Steam Whistle Schematic Circuit Diagram

This circuit consists of six square wave oscillators. Square waves are made up of a large number of harmonics. If six square waves with different frequencies are added together, the result will be a signal with a very large number of frequencies. When you listen to the result you’ll find that it is very similar to a steam whistle. The circuit should be useful in modelling or even in a sound studio. This circuit uses only two ICs. The first IC, a 40106, contains six Schmitt triggers, which are all configured as oscillators. Different frequencies are generated by the use of different feedback resistors.

The output signals from the Schmitt triggers are mixed via resistors. The resulting signal is amplified by IC2, an LM386. This IC can deliver about 1 W of audio power, which should be sufficient for most applications. If you leave out R13 and all components after P1, the output can then be connected to a more powerful amplifier. In this way, a truly deafening steam whistle can be created. The ‘frequency’ of the signal can be adjusted with P2, and P1 controls the volume.

The LM386 is a power amplifier designed for use in low voltage consumer applications. The gain is internally set to 20 to keep the external part count low, but the addition of an external resistor and capacitor between pins 1 and 8 will increase the gain to any value from 20 to 200. The inputs are ground referenced while the output automatically biases to one-half the supply voltage. The quiescent power drain is only 24 milliwatts when operating from a 6 volt supply, making the LM386 ideal for battery operation.

Features

• Battery operation
• Minimum external parts
• Wide supply voltage range: 4V–12V or 5V–18V
• Low quiescent current drain: 4mA
• Voltage gains from 20 to 200
• Ground-referenced input
• Self-centering output quiescent voltage
• Low distortion: 0.2% (AV = 20, VS = 6V, RL = 8Ω, PO = 125mW, f = 1kHz)
• Available in an 8-pin MSOP package

Applications

• AM-FM radio amplifiers
• Portable tape player amplifiers
• Intercoms
• TV sound systems
• Line drivers
• Ultrasonic drivers
• Small servo drivers
• Power converters