Learning Sequential Logic Design for a Digital Clock

This instructable is for two purposes 1) to understand and learn the fundamentals of sequential logic 2) use that knowledge to create a digital clock.

Digital clocks have been built by countless electronics hobbyists over the world. So why have I chosen to implement that? Well usually clock circuits available on the internet (all circuits I have seen) use the 7490 counter (I have used 7493 but I will show why), microprocessors or Arduino boards. But not all of us have the means to buy microprocessors or Arduino boards (as far as I am concerned they are expensive). I wanted to try a different circuit for the same clock and I also chose it because it requires a lot of counters, and counters are based on sequential logic. When I say digital clock, you should expect something like the one in the picture!

It's my stand that just looking at the circuit diagram and replicating it on a bread-board is not what electronics is about. Almost all digital circuits from traffic lights etc. to even computers are all based on sequential logic (its importance). Therefore, I have included the theory of flip-flops and sequential logic design in hope that it would help the reader to design circuits of their own.

I have done my best to explain sequential logic design between Step 3 to 8. However, if all you want is the clock, then please skip everything from step 3 to step 8. But if you go through those steps you will understand how to work with flip-flops etc. and though it takes a lot of time I can assure that you will be left with a wealth of knowledge.

Since this is a circuit 'of my own', I know that I have to show a novelty factor. Usual clocks based on decade counters have a hour counter from 0 -23. I have only used IC's but still got a 12 hour clock, which I have not seen elsewhere. I have also added a small alarm module. The alarm is again achieved using IC's not by programming boards (which quite frankly is comparatively easy). It is not much but I did whatever extra nicks I could do. The main emphasis however, is learning sequential logic and developing a breadboard based clock using that knowledge.

For your kind attention: I am assuming that you know basic high school level digital logic - the fundamental logic gates and binary numbers.

As said earlier, our clock is a 12 hour clock. So, the clock we want is something like this HH : MM : SS A/P. Now, SS can also be referred as S1 S0 and the same goes for MM.

S0 counts from 0 to 9 and then S1 becomes 1 and S0 counts again. Our seconds count is from 0 - 59. So our S1 counter has to count only from 0-5. S0 counts 0-9. Thus 0 - 59 will be obtained. Now when seconds becomes 60, it is one minute. So everytime SS reaches 60, M0 (minutes) should increase by 1.

M1 and M0 essentially count the same way as seconds. So, a 1 second pulse given to S0 makes it count from 0 - 9. Whenever S0 reaches 10, a pulse (digital parlance - clock signal) has to be generated to make S0 zero again (digital parlance - reset) and S1 one and the process repeats to make S1 two and so on. Thus S1 S0 will count from 0 - 59. Everytime SS reaches 60 a pulse has to be generated to make M0 one and SS 00. For every 60 seconds, SS will go to 59 and back to 0, while MM is incremented. The MM counting is similar to SS but MM receives its clock (triggering pulse) from SS.

Remember MM is also 0 - 59. So similar to how when, SS incremented MM when it turned 0 after 59 (it doesnt become 60), MM also should become 00 incrementing HH by 1. HH is a 1 - 12 counter. So when HH becomes 12, A (AM) is changed to P (PM) and vice-versa. So let's say the time is initially 11:59:59 A. The next second it will become, 12:00:00 P. The day passes and now the time is 11:59:59 P. The next second it will become 12:00:00 A. This repeats for as long as the clock runs.

This is the logic of the circuit. So, we need to design a 0-9 counter for S0 & M0, 0-5 counter for S1 & M1 and 1 - 12 counter for HH. A/P doesn't need a counter, it just needs to alternate between these two states.

The alarm is done using a magnitude comparator. A 8 pin dip switch is used to enter 8 bits of data. Note HH (1 - 12) is 4 bits and M1 (0 - 5) is 3 bits. A/P is 1 bit. So if ABCDEFGH are the 8 pins from left to right, ABCD is entered for hours, EFG is for minutes and H is for A/P (M).

To set an alarm for 06: 30 AM, one needs to enter the binary value of 6 in ABCD (0110), 3 in EFG (011) and 1 (for A) in H. Note our alarm can be set only for 6: 30 or 6: 40 not any value in between. I think I can assume anybody who has enough technical knowledge to construct the clock will be able to enter the binary equivalent of decimals as shown above.

When the clock data is equal to 8 pin dip switch data, the comparator's A=B truth value becomes logic high, which is used to trigger an alarm with another flip-flop. The reset of the flip-flop will enable us to silence the alarm. I guess that's as far as the logic in the circuit goes to. From now it's design and implementation.

To avoid cramping up space, the alarm module is given a separate block diagram. The working of the block diagram is explained in detail here. Parts of this section might seem like the repetition of he logic of the circuit discussed before, but bear with me.

A 1 Hz (signal at every 1 second interval) square wave from an astable multivibrator is applied as clock signal to the S0 counter which counts from 0 to 9 after every second. After 9, the values reset back to 0. Whenever S0 (4 bits) becomes 0000, a clock signal has to be generated. This clock signal is applied to S1 counter which counts from 0 to 5. After it reaches 5 and S0 becomes 9, the next pulse will make both S1 & S0 zero.

When S1 (3 bits) becomes 000, a clock is generated and applied onto M0. This is extended to M1 just like S1. And similar to S1 when M1 (also 3 bits) becomes 000, a clock pulse is applied to HH. HH is a 4 bit counter counting from 1 - 12. Here everytime HH becomes 12, a clock pulse if used to toggle A to P or P to A.

Each S0, S1, M0 & M1 counter's data is converted to 7 segment display format and applied to a 7 segment display. HH requires a Binary to BCD (Binary Coded Decimals) converter. So, the 7 segment displays show the time as it is stored in the flip-flops.

The alarm module uses an 8 bit comparator to accept the use defined time. As explained earlier, the first 4 bits are dedicated to HH, the next 3 bits are M1 and the last bit is to accept A/P. This 8 bit data is denoted A. The input from the dip switch is given to the comparator. The corresponding bits of data are also applied from the flip-flops. The loic is that whn the time as counted b te flip-lops is the same as that of the dip switch, the comparator's A=B will become 1. This is used to toggle another lip-flop (its dedicated to this function alone) which is connected to the alarm. So, when A = B, the alarm sounds and it keeps sounding until the flip-flop is manually reset to 0.

Some of you might think, we can set the alarm only for times like 4: 30, 4:40 and during these times the A = B will be '1' for 10 minutes. For example, if we set te alarm for 4: 30 PM, then the comparator output A = B will be 1 for 4:30 PM to 4: 39 PM because only M1 values are compared and M1 values are same.

So A = B is 1 for 10 minutes. Is that a problem? It isn't because most flip-fops currently employed are edge triggered. What is edge triggering? To understand that, we have to understand flip-flops.

At a point of time in digital electronics, it was realized that you needed to remember past values to calculate new ones. For example, take our very own counters. You need to know what the previous number was, so that you can count to the next one. Only if you knew the previous number is 2 you can say the next number is 3 right?

By definition, a circuit whose present output depends on present input and past output is called a sequential circuit. Counters are sequential circuits. So a way had to be found to remember the previous state. This led to the development of a latch. A latch is a simple circuit that “latches on” or stores 1 or 0.

I have uploaded the .pdf file of the basics of flip flops, what they are and what do they do? I had to upload it for formatting issues. After reading through the document, continue with the next step. Remember, you can't design circuits using flip flops, if you don't know and understand their basics.

Simple Boolean expressions like A+B or A . B' are all called combinational logic. Combinational logic when combined with memory is called sequential logic. Because it allows combinations to be made in sequences or recurring patterns.

Sequential logic design is quite simple if combination logic design is known - Karnaugh or K- Map reduction (generally Quine-Mculskey method is not used since that level of complexity is hardly used by hobbyists).

So we will look into how K map simplification is done. For sake of explanation, let us consider 3 bits A, B, C. The output Q is high for few arbitrary values of A, B, C. Now from this, we have to form the Boolean expression (fancy term for digital expression) for C in terms of A,B, C. That's the purpose of a Karnaugh map or simply K-Maps.

Fair warning: It is almost impossible to understand K- Maps at first, but the more and more you see it again and again it becomes very easy. When I saw it for the first time it was ghastly, now it's a pass time like bingo!

It is really tough to just talk about K maps and sequential logic design, so I have uploaded three hand written pages. Do read through it. I have done my best to compress the content into 3 pages, of what an entire book can be written about!

I have also uploaded the .pdf file of the Pin configurations of the IC's we will use to implement our design and also our timer circuit. Use that as a reference or you can always search for pin configurations on the internet. I found this site useful: http://www.physics.mcmaster.ca/PHYS4DB3/Lab/Devic...

NOTE: The next four steps (including this one) are to gain knowledge of working and designing logic with flip-flops. These steps are not required for the clock's final implementation. But these steps will show you why we use IC 7493.

For the sequential logic refer to the scanned file. Our objective is to now construct the counter.

Components Required:

IC 7474: 2 Nos.

IC 7411: 1 No.

IC 7408: 1 No.

IC 7432: 1 No.

IC 7447: 1 No.

IC 555: 1 No.

Capacitors: 1000 uF and 0.01 uF (1 each)

Resistors: 470 ohms (1), 500 ohms (1) and 330 ohms (7)

Common Anode 7 segment Display: 1 No.

Breadboard and Power supply

Obviously we need 4 D flip - flops (for the 4 bits). The best choice is to use IC 7474. Each IC has 2 flip flops. So we will need a total of 2 IC 7474 chips.

If you notice the pin diagram (the pdf in Step 4), you will see 1D, 2D etc. It simply means is 1D is the D terminal of the first flip-flop in the IC and 2D is the second. And the same applies for clock, clear etc.

From the design we also can know that we need three - 3 input AND gates. IC 7411 is a 3 input AND gate and each IC has three AND gates. So we will need 1 IC 7411.

We need four - 2 input AND gates. For this we will use IC 7408. Each IC has four AND gates, so we will need only 1 IC 7408.

We also need three 2 input OR gates. For this we will use IC 7432. Again this IC has four OR gates, we need only three but anyway we will use 1 IC 7432.

And yes, we want to see the output so a 7 segment display (I used common anode 7 segment display with IC 7447).

Construction:

There is not much of instructions I can give for the connections. Just use a breadboard and connect the Vcc and ground to all the IC's first. It is better to keep the IC 7447 and the display on a separate adjoining board.

I have uploaded the pin configurations of all the IC's and the display that are used in the counter. Use that as reference and just follow the designed logic.

First connect the clock signal from a 555 Astable multivibrator (a clock with a slow enough frequency to observe changes, we will worry about accuracy later). This is really a common circuit so I am not gonna discuss that but use the uploaded schematic. Connect the clock to the 4 flip flops (this is a synchronous circuit). Then start with D0 and do the combinational logic for D1, D2 and D3 one by one.

We are not using PRESET and CLEAR for this circuit, so you can either leave them open (without connections) or connect it to Vcc. I prefer the former option - just leave it.

In the 7447 pin configuration, you will find DCBA as the inputs. Q3 is D, Q2 is C, Q1 is B and Q0 is A. Connect a, b, c, d, e, f, g of the IC 7447 to the corresponding pins of the 7 segment display as in the pin diagram through a current limiting resistor of 330 ohms. Since we use a common anode display, connect the common terminal (COM in pin diagram) to Vcc.

Remember, the Q of the flip flop you designate D0 is Q0. And in the same way, Q of D1 is Q1, Q of D2 is Q2 and Q of D3 is Q3. You interchange any, the circuit will not work. Strictly adhere to the pin configurations.

You must now achieve the counter, if it does not work look for short circuits, loose contacts or wrong connections. I am sorry I can't be of anymore use now.

This is quite similar to the 0-9 circuit except that the design changes and the circuit as such is comparatively smaller and requires less wires. Check the design in the scanned file.

Components:

IC 7474: 2 Nos.

IC 7411: 1 No.

IC 7408: 1 No.

IC 7432: 1 No.

IC 7447: 1 No.

IC 555: 1 No.

Capacitors: 1000 uF and 0.01 uF (1 each)

Resistors: 470 ohms (1), 500 ohms (1) and 330 ohms (7)

Common anode 7 segment display: 1 No.

Breadboard and Power supply

Here we need only 3 D flip Flops for the 3 bits, but we will have to use two IC 7474 anyway.

We also need 1 IC 7411 (for the one 3 input AND operation), 1 IC 7408 (for the three 2 input AND operations) and 1 IC 7432 (for the two 2 input OR operation). In practical terms gates and operations can be used interchangeably, as in 2 input AND gate is almost same as saying 2 input AND operation in practical terms.

The IC 7447 and the 7 segment display usage is the same as the previous case. In this case while connecting IC 7447, we use only 3 bits so only C for Q2, B for Q1 and A for Q0. Connect D terminal to the ground (don't leave it open).

Construction:

Pretty much the rest of the circuit is the same and off the 4 Flip flops in the 2 IC 7474's, we will only use three of them so don't bother about the fourth 4th. Just leave that unconnected. And for the other terminals like PRESET and CLEAR - I suggest leave them too.

We need a clock again for the circuit and pretty much do the connections just like said before. First the Vcc and Ground and then the clock to the flip flops. Then the combinational logic for D0, D1 and D2.

As said before, Q of the flip flop you designate D0 is Q0. And in the same way, Q of D1 is Q1 and Q of D2 is Q2. Don't mix it up!

I have done this circuit in an asynchronous way. The two counters we saw till now work in an synchronous way. Read through the first scanned file where I have explained the difference.

Hoping that you have read it, now you will remember that I said connect the 555 timer output to all the clock terminals of the flip flops used in the 0-9 and 0-5 D flip counter. That is what makes them synchronous counters or in general synchronous circuits.

The same 0 - 9 and 0 - 5 counter can also be done in an asynchronous way which is what the next two counters will be about.

It is again an instance where it is not possible for me to explain the circuit by typing, so look into the second scanned file.

Components:

IC 7476: 2 Nos.

IC 7420: 1 No.

IC 7447: 1 No.

IC 555: 1 No.

Capacitors: 1000 uF and 0.01 uF (1 each)

Resistors: 470 ohms (1), 500 ohms (1) and 330 ohms (7)

Common Anode 7 segment Display: 1 No.

Breadboard & Power supply

As seen from the circuit diagram, we will need 4 T flip flops. As such there is no commercial T flip flop IC. So use a JK flip flop - IC 7476 and short circuit or connect J and K terminals. That connected J and K terminals will be our T terminal.

We will need one 4 input NAND gate for which we will use a IC 7420. This NAND gate's output is connected to the CLEAR of all the 4 T flip flops.

Construction:

Again you will see terminals like 1K, 2K etc. Connect 1K to 1J and that will be 1T or the T terminal of the first flip flop in the IC. 2J and 2K for 2T.

The display part of the circuit remains the same with Q3 being D, Q2 being C, Q1 being B and Q0 being A for the inputs of IC 7447. The 7 segment connections from IC 7447 also don't change.

Be careful while connecting the clock. We still need a 555 timer, but the timer's output is connected to only the first flip flop (or the flip flop whose output is Q0). Then just follow the connections as in the second scanned file.

As you can see this counter uses very less wires. The working of such asynchronous counters is discussed in the 0 - 5 counter (for issues of space).

This circuit as well doesn't change much from the 0-9 counter. For the circuit refer the scanned file.

Components:

IC 7476: 2 Nos.

IC 7410: 1 No.

IC 7447: 1 No.

IC 555: 1 No.

Common Anode 7 segment display: 1 No.

Capacitors: 1000 uF and 0.01 uF (1 each)

Resistors: 470 ohms (1), 500 ohms (1) and 330 ohms (7)

Breadboard & Power supply

As before, we need three bits or only 3 T flip flops but anyways we have to use 2 IC 7476. And the J and K have to be connected and they are together the T terminal.

Since this circuit requires only 3 bits, we need only a 3 input NAND gate. So we use IC 7410.

Construction:

Connect 'T' to Vcc and connect Q to the next stage clock as seen in the schematic.

The output of the 3 input NAND gate is connected to the CLEAR terminals of the three connected flip flops.

We use a 555 timer again connected only to the first flip flop. Then it's asynchronous connections.

Towards the display side, Q2 is C, Q1 is B and Q0 is A and D is grounded since we require only 3 bits. The rest of the display connections are the same.

The working of such asynchronous counters is also explained in the scanned file. It is important to note that no matter how many T flip flops you connect in such an asynchronous way. The working does not vary.

So, it's simpler to use Asynchronous circuits for counters because they use less connections and very little combinational logic. So, why are synchronous circuits important and why were excitation tables discussed? Well asynchronous are simple but they lack variety, meaning you could use them only as up or down counters that count 'consecutive' numbers. Up counters are ascending; Down counters are descending. All clocks use only up-counters otherwise time would run backwards!

The word consecutive there is very important. An asynchronous circuit, counts 6 then 7 and so on (up counter) or it counts 6 then 5 and so on (down counter). But what if I wanted to count only even number or odd numbers? There, you have no choice but to use synchronous circuits and excitation tables. Using synchronous circuits any random sequence can be done like from 1 to 5 then to 2 and then to 9 or whatever single loop sequence. So the choice between asynchronous or synchronous circuits depends solely on your purpose.

For non- consecutive sequences, you have to go with synchronous circuits but for purposes like clocks where the counting sequence is consecutive, it is better to go with asynchronous circuits because they are simpler to construct.

So, it's decided that we will use asynchronous logic for our clock. But even asynchronous logic requires 3 or 4 IC's for each counter. Since we require multiple counters, what do we do for not cramping space? We use IC 7493.

Take a look at the IC 7493 architecture. If you connect Qa to input B, we get our 4 bit T flip-flop (all J & K are internally connected to Vcc) asynchronous counter.

For a 0 - 9 counter, 1010 (10) should be used as the reset trigger. So Qd and Qb are connected to R0(1) and R0(2) respectively and we have our 0 - 9 counter.

R0(1) and R0(2) are internally connected to a NAND gate which is connected to the CLEAR of all the 4 flip flops. It has the 4 T flip flops and the NAND gate built-in. Input A is given the external clock connection from a 555 astable multivibrator. Qa is connected to Input B to complete the asynchronous connection.

If you use IC 7493, there are only few connections necessary. External clock input from a 555 timer etc. to Input A (Terminal 14). Qa (terminal 12) connected to Input B (terminal 1). Qd, Qc, Qb, Qa of IC 7493 are given as inputs DCBA of the IC 7447 and the rest of the display connections are the same with the current limiting resistors. The required resetting connections (which differ for 0-5 counter and 0 -9 counter) have to be made.

For a 0 - 5 counter, we use 0110 (6) as the reset trigger. So again Qa is connected to input B to get our 4 bit asynchronous counter. Now Qb and Qc are connected to R0(1) and R0(2) respectively and we have our 0 - 5 counter. These circuits are pretty straight forward if you just refer the pin diagram.

Its for simplicity and restricted space that we use these 7493 counters for M1, M0, S1 and S0. Generally a problem can have different solutions. For example, the same 0 - 9 counter can be done in several ways but we chose the most optimum of solutions which is the IC 7493 based counter.

As said in the intro, this instructable is not only to tell you the steps needed but also to tell you why they are needed. If you covered all the steps, you would understand this by now.

This is the toughest counter of the lot, so the explanation is going to be a little stretched.

We can't use IC 7493 for this counter too. We can't use it for a 1 - 12 counter because the NAND gate output is connected to all the CLEARS only not the PRESET. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, there is no other IC counter that has PRESET functions.

So we have to build this counter from basic flip-flops. This is where the knowledge of sequential logic we discussed from Step 3 to Step 8 comes handy.

We could have a simple 1 - 12 counter made from 4 flip flops and use a Binary to BCD converter and use that for the displays. It must be remembered that the displays can only display numbers from 0 - 9. So directly applying 10, 11 & 12 binary values will give an undesirable output. So we have to use a Binary to BCD converter or IC 74185. That was the plan initially if you refer the block diagram shown earlier.

It so happens that IC 74185 is not available in the market (if you get one you are lucky then use the schematic in the first scanned file), so we can't simply make a 1 - 12 counter. We have to find another way around it.

Since I was hell bent on getting a 1 - 12 counter for my hours (maybe that's why most other clocks have 0 - 23 counters, it's easy), I did find a solution. The trick was to use to 4 T flip flops along with 1 D Flip Flop. The 4 T flips flops are connected to the first display (the right hand side one) and the one D flip flop is connected to the other (left hand side).

The 4 T Flip Flop's are connected to work as a 0 - 9 counter as in Step 7. The number 10 (1010) is used as the reset trigger, so Q3 & Q1 are connected to a NAND gate whose output clears all the T flip flops and PRESET the D flip flop to 1. So the total output now is 1 0. Then the T flip flops count again from 0 to 1 and then 2 corresponding total outputs would be 10, 11 & 12. Now 3 (0011) is the required reset trigger but the Q of the D flip flop is also used. The Q of the D flip flop and Q1 & Q0 of the 4 bit T flip flop counter is connected to a 3 input NAND gate. The output of that 3 input NAND gate is given to the clears of all flip flops except Q0. The T flip flop corresponding to Q0 is presetted to 1. So we get 0 1 as the total output. Thus we get the 1 - 12 counter.

This is theoretically, practically when I had outputs from two NAND gates connected to the Clears of the flip flop in parallel, it so happens that the clearing function is over-written and we get a free running counter. This is because when one NAND output is 0 (let's say its 0 because the T flip flop counter is reading 1010 and has to clear), the other NAND output is 1 (when output is 9 remember the D flip flop Q is 0, so that NAND output is 1). So, the 0 from the first NAND that should have cleared the counter back to 0 doesn't clear anything because of the 1 connected in parallel. To overcome this the two NAND outputs are connected to an AND gate whose output is given to the clears and preset. So, when one NAND gate is 1 and the other 0, the output is 0 which triggers the change but for most cases both outputs will be 1 and AND output is also 1. (The two NAND outputs can never both be 0 because 10 is not equal to 13)

It's really difficult to write in words, what took me 7 hours of correcting error after error for the final output. I hope you find the logic diagrams in the second scanned file useful.

Components:

IC 7476: 2 Nos.

IC 7474: 1 No.

IC 7410: 1 No.

IC 7408: 1 No.

IC 7447: 2 Nos.

Common Anode 7 segment display: 2 Nos.

IC 555: 1 No.

Capacitors: 1000 uF and 0.01 uF (1 each)

Resistors: 470 ohms (1), 500 ohms (1) and 330 ohms (13)

The components would be two 7476 IC from which the 4 T flip flops are obtained. 1 D flip flop 7474 (If you notice, the D flip flop output is either 0 or 1 alternatively, so yes you can alternatively use another T flip flop too). You will also need a 3 input NAND gate IC 7410 and an AND gate IC 7408.

Construction:

First do the 4 bit T flip flop counter as seen in Step 7.

See if it works, then use a 3 input NAND gate with 1 input connected to Vcc and the other two being Q3 and Q1 of the T flip flop counter.

Take that NAND output to the input of an AND gate (terminal 1) and also the preset in the D flip flop. Remember each AND IC 7408 has 4 AND gates.

Thus when T flip flop counter goes to 1010, D flip flop will toggle to 1 while the 4 T flip flops clear to 0.

The Q of the D flip flop is connected to the input of another NAND gate. Q1 & Q0 are also connected to the same NAND gate. Its output is given to the AND gate (terminal 2) and also the CLEAR of the D flip flop.

The output of the AND gate (terminal 3) is connected to the CLEAR of Q3 & Q1.

Leave the Clear and Preset of Q2 & Q0 untouched, you will still get the required output.

This will explain why. The first clearing occurs when the T flip flop count is 1010 (10), so if Q3 & Q1 are cleared we get, 0000 which is what we want. The second clearing occurs when the T flip flop counter is 0011 (ofcouse D's Q is 1 too but that's irrelevant), so again if we clear just Q3 & Q1, the output is 0001, which is again what we want! So, you can leave Q2 & Q0 untouched.

This is one of those few times when you design circuits, that you will find the circuit helps simplify itself!

Many a times when we design a circuit, we might not get the components required or they might be too costly like the IC 74185. In such cases, you can always create an ingenious design which works with what is available but still gives the results you want. This counter is an example of that.

This is not exactly a counter, but it's the easiest of all the modules.

Components:

IC 7474: 1 No.

IC 555: 1 No.

Common Anode 7 segment display: 1 No.

Capacitors: 1000 uF and 0.01 uF (1 each)

Resistors: 470 ohms (1), 500 ohms (1) and 330 ohms (6)

Breadboard & Power supply

Construction:

For the A / P display corresponding to the AM / PM, the segment display is directly connected without any IC 7447. If you look at the pin configuration of the 7 segment display, you will notice that whether it is A or P segments a, b, f, g and e are always ON. So it is directly connected to the ground with a current limiting resistor of 330 ohms.

The difference between A and P, is in whether the segment 'c' glows or not. If 'c' segment glows, it displays A or else it's just P. Segment 'd' is not used in both cases, so it is left without connections.

The segment 'c' is controlled by the output Q of a T flip flop. If Q is high or '1', it makes the segment 'c' glow which displays A. If Q is low or '0', it makes the segment 'c' dull which displays P.

Even the c segment connection from the flip flop is also through a current limiting resistor. A current limiting resistor of either 220 ohms or 330 ohms is essential or you will burn out your 7 segment display.

The required flip flop is an IC 7474, with D connected to Q' to be operated in toggle mode (alternates between 1 and 0 for every clock pulse, again a T flip flop can also be used). The clock signal is obtained from a 555 timer for this implementation. So Q toggles between 1 and 0 back and forth, correspondingly displaying A and P. Thus the A / P display is obtained.

Since it's a common anode display (Led glows when grounded or terminal voltage is low) practically it's the reverse - Q = 1 displays P and 0 displays A. To overcome this confusion in the final implementation I have connected Q' to the display terminal. For fact, in our circuit P is 0 and A is 1.

NOTE: The following simulation is not "Digital Clock using Arduino". The simulations are for each and every counter expressed in the diagram. This is just for visualization of the outputs and therefore Arduino hardware instructions are not given. The program can however be seen through the simulation for understanding our counters.

So, the counters and corresponding 7 segment displays expressed in the block diagram is simulated. It is important to note that the Arduino program doesn't exactly do what all the IC's do together, instead the program simulates just the outputs of the IC 7447 (which change according to the flip flops and counters) alone and displays them.

Generating you own simulation is quite straight forward using the 123D Circuits application.

We need 7 outputs for our 7 segment display. Use the numbered outputs on the board.

Connect each numbered terminal on the board to the a unique terminal of the 7 segment display (preferably in an orderly way 2 to 'a', 3 to 'b' and so on like what I have done), just like what we did on our breadboards. The outputs on the board are the analogues of IC 7447 outputs a - g.

Again don't forget the current limiting resistor of 330 ohms. You will also have to connect the common terminal in the display to the board's GND terminal (indicating this display is Common cathode).

After that, there's not really any other work, its just programming the outputs at each terminal separately. Once you look at the program, you will understand how to simulate any other counter (maybe the even number counter we designed earlier!).

M0/ S0 counters:

This is a counter that counts from 0 -9. S0 is similar to M0, the only difference being the delay or the clock signal. The simulation is shown in common.

M1/ S1 counters:

This counter counts from 0 - 5. S1 is also similar to M1 again the only difference being the delay or the clock signal. The simulation is shown in common.

HH counters:

This counter counts from 1 - 12. It actually increments once every hour but the simulation is programmed for seconds.

A/ P (M):

This is technically not a counter. It just toggles between two states A and P.

The whole clock can also be simulated. I am really not sure whether the simulation below works because I could not compile it. I don't think my connection is fast enough to do that but all the components in the simulation below are separately compiled as shown above.

The clock simulation/ block diagram does not include the alarm module to not over crowd things. But the alarm logic as explained before is included in the breadboard implementation.

The most important thing to know is, when dealing with digital circuits Vcc almost always means 5V. I have not uploaded any schematic here. Refer the steps for each stage.

Components:

IC 7493: 4 Nos.

IC 7400: 1 No.

IC 7408: 1 No.

IC 7410: 1 No.

IC 7474: 2 Nos.

IC 7476: 2 Nos.

IC 74682: 1 No.

IC 7447: 6 Nos.

IC 555: 1 No.

Common Anode 7 segment display: 7 Nos.

Capacitor: 1000 uF, 0.01 uF (1 each)

Resistor: 470 ohms (1), 500 ohms (1), 330 ohms (48)

8 pin DIP switch: 1 No.

Buzzer: 1 No.

Breadboards & Power supply

Construction:

The best way to implement the circuit is to first start from one end (right to left) and do one circuit at a time. First complete the 0 - 9 counter using 7493 with a 1 Hz square wave as clock from a 555 timer as in step 9.

Once that counter works, connect the reset terminals of 7493 (terminals 2 and 3) to the two inputs of a NAND gate (7400 will do). The output of that NAND gate is the clock for the next stage.

Then do a 0 - 5 counter using 7493. Everything remains the same, the display etc. The reset terminals are given Qc and Qa connections.

Again these two reset terminals are connected to a NAND gate whose output is the next stage clock.

Repeat this for another 0 - 9 counter and then a 0 - 5 counter.

Then construct the 1 - 12 counter, use another 555 timer done on a separate breadboard as clock for testing this 1 - 12 counter.

Once you have checked that it works then the NAND gate output, to which the last (minutes - M1) 0 - 5 counter's resets are connected, is given as clock signal to the 1 - 12 counter.

Then use an AND gate to which the D flip flop's Q and the T Flip Flop's Q1 of the 1 - 12 counter are connected as inputs. Connect this AND gate's output to the clock of another D flip flop operated in toggle mode (Q' is connected to D).

This D flip flop Q' is connected to the 'c' terminal of the segment common anode display (all the other 6 common anode displays are interfaced with IC 7447, this one is not as in step 11). Terminals 'a', 'b', 'e', 'f' and 'g' are connected to ground while the common is given to Vcc. Don't forget the current limiting resistor of 330 ohms for each a, b, c, e, f, g terminals used in the display.

Alarm module:

Then place the Dip switch, short-circuit all 8 connections on the OFF side (lower array of the DIP) and connect that to Vcc.

Connect 8 individual wires to the ON side array and connect it numbered from 1 to 8 to Q terminals of IC 74682 (8 bit magnitude comparator) from Q0 to Q7 (Refer the pin diagram uploaded).

Here's where we have to do a little sacrifice, we can only use the 4 bits of the T - Flip flops in the 1 - 12 counter. 3 more bits from the 0 - 5 counter of the minutes and 1 bit for A/P.

So Q3, Q2, Q1 and Q0 of the T flip- flops are connected to P0, P1, P2, P3 respectively. Qc, Qb, Qa of the 0 - 5 counter in minutes is connected to P4, P5, P6 respectively. The A/P D flip-flop's Q is connected to P7.

The P=Q terminal of the IC is connected to the clock of another D flip- flop which is also in toggle mode (D is connected to Q').

Q' is connected to the CLEAR of the flip flop through a TACT switch which acts as the snooze button. The Q of the flip flop is connected to a buzzer.

If you are using power supplies with a 5 V output most probably it won't be enough to energise such a huge circuit. So you'll have to connect another 5V power source in parallel. I have used the 12 - 0 output of my supply with a 7805 and connected them in parallel to increase the current supplied at 5V (connection in series increases voltage and IC's will get screwed!). See how the circuit works when the 12 - 0 supply is disconnected.

The alarm works as follows. Assume D flip flop's Q is 0 initially. When the input value matches that of the corresponding clock value, the P=Q value changes from low to high. This positive edge triggers the D flip flop to toggle. Thus Q becomes 1 and Q' becomes 0. The buzzer connected to Q starts sounding and the alarm works.

Now there is a snooze button or the TACT switch connecting Q' to CLEAR. Since Q' is 0, when the TACT switch is pressed, CLEAR input becomes 0 and thus the D flip flop clears making Q = 0. When Q becomes low, the buzzer doesn't sound and the alarm is silenced. Thus we get our basic alarm.

Compiling everything we get this (forgive me for my bad video editing skills):

If you notice we can only set the alarm for 01 - 09 (minutes and A/P is still flexible) because we connected only the T flip flops. We didn't have enough bits for the D flip flop. Although its easier to add a switch , but we have only a 8 bit comparator. The problem was that our initial design was a 4 bit 1 - 12 counter. The four bits will be used directly in the comparator and the same 4 bits will be used with a binary to BCD converter to produce the required 5 bits (1 + 4) for the two displays.

The fact that a binary to BCD converter IC 74185, is not available in the market (and the boolean implementation is as big as almost half the clock) forced us to change our design, in creating the 5 bits directly. Therefore handicapping the alarm module.

I am still figuring out ways to work it out using individual AND gates etc. But it increases the number of ICs on board and if you look at the board, there's simply no more space.

Another area to improve is power. The power consumption of this clock is enormous. After doing the math, I was surprised that the adding all power dissipations (IC's, resistors, displays etc.) gave me a sum of nearly 5 W.

The circuit is still not ready to be implemented into a PCB. There are still functional and power issues to be addressed which is the whole concept of sequential logic 'design'.

I will do another instructable, satisfying all these requirements on a PCB and I will also discuss JK flip flops (I left it here) to go with it. But when we remember that our objective was to learn sequential logic and thus implement a digital clock, I think this circuit worked to its promise.

Constructing a circuit that has 19 IC's and 2 meters of wire for the connections is not an easy task. I hope that I have given enough info in this instructable for others to also do it. After all, for an electronics enthusiast it's bragging rights, if I must say so!

The trick is to work each individual counter and practice it like what is shown in the steps. Then, assembling it all into one clock is much easier.

I hope I have also added on to your knowledge of sequential logic design. I did the best I could and do tell me where the info can be presented better or is inconsistent with facts. I am open to comments and suggestions.

Best of luck for your own sequential circuits!

Acknowledgements:

I always thank my parents and teachers. I have to thank the Department of Electronics, Chennai Institute of Technology for providing me the most important resource of all - time. But there are two people I have to thank especially for this work. Mr. Balaji, who graciously provided me the RPS seen in the videos immediately after I blew my first one and didn't even accept money. I have to also thank Mrs. Archana (a student of my father), who got me the components I have used in the circuits.