Best of 2022 Industrial Automation and Smart Building Solutions

As 2022 comes to an end and we begin to look forward, it is an excellent time to reflect on the past year’s achievements and how they can significantly improve our shared future. onsemi is committed to developing the most innovative technology and products to solve the most challenging problems faced by its customers in designing industrial, commercial, and home automation solutions to achieve the goals of increasing energy efficiency and reducing emissions.

Highlights from the past year of onsemi devices that significantly contribute to operational efficiency in industrial, commercial, and home automation applications include an industrial rotary position sensor, BLDC motor controller, PoE interface LED driver, and KNX Wall Switch System-In-Package.

NCS32100

onsemi, leveraging 20+ years of expertise designing inductive sensors, combined the performance characteristics of mid- to high-end optical encoders (accuracy and speed) with the reliability of inductive encoders to design the NCS32100 dual-inductive industrial rotary position sensor. Embedded Computing Design awarded “Best in Show” to the NCS32100.

The device firmware outputs absolute position and velocity directly. It is an easy “plug and play” solution with flexible configurability that allows OEMs to configure and differentiate their solutions with a wide range of printed circuit board (PCB) sensor designs.

Industrial automation control systems with fast-moving machinery require precision position sensing—particularly true in industrial applications such as robotics, where precise motion control requires highly accurate measurement. The NCS32100 is the optimum solution for industrial rotational sensing applications.

onsemi developed the NCS32100 with high accuracy, high speed, robustness, and insensitivity to almost all contamination or interference—including liquids, dirt and dust, magnetic fields, EMI, and strong vibrations—combined with ease of use and integration. It takes inductive position sensing to a new level for industrial applications, using patented inductive sensor design techniques to deliver much higher accuracy than other inductive position sensors.

At rotational speeds of around 6,000 RPM, +/-50 arcsec accuracy can be achieved with a 38 mm sensor. The NCS32100 can operate all the way up to 100,000 RPM – albeit with reduced accuracy at higher speeds.

“The NCS32100 features firmware that directly outputs absolute position and velocity preloaded in its integrated microcontroller (MCU), providing an easy “plug and play” solution,” said Michel De Mey, vice president of the Industrial Solutions Division, onsemi. “The level of integration the NCS32100 offers can significantly reduce design time and the number of external components needed, allowing for faster time to market and more compact and efficient design.”

Learn more about the NCS32100 and the new approach for inductive position sensing that enables a new breed of high-accuracy rotary position encoders. onsemi also offers NCS32100 evaluation boards to accelerate the design process for industrial applications.

ECS640A System-in-Package (SiP)

Government regulations worldwide are propelling an industrial transformation to replace traditional AC motors with variable-speed brushless DC (BLDC) motors to increase energy efficiency.

The onsemi EcoSpin™ ECS640A motor controller supports all BLDC commutation methods, including Direct Torque and Flux Control (DTFC) commutation firmware, resulting in a uniquely efficient solution jointly developed with Theta Power Solutions, Intl. The ECS640A is a System-in-Package (SiP) solution integrating an Arm® Cortex®−M0+ microcontroller, three sense amplifiers, a reference amplifier, three bootstrap diodes, and a high-voltage gate driver for high-speed operation.

It drives MOSFETs and IGBTs operating up to 600 V (FAN73896) with six gate driver outputs to sink or source 350 mA/650 mA (typical) gate current to external power devices and includes Hall Sensor inputs to support sensored or sensorless operation. This device is ideal for use with discrete power devices to maximize scalability due to its small footprint and integration flexibility.

“The highly integrated solution reduces time to market by eliminating the need for design cycles on applications, simplifying solution reuse when scaling BLDC motor power level requirements,” said Michel De Mey, vice president of the Industrial Solutions Division, onsemi. “Reliability is improved by replacing many of the larger, more complex devices, while at the same time shrinking the PCB routing area by approximately 20% compared to a discrete implementation, to deliver an overall compact solution.”

Learn more about the ECS640A motor controller and other motor control solutions from onsemi.

NCL31010 PoE Interface LED Driver

The onsemi NCL31010 integrates an LED driver IC and a PoE controller for data connectivity into a single package to enable a fully connected and managed lighting system.

It delivers over 90 W via PoE and is certified to the IEEE802.3bt/at/af standards, featuring two auxiliary DC-DC converters that can power a microcontroller and sensor. The device is capable of Visual Light Communication (VLC). VLC modulates data directly onto the LED light, functioning as a location beacon for indoor positioning systems (e.g., Yellow Dot™).

LED lights offer more than just the illumination of a building’s interior. The NCL31010 PoE Interface LED Driver offers lighting system designers a one-stop shop to manage power and connectivity for luminaires, providing other smart building automation features.

Learn more about the NCL31010 intelligent LED driver, or check out our white paper explaining “What is Visible Light Communication?” Also available:

• NCL31010GEVK PoE Interface Intelligent LED Driver Evaluation Kit
• NCL31010REFGEVB Intelligent PoE LED Driver Reference Design

NCN5140S KNX Wall Switch System-In-Package

The NCN5140S System-In-Package integrates the onsemi KNX Transceiver and an ARM Cortex-M0+ microcontroller, enabling a complete KNX switch system design. It combines most of the required passive components that utilize minimal external components, allowing the development of ultra-slim switch applications.

Together with a certified KNX stack and pre-certified software for up to 8 configurable rocker or touch switch buttons, the KNX System-in-Package allows rapid development of KNX switch. The pre-certified application software includes driving and dimming up to 8 RGB LEDs to illuminate the buttons or touch pads.

Intelligent bus systems like the KNX make home and building automation more economical by allowing multiple devices to be connected via a single bus, reducing costs and accelerating system design and deployment. The decentralized topology of KNX network infrastructure provides an intelligent distributed system without needing a central control hub.

KNX devices lower component count and BOM cost, reduce form factor size and power budget, and increase overall operating efficiency by up to 20%. Thus, they are optimized for smart building implementation.

Conclusion

Cities account for 75% of global energy consumption, while motors consume approximately 45% of the world’s electricity. Residential and commercial building energy consumption accounts for 41% of total U.S. energy consumption. As urban populations and the manufacturing of goods continue to increase, so do emissions and the environmental impact. onsemi is committed to developing the most innovative intelligent sensing and power devices for industrial applications to improve the operational efficiencies—critical to address these concerns—of spaces where we live and work, as well as in factories and industry.