SoC energy meter ICs offer greater memory density

Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) has expanded its portfolio of energy metering solutions with the ADE51xx and ADE55xx single-chip metering devices that offer greater memory density for more advanced solid-state energy meter applications.
The new system-on-chip (SoC) energy meter devices feature 62 Kbytes of on-chip flash memory and 2 Kbytes of RAM, which provides more usable memory than any other available energy meter to support the program and data storage needs of advanced communications protocols in North America, Europe and emerging Asian markets, said ADI.

The ADE51xx and ADE55xx metering devices integrate a proven energy measurement core, an 8051 microcontroller, a LCD driver with contrast control, a full hardware real-time clock (RTC), two universal asynchronous receivers-transmitters (UARTs), and intelligent battery management technology. In addition to replacing six discrete ICs with a single SoC, the highly integrated metering solutions maintain accurate time; sense temperature changes; run the LCD read-out, and perform other critical system functions, all while using less than half the power of competitive solutions, according to ADI. In battery mode, current consumption is reduced to 1.5 microamps.

This 50 percent reduction in current consumption when the LCD is activated, as compared to other energy metering SoC solutions, is achieved through a combination of battery management techniques that allow the meter to run multiple LCD screens, maintain active temperature measurement, and keep accurate timing during power outages while the microcontroller remains in sleep mode.

The ADE51xx differs from the ADE55xx by offering two current inputs for anti-tampering detection and billing.