2C13 Tracking sensor module KY-033

Description:

KY-033 Line Tracking Sensor: A line tracking sensor that does exactly what the name suggests: it tracks black lines against white background or white lines against black background, whatever you would like to do, and it’s a pretty simple device. This sensor is also known as a hunt sensor or line-following sensor. I just want to talk a little bit about what these things can do and how they should be used with the Arduino. This sensor consists of IR. This is basically an obstacle-sensing module with a built-in receiver and transmitter that senses the IR energy and looks for the reflected IR energy to detect the obstacle in front of the sensor module. The sensor returns the status of the IR light reflected from the surface. So it’s a pretty simple device; it has an infrared receiver and an infrared transmitter. So the transmitter is constantly transmitting infrared pulses, and the receiver is looking for those pulses to receive when they are reflected. When this line tracking sensor is on a black surface, all of the radiation that’s been transmitted gets absorbed by the surface and nothing is reflected onto the sensor, so we get a zero output signal. When it is on a white surface, the opposite happens: all of the radiation that is transmitted off the transmitter is detected by the receiver, and then we get a positive signal or a digital one. There is a knob that you can use; it goes from one to three, and you can use this to adjust the sensitivity of the line tracking sensor. A line tracking sensor consists of three pins, of which one is ground, one is VCC, and the other is the output of the sensor.

Datasheet

Package included:

1 x Line hunting sensor module

SPECIFICATIONS:

• Operating Voltage: 3.3V to 5V
• Operating Current: ≥ 20 mA
• Operating Temperature: -10℃ – +50℃
• Detection Distance: 2cm – 40cm
• Effective Angle: 35°

PIN OUT:

The KY-033 module has three pins.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The KY-033 module detects if the surface in front of the IR transmitter/receiver absorbs or reflects light. A dark surface absorbs light while a light surface reflects light. If the surface is dark, the module Signal pin will be pulled HIGH. And if the surface is light, the signal pin will be LOW.

PROJECT: ARDUINO LINE DETECTOR

After learning about the KY-033 module and how it works, it is now time to build a project using the module. Our project will get the digital signal from the KY-033 module, display a message on the serial monitor, and control the Arduino’s built-in LED.

PROJECT COMPONENTS:

For this project, we need the following components:

• Arduino Uno board (1 pc.)
• KY-033 Tracking Sensor Module (1 pc.)
• Jumper wires

WIRING DIAGRAM:

Figure 2 shows the connection between the Arduino Uno and the KY-033 Tracking Sensor Module.

The KY-033 module pins are connected to the Arduino Uno board as follows:

CODE:

Below is the Arduino sketch for our project. I have added comments to explain important parts of the code. Save the code as KY-033.ino and upload it to your Arduino board.

// Arduino and KY-033 module

void setup ()
{
pinMode (13, OUTPUT); // built-in LED pin set to output
pinMode (8, INPUT); // module signal output connected to Arduino pin 8
Serial.begin(9600); // initialize serial
}

void loop ()
{
if (digitalRead(8) == HIGH) { // if module detects a dark surface,
Serial.println("Dark Surface"); // show message on serial monitor and
digitalWrite (13, HIGH); // switch-On built-in LED
}
else {
Serial.println("Light Surface");
digitalWrite (13, LOW);
}
} 

PROJECT TEST:

Apply power to your Arduino Uno board and open the Serial Monitor in the Arduino IDE. Arduino will output “Dark Surface” on the serial monitor and switch-on the Arduino’s built-in LED if it detects a dark surface. The message “Light Surface” and the LED will be off if it detects a light surface. The sensitivity of the module can be adjusted via VR1.