NEC Rolls Out Four New Energy-Efficient 8-bit Microcontrollers

NEC Electronics has introduced four new 8-bit All Flash microcontrollers that will help smart meter grid designs to use power more efficiently and emit less greenhouse gases. Smart electricity meters are a key component in smart grid systems and are superior to the regular electricity meters, which require manual reading of energy usage. The new 64-pin 78K0/LE3-M and the 100-pin 78K0/LG3-M microcontrollers will offer a wide range of integrated analog and digital peripherals, simplifying smart electricity meter designs that have communication capabilities for automatic meter reading.  

The 78K0/LE3-M microcontroller is a low-profile quad flat package (LQFP) measuring 10 mm x 10 mm and works with single-phase 2-wire electricity meters, whereas the 100-pin 78K0/LG3-M is designed for single-phase 3-wire electricity meters, with an LQFP design of 14 mm x 14 mm. The metrology engine used by the devices is made up of a high-precision 24-bit ΔΣ (delta-sigma) analog-to-digital (A/D) converter and power calculation hardware with capabilities for calibration. In addition, the microcontrollers are built with anti-tampering circuits, which ensure power usage data integrity and power quality-management circuits that detect power outages, voltage and current peaks.  

The 8-bit microcontrollers will definitely improve the efficiency of smart electricity meters which, besides having communication capabilities and automatic meter reading, also enable utility providers to manage energy supply and demand, keeping the power grid stable and efficient at the same time. The 78K0/Lx3-M 6-bit All Flash microcontrollers, as their name implies, have LCD controllers that can deliver 160-segment display. They are also built with Flash memory, between 16 KB and 60 KB, and can use various serial interfaces to manage communication subsytems.  

The MCUs will become available as samples in January 2010 and will hit mass production only in the second quarter of 2010. Prices will depend on MCU memory capacity and distribution resale pricing is set to start at $3.45 for 10,000-unit quantities.