LED flasher using UJT

Working principle of UJT

2. Therefore, the interbase current will therefore be very low, only a few milliamps. This
current establishes a voltage drop across the internal resistance (rB1 and rB2). rB1 and rB2
are the resistances of base1 and base2 respectively.

3. The relative values of the voltage drop in the UJT are dependent on the relative values of
the internal resistances. The ratio of RB1 to (RB1 + RB2) is known as the intrinsic standoff
ratio(η). This value is fixed at manufacture and cannot be altered. Resistance between
the two bases is given by ¿ ¿) and R BB=R B 1+ R B2. So,

R B1 R B1 v 1
η= = =
R B1 + R B2 R BB v BB

4. Intrinsic standoff ratio(η) will fix the value of the voltage at the cathode terminal of the
emitter base junction. This voltage will be Intrinsic standoff ratio(η) times the base-to-
base voltage (VBB). So, VRB1 =  Vbb
5. When the voltage VBB is applied with emitter open. A potential gradient is established
along the n-type silicon bar. As the emitter is located close to the base B2, thus a major
part of VBB appears between the emitter and base B1.

6. The voltage V1 between emitter and B1, establishes a reverse bias on the pn-junction and
the emitter current is cut off, but a small leakage current flow from B2 to emitter due to
minority charge carriers. Thus, the device is said to be in OFF state as shown in figure.

7. When a positive voltage is applied at the emitter terminal, the pn-junction will remain
reverse biased till the input voltage is less than V1. A soon as the input voltage at emitter
exceeds V1, the pn-junction becomes forward biased

8. Under this condition, holes are supplied from p-type region into the n-type bar. These
holes are repelled by positive B2 terminal and attracted towards the B1 terminal. This
increase in the number of holes in the emitter to B1 region results in the decrease of
resistance RB1.

9. Because of this, the internal voltage drop from emitter to B1 region is reduced, thus the
emitter current (IE) increases. Now, the device is said to be in ON state as shown in
figure.

10. Current starts flowing into the emitter only when the bias voltage (Ve) has exceeded the
forward drop of the internal diode (Vd) plus the voltage drop across RB1 (Vrb1).  This
condition can be expressed using the following equation, Ve = Vd + Vrb1. Considering
the intrinsic stand-off ratio, the equation becomes Ve = Vd +ηVbb
11. A typical silicon diode has a forward voltage drop of 0.7V. When this factor is considered,
the equation can be re written as , Ve = 0.7V + ηVbb . This minimum value of the emitter
voltage (Ve) for which the emitter current starts to flow is called the firing voltage or
peak point voltage (Vp) of UJT.

12. The emitter current Ie will be increased to a point that no more increase in conductivity is
possible. This point is called “Valley point”. The emitter current corresponding to valley
point is valley current (Iv) and the corresponding emitter voltage is valley voltage (Vv).
The final equivalent circuit of UJT is shown below.

Operation of Circuit
1. When the supply is first turned on, the current flows through path1 through resistor R2
and eventually flows from base2 to base1. Then, LED glows. Blinking of the LED is
controlled by resistor R1 and capacitor C1.

2. The supply current also passes through path2 through resistor R1, the capacitor C1
charges via the resistor R1. When the capacitor voltage is equal to the peak point
voltage, the emitter conducts.

3. As the emitter conducts, then the emitter of UJT forward biases. So, the emitter to RB1
resistance of the UJT drops drastically and the capacitors starts discharging through
this path (emitter to base1). Then, LED blinks once.
 4. When the capacitor is discharged to the valley point voltage (Vv) the emitter to RB1
resistance climbs again and the capacitor starts charging. This cycle is repeated and
LED blinks at regular intervals.

5. This results in a sort of sawtooth waveform across the capacitor. So, UJT here acts as
relaxation oscillator. The saw tooth waveform across the capacitor of a typical UJT
relaxation oscillator is shown in the figure below.

Factors affecting the working of LED

 Characteristics of C1
Less capacitance capacitor takes less time to charge to the peak voltage. So, LED blinks at
less intervals in lower C1 capacitor. If we use higher capacitance capacitor, it takes more
time to charge to the peak voltage. So, LED takes more time to blink for higher C1 capacitor.

 Characteristics of R1
Altering the value of R1 will change the time taken for the capacitor to charge to the peak
point voltage. Higher resistance resistor reduces more current flow with respect to time
compared to lower resistance resistor. Therefore, capacitor charges fast in lower resistance
circuit. so, capacitor takes less time to charge. So, LED blinks at less intervals in lower R1
circuit. Capacitor takes more time to charge in higher resistance circuit. So, LED takes more
time to blink in higher R1 resistor.

 Characteristics of R2
If there is no R2 resistance then there will be no restriction for the current flow. The current
flows from base2 to base1 without any restriction and the LED glows in maximum
brightness. So, if we increase the resistance R2 value then the brightness of the LED
decreases. So, value of R2 is maintained low for getting good brightness. Resistor R2 is
used to show blinking of LED in better way, as R2 restricts the current flow from base2 to
base1, when emitter current flows from emitter to base1, the blinking is shown in better way
as the brightness is decreased by resistor R2.

References
1. Simple LED Flasher Using 2N2646 UJT Transistor (circuits-diy.com)
2. 10 Simple Unijunction Transistor (UJT) Circuits Explained - Homemade Circuit Projects
(homemade-circuits.com)
3. Unijunction Transistor (UJT) | Construction | Operation | Characteristics | Relaxation Oscillator
(electricalacademia.com)
4. Unijunction Transistor – Construction, Working Principle, and Characteristic Features
(tutorialspoint.com)
5. UJT relaxation oscillator, circuit diagram, UJT theory and working (circuitstoday.com)