1. APEC 2022 in Houston Shaping Up to be Great Event
   
2. APEC 2022 Taking Steps to Assure Safe and Healthy Conference Environment
   
3. You are Invited to Attend the PSMA Annual Meeting at APEC 2022
   
4. Message from the PSMA Executive Committee
   
5. Meet Your Directors
   
6. About Our Members
   
7. Welcome to PSMA
   
8. PSMA and IEEE PELS Educational Series for Young Professionals Continues
   
9. 2022 PSMA Magnetics Committee and IEEE PELS High Frequency Magnetics Workshop
   
10. PSMA/PELS Sponsor 2022 Capacitors in Power Electronics Workshop
    
11. EnerHarv 2022: Building the Ecosystem for Powering the Internet of Things
    
12. Trends within The Power Electronics Industry in 2022
    
13. 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: Q2_2021 | Q3_2021 | Q4_2021

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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.

 

he final preparations are in full swing as APEC 2022 returns to its live-event format at the George R Brown Convention Center in  Houston, March 20-24. Here's a quick rundown:

• Professional Education Seminars, Sunday March 20 and Monday March 21
  These popular half-day seminars are free to Full Conference Registrants
• Plenary Sessions, Monday March 21        
  Open to all, this year's line-up of presenters could well be the best ever
• Exhibit Hall, Monday March 21 – Wednesday March 23
  Free to attend, this year's exhibit space is 99% booked with manufacturers introducing their latest products and services 
• Technical Sessions, Monday March 21 – Thursday March 24
  These peer-reviewed always present the latest developments and research
• Industry Sessions, Monday March 21 – Thursday March 24
  Always popular because these sessions present important new ideas and products
• Social Event, Wednesday March 23
  A true Texas-style county fair style event with great food and drink, games and prizes. Full conference registrants have free access to the event.

Check the APEC website for details (https://apec-conf.org/).

On the Saturday prior to the start of APEC2022, PSMA and PELS will be sponsoring two workshops, the Seventh High Frequency Magnetics Workshop "Power Magnetics @ High Frequency" and the Fifth Capacitor Workshop "How Materials and Environmental Effects Influence Capacitor Performance". For more information see the articles on each workshop in this issue of the UPDATE.

The APEC 2022 Committee is looking forward to seeing you. And, as the next article explains, we are taking every measure necessary to assure a safe and healthy environment.

So, y'all come and be part of this great event.

Provided by Greg Evans, APEC 2022 Publicity Chair

Returning to an in-person event after two years requires taking special precautions; attendees will use the free CLEAR Health Pass app to confirm vaccination status or show proof of negative test to access to the conference

Click here to download this QR Code image

or the first time since 2019, APEC 2022, being held at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston, Tx, in March, will once again be held as a face-to-face conference and exhibition. To assure a safe and healthy environment for all APEC participants at the in-person event, the conference organizers are taking special precautions by requiring proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test (obtained within 72 hours of attendance) as a condition of entrance. To facilitate this screening, APEC has partnered with CLEAR Health Pass, enabling attendees to show their vaccination using a free mobile app. According to local current guidelines, face masks while indoors also will be encouraged at the event. Attendees can use the QR Code (shown here) to download the CLEAR app.
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"Although conditions are improving," said Omer Onar, APEC 2022 General Chair, "the APEC 2022 Conference Committee recognizes the unique and changing impact the pandemic has had on our practices, families and plans over the last two years. Since the health and safety of APEC attendees is of utmost importance to us, we are providing a CLEAR Health Pass app free to all attendees. Additionally, we are working closely with the George R. Brown Convention Center, as well as federal, state and local public health officials, to incorporate best practices to ensure the highest level of protection at APEC 2022."

Health Pass by CLEAR provides secure, digital proof of COVID-related health insights via the CLEAR mobile app. Attendees are encouraged to download the CLEAR app* and complete the process at least 24 hours prior to arrival at the event. The QR Code and further details can be found at http://apec-conf.org/exposition/health-and-safety.

*  The CLEAR app is intended to speed attendee access to the conference and exhibit. To avoid delays in entering, all are encouraged to download the app. Please note that CLEAR is not able to read vaccination cards from places outside of the United States. For European attendees, we will ask that they present their digital vaccine passport to the registration personnel upon arrival. All other international guests and others who unable to use the CLEAR app will be asked to present their physical vaccine card and ID upon arrival.

Provided by Greg Evans, APEC 2022 Publicity Chair

he 2022 PSMA Annual Meeting will be held in conjunction with APEC 2022 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX on Monday, March 21. For the first time in two years, the meeting will be held in person after meeting virtually in 2020 and 2021. A buffet breakfast at 7:30 a.m. will precede the meeting and individuals from member companies as well non-member guests are invited to attend and participate in a full agenda of topics of interest to the industry. At the meeting, you will have the opportunity to meet and interact with many of the students who received APEC Attendance Support to present their papers at the Technical Sessions. The new Executive Committee will be introduced, and Regular member company representatives will participate in the election of four Directors to serve on the PSMA Board for a three-year term beginning immediately and ending at APEC 2025.

The detailed agenda for the meeting is available on the PSMA web site and includes reports from each of the technical committees and stimulating discussions on new PSMA initiatives for 2022 and beyond. The APEC 2022 Conference Chair will review the progress on APEC 2022 and there will be a report on plans for APEC 2023 in Orlando, FL There will also be an invited presentation from IPC to review their activities and opportunities to continue to strengthen the relationships between PSMA and IPC.

Photo: Courtesy of Visit Houston

Members and guests are also welcome to remain for the Board of Directors meeting that will immediately follow the Annual Meeting. Participation in these meetings will provide you with the opportunity to network with colleagues from other companies and to influence the direction of the PSMA and the power sources industry.

The best way to get more out of your company membership in PSMA is to become involved with one of our active technical committees. The Capacitor, Energy Harvesting, Energy Management, Energy Storage, Industry-Education, Magnetics, Marketing, Power Electronics Packaging, Power Technology Roadmap, Reliability, Safety & Compliance, Semiconductor and Transportation Electronics committees all plan to hold open meetings during the week of APEC 2022. All are invited to participate or to just drop in any of these committee meetings to hear and provide input as the committee activities are being planned for the coming year. Visit the PSMA website to see the schedule of PSMA meetings and events at APEC 2022.

On March 19, the Saturday prior to the start of APEC 2022, PSMA and PELS will be sponsoring two workshops, the seventh High Frequency Magnetics Workshop -"Power Magnetics @ High Frequency" and the fifth Capacitor Workshop –  How Materials and Environmental Effects Influence Capacitor Performance". Information on these workshops is available in separate articles in this issue of the Update.

Be sure to visit us at the PSMA booth in the APEC hub, at the exhibition area during APEC. PSMA is again sponsoring the popular PSMA/ APEC Passport Program in the Exhibit Hall. Visit the booths of participating PSMA members to enter a raffle drawing for some great prizes sponsored by PSMA members Rubadue Wire, Premier Magnetics, Microchip and Navitas Semiconductor.

We look forward to a good turnout at the PSMA meetings and a very busy and exciting week.

For the latest information on all of the activities planned during APEC 2022, visit us at www.psma.com.

ello Members and Friends of PSMA.

We cannot believe it is almost 2 years since we announced our 5-year plan and new structure for our Executive Team. Our vision was to nurture a sustainable industry association that truly listens to and serves the needs of the power electronics industry.

Since then, despite COVID-19, PSMA has made major progress around the 4 'pillars of power' prioritizing the strategic areas we identified, each championed by a member of our executive committee.

1. Maintaining strengths: PSMA has hosted over 15 webinars in the past 12 months alone with over 1,000 unique attendees and also co-hosted and contributed to several other webinars and virtual workshops in collaboration with Friends of PSMA including CPSS, EPSMA, iNEMI, IPC & IEEE PELS. We also published a white paper on Energy Harvesting and shortly will be publishing the 2022 PSMA Power Technology Roadmap, which is one of the most eagerly awaited reports in our industry. In collaboration with the other sponsors, IEEE PELS & IEEE IAS, we also organized the annual APEC event virtually during the COVID era.
2. Becoming more applications and problems oriented: We have prioritized the strategic areas of IoT (internet of things), Smart Mobility (clean, efficient, safe and connected transportation) and Energy Storage (from micro-power to grid power), identifying many real-life problems and opportunities and have formed many collaborations, particularly with the Friends of PSMA. The newly formed PSMA Energy Storage Technical Committee has already organized an Industry Session at APEC2022 which is a great example of tangible output.
3. Putting metrics in place: We regularly monitor our performance, assess feedback, identify opportunities for improvement and have created a fresh, professional and contemporary look and feel to PSMA.  Check out our updated website.
4. Broadening our ecosystem: As well as strengthening relationships with our industry and academic stakeholders, PSMA has forged many new alliances to create future roadmaps, webinars and conferences, evolving from ad hoc to regular meetings and cross-promotion to foster collaborations. Thanks to leadership form the PSMA Association Office we have also strengthened the Industry-Education Technical Committee and, in collaboration with IEEE PELS, are now focusing intently on reaching out to young professionals and students to nurture and guide the next generation of professionals in academia and industry.

We hope you like the changes you see. This is just the tip of the iceberg with lots of other great stuff happening behind the scenes. Our door is wide open for suggestions and improvement – tell us what you think, how can we better serve your power electronics community?

Yours faithfully:

Mike Hayes, Outgoing Chair
Fred Weber, President
Trifon Liakopoulos, Vice-President
Tim McDonald, Secretary/Treasurer

our members of the Board of Directors are elected at the PSMA Annual Meeting. Each Director serves a three-year term and is eligible to be reelected for one additional term.

In this issue we would like to introduce you to Ralph Taylor and Matt Wilkowski who will both complete their terms at the 2022 PSMA Annual Meeting.

Ralph Taylor has worked in the automotive industry for the last 41 years. His career began at General Motors Delco Electronics, then Delphi Electronics & Safety, and lastly Delphi Technologies (He did not change companies, the companies changed their name). During his first 10 years of work, he was involved with the designs, both hardware and software, of high volume manufacturing equipment and later controller and software designs for advanced body and chassis applications. For the last 31 years he was involved in the development of advanced power electronics applications.

Working as part of a team in the electrification group, Ralph helped to developed power electronics for electric drive vehicles (EDVs), including battery management systems, system controllers that convert user inputs to torque commands, inverters for various EDVs including electric scooters, autos, heavy-duty trucks and off-road construction equipment. In addition, he helped to develop concepts for novel packaging of power devices. The design of most interest was a doubled sided cooled discrete power package which allowed Delphi to extract more heat per unit area than any of the competition at the time. This allowed for less silicon, smaller inverter packages and lower cost design of discrete power stages for EDV inverters.

Ralph has been the principal investigator, (PI), on several, successful DOE programs dealing with high temperature inverter designs and various dielectrics to be used to replace existing polypropylene capacitors within vehicle power electronics inverters. The goal is always the same for the DOE programs; lower the cost, make it smaller, improve the reliability and get it commercialized.

Ralph serves as a director of the Power Sources Manufactures Association (PSMA) as well as the Co-Chair of the Transportation Electronics Committee, involved with organizing session(s) on Transportation Electronics for the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC). He has 14 patents, with 2 more in process, and one defensive publication. He has been awarded the Boss Kettering Award as well as being admitted into the Delphi Innovation Hall of Fame.

Since retiring from Delphi, Ralph recently started a company, RST PEConsulting, LLC.

Provided by Ralph Taylor, Principal, RST PEConsulting, LLC
 

Matt Wilkowski has been involved with the design and productization of power magnetic components for integration in power converters for over forty years. While at Torwico Electronics, Matt design power magnetics for aerospace and military applications. During his tenure at AT&T Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies/ Tyco Electronics Power Systems from 1983 thru 2003, Matt was responsible for the technology road mapping, product design and verification, commercialization and ongoing product support of power magnetics that that were integrated in the assembly process of power converters intended for telecommunication applications. This work entailed the development of inductor and transformer product families to support wide ranges of input and output voltages for different power ranges from 1 watt through 10KW for emerging circuit topologies to take advantage of switch frequencies from 500 kHz thru 20 MHz and accommodating physical assembly integration as well as thermal integration etc. into both ac-dc and dc-dc power converters. While part of Enpirion from 2003 through 2013, Matt became more focused on the integration of power magnetics into semiconductor device packaging leading to the commercialization of   a wide product portfolio of Power System in Package (PSiP) devices. With the acquisition of Enpirion, Matt was a technology architect at Altera and transitioned to a principal engineer at Intel after the acquisition of Altera focused on the development of power magnetics for various integration levels (highly, fully, etc.,) of integrated voltage regulators (IVRs). He is currently Vice President of Technology at EnaChip and is focused on productization of wafer level magnetics to address various market applications.

Matt is an IEEE Fellow and one of the co-chairs for the PSMA Magnetics Committee and has been on the organizing committee of the Power Magnetics @ High Frequency pre-APEC workshop series since the first workshop in 2016.

Provided by Matt Wilkowski, Vice President Technology, EnaChip

Rohde & Schwarz – one technology company, three divisions, diverse markets

he Rohde & Schwarz technology group develops, produces and markets a wide range of electronic capital goods. With its extensive product portfolio, the company makes an important contribution to a safer and connected world. In the test & measurement, secure communications, networks & cybersecurity and broadcast & media markets, customers worldwide rely on Rohde & Schwarz and its cutting-edge solutions. In addition to its established business fields, Rohde & Schwarz has made substantial investments in future technologies such as artificial intelligence, the industrial internet of things (IIoT), 6G, cloud solutions and quantum technology.

As an independent, privately owned company, Rohde & Schwarz finances its growth with its own resources. Because the company does not have to think in terms of quarterly results, it can plan sustainably for the long term. Established more than 85 years ago, the group is recognized as a reliable partner for industry and government customers. This reputation dates back to the company's earliest days, when founders Dr. Lothar Rohde and Dr. Hermann Schwarz made a name for themselves as customer centric technology pioneers. With their hands-on entrepreneurial spirit, the two university friends entered the unexplored field of RF engineering. As a global technology company, Rohde & Schwarz consistently aligns business performance with the specific needs of its customers in the three Divisions Test & Measurement, Technology Systems and Networks & Cybersecurity.

The Executive Board is composed of two members: Christian Leicher (President and CEO) and Peter Riedel (President and COO). On June 30, 2021, Rohde & Schwarz had about 13,000 employees worldwide. In Germany, the company employs around 7700 people who work along the entire value chain, from R&D to production, sales and service. The group achieved a net revenue of EUR 2.28 billion in the 2020/2021 fiscal year (July to June).

Test & Measurement Division

Rohde & Schwarz is a market-leading supplier in the mobile and wireless communications sector, offering a comprehensive portfolio of T&M instruments and systems for the development, production and acceptance testing of components and consumer devices. Other important T&M markets include the automotive industry, the aerospace & defense sector, all industrial electronics segments as well as research and education.

Technology Systems Division

In this division, Rohde & Schwarz bundles technological system expertise and resources in the markets where project business plays an important role. This applies to communications, reconnaissance and security systems for armed forces and security authorities and organizations as well as operators of critical infrastructures. In addition, broadcast & media realizes the entire signal processing chain from camera output to transmission via the various broadcast channels with Rohde & Schwarz products.

Networks & Cybersecurity Division

The technology company equips business and public authorities with secure WAN, LAN and WLAN network infrastructures and offers products to protect data transmission, user equipment and applications. With its solutions, Rohde & Schwarz protects digital information and business processes of companies and public institutions against the effects of cyberattacks.

Global player

Rohde & Schwarz has an extensive sales and service network and is present in more than 70 countries, primarily with its own subsidiaries. Sales outside Germany account for 85 percent of worldwide revenues. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the company has strong regional hubs in Singapore and Columbia, Maryland to coordinate business activities in Asia and the USA.

An important factor for maintaining excellent quality standards is the company's high degree of virtual integration. Rohde & Schwarz develops and produces most of its products in Germany. In addition, the Asian hub in Singapore uses its own resources to develop, produce and market products for the global market. The company also has other R&D locations in the USA, Asia, Africa and several European countries.

Rohde & Schwarz has always seen the close proximity of R&D and production locations as a major advantage. The employees at the German plants in Memmingen and Teisnach as well as the Czech town of Vimperk close to the Bavarian border manufacture most of the product range. Smaller plants in Singapore and Malaysia provide manufacturing capacity in close proximity to the R&D activities at the Asian headquarters.

Employees are the most valuable asset

Rohde & Schwarz ranks among the technology leaders in its established business fields. The company's highly qualified and motivated staff are the cornerstone of its success. An inspiring working environment is the springboard for turning customers' challenges and employees' ideas into innovative solutions.

Another Rohde & Schwarz priority, along with the development of all employees, is to identify young talent at an early stage and prepare them for responsible specialist and management positions. Nationality, gender and organizational boundaries are unimportant, and international employee exchanges between headquarters and the various subsidiaries are well established.

Since its founding, Rohde & Schwarz has prepared thousands of young people for professional careers. Today, the company offers training in professions ranging from electronics technicians and IT specialists to industrial administrative assistants. The company offers combined vocational training/degree programs in such subjects as informatics, electrical engineering and industrial engineering and management. The "Poly goes UAS" program offered in conjunction with the polytechnic schools in Singapore have a similar structure. It enables students from Asia to combine a bachelor's degree at a German university of applied sciences (UAS) with internships at cooperating "hidden champions" such as Rohde & Schwarz. The Graduate Development Program (GDP) offered by Rohde & Schwarz North America (RSNA) provides university graduates with opportunities to find their individual career path in the company under the guidance of a mentor.

Rohde & Schwarz focuses on people. The work environment is characterized by personal responsibility, mutual respect and appreciation. This corporate culture pays off: along with the "FOCUS TOP National Employer" seal of approval, the company is proud of its designation as a "Top Employer for Diversity".

Provided by Tom Neville, Technology Manager, Rohde & Schwarz

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.

3nergy
3NERGY s.a.s.
Mike Tommasi
16 rue Augias
83140 Six Fours, PACA
France
Telephone: +33609670940
E-mail: mike@3nergy.com
Website: 3nergy.com

3nergy is an engineering company dedicated to power electronics design based on wide bandgap devices with a focus on GaN.  Their areas of expertise include compact AC adaptors, inverters and chargers, DC-DC converters, battery management, ultracaps, brushless motor drives, planar inductors and transformers and soft switching in the 400 KHz – 2 MHz range.  They were finalists in the Google/IEEE little box competition.

Founder and CEO Mike Tommasi has been active in engineering for 40 years, with experience ranging from power circuitry to renewable energy.  He is joined by Alain Bailly who has been designing electronics since age 14 and graduated from Ecole Centrale in Paris.

Sarinx LLC
Anil Ravi
141 Bright Poppy
Irvine, CA 92618
Telephone: 310-483-8720
E-mail: anil@sarinx.com

Sarinx, LLC is a consulting company focused on the design and development of digital power electronics products such as power converters and motor drives for the commercial, automotive and aerospace industries.  Their focus is on providing consulting services for software development for power electronics devices.

Sarinx leverages digital controls and industry 4.0 to help companies deliver smart motor drive products with energy optimization and digital enablement. These products can help SME companies accelerate their digital transformation goals.

SPAN
Anne Downing
679 Bryant St
San Francisco, CA 94107
Telephone: 206-818-7767
E-mail: anne@span.io
Web site: span.io

SPAN is developing products to enable rapid adoption of renewable energy and deliver an intuitive interface for the home. They believe that powering a home with clean energy should be a simple and delightful experience that is technology-forward and human-centered.

SPAN believes in a future powered by renewable energy, especially solar.  SPAN is advancing clean energy adoption with innovative hardware that replaces the electrical panel and becomes the home's center for connected power. It's easier and faster to install, and it completely transforms the customer experience with intuitive energy controls and customizable backup power.

Dr. Stephanie Watts Butler
Technology Innovation Architect
Richardson, TX 75082
E-mail: sw-butler@wattsbutler.com
Website: www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniewattsbutler

Stephanie Watts Butler, PhD, PE, is joining PSMA in her new role of utilizing her skills across the entire industry after a long successful career at Texas Instruments, where she was active in PSMA.  She is a Technology Innovation Architect who has led high voltage and isolation technology innovations from concept to revenue by leading partnerships with technology organizations, manufacturing sites, universities, and product development teams. She has focused on wide bandgap technologies, as well as JEDEC and IEC standards, in the last several years. Previously, she was responsible for creating system-in-package power solutions and higher current interconnect technologies.  Over her career, she has produced innovations in the areas of control, process and package technology, metrology, processing equipment, R&D management, manufacturing science, and new product development generating 17 U.S. patents.  She is now offering her broad experience to the entire industry to enable others to innovate more efficiently, effectively, and profitably.

Dr. Butler is the Power Electronics Magazine Industrial Deputy Editor-in-Chief, a member of the PELS Industry Advisory Board, an active member of the PELS Women-in-Engineering (WIE) committee, and a contributor to ITRW.  She currently serves on the APEC Conference planning committee.  She is the past Chair and co-founder of JEDEC's JC-70 Committee for Wide Bandgap Power Electronic Conversion Semiconductors and the Co-convenor of IEC's TC47/WG8: Wide bandgap technologies – Power electronic conversion.  Dr. Butler is the past vice chair of PowerAmerica's Membership Advisory Committee. She is a Fellow of the AVS, and a Senior Member of IEEE.  SWE honored Dr. Butler with their highest award, the Achievement Award for Outstanding Technical Contributions.  Dr. Butler received her bachelor's from Oklahoma State University, and her MS/PhD from the University of Texas at Austin.

ogether with IEEE PELS, the PSMA Industry-Education Committee has announced a Young Professionals Educational Seminar Series. This series addresses the non-technical skills that are vital for young engineers and students to advance their career, including social networking, technical development, managing teams, applying for patents and other skills that are not typically parts of formal University education programs. The first three seminars have been completed, with three more in the queue. This past October, Ada Cheng, AdaClock, discussed "Social Networking for Engineers" in person at the PwrSoC 2021 workshop.  In January, Lauren E. Kegley, Wolfspeed, presented a webinar "Building Momentum in Industry: Skills to Excel During Your First 5 Years".  And in February, Alexander Gerfer, Würth Elektronik, presented on "Managing Experts" with a focus on how to manage a geographical dispersed team especially during these pandemic times.

After taking a break for APEC in March, the series will continue with the final three seminars in the series with speakers provided by PSMA and PELS. Both organizations will make the webinars available for later viewing for those who cannot attend. There is no charge for attending the webinars nor for viewing them afterwards.

For more information and to join the mailing list to receive information on future seminars, visit the PSMA Education Forum.

Power Magnetics @ High Frequency
Saturday March 19 2022
(Prior to APEC 2022)
George R Brown Convention Center
Houston, Texas

he PSMA Magnetics Committee together with IEEE PELS will hold the seventh "Power Magnetics @ High Frequency" Workshop as an in-person event on Saturday, March 19, 2022 -  the day before and in the same venue as APEC 2022 at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas.

The purpose and focus of this workshop are to identify the latest improvements in magnetic materials, coil (winding) design, construction and fabrication, evaluation and characterization techniques and modelling and simulation tools. The focus is to target the advancements deemed necessary by the presenters and the workshop participants for power magnetics to meet the technical expectations and requirements of new market applications for higher operating frequencies and emerging topologies driven by continuous advances in circuits topologies and semiconductor devices.

The target audiences for the 2022 Power Magnetics @ High Frequency workshop include the designers of power magnetic components for use in electronic power converters responsible to implement the most technologically advanced power magnetic components that are necessary to achieve higher power densities, specific physical aspect ratios such as low profile, higher power efficiencies and improved thermal performance. The target audiences also include individuals involved in the supply chain for the power magnetics industry ranging from manufacturers of magnetic materials and magnetic structures, fabricators of magnetic components, providers of modelling and simulation software as well as manufacturers of test and characterization equipment.

The morning technical session will feature a keynote presentation and four lecture style presentations with a five-minute Q&A after each lecture presentation followed by a Panel Discussion. The schedule for this session is:

• Keynote: "Magnetic Core Geometry Influences on Component Performance," Charles Sullivan, Thomas Guillod, Dartmouth College
• "Geometry Effects on Magnetic Core Losses," Juan Aguarón, Frenetic
• Panel discussion on core geometric factors impacting magnetic core and component parameters led by Charles Sullivan and Juan Aguarón. Everyone's participation is encouraged.
• "Uncertainties of Ferrite Parameters," Rico Wachs, TRIDELTA Weichferrite, and JC Sun, Bs&T
• "Where does Current Actually Flow in High-Frequency Magnetic Components?"Alex Hanson University of Texas, Austin
• Panel discussion on the impact of magnetic geometries on magnetic core and component parameters with Charles Sullivan, Juan Aguarón, Rico Wachs, JC Sun and Alex Hanson. Everyone's participation is encouraged.

During breakfast and lunch there will be a joint interactive session available with tabletop technology demonstrations covering both Magnetics and Capacitor technologies that will address specific technical disciplines and capabilities consistent with each workshop's agenda. The attendees are encouraged to interact with the presenters during this time as a segue to enhance and expand the technical presentation sessions.

The Magnetics technical capabilities and disciplines that will be demonstrated and displayed during the technology demonstration/poster session are as follows:

• Technology Demonstrations
• "Real Time Magnetics Design Using Artificial Intelligence," Juan Aguarón, Frenetic
• "Loss vs. E/U Shaped Cores," JC Sun, Bs&T
• "Near Field Probes for Measurements and Characterization of Near Magnetic Fields," Arturo Mediano, HF Magic Lab University of Zaragoza
• "Selecting Inductors and Capacitors for EMI Filter Design," Dheeraj Jain, Wurth Elektronik
• "Manufacturing of Unique Winding Geometries," James Lau, Coil Winding Specialists
• "Enabling Concurrent Design of Electric and Magnetic Circuits using the SIMPLIS Magnetics Design Module," Tom Wilson, Andrija Stupar, SIMPLIS Technologies
• "Emerging Magnetic Materials and Magnetic Structures," Chuck Wild, Dexter Magnetics
• Hitachi: Mark Rine
• Fair-Rite: Mike Arasim
• Magnetics: Brad Yourish
• Posters
• "Matrix Coupled All-in-One Magnetics for PWM Power Conversion," Ping Wang, Princeton University
• "Magnet, Large Database for Core Loss Machine Learning," Diego Serrano, Princeton University
• "Rapid High-Frequency Transformer Simulation and Optimization," Michael Solomentsev, University of Texas Austin
• "Integrated Magnetics Geometries in EV Fast Chargers," Moien Mohamadi, University of Illinois at Chicago

The afternoon technical session will feature a keynote presentation and three lecture style presentations, each followed by a five-minute Q&A. The session will conclude with a twenty-minute panel Q&A The schedule for this session is as follows:

• Keynote: "The Journey to Reliable Magnetics," George Slama, Wurth Elektronik
• "Planar Magnetics for Auxiliary Power Supplies," Vladimir Alexiev, Power Integrations,
• "Considerations for Reliable Magnetics, A non-exhaustive reference," Matt Dvorak, BH Electronics
• "Optimization of Power Magnetic Design," Dennis Feucht, Innovatia Laboratories
• Panel Discussion with George Slama, Vladimir Alexiev, Matt Dvorak, and Dennis Feucht will address topics of interest relative to reliability, manufacturing, and safety.  Everyone's participation is encouraged.

The technical sessions of the workshop will close with remarks by Alexander Gerfer of Wurth Elektronik summarizing the Best of the Best from the magnetics program and their impact on the evolution of power magnetics positively contributing to the power electronics industry.

The 5th Annual 2022 PSMA/PELS Capacitor Workshop, "How Materials and Environmental Effects Influence Capacitor Performance," will be held concurrently with the Power Magnetics @ High Frequency Workshop. Continuing the tradition from previous years, the workshops will share the demonstration area.

New this year will be a joint Magnetics and Capacitors Rap Session addressing the trade-offs between choice of magnetic components and capacitors. This Rap Session will be held during the networking reception after the afternoon technical presentation sessions have been completed. Workshop attendees are encouraged to submit questions to the panel of magnetics and capacitor experts during the Rap Session.

Registration for the workshop is available at: https://www.psma.com/power-magnetics-high-frequency-workshop-2022-registration

If you are interested to financially support the workshop as a partner, please visit the Workshop Partnership page or contact the organizing committee through PSMA via e-mail to power@psma.com.

The latest information on the workshop as well as registration information is available on the PSMA website at: http://www.psma.com/technical-forums/magnetics/workshop

Organizing Committee
Steve Carlsen, Independent
Ed Herbert, PSMA
Chema Molina, Frenetic
Rodney Rogers, Allstar Magnetics
George Slama, Wurth Elektronik
Fred Weber, Future Technology Worldwide
Chuck Wild, Dexter Magnetic Technologies Inc.
Matt Wilkowski, EnaChip

"How Materials and Environmental Effects Influence Capacitor Performance"
Saturday March 19 2022, Prior to APEC 2022
George R Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas

ow is the time to get prepared! There are only a few more weeks, before we gather for the 2022 PSMA/PELS Capacitor Workshop "How Materials and Environmental Effects Influence Capacitor Performance." The virtual workshops held in 2020 and 2021, showed our commitment to deliver high-value content even under extremely challenging conditions. We look forward to the return to an in-person workshop with in-depth personal discussion for all attendees who join our workshop in Houston, TX.

The 2022 PSMA and PELS Capacitor Workshop will take place on Saturday March 19th at the George R Brown Houston Convention Center in Houston, Texas. The Capacitor Workshop Organizing Committee is proud to present an extraordinary line-up of speakers for the 2022 workshop.

The 2022 capacitor workshop will be the fifth in the series as a pre-event to the annual APEC conference. Each year we have seen a growing interest in the topics and we receive valuable feedback from Workshop attendees which we consider when planning the next event. The first workshop, held in 2018, focused on the basics and now, in 2022, the Workshop will focus on the inner materials used, the construction of capacitors, and how the materials and environmental effects influence its performance in applications.

The PSMA Capacitor Workshop Organizing Committee has a clear mission:

The PSMA Capacitor Committee Annual Workshop aligned with APEC has a mission to educate the attendees on capacitor trends, technologies, and innovations. Wherever and whenever applications need energy, Capacitors are at the spotlight, and as energy moves the world, it is incumbent for everyone to have a good understanding of capacitor issues. The PSMA Capacitor Committee is committed to educate and share the most recent information available to meet the industry's needs.

In 2022, the Workshop will deliver value to attendees in the industry, whether they be newbies or advanced designers of DC-DC converters, frequency drives, inverters, and other power conversation applications. The 2022 Capacitor Workshop agenda includes a mix of presentations including outstanding updates from universities around the world, and presentations by established experts from a manufacturers, designers, testing and supporting companies in the industry with a broad range of experiences and knowledge to share.

The 2022 Capacitor Workshop will open with a keynote presentation by Tomas Zednicek, President, EPCI European Passive Components Institute, "Capacitors for the Next Decade - materials, reliability and sustainability/life assessment." The first technical session, Materials & Technologies, will include an update on academic research on Capacitor Materials from Dr William Greenbank, Centre for Industrial Electronics (CIE) at the University of Southern Denmark, and presentations by speakers from CapXon Technologies, Würth Elektronik, KYOCERA - AVX, KEMET a YAGEO Group, and the University of Waikato, New Zealand.

In the afternoon, the first session will focus on Environmental Influences on Capacitors. The speakers include a presentation by Phillip Lessner, CTO of KEMET, one of the most experienced people in the capacitor world. Prof Douglas C Hopkins from NC State University will discuss Packaging MLCCs for Higher AC Voltage Applications and Future Developments. Insights on how capacitors behave under extreme temperatures will be offered by Würth Elektronik and KEMET will discuss MLCCs for AC applications.

The final technical session will focus on Measurements. There will be three presentations on topics that will ensure this workshop as practical and relevant as possible for engineers. Presenters from Zurich Instruments, Rohde & Scharz, and Würth Elektronik will present on the Characterization of the ESR and ESL of a DC Link capacitor, the aging and in circuit characterization of an aluminum electrolytic capacitor, and how capacitors are being qualified and how to interpret the datasheet values.

The seventh "Power Magnetics @ High Frequency" Workshop will be held concurrently with the 2022 Capacitor Workshop. Continuing the tradition from previous years, the two workshops will share the same demonstration area. During breakfast, lunch and the end-of-day networking period there will be demonstrations of products, technologies, equipment, and measurements that highlight many of the key concepts discussed during the presentations at each workshop. The Capacitor demonstrations will highlight the reliability and practical performance of various capacitors in various applications. Nearly all Capacitor technologies from Aluminum to Polymer, from Ceramics to Tantalum, from Film to EDLC will be included.

New this year, a joint Capacitors and Magnetics Rap Session moderated by Alexander Gerfer, CTO of Würth Elektronik, will address the trade-offs between choices of magnetic components and capacitors. This Rap Session will be held during the networking reception after the technical presentation sessions have been completed. All Workshop attendees are encouraged to submit questions to the panel of capacitor and magnetics experts during the Rap Session.

Registration for the workshop is open at: https://www.psma.com/capacitor-workshop-2022-registration

If you are interested to financially support the workshop as a partner, please visit the Workshop Partnership page or contact the organizing committee through PSMA via e-mail to power@psma.com.

The latest information on the agenda as well as registration information for the workshop is available on the PSMA website at: http://www.psma.com/technical-forums/capacitor/workshop

The PSMA Capacitor Committee is pleased to once again be a strong supporter of APEC events. In addition to the 2022 PSMA/PELS Capacitor Workshop, they areorganizing an Industry Session at APEC 2022 that focuses on the latest capacitor technologies. The Industry Session, "The Latest and Greatest Capacitor Technology Improvements for Wide Bandgap Applications" will be presented on Thursday March 24 from 1:45 – 3:25 PM.  The goal of the Industry Session is to allow capacitor manufacturers and researchers a platform to present their developments on addressing the increased demands and adoption of wide bandgap applications in power applications. We thank all our contributors for their willingness to participate and look forward to their presentations. We hope to see some of our fellow committee members at this session and at APEC!

Also, the PSMA Capacitor Technical Committee will be holding our annual     in-person committee meeting on Tuesday March 22 at 10:00 in room 332B at the George R Brown Convention Center. Please plan to join us so that you can have a voice in how we plan our activities for the upcoming year including APEC 2023, educational and technical webinars, and support for the PSMA Power Technology Roadmap.

Provided by members of the Capacitor Workshop Organizing Committee:

Pierre Lohrber, Wurth Electronics
Fred Weber, Future Technology Worldwide

Have you never heard of EnerHarv? What is it? What did you miss? When is the next event?

nerHarv was created in 2018 by the Power Sources Manufacturers Association's (PSMA) Energy Harvesting Committee (EHC) as an international workshop on energy harvesting and micro-power management, particularly for ultra-low power IoT applications. The committee recognized the growing awareness and acceptance of EH technologies and their critical role in enabling battery life extension in IoT/IIoT, wearable, industrial automation, smart mobility and many other industries. The vision was to create "a focal point for a community of experts and users of energy harvesting & related technologies to share knowledge, best practices, roadmaps, experiences and create opportunities for collaboration."

The inaugural EnerHarv 2018 was hailed as a major success. There were 81 attendees representing every major populated geographical region on the planet. The program was divided more-or-less evenly between lecture sessions, functional demonstrations, and interactive panel discussions with plenty of time reserved for networking and team-building prospects as well as a poster session as a bonus. There were 20 lecture presentations (including two keynotes and three panel introductions), 16 functional demonstrations, and 19 posters. (Proceedings can be found on the EnerHarv website).

Carnegie Mellon's Brandon Lucia energizes the crowd with the need for software in EH designs. (Photo courtesy of Tyndall National Institute.)		Analog Device's Jane Cornett discusses the massive potential of chip-scale thermoelectrics. (Photo courtesy of Tyndall National Institute.)
Gerd vom Bögel (Fraunhofer IMS) demonstrates his Industrial EH-powered sensor for Alex Weddell (Univ. Southampton/ARM).   (Photo courtesy of Tyndall National Institute.)		Some of the EnerHarv 2018 delegation. (Photo courtesy of Tyndall National Institute.)

Participants (and indeed those who missed it!) have been eagerly and persistently asking "when is the next EnerHarv?" Initial plans were to make it a biennial event, with EnerHarv 2020 scheduled to be held in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, hosted by NCSU (North Carolina State University). But those plans were put on ice due to COVID.

After a long wait, we are now pleased to announce that EnerHarv 2022 will be held from April 5-7, 2022, retaining the same host and venue. From EnerHarv 2018 we saw the value in bringing a broader range of stakeholders to our ecosystem (e.g. packaging, software, and industrial design) and the critical need to bring in more end users across multiple applications (building management, medical technologies, assisted living, environmental, conditional monitoring of equipment, systems and power supplies).

This realization strongly influenced our decision to host the event in the Raleigh/Durham area where there is already a hotbed of industrial and academic activity. This area already has a collaborative ecosystem in place via the ASSIST Research Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies, which is hosted by NCSU.

EnerHarv 2018 demonstrated a need for technology and thought leadership in this sector and the potential benefits of emerging technologies, if properly guided and integrated. The workshop cross connects not just suppliers and developers of power electronics components and systems but also demonstrates the power of collaboration when experts from power electronics, ICT and MEMS co-develop standardized, inter-operable and system-optimized solutions for real-life applications.

The ecosystem has already grown substantially and is addressing the challenge of reliably powering the one trillion sensors the world will have by 2025. This large and expanding market and ecosystem offers unprecedented growth opportunities for developers and integrators of power electronics parts and systems.

As per the inaugural workshop it will mainly (but not exclusively) be dedicated to making portable power sources last longer for ultra-low power IoT edge devices. However, the door is open for the scope to be broadened in the future, subject to feedback from our ecosystem. Ideally, devices can be powered indefinitely using energy harvesting where ambient energies are available, but at the very least, technologies can be embedded that minimize power consumption and maximize conversion efficiencies.

Attendees will learn of the many constituents of an existing, energy harvesting/micro-power management product ecosystem and how to apply these products to their application requirements in a system-optimized way. They will also learn valuable information to drive optimal design execution and address common pain points to bring a variety of products to market that will enable a dramatic penetration of energy harvesting solutions into a broader range of applications.

Through networking, attending tutorials, viewing real life demos and participating in discussions, developers will gain a step-function increase in their knowledge and ability to develop/gain access to energy-harvesting-powered solutions. The workshop will demonstrate examples of successful energy harvesting products already created via synergies between the developers of energy harvesting sources and the loads (IoT edge devices).

EnerHarv 2022 will be supported by the EU EnABLES project (No. 730957), which has already (in collaboration with PSMA and other stakeholders) built an international "power IoT" community comprising >500 academic and industry stakeholders. EnABLES also funds feasibility studies and provides free-of-charge access to expertise and facilities across leading research institutes in Europe.

IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) & China Power Supply Society (CPSS) are also technical sponsors with industrial sponsorship coming from Analog Devices, Wurth Electronics, and UBITO. Additionally, EnerHarv has media partnerships with How2Power.com and Bodo's Power Systems. We are also proud to announce our keynote speakers:

• Patrick Mercier, University of California San Diego, USA, "Energy Harvesting and Self-Powered Sensing for Miniaturized IoT and "Unawareable" Devices"
• Baoxing Chen, Analog Devices Inc., USA, "Powering the IoT: An Energy Harvesting Perspective"
• Veena Misra, ASSIST Center, NCSU, USA, "Self-Powered Wearable Sensors for Health and Environmental Monitoring"

Our first wave of confirmed speakers has also been announced with participants from CEA LETI (France), Tyndall (Ireland), Univ. Of Exeter (UK), ST Microelectronics (Italy), Univ. of Florida (U.S.A.), Wisepower (Italy) and Stokes UL (Ireland). Watch this space for further announcements. We recently announced an open call for posters and demos, a great opportunity for people to demonstrate their work in this area, get feedback, form collaborations, etc. Details can be found here.

EnerHarv is now open for registration with attractive discounts for partners and students. For more details and to register see the EnerHarv registration page.

EnerHarv 2022 is an opportunity not to be missed by anyone interested in "powering the internet of things". If you are interested in learning more, please feel free to contact any of us via email:

• Mehmet Ozturk, General Chair EnerHarv 2022
• Brian Zahnstecher, General Co-Chair EnerHarv 2022, PSMA EHC
• Mike Hayes, Technical Co-Chair EnerHarv 2022, PSMA EHC
• Shad Roundy, Technical Co-Chair EnerHarv 2022.

For more information on the ASSIST Research Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies, see the website and for more on the EU EnABLES project see their website.

Mehmet Ozturk, General Chair, EnerHarv 2022

Brian Zahnstecher, General Co-Chair, EnerHarv 2022

Mike Hayes, Technical Co-Chair, EnerHarv 2022

Shad Roundy, Technical Co-Chair, EnerHarv 2022

Editor's Note: This article was first published in the February 2022 issue of How2Power Today (http://www.how2power.com/newsletters/index.php).

s is the case in many industries, power electronics has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. This includes a boost in new technologies and opportunities for power designers to capitalize on the benefits of E-learning. While it is always difficult to derive trends from large industries, as we get closer to APEC 2022, as a power engineer it is interesting to take a minute to ponder and consider what will contribute to making power supplies more efficient, more reliable and exciting to design.

Overall trends and technology
A major trend that we are all aware of is the 'electrification' and transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. There are a lot of technological innovations required in this segment to reach the carbon neutral level expected by the European Commission, US DOE and similar initiatives in Asia. If we focus on what most of the power supplies companies are developing, I foresee that four trends, all of which will benefit from the implementation of Wide Band Gap Semiconductors, will influence the power industry in 2022:

• Reducing energy consumption
• Power supplies becoming part of the Machine-to-Machine eco-system
• Enhanced energy storage solutions
• Acceleration of harvesting energy solutions,

In the quest for reduced energy consumption, from harvesting energy to the grid, the power electronics industry is seeking new long term solutions to improve efficiency. International and local regulations have already forced power supply manufacturers to innovate, and we are seeing more stringent regulations under discussion that would require the power industry to further explore new topologies, components and materials.

One example that illustrates and will benefit from this trend is E-commerce.

E-commerce was already growing before Covid-19, but as consequence of curfews, working at home, and the drastic reduction of physical interaction, it has grown exponentially, putting a high demand on shipping hubs, computerized storage and the overall supply chain. Before we even mention the associated datacenters required to manage the E-commerce process, there are the shipping hubs and warehouses that have become gigantic and consume lots of energy. Making these hubs more energy efficient has been on the agenda for all the major players, and the 2020-2021 peak on demand was a strong a signal for the need to reconsider the way to use and to manage energy.

Figure 01: Smart Power operation in Smart Factory with machine-to-machine communication (Source: PRBX)

Power supplies as such are not consuming the majority of this energy, but, when one considers their strategic position in the operational chain, they become a key point in the overall process to optimize how energy is used in the complete chain. In 2022 we will see very advanced power supplies used in E-commerce handling and shipping hubs. Not only will they integrate higher levels of communication, they will also be able to store and restore energy from supercapacitors banks, reducing peak disturbances on the grid and consumption. Already experimented with in 2021, the power supplies have been integrated into a complete eco-system with Machine-to-Machine communication (Figure 01). They not only deliver power to a load e.g. conveyor motors, but they are able to sense and adjust the level of energy to store in local supercapacitors bank (Figure 02).

Figure 02 - PRBX S-CAP BOOST supercapacitors bank with digital control and communication interface able to deliver peak energy to load and to store backward energy (Source: PRBX)

Almost invisible, from the RFID inserted in the shipping box that will get power from RF signals, to sensors placed on motors or moving elements powered by vibration, micro-systems powered by harvested energy are developing very quickly. Additionally, the nanotechnology, such as nanotubes, make it possible to develop very small supercapacitors able to store enough energy to power sensors and transmitters.

To make this possible, the implementation of digital power and communication is a must, but the level of performance will also require power electronics engineers to design new power solutions with the so called 'Wide Band Gap' semiconductors. Depending on the application and voltage required they may select GaN or SiC types, but the benefits of WBG will contribute to making E-commerce more energy efficient and to reducing the carbon footprint.

Critical building blocks!
For decades the improvements in energy efficiency levels of power supplies have been made possible by technological evolutions. Moving from linear to switching technology was an early major one, followed by a number of more minor leap-frogs until digital power came to market.

Despite it having been on the market for several years, with the emerging WBG technology and the possibilities offered by those components, digital control becomes an absolute MUST and I strongly believe it will be a major building block for power designers when developing new products.

For components, the WBG transistors are without doubt the ones that will prevail in 2022. That said, conventional Power FETs are also making big progress and power designers will have to achieve new levels of business assessment and acumen when selecting the most appropriate technology for their applications.

Figure 03 - PRBX multi-cores auto-tuned power converters with advanced digital control and GaN FET transistors (Source PRBX)

The third building block I foresee as important is the advanced planar transformer with interleaved multi-core technology. Not all power supplies require megahertz switching but considering the constant quest for smaller power supplies with higher efficiency, power designers will have to consider new types of transformers and new winding techniques. In that respect they will not only be helped by ferrite manufacturers developing new materials but also by Artificial Intelligence software that can shorten the time to design and test new transformer types (e.g., Frenetic, Simba).

One specific example of this is research currently being conducted at PRBX, combining digital control, GaN, and multicore transformers with advanced wiring and auto-tuned performance within the wide operational range that is seen in some industrial applications that require extremely wide input voltage ranges, as well as outputs subject to repetitive peak loads. Final products while not ready yet will not be possible without the combination of digital control, WBG and advanced magnetics (Figure 03).

I believe many of the new products that we will see in 2022 and onwards will be based on these three building blocks, which I'm sure will also include more communication to become part of a Machine-to-Machine ecosystem.

In WBG we trust!
One interesting aspect about Wide Band Gap semiconductors is that we are seeing a similar situation to when the first power MOSFETs were launched. Some immediately considered the benefits of the WBG, despite early products that were based on a depletion mode that required very specific drivers  and were not very user friendly, it didn't take too long for power semiconductors manufacturers to provide 'easy-to-use' solutions.

It has now been more than five years since manufacturers first promoted the benefits of that technology but if the Go To Market is ready, the Go To Application for mass users still requires a certain amount of time.

Figure 04 - Experienced power designers have crossed that technological chasm many times, with the latest one being the migration from analog control to digital (Source: PRBX)

We are all familiar with the 'camel-back' curve reflecting new technology adoption and crossing the chasm. Experienced power designers have crossed that technological chasm many times, with the latest one being the migration from analog control to digital, which took more than 10 years to reach a significant level of adoption (Figure 04).

Figure 05 - Navitas' next-generation GaNFast power IC that will drive the 120W ultra-fast charger, contributing to reduce its size by 26% (Source PRBX/Navitas)

Figure 06 - Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) approach is very interesting, minimizing interconnection losses, and making it possible to shrink a power converter to an unprecedented size (Source: PRBX/EPC)

In the case of WBG, and especially Gallium Nitride (GaN), early adopters entered the fray much quicker than some had predicted a few years ago. It is no surprise that the PC and Mobile/Nomad industries were some of the early adopters. The number of USB-C chargers using GaN semiconductors announced in 2020-2021 is very impressive. Particularly worthy of mention is Navitas' next-generation GaNFast power IC that will drive the 120W ultra-fast charger supplied 'in-box' with vivo's iQOO-brand flagship iQOO 9 Pro mobile phone, demonstrating the rapid adoption of GaN by the 'nomad' industry. But it is not just the electrical performance, using GaN also reduces the physical size by 26%, reaching a stunning 1.3W/cc power density, which is quite incredible (Figure 05).

While it took 10 years for digital power to become a de facto technology, it took only five years for WBG to reach a similar level.

What is interesting in the development of the WBG semiconductors is that due to the specificity of this technology, with very low internal resistance and the ability to switch very fast, the packaging is very important and we see a lot of innovation from manufacturers to offer optimized solutions. Technologywise the Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) approach is very interesting, minimizing interconnection losses, and making it possible to shrink a power converter to an unprecedented size (Figure 06).

Of note is the amazing number of technical webinars held during the Covid-19 era, not to mention the virtual APEC 2021. Many companies have taken that as an opportunity for their power designers to attend online training, and as a result some power-semiconductor companies have reported shipping up to 10 times more evaluation kits than before the pandemic days.

If we simplify the market into two segments: High voltage (using SiC) and Low voltage (using GaN), we see two different patterns. High voltage applications such as electric vehicles and solar are already familiar with SiC transistors, and for that segment it is no big revolution for power engineers to undergo a learning phase for the relatively new low voltage technology.

In conclusion
In many different ways we have all been affected by the pandemic, although looking back it has contributed to a boost in learning new technology and speeding innovation. Considering all of that, 2022 will be a very important year for WBG and we can expect many new power supplies (AC/DC and DC/DC) to be announced during the year. 2022 will be a very exciting year for all of us designing power solutions.

References:
Powerbox (PRBX): https://www.prbx.com/
Navitas Semiconductors: https://navitassemi.com/
Efficient Power Conversion (EPC): https://epc-co.com/epc
Frenetic https://frenetic.ai/
SIMBA https://simba.io/
Applied Power Electronics Conferences (APEC) https://apec-conf.org/

Provided by Patrick Le Fèvre Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Powerbox

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