Asynchronous Binary Up Counter Circuit With Working Procedure

Here we are going to discuss an Asynchronous 4 Bit Binary Up Counter Circuit. This circuit is made up of several J-K flip-flops cascaded to generate four bits counting sequence.

An up counter is basically a digital counting circuit that counts up in an incremental mode. Here we have given the simple counting circuit setup using 4 flip flops and a simulation video for better understanding.

For simplicity, an animation output of an electronic counter sequence is also provided in this article. After reading this article you will be able to design Up Counter circuits easily.

Digital Logic Counter Circuit Schematics

Components Required for Binary Up Counter Circuit Design

1. Power supply
2. 7473 JK flip flop IC x 2
3. Resistors (1kΩ x 4)
4. LEDs x 4
5. 1Hz clock of 1Hz Astable multivibrator

Working Procedure of The Digital Logic Counter

• In this digital counter circuit set up, all flip flops are clocked by the Q outputs of previous flip flops. Thus it is called as an asynchronous counter.
• All the JK flip flops holds their J and K inputs at logic ‘1’. 7473 IC is a dual JK master slave flips flop with a clear pin.
• A ripple counter comprising of N flip flops can be used to count up to 2^N pulses. That is, a circuit with 4 flip flops gives a maximum count 2⁴=16.
• This counter gives a natural binary count from 0 to 15 and resets to initial condition on the 16th input pulse.
• Since J and K inputs of all the flip flops are connected to logic ‘1’, they act as a toggle flip flop.
• Here the output of each flip flop toggles at the negative transition of clock input.
• With the application of 1st clock pulse, Q0 changes from 0 to 1, whereas Q1, Q2 and Q2 remains unaffected.
• On 2nd clock pulse Q0 becomes 0 and Q1 becomes 1. This process occurs for other flip flops also.
• If we are taking output from Q’, we will get a down counter simultaneously.
• You can use an astable multivibrator circuit for generating clock pulses.

Binary Up Counter Circuit Truth Table

0 to 15 binary counting sequence of Up Counter is shown below

Output Wave Form of Binary Up Counter

Status of each output in the counter is plotted on CRO Screen as

Conclusion

A binary up counter circuit has the potential to become the core counting unit of projects where critical counting is required. Whether it be a revolution counter or an enormous array arrangement, you’ll find a counter in it.