Abstract
The demand for effective production control and flexible manufacturing lines is increasing placing many kinds of products on the market promptly according to various needs. Therefore field networks that connect line controllers and field equipment like sensors and actuators have been spreading instead of separate conventional electrical wiring. We describe the development of a one-chip transceiver LSI for communication interface. High-voltage devices with SOI substrate and monolithic isolator technology were developed. Then, a 1 MHz transceiver circuit and discrete devices, including 1 kV isolators, and a 5 V switching regulator were integrated onto the one-chip that measures 4.5 mm x 4.3 mm. An LSI with a monolithic isolator and a switching regulator can provide a small, low-consumption communication interface for the DeviceNet of a representative field network. Consequently, the mounting space and power consumption of the interface were reduced by 50% and 80%, respectively. We confirmed that an interface circuit employing the LSI in a network control system for air conditioners had the same transmission waveforms as that of a conventional interface circuit.
