THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A FOUR – WAY TRAFFIC LIGHT CONTROL CIRCUIT

THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A FOUR – WAY TRAFFIC LIGHT CONTROL CIRCUIT
 
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUN TO THE STUDY
In the ever fast-growing world of business and technology today, there has become an increasing column of vehicles on every road in different place of the world. Traffic control light has become a very effective tool for sequential control of the teaming number of vehicles on the road to avert what would have been a recurrent saga of ghastly accidents at the junctions. There have been many ways of achieving this, uppermost among these being the employment of electronic monitoring circuits that which is controlled by presto clock. In developed countries, the employment of traffic personnels who would be jumped up and down at the centres of the junction just for the motorists to acknowledge their rigorous signs has long come of age. In developing countries where 24 hours traffic flow is involved, many societies are adopting the usage of the traffic light control. The advantage offered by this method of traffic control cannot be over emphasized. For one, it offers a more advanced technology that is less prone to miscalculation and its regrettable occurrence. They stand out better at night, then offer illumination to the immediate surroundings which become important for security purpose and in general add to there entire aesthetic beauty of night life.
The technology behind the design may vary from place to place, but the fact remains that in all cases an electronic (logic) circuit is made to control a power circuit. The electronic logic circuit is normally composed of the basic digital components of electronic design which includes oscillators, timers, counters, decoders, microprocessors, etcetera, while the power circuit includes the lamps and the drivers circuits. The digital circuit is designed to give an output commensurate to the design choice. The power supply unit is designed to generate a steady supply voltage which is used to power the logic circuit. The output consists of a series of lamps which are expected to light in a particular sequence depending on the design. By the logic circuit design, the lamps are made to come up in a particular sequence depending on the design with each colour meaning different motional status of the vehicles in that column.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Going by the rapid advancement in technology all over the world, the need for better ways of solving a problem keep coming up every day. Necessity is the mother of invention. It has become imperative for societies, companies, industries, business ventures, clubs etc to offer 24 hour service, hence thereby has to be a way of controlling the teaming column of vehicles which convey both individuals and goods to different destinations of that type. The most elegant way of directing the motorists is by the use of traffic light control. This type of control serves a dual purpose. In the day type it directs the vehicles, whereas it turns out to additionally illuminating the environment in the night, so that at very far distance, its effect is noticeably felt, conveying its message to an oncoming vehicle very far from the point.
The project is therefore aimed at building a prototype four-way traffic light control circuitry.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Priority was given to the nature of the junction and how far away they are at different seasons of the year. A lot of design research was carried out on digital logic design and choice of digital families. Data books were consulted to make the most suitable choice of components at the most reasonable cost. After the design, a market survey was conducted and some components used in the design were not obtainable in the market. Hence, alternative components had to be used and the circuit redesigned. The subsequent stage involves physically realizing the design work, constructing and packaging the entire circuitry on the frame. Finally, he work was given a fine finish and tested.