Renesas Electronics introduces sensing position sensors for automotive motor commutation applications

Renesas Electronics announced the introduction of the IPS2550 magneticless inductive position sensor. The IPS2550 offers improved performance, ease of customization, complete immunity to stray magnetic field interference, and reduced weight and size, making it ideal for high-speed motor commutation absolute position sensors in passenger cars, heavy commercial vehicles, off-road vehicles, and motorcycles. With its optimized bill of materials, the new sensor enables customers to cost-effectively tailor sensor designs to their applications and maximize sensor accuracy.

Customers can also combine the new sensor with Renesas microcontrollers (MCUS), gate drivers and motor drivers to build complete motor commutation solutions for traction motors, electric power steering, starter generators and other motor applications.

Christian Wolf, Vice President, Automotive Sensors Division, Renesas Electronics, said: "We are very pleased with the positive market response to the introduction of Renesas' new inductive position sensing technology for industrial motors last June and look forward to bringing the benefits of this technology to our customers in the automotive sector with our new product IPS2550. "The IPS2550 is a thinner, lighter contactless sensor that continues to deliver the high performance and stability required for automotive applications, and is flexible and easy to customize, enabling manufacturers to cost-effectively manufacture their own rotary transformer or magnetic sensor replacement products."

Based on Renesas inductive position sensing technology, the magneticless IPS2550 supports a maximum speed of 600krpm (electrical cycle) and is designed around the motor, accommodating both off-axis (through and side) and end-shaft arrangements. Compared to alternative sensing technologies, customers can match the number of sectors to the number of motor poles and increase accuracy in a cost-effective manner. The sensor's thin form factor and full stray field immunity make motor integration easier and provide customers with the standard materials needed to manufacture their own rotary transformer alternatives, thereby reducing BOM costs. The IPS2550 was developed based on the ISO26262 standard as a single IC to support the most challenging functional safety-critical applications, meeting ASIL-C(D) system-level requirements.

Key features of IPS2550

● Highly flexible and scalable (based on the number of motor poles), supporting shaft end, off-shaft and shaft side alignment

● AEC-Q100 certified for stable operation in harsh environments and ambient temperatures from -40° to +160°C

● Positive/cosine gain offset and offset compensation, improve accuracy and production stability

● Speed: up to 600krpm (electrical cycle)

Renesas also offers a variety of off-the-shelf tools that make it easy to create tailor-made sensing elements for both newcomers to sensors and experts in the field of motor commutation.

The IPS2550 is the latest addition to Renesas' inductive position sensing product lineup, adding to the company's robust portfolio of in-vehicle applications, including MCUS, system-on-chip (SoC), analog and power management, to provide a comprehensive solution. The IPS2550, part of the BLDC motor control solution in Renesas' Portfolio of Successful products, enables customers to further speed up design and reduce time to market. The "Portfolio of Successful products" covers Renesas' extensive analog + power + embedded processing (MCU and SoC) products.