Renesas Electronics and MINEBEA MITSUMI Inc., supplier of stepping motors announced on Wednesday joint development of resolver-based (angle sensor) stepping motor and motor control solutions optimized for use in robots, office automation (OA) equipment, and medical/nursing care equipment. These applications require motors with higher precision motor control, miniaturized form factors, and improved resistance to environmental influences.
Working in collaboration, Renesas and MinebeaMitsumi have developed resolver sensor-based stepping motors and motor control solutions that address these application requirements.
MinebeaMitsumi has a strong track record with resolver sensors for automotive applications and, for the first time, has developed a new resolver for stepping motors to be used in consumer and industrial equipment applications such as robots, OA equipment, and medical/nursing care equipment.
As a 32-bit microcontroller (MCU) company, Renesas has developed a new resolver-to-digital converter (RDC) that supports MinebeaMitsumi’s new stepping motors, as well as control driver software for controlling the RDC with a 32-bit RX MCU. Renesas also provides a resolver-based stepping motor control kit, which includes development tools, including MinebeaMitsumi’s stepping motor with resolver and an evaluation board with RDC, allowing users to jump-start application development.
Stepping motors with a resolver allow high-precision motor control even in harsh environments with heat, dust, or vibration. They also deliver superlative characteristics such as the ability to carry heavy loads without step-out. Renesas and MinebeaMitsumi have developed a new type of resolver stepping motor and resolver motor control solutions that provide superlative cost performance, which makes it possible to expand the range of applications for stepping motors.
For example, in robots or automated guided vehicle (AGV) development, customers can achieve high-precision motion even in harsh environments such as warehouses or the outdoors, while reducing costs and further miniaturizing industrial equipment by using smaller motors.
“I am extremely pleased that we were able to develop superb products with the cooperation of Renesas, which provides superlative control technologies,” said Katsutoshi Suzuki, technical officer, Deputy Officer in charge of Electronics Engineering Development at Engineering Headquarters at MinebeaMitsumi. “I am hoping that this advance in product differentiation for our resolver stepping motors will allow us to acquire new markets.”
“Our cooperative effort with MinebeaMitsumi will allow stepping motors to be used in a wider range of applications,” said Roger Wendelken, Senior vice president and head of the broad-based MCU Business Division, IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit at Renesas. “Our joint collaboration offers customers a solution with everything needed for resolver stepping motor development, including motors, RDCs, MCUs, software and tools, enabling them to accelerate their motor development and shorten their time-to-market.”
MinebeaMitsumi plans to start sample shipments of the new resolver-based stepping motors next month with mass production starting in April. Renesas’ resolver-based stepping motor control kit will also be available next month.
