Renesas launches three families of motor control chips ...

The three families include over 35 new products, including devices from both the RX and RA families. Two groups from its RA Family of ARM Cortex-M devices features and functions specifically for motor control applications, including trigonometric function units (TFUs) for acceleration, advanced ADC with integrated PGA, as well as a wide choice of communication interfaces including CAN FD.

The RA4T1 Group runs at 100 MHz with up to 256KB of flash and 40KB SRAM. The RA6T3 Group has a 200 MHz operating frequency and provides 256KB of flash and 40KB SRAM. Both groups are supported by the Renesas Flexible Software Package (FSP) for easy porting of designs from other RA family devices.

The third set of microcontrollers is the RX26T Group, based on the in-house RX core operating at 120 MHz with up to 512KB of dual bank flash memory to provide no-wait access and 64KB SRAM. These support 5V power supplies for high noise immunity and control accuracy.

These also provide TFUs, on-chip timing, and interrupt control with dual motor support with FOC and PFC control via a 120 MHz PWM (2 channels of three-phase complementary + 2 channels of single-phase complementary), three 12-bit ADCs. The chip includes a built-in high-speed on-chip oscillator in a small QFN packages (48-HWQFN: 7x7mm, 64-HWQFN: 9x9mm) to reduce the size and bill of materials. It also includes next generation CAN FD and I3C basic support.

Renesas introduced MCUs designed specifically for motor control over 10 years ago and has since shipped over 1.1 billion motor control-specific embedded processors.

In addition to the RX and RA Families, Renesas offers 16bit RL78 MCUs and 64bit RZ MPUs optimized for motor applications. In 2022, Renesas introduced the industry's first RISC-V-based ASSP designed for motor control.

"For many years, the world's leading providers of home appliances, industrial equipment, and building and office automation have turned to Renesas for motor control processing," said Roger Wendelken, Senior Vice President, and Head of the MCU Business at Renesas. "We offer the industry's broadest product lineup and most comprehensive technology portfolio, along with an unmatched ability to deliver complete solutions encompassing a wide array of critical functions. In addition, Renesas’ legendary quality is particularly important in motor control applications."

"The industrial motor market is expected to grow strongly, as industrialization and machine automation technology continue to advance in emerging nations. The market will also benefit from the industry-wide development of new manufacturing facilities in response to growing geopolitical risks," said Takanobu Yamanishi, Senior Researcher at Fuji Keizai.

"In particular, there is significant market potential in robotics, electronic component manufacturing equipment, and power tools, all of which extensively use MCUs. We expect that with its broad range of motor control MCUs that address diverse customer requirements, Renesas can help the industry accelerate its growth."

All of the new MCUs are supported by Renesas’ Flexible Motor Control development kit that enables easy evaluation of motor control using permanent magnet synchronous motors (brushless DC motors), and the Renesas Motor Workbench development tool. By improving motor control efficiency, Renesas’ MCUs can save energy in end systems.

Renesas has designed multiple reference designs with the chips. The High Power, Compact BLDC Motor Control design features the RA4T1 MCU with the RAA227063 smart gate driver IC to control 3-phase sensorless BLDC motors. The Digital Power Conversion with Totem Pole Interleaved PFC includes the RX26T MCU with RAA223011 700V AC/DC regulator and other Renesas components. The E-bike System Solution combines the RA6T3 MCU with power and BMS devices to provide a complete solution for any kind of E-bike.

The MCU Groups and associated development kits are available today from Renesas and its authorized distributors.

renesas.com/RA4T1; renesas.com/RA6T3; renesas.com/RX26T