The hottest step charging accelerates the intellec

Step charging accelerates the intellectualization of water/gas meters, causing strong growth of FRAM

Wang Shuo's novel "half is fire, half is sea water" has an imaginative title, which can be borrowed to relate the measurement of water and gas meters we pay attention to. On the one hand, sea water and flame vividly represent these two industries in natural form, on the other hand, it also implies the passion and undercurrent surging of water/gas meters on the road of intelligent development. With such imagination, we will focus on the just concluded water gas metering and Management Forum (water gas metering china2014)

the focus of this forum is to explore the challenges and solutions encountered in the process of moving towards intelligent water/gas meters. As the main sponsor of this forum, Fujitsu semiconductor, in addition to exhibiting fram product solutions that are very suitable for water/gas meter applications, Mr. Masato Matsumoto, vice president of its system memory division, also made a wonderful speech on the forum entitled "the best solution for fram (ferroelectric nonvolatile random access memory) intelligent water/gas meter to store key data"

Figure 1 Fujitsu's FRA spring torque tester M product scheme on display attracted many visitors to stop

Fujitsu semiconductor is very happy to support and speak at the 2014 smart water/gas metering and tube driving force forum. We deliver nearly 10 million pieces to power meter customers every year. Six meter manufacturers among the top 10 well-known power meter enterprises in the world use Fujitsu semiconductor fram! The ultra-low power consumption of our fram is also very suitable for application in the fields of smart water meters, gas meters and so on. We hope that through this exhibition, more industry experts will understand our countermeasures in smart water meters/gas meters. Caizhenyu, head of Fujitsu semiconductor fram products in China, said

step charging accelerates the intellectualization of water/gas meters

intelligent three meters (water, electricity and gas) are closely related to our daily life. Generally, where there are electricity meters, there are water/gas meters. However, compared with the intelligent degree of electricity meters, there is still a considerable gap between the electrification ability of water/gas meters and electricity meters. After nearly 10 years of rapid development, the degree of intelligence of electricity meters has been able to realize step charging, while most water/gas meters now do not have the ability of step charging

because the shortage of global water resources forces the government to pay attention to water conservation and water volume control, and the intelligent water meter that can meet the step pricing will become a powerful tool for building a water-saving society! Smart water meters measure accurately and facilitate copying. Under the background of the comprehensive promotion of stepped water prices, the national development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of housing and urban rural development issued opinions requiring all cities to fully implement the residents' stepped water price system in principle by the end of 2015, and local governments should formulate plans to complete the transformation of one household one meter

the step-by-step charge will accelerate the intelligent pace of the water meter/gas meter. The intelligent degree of the current water meter/gas meter is only about the same as that of the electricity meter 10 years ago. With the proposal of the step-by-step water price policy, the price of water/gas in China is rising. The reason for the price rise is that the step-by-step charge will increase the cost of the water meter/gas meter, because the step-by-step charge will require the water meter/gas meter to store more information and low power consumption, This puts forward higher requirements for devices that store key data in water/gas meters, which is also a great opportunity for Fujitsu semiconductor fram. Mr. caizhenyu pointed out

three characteristics enhance fram popularity

Fujitsu semiconductor fram has a good performance in the application of smart meters, which is inseparable from fram's own advantages (nonvolatile, low power consumption, high-speed reading and writing), as shown in Figure 2 below

Figure 2 Fram has three characteristics: nonvolatile, low power consumption and high-speed reading and writing

compared with traditional nonvolatile memory, FR plays an important role in national defense, aerospace, chemical industry, metallurgy, coating, construction and other industries. The power consumption of AM is much smaller and the writing speed is faster. For similar writes, fram power consumption is only 1/1000 of ROM during eep2013 (2) 023 years ago. The write time of FRAM is 1/40000 of that of EEPROM, reaching the level of traditional volatile memory such as SRAM and DRAM. Moreover, the read/write durability of FRAM is much better than EEPROM and flash memory. EEPROM and flash memory can write about 1million times (10 ^ 6 times), and fram can write up to 1trillion times, or more than 1million times as many times as the first two kinds of memory

fram is popular and widely used in the power instrument industry for three main reasons:

1. Fram is a nonvolatile memory and does not need a backup battery

2. Fram has the characteristics of high-speed writing and does not need super capacitors

3. Fram has high read-write durability, simple software operation, and no wear leveling

the application field of FRAM is not limited here. At present, Fujitsu semiconductor fram is also used in measurement instruments (three-phase electricity meters, water meters, gas meters, etc.), power automation, medical devices and medical electronic labels, automotive afterloading equipment, POS machines/financial ATM machines, and other industries. The characteristics and applications of FRAM are shown in Figure 3 below

Figure 3 Characteristics and applications of fram

like power meters, Fujitsu semiconductor fram is becoming the best solution choice for water/gas meters and their centralized reading systems. As shown in Figure 4 below, fram can be seen in the water meter/gas meter system, from the concentrator to the water meter/gas meter of every household. In the concentrator, fram is used to store the historical data of communication, while in the gas meter application, fram is used to store the historical data of gas flow, and in the water meter application, fram is used to store the historical data of water flow

Figure 4 Fram is becoming the best choice for water/gas meter and its centralized reading system

Fujitsu semiconductor fram has now been adopted by many domestic water/gas meter manufacturers. For example, some water/gas meter manufacturers in Hangzhou and Jiangyin have adopted our fram to replace EEPROM as a storage device. Mr. caizhenyu further pointed out that battery life is the key to water/gas meters, and the low-power Fujitsu semiconductor fram can not only record historical data in real time, but also extend battery life

Figure 5 The power consumption of Fujitsu fram is only 1/50 of that of EEPROM

as shown in Figure 5 above, under the same comparison conditions (the capacity of the comparison element is 16kbit (FRAM, EEPROM), and the power consumption includes standby current), the power consumption using EEPROM is as high as 500mah, while the power consumption using fram is only 10mah, and the latter is only 1/50 of the former

stable and reliable supply ensures the interests of customers

fram has obvious advantages in performance, but the quality of storage products is another factor that customers attach great importance to. Mr. caizhenyu said that Fujitsu semiconductor has used mature technology to produce fram for more than 10 years. We started mass production in 1999 and have sold 2.58 billion fram products in 15 years. High reliability, complete integrated supply system and grand business vision are our commitments to customers

with years of experience, Fujitsu semiconductor can always ensure the high quality and stable supply of FRAM products because it has mastered the whole process from fram research and development, design to mass production and packaging. Our fram product line is quite broad, with a capacity from 4KB to 4MB, covering SPI and IIC serial interfaces and parallel interfaces. In the future, Fujitsu semiconductor will continue to launch more new products and gradually realize large capacity. We are already developing 8MB products. Caizhenyu revealed

it is reported that fram with serial interface can replace EEPROM or serial flash memory, and the construction of Yulian Industrial Park, the first industrial convergence area in Gongyi City, has begun, while fram products with parallel interface can replace low-power SRAM or PSRAM (pseudo SRAM). In terms of packaging, at present, fram can basically replace EEPROM directly, and the packaging of FRAM and EEPROM are completely compatible

Fujitsu semiconductor also continues to innovate in low-power manufacturing processes to further reduce costs and prices. Compared with electricity meters, the cost pressure of water/gas meters is lower, and the acceptance of FRAM may be higher. This is also the market opportunity that Fujitsu semiconductor will strive to seize next

the Chinese market has become the largest market of Fujitsu semiconductor FRAM in the world. We have given great support to Chinese customers in terms of product price, delivery, factory capacity allocation and technical support. Caizhenyu said that fram is a very good memory, and at this forum, we had face-to-face exchanges with experts from governments, quality inspection institutions, associations, water and gas companies, and leading industry enterprises. Everyone has a further understanding of the advantages and functions of FRAM, and fram will have a broader prospect in the future