Experiment No.

Aim: study of different switches.

Theory:

The most familiar form of switch is a manually operated electromechanical device

with one or more sets of electrical contacts, which are connected to external
circuits. Each set of contacts can be in one of two states: either "closed" meaning
the contacts are touching and electricity can flow between them, or "open",
meaning the contacts are separated and the switch is nonconducting. The
mechanism actuating the transition between these two states (open or closed) can
be either a "toggle" (flip switch for continuous "on" or "off") or "momentary"
(push-for "on" or push-for "off") type.

A switch may be directly manipulated by a human as a control signal to a system,

such as a computer keyboard button, or to control power flow in a circuit, such as a
light switch. Automatically operated switches can be used to control the motions of
machines, for example, to indicate that a garage door has reached its full open
position or that a machine tool is in a position to accept another workpiece.
Switches may be operated by process variables such as pressure, temperature,
flow, current, voltage, and force, acting as sensors in a process and used to
automatically control a system. For example, a thermostat is a temperature-
operated switch used to control a heating process. A switch that is operated by
another electrical circuit is called a relay. Large switches may be remotely operated
by a motor drive mechanism. Some switches are used to isolate electric power
from a system, providing a visible point of isolation that can be padlocked if
necessary to prevent accidental operation of a machine during maintenance, or to
prevent electric shock.

An ideal switch would have no voltage drop when closed, and would have no
limits on voltage or current rating. It would have zero rise time and fall time during
state changes, and would change state without "bouncing" between on and off
positions.
Practical switches fall short of this ideal; they have resistance, limits on the current
and voltage they can handle, finite switching time, etc. The ideal switch is often
used in circuit analysis as it greatly simplifies the system of equations to be solved,
but this can lead to a less accurate solution. Theoretical treatment of the effects of
non-ideal properties is required in the design of large networks of switches, as for
example used in telephone exchanges.

Toggle Switch

Toggle switches are actuated by a lever angled in one of two or more positions.
The common light switch used in household wiring is an example of a toggle
switch. Most toggle switches will come to rest in any of their lever positions, while
others have an internal spring mechanism returning the lever to a certain normal
position, allowing for what is called "momentary" operation.

Pushbutton switches

Pushbutton switches are two-position devices actuated with a button that is pressed
and released. Most pushbutton switches have an internal spring mechanism
returning the button to its "out," or "unpressed," position, for momentary operation.
Some pushbutton switches will latch alternately on or off with every push of the
button. Other pushbutton switches will stay in their "in," or "pressed," position
until the button is pulled back out. This last type of pushbutton switches usually
have a mushroom-shaped button for easy push-pull action.

Selector switches

Selector switches are actuated with a rotary knob or lever of some sort to select one
of two or more positions. Like the toggle switch, selector switches can either rest
in any of their positions or contain spring-return mechanisms for momentary
operation.
joystick switch

A joystick switch is actuated by a lever free to move in more than one axis of
motion. One or more of several switch contact mechanisms are actuated depending
on which way the lever is pushed, and sometimes by how far it is pushed. The
circle-and-dot notation on the switch symbol represents the direction of joystick
lever motion required to actuate the contact. Joystick hand switches are commonly
used for crane and robot control.

Some switches are specifically designed to be operated by the motion of a machine

rather than by the hand of a human operator. These motion-operated switches are
commonly called limit switches, because they are often used to limit the motion of
a machine by turning off the actuating power to a component if it moves too far.
As with hand switches, limit switches come in several varieties:

Pressure Switch

Gas or liquid pressure can be used to actuate a switch mechanism if that pressure is
applied to a piston, diaphragm, or bellows, which converts pressure to mechanical
force.

Liquid level switch

A floating object can be used to actuate a switch mechanism when the liquid level
in an tank rises past a certain point. If the liquid is electrically conductive, the
liquid itself can be used as a conductor to bridge between two metal probes
inserted into the tank at the required depth. The conductivity technique is usually
implemented with a special design of relay triggered by a small amount of current
through the conductive liquid. In most cases it is impractical and dangerous to
switch the full load current of the circuit through a liquid.

Level switches can also be designed to detect the level of solid materials such as
wood chips, grain, coal, or animal feed in a storage silo, bin, or hopper. A common
design for this application is a small paddle wheel, inserted into the bin at the
desired height, which is slowly turned by a small electric motor. When the solid
material fills the bin to that height, the material prevents the paddle wheel from
turning. The torque response of the small motor than trips the switch mechanism.
Another design uses a "tuning fork" shaped metal prong, inserted into the bin from
the outside at the desired height. The fork is vibrated at its resonant frequency by
an electronic circuit and magnet/electromagnet coil assembly. When the bin fills to
that height, the solid material dampens the vibration of the fork, the change in
vibration amplitude and/or frequency detected by the electronic circuit

SPDT

A Single Pole Double Throw toggle switch connects a common terminal to one or
the other of two terminals. It is always connected to one or the other. The two
outside terminals are never connected by the switch. To use a SPDT switch as a
SPST switch just use the common terminal and either of the other terminals. So
you could use C and A or you could use C and B.
DPDT

A Double Pole Double Throw toggle switch acts exactly like two separate SPDT
switches connected to the same switch bat. It has two separate common terminals
and each of those is connected to one or the other of the other two terminals on the
same side of the switch. The dotted line in the picture is to illustrate that the switch
is actually two SPDT switches in one package with one switch bat. A DPDT
switch works just like two separate SPDT switches attached to the same switch bat.

Conclusion:

Hence we have studied the different type of electrical and electronic switches.