Düsseldorf, April 23, 2015 – Renesas Electronics, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, continues to develop embedded solutions that contribute to a reduced energy footprint. Today, the company introduced the RX23T Group of microcontrollers (MCUs), designed to enable highly precise control of inverter circuits employed in energy-efficient electric home appliances, industrial machinery, and office equipment. Based on the fast RX core, the new 32-bit MCUs are ideal for building high-performance inverter control systems for applications such as DC motor control in energy-efficient electric home appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and fans; entry-level to mid-range industrial equipment such as general-purpose inverters, electrical tools, and drones; and office equipment. The functions are optimized for inverter drive control, including the inclusion of an on-chip floating point unit (FPU) that reduces code size and development time both by 30 percent.
Energy efficiency regulations have become stricter in many countries in recent years, expanding to include entry-level and mid-range energy-efficient electric home appliances and industrial equipment. System designers in these price-competitive markets are looking for new approaches to achieve the reduced power consumption desired within increasingly constrained budget requirements for energy-efficient, cost-attractive products. The demand for more compact, more highly efficient, and quieter motors in office equipment such as printers and multifunction units has led to a move away from stepping motors and toward the adoption of brushless DC motors. There is a need for more highly precise position control without increased system cost.
To respond to these market demands for improved energy efficiency, more precise control, and lower development cost, Renesas has developed the RX23T Group of MCUs, offering an excellent cost-to-performance ratio. The new MCUs provide an optimized subset of the functions of the RX62T Group, which has a proven track record in the inverter control field, designed specifically for use in three-phase inverter drive applications.
Key Features of the RX23T Group of MCUs:
1) Highly precise inverter control and reduced development time for mid-range and entry-level devices
Inverter control requires a large number of arithmetic operations involving decimal points, and it is useful to perform these using a floating-point arithmetic unit. However, cost constraints on mid-range and affordably priced power-efficient electric home appliances and industrial equipment have prevented the use of expensive microcontrollers with on-chip FPUs. Instead, the most common approach has been to develop software for a fixed-point arithmetic unit. The new RX23T Group MCUs incorporate an on-chip FPU without increased costs, eliminating the need to implement the decimal position shifting required when using a fixed-point arithmetic unit. This simplifies the software configuration and can reduce code size and development time by as much as 30 percent. The on-chip peripheral functions are also optimized for single inverter drive, boosting the cost-to-performance ratio and making it possible to add high-precision inverter control to mid-range and entry-level products.
2) High power efficiency among the best in the industry for even lower power consumption in inverter products
The RX23T MCUs feature the RXv2 core (4.55 CoreMark/MHz (target), among the best in the industry) and digital signal processing (DSP) functionality, allowing operation processing to be maintained with no loss of real-time responsiveness when performing inverter control (sensor-less vector control), even when the CPU is not running at high speed. In addition, current consumption in low-power mode (data retained in RAM) is only 450 nA (typ.).This power efficiency is among the best in the industry, enabling inverter products with lower power consumption.
3) Support for 5 V peripheral I/O, making it easier to implement measures to reduce effects of electromagnetic noise from inverter drive
As systems become more power efficient and the power supply voltage drops, it becomes necessary to take steps to prevent electromagnetic noise from peripheral components from adversely affecting high-precision control because MCUs become more susceptible to such interference when the power supply voltage is low. Supporting a 5 V power supply voltage, the new RX23T Group MCUs are less vulnerable to inverter drive noise than MCUs using a 3 V power supply, reducing the number of components required to reduce the noise effects.
Note 1)
FPU (Floating Point Unit): A type of functional unit designed specifically to perform floating point arithmetic operations.
Note 2).
DSP (Digital Signal Processing): A functionality provided by a processor that performs digital signal processing. It converts continuous analog signals into discrete digital signals and performs operation processing, making it possible to extract the desired signal elements (information).
Refer to the separate sheet for the main specifications of the RX23T Group of MCUs.
Availability
Samples of the RX23T MCUs are available now in package pin counts ranging from 48- to 64-pins and on-chip flash memory capacities ranging from 64 to 128 kilobytes (KB) for a total of 12 individual products. Mass production is scheduled to begin in August 2015. Integrated development environment (CS+, e2 studio) and code generator support tools are scheduled to be available from June 2015. Renesas also plans to expand the lineup of motor control application notes and solutions. (Availability is subject to change without notice.)
Remarks
CoreMark® is a registered trademark of EEMBC®. EEMBC® is a registered trademark of the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium. All other registered trademarks or trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
About Renesas Electronics Europe
Renesas Electronics is the world’s number one supplier of microcontrollers and a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, including system-on-chip and a wide range of discrete analogue and power devices. Established in 2010, Renesas Electronics combines the collective semiconductor expertise of Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric and NEC Electronics, encapsulating more than 200 years’ experience.
Renesas’ products are the result of decades of research and investment into semiconductor technology and customer solutions. Today, they provide pioneering platforms for the advancement of the Smart Society, embedding intelligence, connectivity, safety and security in solutions for cars, homes, buildings and factories. In Europe, Renesas complements its cutting-edge technology with resources that foster customer proximity and span the entire product lifecycle. These include the European Technology Centre, which designs innovative solutions specifically for Europe, and the European Quality Centre in Düsseldorf, which provides technical support to customers throughout the region. Renesas also operates an effective ecosystem, comprising the industry’s largest local support network and an extensive network of over 800 hardware and software alliance partners.
Headquartered in Japan, Renesas Electronics has subsidiaries in 20 countries worldwide. More information is available atwww.renesas.eu.
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