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ELEC 120L Foundations of Electrical Engineering Lab Spring 2007 Lab #11: Digital Ten-Minute Timer Introduction Many concepts come together to make possible the fabrication of digital timing and control systems. These include basic circuit theory, the binary number system, Boolean operations, digital logic gates, and Boolean algebra. In this lab exercise, you will use what you have learned about each of these topics to assemble a digital timer capable of counting from zero to 9?minutes and 59 seconds in one-second increments. The timer should also allow the user to stop the count and reset the displayed time to zero. This is a two-week lab. During the first week’s lab session you should complete the assembly of the major subsystems and ensure that they function individually. In the second week you will integrate the subsystems and add extra features. There will be no write-up for this lab exercise, just a demonstration of the functionality of your design. Theoretical Background The three major subsystems that make up the digital timer are the binary counter, the display driver (with display), and the clock circuit (the overall timing reference). There is only one clock circuit, but a counter and a display are needed for each digit in the timer. Three digits are required in order to count from zero to 9:59. Each subsystem will be described below. Binary Counter A binary counter is a circuit, usually encompassed within a single integrated circuit (IC) chip, that produces an n-bit binary number at n output pins and causes that number to increase (increment) or decrease (decrement) in response to each pulse from a clock circuit. That is, the circuit “counts” in binary upward or downward from some starting point. A pin-out diagram of a 74LS163 4-bit binary counter is shown in Figure 1 on the next page. The “74” series of digital logic chips are members of the TTL (transistor-transistor logic) family. Although this is an old technology (by digital standards)