New Industry Products

Microchip Unveils PIC Microcontrollers for Single-Phase, Multi-Function Smart-Metering & Energy-Monitoring Applications

September 20, 2010 by Jeff Shepard

Microchip Technology Inc. announced the 8-bit PIC18F87J72 microcontroller (MCU) family for single-phase, multi-function smart-metering and energy-monitoring applications. Featuring a dual-channel, high-performance 16-/24-bit Analog Front End (AFE), the company says the new MCUs provide an accurate, reliable, easy-to-use and cost-effective solution for developing meters that exceed International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) class 0.5 performance.

The family includes 64 or 128 KB Flash program memory and 4 KB RAM, to enable time-of-use and multi-tariff functions; as well as a high level of peripheral integration, including a LCD driver, hardware Real-Time Clock/Calendar (RTCC) and a Charge-Time Measurement Unit (CTMU) that enables a capacitive-touch user interface. Energy-calculation firmware, a development board and a reference design are available, providing a complete solution that lowers costs and shortens time to market for a variety of smart-metering and energy-monitoring applications.

"The PIC18F87J72 MCU family addresses market demands for an integrated smart energy metering and power-monitoring MCU," said Mitchel Obolsky, Vice President of Microchip’s Advanced Microcontroller Architecture Division. "These new MCUs expand Microchip’s existing energy-metering and power-monitoring portfolio. Customers now have the option of selecting the PIC18F87J72 MCU with AFE for small size, or a separate Microchip MCP390X AFE with a standard PIC® MCU for maximum flexibility."

The PIC18F87J72 Single-Phase Energy-Meter Reference Design can be obtained through Microchip sales representatives for evaluation, today. Featuring a shunt-based single-phase meter with energy-calculation firmware and GUI-assisted software calibration, the reference design enables calculation of active/reactive energy, forward/reverse energy, active/reactive/apparent power and RMS current/Voltage. Customers can reuse or customize the free firmware for their needs, which further shortens time to market and enables them to differentiate their products in the marketplace.

Additionally, the PIC18F87J72-based Energy Monitoring PICtail™ Daughter Board can be plugged into Microchip’s Explorer 16 Development Board for easy development of energy-measurement and -monitoring devices. The PICtail board is expected to be available in November 2010.

The PIC18F87J72 family of MCUs are available in an 80-pin 12 x 12 x 1mm TQFP package. Pricing starts at $3.93 each in 10,000-unit quantities for 64 KB Flash program memory.