n addition to the Professional Seminars, Technical Sessions, Exhibits and other activities scheduled during APEC’10, many of the PSMA Technical Committees conducted business meetings to plan their activities for the coming year. The following is a sampling.

Matthew Towers and Ada Cheng listening to the presentation at the Marketing Committee meeting

The Marketing Committee meeting, since it included a luncheon, was well attended as usual. Frank Cirolia, Committee Co-Chair reviewed the activities over the past year and led the discussion of possible activities for the coming year. The past year was a very busy one – the committee issued several press releases, surveyed the membership on priorities for the coming year, set the prices for the latest PSMA publications and updated the slide presentation which introduces PSMA and explains the benefits of membership. The revised presentation has been added to the PSMA web site and a condensed version was shown before the APEC Plenary Session.

The Magnetics Committee met and reviewed recent activities, which included a second reprint of the classic text on magnetic “Soft Ferrites” by Eric Snelling and plans for a second reprint of Nathan Grossner’s “Transformers for Electronic Circuits”. Co-chair Ed Herbert reported on the status of the Core Loss Project being conducted at Dartmouth University. The committee members discussed possible projects for the current year that would provide benefits to the membership and to the industry.

Co-chair Ed Herbert makes his point to some of the other attendees at the Magnetics Committee Meeting

The Packaging Committee meeting was well attended and members had a lot to discuss, including the successful PwrSoC 2010 conference which was held in Cork, Ireland last fall and the Special Presentation Session at APEC 2011titled “Packaging Challenges with More Electric Vehicles”. Plans for the coming year were discussed including a proposed PwrSoC Workshop in 2012 and some possible Special Study projects.

Some of the attendees at the Packaging Committee meeting

The Energy Efficiency and Alternative Energy Committees each met and reviewed their accomplishments during the past year. The Energy Efficiency Database on the PSMA web site continues to attract visits from the membership and in the industry. It is being updated on a regular basis. The committee also discussed a possible workshop with participation from EPRI on “Grid to Load”.

The Alternative Energy Committee discussed final plans for the Special Presentation at APEC 2011 titled “Power Electronics and Alternative Energy” and planning for APEC 2012.

Brian Fortenbery, Matt Malinowski, Co-chair Dusty Becker and Ed Herbert at the Energy Efficiency Committee meeting

The Nanotechnology Committee, co-chaired by Chuck Mullett and Tony Laviano, had a successful year, which included putting together another Special Presentation Session for APEC 2011 titled “Nanotechnology: Enabling the Next Generation of Power Electronics”. The committee discussed a Special Project to update Nano 100 – which is currently available in the PSMA web site as an e-learning course and to develop a Nano 200 as an e-learning course.

Co-chair Chuck Mullett and Mike Rice discussing the Nanotechnolgy course on the PSMA web site

The newly reestablished Capacitor Committee had a meeting during APEC that was co-chaired by Ian Clelland and Laird Macomber. The committee was successful in creating a Special Presentation Session for APEC 2011 titled “Capacitors in Power Electronics” and the committee provided input to the Power Technology Roadmap. They plan to continue their monthly meetings and discussed plans for the coming year.

The Power Technology Roadmap Committee met to discuss their successful report and to consider the efforts necessary to publish the next report which is tentatively scheduled for 2013.  The 2011 Power Technology Roadmap report is the most comprehensive to date and was a major undertaking that involved significant effort and focus by the co-chairs and many individuals over the past year.

The Technology Roadmap meeting was well attended

A complete listing of all PSMA committees can be found on the PSMA web site. All of the committees manage their own Technical Forums on psma.com which provide information on their current activities, upcoming industry events and resources, including links to useful web sites.

Participating in one or more committees is the best way to increase the benefits from your company and your personal PSMA membership. People involved in PSMA Technical Committees all agree that their investment returns multiple benefits than the time spent participating – both for their company and for their own careers. The committee provides the opportunity to network with knowledgeable people who are influencing the power sources industry.

You are encouraged to join a committee and get involved in their activities. Most committees meet about once a month for about one hour by teleconference. View a list of upcoming committee meetings. You are welcome to attend a committee meeting before making a decision to join the group. If you are interested in attending one of the meetings, please contact the Association Office for call-in information.

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.