Optimizes motor control for industrial, home appliance and robotic equipment

Renesas Electronics Corporation announced the introduction of the RX66T series of microcontrollers (MCUS), the first members of Renesas' 32-bit RX MCU family of flagship products, all powered by the new third-generation RXv3 CPU core. The RX66T uses advanced CPU core technology to significantly improve performance 1, which is more than 2.5 times better than previous RX series MCUS.

Combining the powerful new RXv3 core with the benefits of the current RX62T and RX63T MCUS provides the real-time performance and greater stability required for inverter control. These new MCUS are well suited for industrial applications in the next generation of smart factory equipment, such as industrial motors, power regulators and robots, as well as smart home devices including air conditioners and washing machines.

When operating at 160 MHz, the RX66T MCU achieves the industry-leading performance of 928 CoreMark 2, enabling more precise inverter control. These MCUS can control up to four motors simultaneously, making them ideal for traditional motor control and applications requiring multi-axis motor control. These applications include compact industrial robots and personal robots, which are rapidly gaining popularity. In addition, the additional processing power of the RX66T enables developers to add programs using embedded AI (e-AI) for motor fault detection. These programs enable real-time detection and location of motor faults based on the motor's current or vibration characteristics. This capability brings significant added value to developers in terms of productivity, safety, and quality. The RX66T MCU also integrates a 5V power supply to provide excellent noise tolerance.

Fu Tianming, general manager of IA Solutions Business Unit, Industrial Solutions Division, said, "Artificial intelligence technology is changing the face of the industrial equipment and home appliance industries. In these markets, the emerging e-AI (embedded AI) will be a catalyst for end-use innovation. This new RX66T MCU family will help further accelerate the adoption of smart devices with real-time e-AI performance. This trend will drive the intelligentization of home appliances and improve the production efficiency of smart factories."

As more and more devices such as robots, power regulators, washers and dryers are connected to the iot, these electric devices need firmware updates online throughout their life cycle. Applying e-AI to predictive fault diagnosis requires ensuring that the device-side MCUS are securely updated with learning results generated in the cloud. The RX66T MCU family combines Renesas Electronics' Trusted Secure IP(TSIP) (CAVP certified 3) to provide secure firmware updates and encrypted communications.

Key features of the RX66T MCU family

● Support inverter control, the maximum operating frequency is 160MHz, 928 CoreMark, built-in floating point arithmetic unit (FPU), 5V power supply
● High-speed flash memory has a maximum read rate of 120MHz, reducing the speed difference with the CPU, while achieving high performance and synchronous execution
● MCUS in 112-pin and 144-pin packages are capable of generating three-phase complementary pulse width modulation (PWM) outputs for four motors, and MCUS in 64-pin, 80-pin and 100-pin packages are capable of generating three-phase complementary pulse width modulation (PWM) outputs for three motors, reducing space footprint and component count
●Configurable 16 KB error correction code (ECC) SRAM and up to 128 KB of SRAM with single-cycle access and single-bit error detection (parity) for high reliability
● Capable of generating high-resolution PWM signals with a minimum state change duration of 195 picoseconds (1.6 times better than the previous ● RX series) for power regulator or digital power control applications
● Renesas Electronics' CAVP-certified Trusted Secure IP (TSIP) provides secure firmware updates and encrypted communications