• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Microcontroller Tips

Microcontroller engineering resources, new microcontroller products and electronics engineering news

  • Products
    • 8-bit
    • 16-bit
    • 32-bit
    • 64-bit
  • Applications
    • 5G
    • Automotive
    • Connectivity
    • Consumer Electronics
    • EV Engineering
    • Industrial
    • IoT
    • Medical
    • Security
    • Telecommunications
    • Wearables
    • Wireless
  • Learn
    • eBooks / Tech Tips
    • EE Training Days
    • FAQs
    • Learning Center
    • Tech Toolboxes
    • Webinars/Digital Events
  • Resources
    • Design Guide Library
    • DesignFast
    • LEAP Awards
    • Podcasts
    • White Papers
  • Videos
    • EE Videos & Interviews
    • Teardown Videos
  • EE Forums
    • EDABoard.com
    • Electro-Tech-Online.com
  • Engineering Training Days
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

MCUs + capacitive touch sensor help detect materials and liquids without sensors

April 23, 2019 By Aimee Kalnoskas Leave a Comment

Material Detection SolutionRenesas Electronics Corporation introduced its Material Detection Solution, which can detect materials or liquids easily and cost-effectively without sensors by connecting electrodes using Renesas’ RX130 capacitive touch-key microcontrollers (MCUs). Replacing the sensors with this electrode approach contributes to lower bill of materials (BOM) costs while enabling detection at multiple points using a single chip. This allows industrial equipment, OA equipment, and home appliance manufacturers to explore detection systems for cost-constrained applications. 

Renesas’ touch-key MCUs feature a capacitive touch sensor unit specialized for capacitance measurement with extremely high sensitivity and high noise resistance. This enables the Material Detection Solution to easily detect the presence or absence of a powder such as vacuum cleaner dust, a liquid such as refrigerator and coffee maker, or material such as paper by measuring the capacitance between electrodes to the MCU. The increase or decrease of the powder, liquid, or material will change the capacitance value between the electrodes.

As sensor-based technology proliferates in industrial equipment, OA equipment, and home appliances, the demand for different types of sensor solutions is rapidly increasing to address diverse sensing needs. Applications require fine-grained sensing for predictive maintenance capabilities. For instance, printers are required to detect the remaining amounts of consumable materials and inform users in advance when replacements are required. Vacuum cleaners also need to manage the accumulation of dust retained by vacuum cleaner filters in order to perform efficient cleaning. This provides improved device functionality and increased user convenience.

Although these applications can be implemented by using various types of sensors, such as pressure sensors for detecting physical objects, photosensors, IR sensors, and CMOS sensors, the use of multiple sensors creates additional cost and heavy development burdens.

To achieve sensor-less physical object detection easily and cost-effectively, the Renesas solution connects two thin-film electrodes and measures the capacitance between those electrodes using one of its touch-key MCUs. Changes in the measured materials are determined by detecting the change in capacitance between the electrodes.

In addition to eliminating the need for sensor evaluation and operating condition determination, the initialization and sensitivity adjustments can be easily performed using the development support graphical user interface (GUI) tool available for capacitive touch sensor systems. This enables developers to quickly implement a capacitive touch sensor unit in equipment that require a detection function.

Filed Under: microcontroller Tagged With: renesaselectronicscorporation

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Featured Contributions

Five challenges for developing next-generation ADAS and autonomous vehicles

Securing IoT devices against quantum computing risks

RISC-V implementation strategies for certification of safety-critical systems

What’s new with Matter: how Matter 1.4 is reshaping interoperability and energy management

Edge AI: Revolutionizing real-time data processing and automation

More Featured Contributions

EE TECH TOOLBOX

“ee
Tech Toolbox: 5G Technology
This Tech Toolbox covers the basics of 5G technology plus a story about how engineers designed and built a prototype DSL router mostly from old cellphone parts. Download this first 5G/wired/wireless communications Tech Toolbox to learn more!

EE Learning Center

EE Learning Center

EE ENGINEERING TRAINING DAYS

engineering
“bills
“microcontroller
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, tools and strategies for EE professionals.

DesignFast

Design Fast Logo
Component Selection Made Simple.

Try it Today
design fast globle

Footer

Microcontroller Tips

EE World Online Network

  • 5G Technology World
  • EE World Online
  • Engineers Garage
  • Analog IC Tips
  • Battery Power Tips
  • Connector Tips
  • DesignFast
  • EDA Board Forums
  • Electro Tech Online Forums
  • EV Engineering
  • Power Electronic Tips
  • Sensor Tips
  • Test and Measurement Tips

Microcontroller Tips

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
  • About us

Copyright © 2025 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy