1. APEC 2013 Shatters Attendance and Participation Records - Again
   
2. PSMA Annual Meeting Attracts a Crowd
   
3. Committee Chairs Report at PSMA 2013 Annual Meeting
   
4. PSMA Special Call for Papers
   
5. Meet Your Directors
   
6. About Our Members
   
7. Welcome to PSMA
   
8. External Power Adapter Market Developments - 2013 and Beyond
   
9. Are You Smart Enough for the Smart Grid? Workshop Overview
   
10. The Smart Grid Workshop: Are You Smart Enough for the Smart Grid?
    
11. PSMA Power Technology Roadmap 2013
    
12. PSMA Preserves Knowledge and Fosters Research in Power Magnetics
    
13. Solar Energy Stock Index Q1 2013
    
14. Solar Energy DealReader Q1 2013
    
15. EMS Stock Index Q1 2013
    
16. EMS DealReader Q1 2013
    
17. Events of Interest - Mark Your Calendar

If you or anyone in your company is interested in getting on the distribution list for future issues of PSMA UPDATE, please send e-mail to: power@psma.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company.

Previous issues of update: Q3_2012 | Q4_2012 | Q1_2013

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PSMA UPDATE is published and distributed via e-mail quarterly by the Power Sources Manufacturers Association. Send editorial information and comments to:

Permission to reprint information and articles as published is granted: a courtesy line is appreciated.

Membership in PSMA is open to any organization or corporation involved in the power sources and supplies industry. For membership information, visit our website or contact us by fax, telephone or email.

If you or anyone in your company is interested in getting on the distribution list for future issues of PSMA UPDATE, please send e-mail to: power@psma.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company.

 

Some of the new features that added to this year's event included:

• A mobile app to help attendees keep track of paper sessions and exhibitor information
  
• HD projection screens in the well-attended plenary session
  
• Digital signage outside every meeting room with up-to-date information about upcoming sessions and activities
  
• Cyber café and way finder technology in the exhibit hall.
  

Important milestones achieved this year included record-shattering attendance and participation:

• 4,391 registered attendees - breaking 4,000 for the first time
  
• 989 paper submissions - up 23% over APEC 2012
  
• 514 papers presented - up 28%
  
• 187 exhibitors - up 10% occupying 286 booth spaces
  

So the bar has been set pretty high for APEC 2014. We'll going back to Fort Worth and there is every expectation that 2014 will build on APEC's success. As energy efficiency continues to grow in importance, our conference and exposition fills a critical role in in delivering education and information.

Provided by Greg Evans, APEC 2014 Publicity Chair

ver 50 PSMA members and guests attended the PSMA Annual Meeting, held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Long Beach, CA during APEC 2013.

A buffet breakfast was served at 7:30 a.m. and provided an opportunity for networking and meeting colleagues. Chairman Carl Blake opened the meeting by welcoming all the attendees and asked each to briefly introduce themselves. Among those present were many of the 30 student recipients of the APEC Attendance Awards. These awards are provided jointly by IAS, PELS and PSMA and attracted 115 applicants from 56 different schools in 13 countries.

The first item on the agenda was the election of four people to the Board of Directors. The following candidates were elected to the Board of Directors for the three-year term (2013-2016):

Carl Blake recognized the contributions of Jim Marinos who is leaving the Board as Director and expressed the appreciation of PSMA for his service and continued contributions to the Association. Jim will continue to serve as PSMA President until his term expires at APEC 2014.

Carl discussed his vision for the coming year which is to continue to expand the participation of member companies as a means to increase the value of their membership. He encouraged every company representative to promote the activities of PSMA to others in their company and inform them of the opportunities provided by the PSMA Technical Committees.

Carl also reviewed the membership statistics for the past year and noted that the Association added 16 new member companies, but lost 12 for a net gain of 4 new member companies. He emphasized that the Board is working hard to expand and to increase the value of membership in the Association.

Following his report Carl presented plaques to the following members who have made significant contributions to the Association in the past years who were recognized for their outstanding achievements:

Following the Chairman's Report was a financial Report sent in by Michel Grenon. There were also individual reports from the PSMA Committees and reports on the two recent PSMA Workshops.

Siamak Abedinpour, General Chair for APEC 2013, provided an update on the progress of APEC 2013. The conference has been setting new records in number of paper submissions, number of paper acceptances, registrations and attendees and exhibit booths. The conference appears to be headed to become both a technical and financial success. APEC 2014 will be held in Fort Worth TX March 16 - 20 2014.

The minutes from the PSMA Annual Meeting will be posted in the Members Only area of the PSMA web site together with the charts from all of the presentations.

The Annual Meeting, PSMA Committee meetings, as well as the technical sessions, seminars, Industry Presentations, exhibits and other events kept PSMA members busy all the week. The APEC banquet, held at the Aquarium of the Pacific, gave everyone a chance to relax and enjoy themselves.

There were a record number of exhibitors at APEC 2013. PSMA member companies who exhibited at APEC 2013 participated in a "Passport" game in which attendees visited their booths and had their passport booklets stamped. Attendees turned in their completed passports for a chance to win an iPad. Traffic to members' booths was brisk and the lucky winner was very happy with his prize.

Ed Sidor, Alternative Energy Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee has been meeting monthly and there have been changes in the leadership over the past year. The committee has organized a 6 speaker Industry Session that will be presented during APEC 2013 and invited interested people to attend their committee meeting and Industry Session scheduled in the coming week.

Chavonne Yee, Chuck Mullett and Joe Horzepa at Alternative Energy Committee meeting

John Prymak, Capacitor Committee Co-Chair, reported that there have been several changes in the leadership of the committee this past year. The committee has organized 7 speaker Industry Session that will be presented during APEC 2013 and outlined some of the proposed activities for the coming year.

Joseph Bond, Fred Weber, Ralph Kerrigan and John Prymak at Capacitor Committee meeting

Dusty Becker, Energy Efficiency Committee Co-Chair, presented an overview of the content and status of the Energy Efficiency Data Base available on the PSMA web site and that is regularly updated. He also reported that the committee has organized a 7 presentation Industry Session at APEC 2013 that focuses on "Power Management, Cell Phones to the Grid"

Mohan Mankikar, Doug McIlvoy, Ed Herbert and Dusty Becker at Energy Efficiency Committee meeting

In addition, Doug McIlvoy, moderator for the EPRI/PSMA workshop held the Saturday before APEC, presented an overview of the workshop and initial implications. The workshop was organized jointly by PSMA and EPRI and was titled "Are You Smart Enough for the Smart Grid".

Attendees at Smart Grid Workshop on Saturday March 16

Some of the presenters at Smart Grid Workshop on Saturday March 16

Arnold Alderman, Energy Harvesting Committee Co-Chair, reviewed the activities origin of the committee which has been very active this past year. Besides organizing a seven speaker Industry Session is scheduled during APEC 2013, the committee will also include a working demonstration of 6 energy harvesting systems immediately following the session in the same meeting room.

Philip Krein, Industry Education Committee member, reviewed the main committee activities which focused on APEC student attendance awards, support of the International Future Energy Challenge and developing an educational program in power electronics for middle school students.

Ed Herbert, Magnetics Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee has held monthly meeting this past year and is planning to organize an Industry Session for APEC 2014. He also provided an update on the Core Loss project undertaken with Dartmouth University.

Frank Cirolia, Marketing Committee Co-Chair, provided an overview of the committee and some of the activities on its current agenda. He focused on the activities in support of APEC and the PSMA member companies that have exhibit booths this year. He also reviewed the activities of the Membership Committee, chaired by Ed Sidor, to increase the value of membership and to expand membership categories.

Chuck Mullett, Nanotechnology Committee Co-Chair, reported that committee accomplishments for the past year have been outstanding. For APEC 2013, the committee had an Education Seminar accepted, a Plenary presentation speaker and organized a 6 speaker Industry Session. In addition to the Nano 100 and Nano 200 e-learning courses now available to members through the Nanotechnology Technical Forum on the psma.com web site, the committee is developing a Nano 300 e-learning course targeted at students in college and graduate schools.

Chuck Mullett, Tony Laviano and Ernie Parker at Nanotechnology Committee meeting

Ernie Parker, Power Electronics Packaging Committee Co-Chair, reviewed the activities and results of the committee this past year. It has been an outstanding year with the organizing of two Industry Sessions for APEC 2013. The first is a 7 speaker Industry session on "Key Technologies for Power Electronics in Electric Drive Vehicles" and the second Industry Session on "3D Packaging for Power Electronics". In addition, the committee is considering a special project on 3D Packaging for Power Electronics.

Eric Persson, Power Technology Roadmap Committee Co-Chair, reported that the 2013 Power Technology Roadmap has been published and will be distributed to the membership in the next couple of weeks. The report is 600 pages and includes a USB memory stick. In addition to the material in the written report, the USB memory stick will include both the PowerPoint presentations and audio recordings of the Webinars held the past year. A brief overview of the results of the 2013 Roadmap was presented at the Plenary Session later that day.

Attendees at Power Technology Roadmap Committee meeting

Cian O'Mathuna, Program Chair for PwrSoC 2012, reported that the November workshop which was jointly sponsored by PSMA and IEEE PELS was very successful and attracted 180 attendees equally split between industry and academia. Cian gave a brief overview of the results of the workshop. He also presented the report at the APEC 2013 Plenary Session that was held later that afternoon.

More information about the PSMA committees was made available during the week at the individual committee meetings. PSMA members and guests were encouraged to attend these meetings to learn more about the committees and to help plan activities for the coming year.

APEC 2014

Twenty-ninth Annual
IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition

March 16- 20, 2014 Fort Worth Convention Center Fort Worth, TX USA

APEC 2014 continues the long-standing tradition of addressing issues of immediate and long-term interest to the practicing power electronic engineer. Outstanding technical content is provided at one of the lowest registration costs of any IEEE conference. APEC 2014 will provide a) the best power electronics exposition, b) professional development courses taught by world-class experts, c) presentations of peer-reviewed technical papers covering a wide range of topics, and d) time to network and enjoy the company of fellow power electronics professionals in a beautiful setting. Activities for guests, spouses, and families are abundant in the Fort Worth area.

Papers of value to the practicing engineer are solicited in the following topic areas:

(Please see the APEC 2014 website for a more detailed description by subtopic.)

The following PSMA Committee Chairs may be contacted to provide guidance to prospective Authors in the preparation of their abstracts and papers:

our members of the PSMA Board of Directors are elected at the Annual Meeting held every year during the APEC conference. Each Director serves a three year term and is eligible to be reelected for one additional term. We would like you to meet two of the Directors elected at the Annual Meeting on March 18, 2013.

Dusty Becker has been involved in the design and development of DC Rectifiers, DC-DC Converters, and DC Power Systems for both indoor and outdoor applications since joining Emerson in 1968. Dusty has held the positions of Engineer, Design Engineer, Staff Engineer, R&D Manager, Director of Engineering, VP of Operations, VP of Systems Engineering, VP of Product Development, and currently VP of Technology.

His current focus is new technology directions in the areas of Power and Outside Plant, including high power delivery systems as well as 380Vdc distribution.

Dusty holds three patents and has two patents pending. He is the author of over 30 technical papers and magazine articles on the subject of DC power conversion and distribution.

Dusty is a past Co- Chair for the Intelec Technical Committee and is currently a member of the Intelec IEC.

Dusty is past Chairman of the PSMA (Power Sources Manufacturing Association) Board of Directors and is Co-Chair of the PSMA Energy Efficiency Committee.

Dusty also sits on the NEMA Energy Storage Technical Committee as well as the recently formed IEC TAG for IEC Smart Grid Standardization.

Dusty is a member of the Green Grid technical committee - Power Sub-working Group.

Dusty is also a member of the E-merge alliance, Data & TelecomTechnical Standards Committee.

Provided by Dusty Becker, Vice President of Technology, Emerson Network Power - Energy Systems

Brian has been co-chairman of the PSMA Packaging Committee for 6 years, which sponsored and facilitated the PSMA "PSiP2PwrSoC" Special Project. He has chaired multiple APEC Industry Sessions. In addition Brian serves on the PSMA Technology Roadmap sub-committee focused on DC-DC Converters. He has been involved with PSMA since 2001 when he became the company representative for TI.

Brian has attended every APEC since 1994 except one. He has presented 3 technical sessions and co-authored or presented 4 industry sessions. This year he and Ernie Parker are co-chairing the industry session "3D Packaging for Power Electronics" where they have recruited 7 speakers from Industry and Academia.

Brian has published over 25 power electronics articles in the US, Asia and Europe. Most were technical, but he also wrote about industry issues such as POLA vs. DOSA.

Provided by Brian Narveson, President, Narveson's Innovative Consulting

 
CP Technologies (ACPTek) provides consulting services in power electronics design, marketing and training. We are based in Bangalore, India, and deliver solutions to clients across the world. Since 2008, along with our sister company, Innovatech, we have completed a number of challenging and innovative projects for our customers. We build customer loyalty through consistent and transparent communications, timely delivery of milestones and clear and complete documentation.

Multi-channel Synchronous Buck for powering FPGA

4-channel Voltage Regulator using PowerPSoC

We provide customized power electronics solutions in 3 major areas:

• Design and development of power electronics systems and subsystems These include reference designs for dc-dc converters (PoE, multi-channel bucks, digitally controlled multi-channel converters, etc.), PFC converters, drivers and battery chargers. In addition, we have provided system power solutions embedded in our customers' end products for healthcare, computing, consumer and industrial applications at power levels ranging from 2 W to 2 kW. As an additional service, we provide mentoring and design guidance to companies and complement their internal resources.
  
  
• Technical and strategic marketing in power electronics We take on assignments like competitive product teardowns (ranging from consumer appliances to high-end digital power supplies used in servers), technology collateral creation (for example, ON Semi's PFC handbook and IGBT handbook), market studies (publication of the very first report on India's Power Electronics Market - IPEMR 2010) and strategic India market promotion for leading edge providers of power electronics solutions (currently for Payton Planar Magnetics).
  
  

• 300 W PFC Reference Design

  Training and mentoring services in power electronics (both customer-site and hosted by us)Our structured, hands-on power electronics training covers a wide range of topics while providing enough depth in the core areas such as magnetics, topologies and control. This is supplemented by lab sessions where trainees are challenged to interpret and analyze the waveforms and data, based on the technical material they have learnt in the lecture sessions. This training has been delivered to 100+ trainees in various organizations in India and is consistently rated Excellent by the attendees. ACPTek also delivered a Professional Education Seminar on "Systematic Design for High Efficiency" at APEC 2010.

For further information or project consulting queries, please contact dhaval@acptek.com

Provided by Dhaval Dalal, Managing Director, ACP Technologies

 
AÏA Converter was created in the early 90's. Since that time the company has provided one of the most comprehensive range of modular power components on the market place. GAÏA Converter has also brought on to the market its well-known concept of Modular Power Architecture to allow simple design of complex power supplies.

With more than 3,500 standard power component references serving the Hi-Rel industrial, transportation, aerospace and military markets, GAÏA Converter is recognized as one of the world leader for "power module" solutions. Strongly focused on power modules, GAÏA Converter can concentrate all its effort to propose innovative solutions and a complete comprehensive suite in this field.

More products are completed every year by our engineering team to cope with new technologies and market trends. GAÏA Converter dedicates significant R&D investment on a continuous basis in order to maintain a state of the art product range.

The GAÏA engineering team not only design product with a competitive advantage but is also devoted to solving the customers' power problems.

The company's advanced design and development capabilities include:

• Circuit behaviour simulation
  
• Thermal management
  
• Advanced packaging techniques
  
• Proprietary magnetic and ASIC design
  
• Environmental test
  
• Reliability evaluation

The skill and innovation spirit of the GAÏA Converter design team is supported by computer aided engineering, for electrical simulation,mechanical design, thermal analysis and optimization, reliability predication, circuit board layout up to manufacturing instruction.
This CAE system is used extensively to ensure design performance and integrity from prototyping to mass production.

With a presence in 25 countries around the world through subsidiaries and local distributors, GAÏA Converter is a global company. On each continent (America, Europe, Asia) GAÏA Converter ensures a strong presence with Commercial & Technical Support Centers for its distributor network and customers.

GAÏA Converter's manufacturing philosophy is based on fully automated lines with no manual operation. These automated lines include the latest fast SMD pick and place machine, automatic pin insertion tool and automatic potting machine. The extensive use of statistical methods guaranties high quality products.

Provided by Michel Grenon, General Manager, GAÏA Converter

Editors Note: We would like to feature your company in a future issue of the Update. Please contact the Association Office for information about how to submit an article for consideration.

Chang Sung Corporation
Gwang-Bo Choi
11-9, Namdong Industrial Area
Namdong-Ku, Incheon, Korea
E-mail: cgbcg@hanmail.net
Web site: www.changsung.com

Established in 1980 as a specialist in the field of metal powders, Chang Sung Corp has worked hard to be an important leader in the functional material industry.

With a steadfast spirit to overcome challenges and pursue innovation, Chang Sung has developed unrivaled technologies and maintained a strong competitiveness in the field of metal powders, soft magnetic cores, clad metals and conductive pastes.

In the 21st century, Chang Sung Corp is focusing even more on developing future magnetic, conductive and EMC functional materials that meet the needs of all their customers. Their goal is to provide total solutions in the field of functional materials from the design phase to the final product.

All the members of Chang Sung are committed to the company motto, "Think more, decide firmly and act rapidly." They promise to continue to strive to be a responsible and diligent global leader through the endless pursuit of technology and innovation and with the vital support of their customers.

Above all, Chang Sung Corporation is committed to pursuing happiness for both customers and members.

Coil Winding Specialist, Inc.
James Lau
353 W. Grove Avenue
Orange, CA 92865
E-mail: jlau@coilws.com

Coil Winding Specialist or CWS started as a design center for custom inductors, chokes, coils and transformers in the early 1980s in California. Its original objective was to provide custom designs for engineers in need of inductive and transformer products in a hurry. In order to meet this objective, CWS has developed over a thousand standard off the shelf inductors, coils and transformers that can be purchased using our secure on-line ordering through our web site. Each product category has its own online ordering where engineers and buyer can order samples and small production items quickly and conveniently.

CWS is the only direct manufacturer in the industry that provides on-line ordering of magnetic parts, inductors, coils and transformers.

CWS provides full service from design, prototyping, and pre-production run to volume production. Their engineers have combined more than 40 years of experience in designing and manufacturing of magnetic components from medical to military applications. These inductor, choke, coil, and transformer are designed with laminations, tape would cores, amorphous cores, nanocrystalline cores, ferrite cores, iron powder cores, MPP cores, sendust or high flux cores in all shapes and sizes.

Designs, prototyping and pre-productions of inductors, chokes and transformers are done at their facility in Orange, California. Volume productions are done at their ISO 9001 manufacturing facility in China to reduce cost. With prototyping and pre-productions done in Orange, CA we can offer our customer the fastest delivery where lead times are extremely important. Typical delivery from design to pre-production is ranging from 2 days to 2 weeks.

CWS's team of experts can help you with your entire coil winding, inductor, choke, coil and transformer designing needs. They will wind anything per your requirements and have the capabilities to verify your designs, test your ideas and concepts, as well as build your magnetic products to your specifications.

Electronic Concepts, Inc.
Shirley Yuen
526 Industrial Way West
Eatontown, NJ 07724
E-mail: syuen@ecicaps.com
Web site: www.ecicaps.com

Since its incorporation in June of 1969, Electronic Concepts has grown to be a recognized and respected name in the electronic component industry, focusing on specialty film capacitors made of various dielectrics. Through engineering innovation and expertise, production flexibility and service; Electronic Concepts has become a major supplier in high technology fields of Avionics, Medical Electronics, General Instrumentation, Telecommunications, and many others.

A major factor in the growth and success of Electronic Concepts has been their leadership role in the area of new and emerging technologies and their ability to address the changing needs of the industry. This effort is evidenced by their many patents and innovative products.

Electronic Concepts' innovative capacitor design capability offers the flexibility to meet customers' most demanding film capacitor requirement. As a vertically integrated capacitor manufacturer, they offer prototype and custom manufacturing, as well as a diverse spectrum of standard product lines ranging from small chip size capacitors to large building blocks. Electronic Concepts is extremely flexible with the ability to produce dielectric, produce stamped or machined terminals, fabricate enclosures in plastic or metals, perform unique testing and develop and build its own production and testing equipment.

In order to provide swift and comprehensive worldwide service, Electronic Concepts has two manufacturing facilities. Their US Headquarters consists of 100,000 square feet in Eatontown, New Jersey USA, established in 1969. Their European Headquarters is located in a 30,000 square foot facility in Galway Ireland, established in 1982 and additional facilities in Lee, Massachusetts.
In order to support continuing technical advances, Electronic Concepts employs a staff of engineers whose combined film capacitor experience is in excess of 100 years. These talented engineers, in addition to keeping abreast of industry trends, are in frequent contact with customers to address their current, specific requirements.

Dr. Prasad Enjeti
Texas A&M University
301F Wisenbaker Engineering Research Center
3128 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-3128
E-mail: enjeti@tamu.edu

Dr. Prasad Enjeti is the Associate Department Head, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, Texas A&M University.

He was the recipient of the IEEE-IAS Second & third best paper award in 1993, 1998, 1999, 2001 & 1996 respectively; second best IEEE-IA transaction paper published in mid-year 1994 to mid-year 1995 and, IEEE-IAS Magazine Prize Article Award in the year 1996. In year 2000, he was elected to Fellow grade by the IEEE Fellow Committee for "Contributions to solutions of utility interface problems in power electronic systems and harmonic mitigation". He is inaugural recipient of the R. David Middlebrook Technical Achievement Award from the IEEE Power Electronics Society, 2012.

In addition to his regular graduate and undergraduate teaching, he along with his students and colleagues has taught 25 different technical short courses, has published well over 100 conference papers, 86 journal papers, and seven book chapters. His research emphasis on industry based issues has attracted significant funding. So far, 26 PhD and 41 MS students have graduated under his supervision and have spring boarded into key leadership positions.

He is the lead developer of the Power Electronics / Power Quality & Fuel Cell Power Conditioning Laboratories at Texas A&M University and is actively involved in many projects with industries while engaged in teaching, research and consulting in the area of power electronics, motor drives. He holds four US patent and has licensed two new technologies to the industry so far.

Excelitas Technologies
Andrew Stelmack
1100 Vanguard Blvd
Miamisburg, OH 45342
E-mail: andrew.stelmack@excelitas.com
Web site: www.excelitas.com

Excelitas Technologies is a global technology leader focused on delivering innovative, customized solutions to meet the lighting, detection and other high-performance technology needs of OEM customers. From medical lighting to analytical instrumentation, clinical diagnostics, industrial, safety and security, and aerospace and defense applications, Excelitas Technologies is committed to enabling customers' success in their specialty end-markets.

Excelitas Technologies has been delivering high-performance optoelectronics solutions to OEMs worldwide for many years. Excelitas Technologies was previously a business unit of PerkinElmer, and is now owned by Veritas Capital. The company was founded by MIT professor Harold Edgerton, a pioneer in high-speed photography and his partners, Kenneth Germeshausen, a pioneer in high energy switching devices and Herbert Grier, a leader in the field of nuclear testing. The founders' legacy was grounded in high-performance technology solutions and pioneering innovations and that is carried into Excelitas Technologies today.

Excelitas Technologies has approximately 3,000 employees in North America, Europe and Asia, serving customers across the world. The mission of Excelitas Technologies is to provide innovative, customized opto-electronic solutions to OEMs seeking high-performance, market-driven technologies. Excelitas' core values - Integrity, Customer Focus, Continuous Improvement, Teamwork, and Organizational Agility - are the foundations that guide all of their actions.

Fastech Synergy Inc.
Rene I. Dela Cruz
Ampere St cor West Road, Light Industry and Science Park 1
Bgy. Malitlit
Cabuyao, Laguna 4025
Philippines
E-mail: ridelacruz@fastech.com.ph
Web site: www.fastechsynergy.com

Established in 1983, Fastech provides turnkey sub-con manufacturing assembly, test and tune, product development and drop shipment services for OEM semiconductor and RF/ microwave manufacturers in Europe, US and Asia. They offer total solutions on assembly, packaging and testing for power discrete components, micro-packages and IC semiconductor components. Fastech is also a leading provider of turnkey manufacturing services for a full range of RF/ microwave components and modules. Fastech maintains state-of the-art manufacturing facilities in the Philippines. They are positioned to meet the high demand for semiconductor and microwave manufacturing services for applications in the field of computers, telecommunications, consumer and automotive products.

Fastech aims to provide total manufacturing solutions to its clients through flexible and cost-competitive services. They continue to develop and improve processes and product enhancements to better serve the various needs of clients. Fastech acknowledges the unique requirement of each client by offering services particular to the client's specification and needs. They work with the customer to reduce costs and share the savings.

For Fastech, quality is everyone's responsibility. Fastech consciously endeavors to raise its quality level higher than the standards. They employ tight measures to ensure the quality of products and processes. Total customer satisfaction is the goal of every employee.

GE Lighting
Xuefei Xie
1800 Cailun Road, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park
Pudong
Shanghai 201203
China
E-mail: xuefei.xie@ge.com
Web site: www.gelighting.com/na/

GE Lighting is the professional division of General Electric specializing in lighting solutions all around the world. GE Lighting will lead a global lighting revolution to deliver innovative solutions that change the way people light and think about their world.

GE was born from the invention of the world's first affordable incandescent lamp. More than a century later, GE Lighting still brings light to the world, helping advance new technologies such as fluorescents and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that operate with more efficiency, less cost and less environmental impact than ever before.
GE energy smart® CFLs and LEDs are part of the role GE Lighting plays in ecomagination. Ecomagination is GE's commitment to imagine and build innovative solutions to today's environmental challenges while driving economic growth.

The GE China Technology Center (CTC), located at the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, Shanghai, is a multidisciplinary research center conducting leading edge research, engineering development, and sourcing for GE's diverse businesses across the world. The focus of the center is to create market-leading innovations and products for GE businesses.
The CTC is an integral part of GE Global Research and one of four such multidisciplinary research facilities within GE. At CTC, scientists, researchers, and engineers work in virtual teams with their counterparts worldwide, in areas like power electronics, real-time/power controls, advanced manufacturing technologies, process sensing & control, medical imaging technologies, materials science, chemical sciences, and materials characterization/analysis.

Monolithic Power Systems, Inc.
John Wiggenhorn
79 Great Oaks Blvd
San Jose, CA 95123
E-mail: john.wiggenhorn@monolithicpower.com
Web site: www.monolithicpower.com

Monolithic Power Systems (MPS) is a high performance analog semiconductor company headquartered in San Jose, California. Formed in 1997, the company has three core strengths; deep system-level and applications knowledge, strong analog design expertise, and an innovative proprietary process technology. These combined advantages enable MPS to deliver highly integrated monolithic products that offer energy efficient, cost-effective solutions.

MPS' systems and applications expertise stems from a team of industry veterans who possess a combination of highly-technical electronics knowledge, sophisticated system and IC level design capabilities and extensive customer application experience. This allows the company to work closely with customers to identify new product opportunities, reduce time-to-market and effectively support its applications. In addition, MPS has developed a portfolio of intellectual property and proprietary wafer fabrication processes that enhance its products and market share. MPS design teams hail from distinguished analog semiconductor companies and top universities with extensive experience per designer. The teams have brought many innovative product suites to market and helped increase the company's annual revenue by an average of 28% between 2004 and 2009. These talented individuals, coupled with MPS' technology advantages, have created an emerging leader in the future of analog technology.

MPS' proprietary BCD Plus™ process technology is key to its competitive advantage. MPS' BCD Plus process technology integrates BiCMOS signal transistors with a highly efficient DMOS power transistor. This allows MPS to design and deliver smaller, single-chip power management ICs that are highly efficient and accurate. In addition, MPS' single process technology simplifies the design process, and is applicable across a wide range of analog applications. The result is higher productivity and significant cost advantages for any MPS customer.

MPS employs over 900 employees worldwide, located in the United States, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore and across Europe.

Renco Electronics, Inc.
Edward W. Rensing
595 International Place
Rockledge, FL 32955
E-mail: ewrensing@rencousa.com
Web site: www.rencousa.com

Renco Electronics provides an impressive array of transformers and inductors, including surface mount through hole and chassis mount. New product designs of at least one new product every quarter are also part of our capability. Renco now produces transformers and coils specifically designed for use in semiconductors, telecommunications, computers, instrumentation, industrial controls, medical equipment, and consumer products.

Renco's components are designed into thousands of products including, but not limited to: cappuccino and coffee makers, parts for backup generators in the space station, mass flow meters for food and beverage makers, and LED lighting.

Renco can build to print, work in conjunction with your engineering team, or completely custom design inductors or transformers to your exact specifications. They will build from 10 pieces to 10 million pieces. Automated low cost, high volume production lines give Renco the ability to produce over 5,000 parts per line, per day. Their extensive manufacturing capabilities in North America and China include everything from high speed winding machines to programmable work station robots.

Renco controls everything down to the final test to insure uniformity & unsurpassed reliability.

Rhombus Energy Solutions
Scott Stromenger
13230 Evening Creek Dr. Ste. 205
San Diego, CA 92128
E-mail: scott@thombusenergy.com
Web site: www.rhombusenergy.com

Rhombus Energy Solutions designs and develops premium power management, power conversion, and energy storage control systems. Rhombus products efficiently manage the varied power sources and demands in intelligent micro-grid electrical systems which require several key elements including energy storage, integration of power sources, load-leveling, grid-tie management, and energy conversion between different voltages and currents.

Rhombus's mission is to help solve the world's future energy challenge, by designing and deploying the most innovative and efficient power conversion and control solutions. While doing this they are committed to creating value for all stakeholders (customers, employees and shareholders).

The team at Rhombus designs and develops premium power management, power conversion & energy storage control systems and provides engineering services that can help you bring your design to life.
Rhombus Engineering Services consists of a group of expert engineers that can help you bring your design to life. They have experience in several disciplines of engineering including Mechanical, Electrical & Software. Rhombus also has System Engineering services to provide a complete end-to-end integration.

United Silicon Carbide Inc
Guy Moxey
7 Deer Park Drive
Monmouth Junction, NJ 08852
E-mail: gmoxey@unitedsic.com
Web site: www.unitedsic.com

United Silicon Carbide, Inc. is devoted to the development of SiC power devices, offering the highest quality, state of the art products and customer service to our partners. Their innovations enable higher efficiency energy transmission, power supplies, and motor controls to a world that needs them now more than ever.

USCi technology and products enable affordable power efficiency in key markets that will drive the new and greener economy. These include:

• Wind and solar power generation
• Electrification of transportation such as automobiles and next generation trains
  
• Emerging Smartgrid technologies that are adding intelligence to our power grid
  
• Higher efficiency power generation and conversion
  
• Motor control
  
• And numerous other applications that require higher efficiency, compact designs, and demanding thermal constraints
  

USCi technology and products are uniquely positioned to leverage the lower cost of outsourced manufacturing capabilities in silicon carbide substrates, epitaxy, and foundries for production device fabrication. This dynamic is what continues to fuel the growth of Digital and Analog IC's and the time is now for Silicon Carbide (SiC). This advancement for SiC will create lower cost of goods, better continuity of supply, and improved quality for these demanding markets.

1. The world market for external power adapters and chargers is forecast to grow by 12% in 2013 after a weaker 2012.
   
   
2. This growth is driven by mainly by strong demand for chargers for smartphones which have higher power consumption and thus require a higher power, more expensive charger. Strong demand for applications such as tablet PCs and LED lighting is also projected to drive revenue growth.
   
   
3. Over the next five years the market will grow by a projected $2 billion. This will in part be due to the growth of emerging applications such as LED lighting and wireless power & charging.
   
   
4. Long term growth in the total power adapter and charger market is predicated to slow. It is forecast that the introduction of the wired Universal Charging Solution (UCS) into the mobile phone market will have a severe impact on the overall power adapter and charger market.
   
   
5. The market will continue to be dominated by Asia in revenue terms. In addition, eight of the ten largest suppliers are based in the Asia region.

The long term outlook for the external power adapter market is still largely uncertain. Potentially, the market could grow much faster if the wider economic environment improves or if the UCS for mobile phones isn't as widely adopted. Although there are uncertainties in the market, there are promising opportunities available for manufacturers who target emerging applications.

Provided by Jonathon Eykyn, Research Analyst, Power Management & Conversion, IMS Research (an IHS company)

Workshop Overview

The Workshop featured 12 Expert Speakers focused on the theme "Are YOU smart enough for the Smart Grid?". Attending the workshop were 40 power electronic industry experts, managers and decision makers interested in learning of the challenges faced by their industry in addressing the Smart Grid. The Keynote Speaker was Clark Gellings, Lifetime Fellow of the EPRI. Clark led the workshop with an introduction to the Grid as it is today, covering History, and challenges that face the grid. Topics that came after covered the Management of the Grid, Drivers of Change to the Grid, What is the Smart grid, Evolving Loads on the grid, Communications for the grid, Cyber security issues for the grid, Grid Stability issues, Energy Storage status and research, Autonomous Response, Changes to the end-user equipments, and ways to optimize system performance. Invited Speakers for the workshop included:

Dr. Khaled Abdul-Rahman of California ISO
Don Von Dollen of EPRI
Dennis Symanski of EPRI
Dr. Jian Sun of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Harley Garrett of SCI Systems
Jonathon Pollett of Red Tiger Security
Dr. Greg Smedley of One Cycle Control
Dr. Satish Rajagopalan of EPRI
Ed Herbert of PSMA
Dr. Conor Quinn of Emerson Network Power
Dr. Keyue Smedley of University of California - Irvine

The full day of presentations and panel discussions provided a comprehensive view from the experts in attendance of the existing grid, the future Smart Grid, and the challenges facing the Power electronics Industry. High points in the day came as revelations to many who were not familiar with Cyber Security concerns, Energy Renewable source issues and the lack of solutions today. A summary of the key information and future challenges discussed during the very full day was presented by the Keynote Speaker Clark Gellings.

The Steering Committee for the workshop, led by Ed Herbert, worked for several months in formulating, the theme, appropriate topics, and identifying expert speakers who were willing to participate. All the speakers generously took time from their busy schedules to prepare and participate in this event.

The workshop, including full presentations, Panel discussions and, for the first time speaker narrative, will be available in a report to be issued by PSMA and EPRI. The report will be available to attendees, members of PSMA and EPRI and will be available in print or soft copy version.

Provided by Doug McIlvoy, Power Electronic Strategies, Workshop Moderator

Commentary from a Participant

The subject of the Smart Grid has in the news for last few years and there are many ongoing discussions about what it entails, its inevitability, its usefulness and benefits to users. Many experts agree that the overall development could be a boon to the US economy as many local jobs would be created and the smart grid cannot be outsourced. As a result, the Smart Grid is a hot topic and many conferences have been organized in its name. Why then was there a need for another Smart Grid workshop and moreover, what was PSMA's interest in this endeavor when its core membership and constituency consists mainly of companies in the electronic power conversion business? The unique and differentiating aspect of this workshop was that PSMA with the assistance from EPRI wanted to explore the smart grid and consider whether this emerging new electric power infrastructure−the smart grid phenomenon−will anyway be beneficial and impact the power conversion industry.

The mission of the workshop was not only to define and describe the emerging smart grid infrastructure, but to identify opportunities for the electronic power sources and conversion industry. From that perspective, this was one of its kind workshop and brought together two different constituencies or industries for a single unified mission. EPRI representing the power utility industry provided expertise in the issues of grid development and PSMA representing the power sources industry provided expertise in power conversion and control. EPRI and invited individuals from some independent organizations contributed the bulk of the presentations in defining and describing the evolving aspects and issues in the smart grid. PSMA presenters identified and described some of the latest power supply/electronics technology developments and their possible applications to enhance the evolution and robustness of the grid.

The workshop explored and examined various issues related to the development of the smart grid. The smart grid is a continuing evolution of a complex power grid infrastructure from the century-old original grid whose primary mission was to transmit and distribute electrical power from a generating site to users in a reliable and cost-effective manner. The EPRI experts mentioned that the evolving 21st century electric power infrastructure−the smart grid−will be very different. It will be evolutionary and dynamic at the same time; it will integrate various electric power generating systems, its flexibility will ensure proper supply availability by anticipating demand patterns. It will be proactive rather than reactive to the predictable and unpredictable power/energy demands to accommodate variable demand patterns during hot and cold days, during uneven weather patterns of calm and storm. Most important, the grid will include communications and interactions with its users via the Internet, accommodating their power/energy requests and requirements on a timely and cost-effective manner. For example, power generated from renewable energy resources such as solar and wind are an increasing supply factor in the power generating mix. These sources may be good for the environment but are unreliable in their generating capacity. For solar energy, the sun always does not shine and for wind energy, the wind is variable and sometimes does not blow. So during such variations and outages, back-up generation or some form of energy storage will be required. During hot days, when electrical power is used excessively the utility would communicate with the users and lower demand by switching off some non-critical or rarely used systems. While such communications is a blessing to create a smooth-functioning grid it will also increase potential for cyber attacks or hacking and a fool-proof system will be required. The grid needs to remain immune from cyber attacks or if an attack cannot be avoided, then it needs to be contained and highly localized. This is a serious and ongoing issue.

After exploring the grid, the workshop content moved to the core workshop focus of the role of power electronics in the evolution of the grid. Some aspects of the power electronics are already a part of the grid infrastructure. Solar and wind power inverters are already deployed in the renewable energy generation. UPSs are used for the backup systems, especially in data center and telecommunications applications. High efficiency power supplies along with sophisticated power management schemes have been developed for various applications from the tiny cell phones to the high-end servers. However, the presenters mentioned that though such products and technologies have been developed, their application in the context of the smart grid was not clear. These power conversion devices which use the grid for the input power and power electronics for their overall functionality are not generally viewed as a part of the total integrated smart grid infrastructure.

So the workshop participants suggested a comprehensive review in how to integrate power supplies/electronics and their control into the overall grid ecosystem. For this to occur, a unified system to integrate the various buses and protocols related to power supplies and grid will have to be standardized. This could allow effective communications between various devices to make the interface with the smart grid highly intelligent and efficient. It was recommended, that an ad-hoc committee be organized with representatives from EPRI, some key utilities and PSMA member companies. This group would specifically address some of these opaque issues to make the smart grid smarter and more robust.

A report of this workshop will be released in June. For further information visit: www.psma.com.

This workshop was organized by PSMA's Energy Efficiency Committee co-chair Ed Herbert, who deserves special thanks for the workshop.

Provided by Mohan Mankikar, President, Micro-Tech Consultants

The 2013 PSMA Power Technology Roadmap report breaks up the single Applications Trends section included in the 2011 roadmap report into an Applications Trends section and Technology Trends section. The main reason is that technologies are not applications segment specific and can be applicable across many. Both sections still highlight respected commentary from industry experts.

The 2013 report also includes comprehensive coverage of DC power distribution, an overview of nanotechnology applications for power electronics, the status and challenges for power supply on chip and an overview of wireless power transfer. This report also marks for the first time that we have used an online survey to gather trends data for four power supply architecture segments. The increased participation has helped provide a more accurate picture of where we are today and forecast the changes we expect for the next two to five years.

The end result of the webinars, surveys and discussions is this report which offers a consolidated view of the latest trends in the power management, power control and power delivery technologies. We hope you find it useful, thought provoking and valuable.

Aung Thet Tu, co-chair of the organizing committee, noted that "the breadth and depth of the presentations, commentary, and discussions have been unprecedented and together have captured the technical trends and issues facing the power sources industry".

Eric Persson, co-chair of the organizing committee also commented "adding the Technology Trends section provides a more comprehensive look at the dependency between multiple cross segments of technology, products, components and application". Eric presented an overview of the 2013 PSMA Power Technology Roadmap at the Plenary session of APEC 2013. His presentation included an outline of the section of the report and some of the broad results. The PowerPoint slides from this presentation can be viewed at the APEC website (www.apec.com).

A copy of the printed and USB memory drive versions of 2013 PSMA Power Technology Roadmap has been sent to PSMA Regular and Associate member companies as a benefit of their membership. Additional copies may be purchased at the member price of $US150. PSMA Affiliate members may also purchase the report for $US150. The report is available to non-members for purchase on the PSMA website (www.psma.com) for the price of $US2490.

Provided by PSMA Power Technology Roadmap Committee Co-Chairs -
Eric Persson, International Rectifier and Aung Thet Tu, Fairchild Semiconductor

he Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) is a not-for-profit, industry organization whose membership includes representatives of power supply and component manufacturers as well as universities, consultants, and other types of companies with interests in the power electronics field. The PSMA's stated purpose is "to enhance the stature and reputation of its members and their products, improve their knowledge of technological and other developments related to power sources, and educate the entire electronics industry, plus academia, as well as government and industry agencies as to the importance of, and relevant applications for, all types of power sources and conversion devices."

In pursuit of these goals, the association has organized a number of working committees that address technical issues of concern to PSMA members in areas such as lead-free regulatory compliance, energy efficiency, semiconductor technology, packaging and other topics. This article will focus on the work being done by the PSMA's Magnetics Committee, including its work in reprinting classic texts, organization of special sessions at industry conferences, sponsoring of power magnetics research, and collaboration with other groups.

After reading about the Magnetics Committee's efforts, some engineers may wish to get involved with its activities. While PSMA membership is encouraged, it is not required to participate in the technical committee work or to attend the monthly call-in meetings. So if this overview of the Magnetics Committee's projects sparks your interest, don't hesitate to contact the PSMA to obtain further information and to learn how you can play a part.

History of the Committee

The Magnetics Committee has been active for several years. Initially, it focused on providing a check list for designers of power supplies who must specify magnetic components when dealing with their magnetics suppliers.
Many of the classic magnetics textbooks that were used in the U.S. went out of print. The PSMA Magnetics Committee identified some of the leading texts and was able to acquire the rights to reprint selected ones. As a result the PSMA has been able to make these classic texts available to designers and students around the world. PSMA prints these and offers them at a minimal price as a service to the industry.

Among the classis books being reprinted by the PSMA Magnetics Committee are these titles:

• Transformers for Electronic Circuits; Grossner, Nathan R.
  
• Applications of Magnetism; Watson, J.Kenneth
  
• Modern Dc-to-Dc Switchmode Power Converter Circuits; Severns, Rudolf P. and Bloom, Gordon
  
• Soft Ferrites-Properties and Applications, 2nd edition; Snelling, Eric C.
  
• Electronic Transformers and Circuits; Lee, Reuben; Wilson, Leo; Carter, Charles E.

These books are available through the PSMA or How2Power's bookstore.
Meanwhile, the committee continues its effort to identify other classic books on magnetics design and applications that could be reprinted as a benefit to the power sources industry. If anyone has a favorite classic book that is out of print that he or she thinks should be made available, please let us know. The subject does not have to be magnetics.

Recently, the committee has identified some applied research projects to sponsor. Depending on the results, this research could provide useful tools for designers concerned with incorporating magnetic components in the design and development of new power products. More details on this sponsored research is given below.

Industry Sessions

The PSMA Magnetics Committee sponsors an Industry Session at APEC every other year, alternating with the PSMA Capacitor Committee. At APEC 2012, Steve Carlsen and Matt Wilkowski chaired an industry session titled, "Trends for AC Power Loss of High Frequency Power Magnetics." Within that session, the following presentations were given:

• "Ferrite Watt Loss Testing: Common Manufacturing Practices," by Zack Cataldi, Magnetics, Pittsburgh, PA.
  
• "Measurement and Modeling of Core Loss in Powder Core Materials," by Chris Oliver, Micrometals, Anaheim, CA.
  
• "A Series of New High Frequency Core Loss Measurement Methods," by Mingkai Mu, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University--Center for Power Electronics Systems, Blacksburg, VA.
  
• "Overview of Core Loss Prediction and Measurement Techniques for Non-Sinusoidal Waveforms," by Charlie Sullivan, Dartmouth University, Hanover, NH.
  
• "Core Loss Modeling of Inductive Components Employed in Power Electronic Systems," by Jonas Muehlethaler, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  
• "Coupled Electromagnetic and Thermal Analysis of Ferrite Core Electronic Planar Transformer," by Mark Christini, Ansys, Cannonsburg, PA.
  
• "Development of Low AC Power Loss Multi Layer Inductor (Today and Future)" by Kiyohisa Yamauchi, FDK, Shizuoka, Japan.
  
• "Expert Design and Empirical Test Strategies for Practical Transformer Development," Victor Quinn, RAF Tabtronics, Geneseo, NY.
  

The PSMA Magnetics Committee is now planning the next magnetics-focused industry session for the upcoming APEC 2014, which is to be held March 16 to 20, 2014 in Fort Worth, TX. So far, the following topics have been proposed.

• "Transformers, chip scale to utility scale." In this presentation, the unique challenges of transformer design for different size and purpose could be compared and contrasted.
  
• "Are Magnetics Catching Up with SiC & GaN?" with topics like:
  
  • Higher temperature
    
  • Higher frequency switching, up to 20 MHz
    
  • Higher voltages

Planning is in the early stages, so suggestions for topics from readers are welcome. We want very much to identify topics that are important to the power electronics community.

Special Projects

The PSMA encourages its technical committees to sponsor special projects that will benefit its members. Although some of these projects fall outside the scope of the Magnetics Committee, you may find them interesting nonetheless. Noteworthy is a special project sponsored by the PSMA Packaging Committee on PSoC, Power Supply on Chip. Another major project is the Energy Efficiency Database, sponsored by the PSMA Energy Efficiency Committee. Yet another major project is the Power Technology Roadmap, sponsored by the PSMA Roadmap Committee. They published an update this year.

Of course, there are special projects specific to the PSMA's Magnetics Committee such as the reprinting of classic books mentioned above. Another one began in 2010, when the PSMA Magnetics Committee sponsored the first of several projects on magnetic core loss at Dartmouth under the direction of Dr. Charles Sullivan.

Core-Loss Projects at Dartmouth

The PSMA core-loss studies have their roots in my frustration with the traditional core-loss estimations. Magnetic parameters for core-loss calculations are not familiar to many electrical designers. There is more standardization now on SI units, but many data sheets and application notes use other units, with strange conversion factors. Is it MKS, cgs, rationalized MKS, Gaussian or SI? The conversion factor for oersteds to A/M is 103/4π, once you have figured out what is an oersted (named for Hans Christian Ørsted) and what's an ampere-turn per meter.

There is no need for all this confusion, as everything can be expressed in volts, seconds and amperes. The likelihood of making errors when converting back and forth using unfamiliar units is significant. It can be daunting even to try.
Manufacturer's core loss data is notoriously inaccurate. It is not unusual to see ruler straight lines for functions that have significant curvature, with very large errors at the ends. This is sometimes justified because the lotto-lot variation is significant. The geometry of a core is a significant factor, so data taken on a "standard core" may not relate well to a large EE core.

When specifying a specific magnetic component, there is no need to use dimensional factors, any more than one would buy a resistor using the resistivity and the dimensions of its core. If core loss data is taken for a specific component, all of the dimensional parameters and their effects can be factored in. Given volts and seconds for the excitation, the loss can be read directly in watts. The data should be taken close to the intended operating point of the component.

Most core-loss data is taken with sine-wave excitation. This was fine when most transformers were for line frequency or audio, but now power converters use high-frequency, low-duty-ratio rectangular-wave excitation. Conversion formulas for low-duty-ratio excitation are notoriously complex, hard to use, and inaccurate. We can do better, and taking data with rectangular-wave excitation is a good start.

There are no good SPICE models for simulating core loss. While this topic is not part of any of the present coreloss studies, it is hoped that the knowledge from these studies will lead to an improved SPICE model. A modest start has begun.

Pilot Project

The Pilot Project was approved by the PSMA and a purchase order was issued to Dartmouth in the spring of 2009. Data was taken on one ferrite core and one powdered-metal core to explore a new proposed method of quantifying core loss using square-wave excitation. The composite-waveform hypothesis was partly validated, and shown to be an improvement over other approximations, both for accuracy and for ease of use.

An unexpected discovery of the Pilot Project was that the core loss per cycle is increased with increased off-time between the excitation pulses.

Phase II Project

The Phase II Project was approved by the PSMA and a purchase order was issued to Dartmouth in the spring of 2010. The Phase II project had two principle objectives:

• To test the composite-waveform hypothesis on a variety of cores of different materials, with emphasis on ensuring that the off-time loss phenomenon was not just a test-rig or test-procedure artifact.
• To test a core that had been drilled through with sense windings installed, to see if flux migration may contribute to the off-time loss phenomenon.
  

A byproduct of the Phase II project is a new SPICE model for core loss.

Phase III Project

The Phase III project has not yet been completed. Its purpose is to test core losses at low duty ratio and with a new winding configuration.

However, analysis of preliminary data suggests an improved Stienmetz-like equation. Another test showed that if a single core is replaced with a string of smaller cores with the same total volume, the core losses are reduced at higher frequency. This was one test on one specimen, so, while tantalizing, the conclusions are decidedly preliminary.

The core-loss studies performed at Dartmouth will be the subject of a future article in this column.

Phase IV Core-Loss Project

The core-loss studies to date at Dartmouth were greatly facilitated because the university had test equipment left over from previous work that could be adapted easily for our projects. However, continued work requires test waveforms and analysis at much higher frequencies and higher power.

It was originally thought that continuing the work would require an investment in advanced test equipment, an endeavor that likely would be beyond the means of the PSMA.

More recently, we realized that testing at higher power with fast, low-duty-ratio pulses was routine in the semiconductor industry. Therefore, we have begun talks with several manufacturers of GaN and SiC semiconductors, as advancing the science of high-frequency magnetics is of mutual interest.

Planning for the Phase IV research is just beginning, so anyone who has suggestions or would like to participate is welcome to join. In addition, any company who would like to show their support for this project is encouraged to become a member of the PSMA.

Coordination with Other Organizations

The PSMA cooperates with a number of other organizations. For example, the APEC conferences are sponsored by PSMA, PELS, IEEE and IAS. Another case of collaboration, PSMA recently held a joint workshop with EPRI, "Are You Smart Enough for the Smart Grid?"

There is also some coordination of efforts with respect to the development of core-loss standards. The PSMA Magnetics Committee is working with PELS and the TTA to keep them abreast of developments in our core-loss research. We attended the PELS Electronic Transformers Technical Thrust Committee meetings in New Orleans in November 2012 and at APEC 2013 in Long Beach. While the PSMA does not participate in standards writing directly, we do provide technical input.

About The Author

Edward Herbert is a member of the PSMA's Board of Directors, co-chairman of the PSMA's Magnetics Committee and co-chairman of the PSMA's Energy Efficiency Committee. Over the years, Ed has held a variety of positions in industry, working as a design engineer, a project engineer, an engineering supervisor, and as an engineering manager. Since 1985, he has been independent, promoting patented technology for license.

Ed has been issued 54 patents with several more pending. Of interest to this forum, Ed is the inventor of the matrix transformer, a novel arrangement of the windings and cores that is particularly useful for high-frequency transformers, especially for high-current, low-voltage applications. The matrix transformer patents have all expired. However, the latest generation of this technology concentrates on minimizing parasitic impedance and its effects, as those can lead to increased losses in other components, resulting in a poor overall design.

Ed holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in electrical engineering from Yale University.

Editor's Note: This article was first published in the April 2013 issue of How2Power Today (www.how2power.com/newsletters).

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