TCS3200 Color Sensor: Datasheet, Arduino, Working

TCS3200 Pinouta

TCS3200 Symbol

TCS3200 Footprint

TCS3200 3D Model

The TCS3200 programmable colour light-to-frequency converters combine configurable silicon photodiodes and a current-to-frequency converter on a single monolithic CMOS integrated circuit. The output is a square wave (50% duty cycle) with frequency directly proportional to light intensity (irradiance).

In the TCS3200, the light-to-frequency converter reads an 8 x 8 array of photodiodes. Sixteen photodiodes have blue filters, 16 photodiodes have green filters, 16 photodiodes have red filters, and 16 photodiodes are clear with no filters.

The four types (colours) of photodiodes are interdigitated to minimize the effect of non-uniformity of incident irradiance. All photodiodes of the same colour are connected in parallel. Pins S2 and S3 are used to select which group of photodiodes (red, green, blue, clear) are active. Photodiodes are 110 μm x 110 μm in size and are in 134-μm centres.

This Arduino compatible TCS3200 colour sensor module consists of a TAOS TCS3200 RGB sensor chip and 4 white LEDs. The main part of the module is the TCS3200 chip which is a Color Light-to-Frequency Converter.

With the help of a microprocessor, the TCS3200 colour sensor module can detect colours. The output frequency from the 6th pin is really measured by the microcontroller.

When each filter is activated, we must measure the frequency from the 6th pin to determine the colour of an object.

Set both S2 and S3 to LOW and take a frequency reading. Now we get the object's RED component's intensity.

To get the intensity of the BLUE component in the object, set S2 to LOW and S3 to HIGH.

Set both S2 and S3 to HIGH to determine the object's GREEN component's intensity.

To determine the true colour of the object, compare the frequencies of the three components.

TIP: In Arduino, we can use the ‘pulseIn’ command to get the frequency variations.

e.g.: 
digitalWrite(S2, LOW);digitalWrite(S3, LOW);   //Activating photodiode with red filter
red = pulseIn(outpin, LOW);

The value corresponding to the red color component of the object color is obtained here.

Similarly, we must change the S2 and S3 states of each photodiode and read the appropriate values of the green and blue color components of the object color.

We get an estimated value of red=16, green=53, and blue=45 for a Red item. Ambient light and experiment setting may influence this. It is preferable to shield the item and sensor from ambient light for the best results.

 High-Resolution Conversion of Light Intensity to Frequency 

 Programmable Color and Full-Scale Output Frequency 

 Communicates Directly With a Microcontroller 

 Single-Supply Operation (2.7 V to 5.5 V) 

 Power Down Feature 

 Nonlinearity Error Typically 0.2% at 50 kHz 

 Stable 200 ppm/°C Temperature Coefficient 

 Low-Profile Lead (Pb) Free and RoHS Compliant Surface-Mount Package

TCS3200 Functional Block Diagram

Headquartered in Austria, AMS(listed on the SIX Swiss stock exchange (ticker symbol: AMS)) is a global leader with about 10,000 employees worldwide and serves more than 8,000 customers globally. AMS, as a leading designer and manufacturer of cutting-edge sensor solutions, are committed to shaping the world with sensor solutions by offering a no-obstacle interface between human and technology. In areas of optical sensing, image sensing and audio sensing, AMS keeps focusing on sensor-rich market segmentation, delivering high-performance sensor solutions and enhancing its unique leadership.