Energy-meter IC touts the highest functionality

Sunnyvale, Calif.—Maxim's MAXQ3180 analog-front-end IC, for polyphase electric meters, measures and calculates voltage, current, power, energy, and all major power-quality parameters. It touts more advanced metering features at the lowest power than any competing chip in the industry today (click here for a comparison table of these metering features).

The MAXQ3180 integrates an 8-channel analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and the company's dedicated, high-performance MAXQ microprocessor for computing a broad set of polyphase multifunction energy metering parameters. Six of the input channels are dedicated to three-phase voltages and three currents. One channel is dedicated for neutral-line current-monitoring, and the eighth channel is for on-chip temperature monitoring.

The front-end will calculate apparent and reactive energy and power for each phase and the combined 3-phase system; power factor; line frequency; and the voltage component of up to the 21st harmonic. Overall, the chip features a measurement error of less than 0.1 percent over a dynamic range of 100:1 at +25°C; less than 0.2 percent error for reactive energy; and better than 0.5 percent accuracy for RMS voltage and RMS current, thus exceeding all relevant international standards for electricity metering (IEC 62053-21, IEC 62053-22, IEC 62053-23). The chip provides two configurable pulse outputs (typically for active and reactive energy) that can be set to output any of a large array of operational parameters. The MAXQ3180 interfaces with a host microcontroller through the standard SPI protocol.

The IC provides a full complement of protection/monitoring features, including over-voltage and over-current, voltage sag, and power-fail detection. In typical operation, the MAXQ3180 draws 10 mW (typical; 3.3-volt power source).

Datasheet: Click here.
Pricing: The MAXQ3180, in a 28-pin TSSOP package and rated for operation over -40 to +85 °C, is priced at $5.25 each (1000-up, FOB USA). Three-phase power-meter reference designs are available to speed designs and reduce time-to-market; for more information, click here.

Maxim Integrated Products, 1-800-998-8800, www.maxim-ic.com