mistakes increases. The same thing happen when the speed of count is increased or the items being counted move at a certain speed. Faced with these setbacks, scientists and technologists began to do researches on how to discover a better way of counting i.e. a machine that could count faster and more accurately than humans. It was during the mid 17th century that a mechanical counting machine, which uses rotating shafts and gears, was invented. This type with little improvement was used up to the late 19th century (Wilson, 2004). However, the mechanical counters had drawbacks as any other mechanical device such as frictions, rust and wear to mention but a few. Eventually more researches were carried out and in 1932 the first binary electronic counter using thyratron tubes was invented. It was bulky and power consuming. With the advent of transistors in 1948 and Integrated
circuits (ICs) in 1960, counters in much smaller units were constructed. In 1970 even smaller counters were achieved through microprocessors. Since then, with the constant advancement in electronics, many different kind of counter ICs have been designed, leaving the circuit designer with only the task of selecting the particular IC that best suits his needs. (Bigelow, 2006) Across the world, people generally count numbers or events using the decimal system. That is why decade or decimal counters are so important. In general, a decimal or decade counter is a device, which stores (and sometimes displays in decimal form) the number of times a particular event or process has occurred (Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia, 2007). There are two types of decimal counters: i) The decade up counter ii) The decade down counter Both counters are important in several applications and the difference between them is that the up counter counts up i.e. from zero to nine (or lowest number to highest number) whereas the down counter counts in the opposite. The up-counter is mostly used in many applications such as manufacturing industries, filling stations and banks (to mention a few) where up-counting is one of the major activities. The problem faced in many of such establishments where precision and accuracy of count are crucial is that the possibility of over count when a counting machine is to be stopped by a human is always there. For instance, if in a manufacturing industry exactly 100 goods are to be conveyed in a place at a time by a machine; and a digital
counter counts the goods up to 100; it will be easy for the operator to stop the machine at exactly 100 if the counting is not fast. However, if the counting is fast, it becomes difficult for the operator to stop the machine at exactly 100. In this case, a programmable device that will automatically send the stop signal to the machine at exactly 100 counts is necessary. This is the reason why this study seeks to design and construct a programmable decade counter that can be used to make a precise count of items, events or people and stop automatically after the preset count. The programmable decade up counter stores the preset number of counts and compares it with the new count. If they are equal, the counter activates the output transducer and automatically stops counting.
i) The inability of humans to stop a fast running counter at a particular count. i) The non auto-stop of a machine at a precise number of items to be produced or allowed (as the case may be) in a production line. iii) The inaccurate count of a preset number of fast moving objects.
timers. Filling stations and the like can incorporate it in their meters. This will prevent undercounts and overcounts and satisfy both seller and buyer. Hotels and industries with multilevel structures (sky scrapers) can also use it in their lifts for precision of the particular floor one is intending to go. Schools can also use it to determine the number of people that should enter a class in a day. When the number is reached, the door closes automatically. Educators will also use it as instructional media. Finally, it will eradicate the problem encountered by human beings in trying to manually stop a fast running counter at a specified count.
2.0 Introduction
This chapter review literatures that are related to the study under the following subheadings: i) Brief history of Counters ii) Details on the programmable digital decade up counter iii) Previous projects on digital decade up-counters
thyratron tubes by vacuum tubes in 1945. Their disadvantage was that of bulkiness and high power consumption. In the late 1950 transistors were discovered and used to replace vacuum tubes. These new developments lead to a reduction in the size and power consumption of digital counters. In the late 1960, IC was introduced and in 1970 Microprocessors became a reality. (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, 2005) The discovery of ICs and Microprocessors lead to the design of different kind of Counter ICs, with a vast list of capabilities leaving the circuit designer with only the task of selecting the particular IC that best suits the need. (Bigelow, 2006)
i) Up-counters, which count by adding a unit to a stored sum and stores the new sum. ii) Down-counters, which subtract a unit from a stored sum and stores the new sum. The Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia (2007) further classifies the two types of counters into binary and binary coded decimal (BCD or Decade) counters. The difference between the two being that: the Decade counter counts in tens rather than having a binary representation. Merging all these definitions together, we can define a digital programmable decade up-counter as an electronic device that counts in base ten from zero up to the preprogrammed count and stops automatically. The Four Digit Programmable Decade Up-Counter has all the stages described above i.e. input, store or memory and display readout as we can see from the block diagram below, in fig2.1.
transistors and ICs. The IC type is more reliable and more stable than the transistor type (Floyd, 1996)
An example of a square wave oscillator using an operational amplifier is shown below in fig 2.2. The capacitor C1 and resistor R1 determine the frequency of oscillation (the switching of the output from low to high),and resistor R determines the charging and discharging of the capacitor.
ii) Light sensor is an electronic device whose electrical characteristics are affected by the presence and intensity of light. A light sensor becomes active or inactive with the presence of light. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia (2005) lists different types of light sensors as photodiodes, phototransistors, light dependant resistors (LDR or photo resistors), light activated silicon controlled rectifiers (LASCR) and phototriacs. However, as pointed out by The Wikipedia free Encyclopedia (2007); the LDR is the most common and cheapest. The LDR combined with an operational amplifier and a light source as shown in fig 2.3 below, is
as appropriate to light the required segments a-g of a 7-segments display. Nave (2007) gives an example of the Interconnection between 74HC48 Display Driver (decoder) and a 7-segment LED display, as shown below:
Fig 2.5 74HC90 Counter, 7-segment LED Display, and its Display Driver 74HC48 2.2.4 The Memory Devices
The memory devices are similar to shift registers. Maddock and Calcutt (1998:265) define register as a group of flip-flops (multivibrators) used to store binary data. They went ahead to note that when the data stored in the register can be shifted from one storage location to another by a control signal, and then the register is referred to as shift register. The Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia (2007) rated the D-type flip-flop as the mostly used for shift registers because of its fewer inputs compared to JK and RS
flip-flops. For instance, it is easy to find 8 D-flip-flops (e.g. 74HCT374) as shown below by Philips Semiconductors than it is obtainable with JK and RS types.
consuming and unnecessarily bulky. Like the former, it makes no provision for presetting the count, as has no input sensor. Danladi B. Idris incorporated a 3digit decade Up-Counter in Rewinding Machine in 2004. His model could count up to 999, had a 3digit display and an Input Sensor. Its limitations are: only 3digit display and no provision for a programmable count hence no auto stop.
Summary
In this chapter related literature to the study were reviewed. The Researcher traced literature on: the history of counters; details of different stages of a programmable decade Up-Counter and three past researches on a decade UpCounters. The major limitation of those researches is their lack of provision for a programmable final count. The Researchers device is expected to overcome this limitation.