CIE Components in Electronics
Renesas Electronics has expanded its RL78/L13 Group of low-power microcontrollers (MCUs) with the introduction of an on-chip LCD controller that offere up-to 376 segment drive capability in an 80-pin package. These new MCUs are suitable for consumer, health and industrial equipment that are equipped with an LCD panel.
LCD panels are widely used in both consumer and industrial equipment, including home appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers, health equipment such as blood pressure monitors and blood glucose monitors, and portable test equipment and meters. Renesas has already released the RL78/L12 low-power MCUs that has helped to reduce power consumption by about 30% when compared to earlier Renesas products as on-chip LCD driver MCUs. There is now, however, strong demand for an increase in the number of segments in on-chip LCD driver MCUs to support the large increases of information shown on LCD panels due to needs to display information such as power saving status ecological information and the additional information associated with advanced functionality.
At the same time, the Induction Heating (IH) method is beginning to be widely used in IH cooking equipment, and industrial equipment as well. In this IH heating equipment, high-functionality timers are required to control the IH inverter circuit. Renesas is now releasing the RL78/L13 Group of MCUs to respond to these needs.
The new RL78/L13 MCUs can drive up to 376 segments achieving the industry”s largest number of LCD segments in an 80-pin MCU. This allows even more information, such as numbers and symbols, to be displayed on the LCD panels included in home appliances and other equipment.
These new MCUs also include comparators that are effective for zero cross detection in AC power supply waveforms and high-functionality timers that support variable pulse width modulation (PWM) control in real time and are thus optimal for IH heating control. These high-functionality timers include a forcible output stop function and can contribute to improved safety in end products.
Compared to the RTC provided in the RL78/L12 Group products, the RTC in the RL78/L13 products increases the correction resolution and increases the clock precision. Also, the RTC calendar register, which indicates the time and date, retains its value without being cleared by reset factors external to the MCU. These functions make these products optimal for systems such as measurement equipment and meters that require a permanent, high-precision RTC counter.
