Therory of operation
The frequency counter has to count the number of cycles per second of an incoming signal. Hence we need a device to count. In electronics circuits, counter ICs are available for counting. These IC's can count the input pulses. The count is given as coded output from the IC (in binary form or BCD form). The count must be converted into decimal digit to be understood by human beings. More number of IC's can be cascaded to increase the number of digits. The number of digits required for the counter to display the count value depends on the application and the accuracy needed. In our design we use a single 4 bit BCD high-speed CMOS counter chips. One chip is used for one digits and we use 7 similar ICs to get seven digit counter. Also we use CMOS decoder IC to decode the BCD out put of the counter to drive 7 segment displays.
Since the counter can count only digital pulses, we need to convert the incoming signal wave to digital pulse or we should obtain one pulse for every input wave. Hence we need a special circuit to shape the input wave into a square wave of same frequency and amplitude confined to the TTL signal levels. A signal conditioning section is needed for this purpose.
The input Signal-conditioning section consists of the following stages.
Amplifier or attenuation stage
TTL level converter stage
Besides the above initial stages, some times a few more additional stages such as input protection stages, filter stages, etc are can be found in some designs. The input whose frequency is to measured is given to the input stage consisting of the above and the out put of this stage is the square pulses. Now the square pulses are given to the counter to count the number of pulses for a fixed duration. If the duration is 1 seconds, then the counter displays a value that equals to the number of cycles per second, now if we want to measure a frequency of say 20MHz, the counter should display 20000000. this means the counter should have 8 digits to display. Now the resolution of the counter ( minimum change of frequency that can be displayed ) is 1Hz. If we do not require that much of resolution, we can reduce the number of digits. For example, if we are counting the input cycles for a duration of 0.1 seconds, the display shows 2000000. Now if we put a decimal points after two digits from the left of the display, the frequency can be read in MHz, in both cases, the resolution for the later being 10Hz. The time for which the counter is counting is called as gating time and if the gating is say 1 milli second, we get a display with resolution of 1kHz. A frequency counter must always count the input frequency and display frequency. This means there should be an arrangement to count the input for a fixed time, display the reading. While displaying the reading, the counter should clear again to read input again. Then only we get a continuous reading that displays the correct frequency at all times. A control circuit is needed to achieve this. The function of the control circuit to generate the following signals.