Programmable chips simplify energy meter design

Cypress MicroSystems has a new family of PSoC energy meter ICs and an accompanying reference design that streamlines the development of single-phase energy meters.

Cypress MicroSystems has a new family of PSoC energy meter ICs and an accompanying reference design that streamlines the development of single-phase energy meters.

The energy meter design kit offers an extremely cost-effective and low power solution for engineers building IEC61036-compliant systems that measure residential or business electricity usage.

The PSoC product family is based on Cypress's reconfigurable mixed signal array with an onboard controller.

PSoC devices offer an integrated mix of analogue and digital logic, memory and processing circuitry in one small package.

When used in a power metering application, PSoC dramatically reduces the number of system components, which significantly reduces bill of material costs and improves reliability.

The inherent flexibility provided through PSoC's programmability allows energy meter manufacturers to easily configure their PSoC metering IC with unique features to differentiate their devices in the marketplace, thus enhancing market value.

In contrast, traditional microcontroller-based reference designs require additional expensive fixed-function analogue front-end (AFE) chips to perform functions such as signal amplification, filtering, analogue-to-digital conversion, LCD control, and real-time clock generation.

Standard solutions offer little or no variation in the feature set for the end manufacturer.

"The new PSoC energy meter IC family is the world's lowest cost single-phase energy meter for both basic and feature rich energy meters", said John McDonald, Vice President of Marketing for Cypress MicroSystems.

The new family enables power meter companies to easily configure meters for pre-pay options, tariff options, various user controls, and a clean, low-power interface to RF automatic meter reading (AMR) chips.

The integration PSoC provides in a Class 1 energy meter for around $2 is significant advantage to a mature market with volumes in the tens of millions of units that competes on cost".

The PSoC device family integrates programmable blocks of analogue and digital logic, a fast 8bit CPU and MAC, 8 to 16Kbyte of Flash memory and 256byte of SRAM.

PSoC ICs provide designers with a flexible architecture that can be configured for a broad range of embedded applications and dynamically reconfigured to extend the capabilities and value of their product.

The PSoC platform typically reduces customer development time by 33% and lowers bill of material costs by an average of $5 by significantly reducing the number of chips required for systems typically utilising a traditional microcontroller and discrete digital and analogue components.

Cypress MicroSystems' energy meter source code is available now for free at from the company's website listed under reference designs.

However, detail performance information, calibration methods, and customisation options are only available through a Cypress representative.

The first family of PSoC Energy Meter ICs (CY8C775X) is priced below $2.50 for power meter applications (10,000 units).

The company also offers a PSoC power meter design kit (CY3220PWRMTR-RD), which includes a reference board and documentation, for $199 to select customers.

Customers may purchase the basic PSoC Pro-Class development kit, including a full speed emulator (PSoC ICE-4000), for $399.

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