1. APEC Returns to Southern California – See You in Anaheim, March 17-21, 2019
   
2. PSMA 2018 Annual Meeting
   
3. Committee Chairs Report at PSMA 2018 Annual Meeting
   
4. Get More from Your PSMA Membership – Join a Committee
   
5. Meet Your Directors
   
6. Welcome to PSMA
   
7. PSMA Capacitor Committee and IEEE PELS Capacitor Workshop: Everything You Wanted to Know About Capacitors But Were Afraid to Ask
   
8. PSMA Magnetics Committee and IEEE PELS High Frequency Magnetics Workshop: Power Magnetics @ High Frequency - Eliminating the Smoke and Mirrors
   
9. 2018 International 3D Power Electronics Integration and Manufacturing Symposium
   
10. 2018 International Power-Supply-On-Chip (PwrSoC) Workshop is Opening for Registration June 15th
    
11. EnerHarv – A new ecosystem for energy harvesting and micro-power management
    
12. Call for Papers: The 6th Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications (WiPDA 2018)
    
13. PEAC – 2018 Call for Papers
    
14. PCIM Europe 2018
    
15. A Power Supply Can't Fix All EMC Woes, Yet Partnering with the Right Power Supply Experts Early Can
    
16. Power supplies for railway applications – On the rails to 2020
    
17. Solar Energy Stock Index Q1 2018
    
18. Solar Energy DealReader Q1 2018
    
19. EMS Stock Index Q1 2018
    
20. EMS DealReader Q1 2018
    
21. 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_2017 | Q4_2017 | Q1_2018

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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 2019 Applied Power Electronics Conference, which will convene March 17-21 at the Anaheim Convention Center continues the longstanding tradition of addressing issues of immediate and long-term interest to the practicing power electronics engineer. This annual event is jointly sponsored by the IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS), IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS), and Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA). The event seems to set records every year for the number of papers, the size of the exhibit and the number of attendees. It must be noted that APEC continues to be an exceptional bargain with full registration for under $1,000. Registrations will be open right after Labor Day. In the meantime, please visit the website (https://www.apec-conf.org/) to find out about speaking opportunities for the technical sessions, industry sessions and other ways you can be part of APEC2019.

 "APEC allows power electronics professionals from all sectors to gather annually and participate in a rewarding exchange of technical knowledge and gaining valuable industry connections," said APEC 2019 General Chairman, Ernie Parker. "I look forward to APEC every year as a time to meet colleagues, see what new directions are emerging in our field, and find new solutions to the problems or sometimes find new problems to solve."

The Call for Papers for APEC 2019 will open in June, check the APEC website for more information.

Meanwhile, APEC 2018 set an all-time record for the number of full-conference registrations. In addition, the Sunday and Monday Professional Education Seminars were exceptionally well attended, as were the two PSMA-sponsored pre-APEC daylong workshops on magnetics and capacitors.  What is clear is the rapid emergence of advanced technology power switching devices is adding to the need for knowledge and application insights. APEC is the ideal forum for engineers to acquire this valuable information. 

A new feature of APEC2018 was the live-streaming of all six plenary sessions. An on-demand version of the plenary session is available here: https://ieeetv.ieee.org/event-showcase/apec-2018. Register here in order to receive PDF files of the speakers' slide decks.

With the conference returning to Southern California, we are expecting attendance to exceed 5,000. The tradeshow has already sold-out with 261 exhibitors signed up and over 100 others on the waiting list. It's not too early for you to make plans to attend…mark your calendars.

Provided by Greg Evans, APEC 2018 Publicity Chair

ver 50 PSMA members and guests attended the PSMA Annual Meeting, held at the Henry B Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, TX.

The buffet breakfast before the meeting start provided attendees an opportunity for networking and meeting colleagues. The outgoing Chairman Eric Persson officially opened the meeting by welcoming all the attendees and asked each to briefly introduce themselves. Among those present were many of the 60 recipients of the APEC Student Travel Support. This support is provided jointly by IAS, PELS and PSMA and attracted 104 applicants from 54 different schools in 16 countries.

Eric then introduced the newly elected Executive Committee for the term 2018-2020:

Stephen Oliver, Incoming Chair, thanked Eric Persson and acknowledged the leadership he has provided over the past two years as well as his contributions to APEC as the General Chair for APEC 2018 and support of the PSMA Power Technology Roadmap and Semiconductor Committees.

Stephen Oliver and Eric Persson

Next on the agenda was the election of five people to the Board of Directors. The following candidates were elected to the Board of Directors for the three-year term (2018-2021):

Stephen Oliver of Navitas Semiconductor (Associate Member) was elected to fill the unexpired term (2018-2019) vacated by Dustin Becker.

Stephen Oliver and the attendees congratulated and welcomed Alexander Gerfer and Tim McDonald as new directors and Michael Hayes and Kevin Parmenter who were elected for their second terms. He also acknowledged George Slama, Würth Elektronik, who was not elected and thanked him for his continued support of PSMA.

The Chair recognized the contributions of Ed Herbert and Don Woodard whose terms as Directors expired at the meeting and presented each with a plaque to express the appreciation of PSMA for their service and continued contributions to the Association. The Chair also presented an award to Fred Weber in recognition of his outstanding contributions over the past two years to the Capacitor and the Transportation Power Electronics Technical Committees.

Stephen Oliver briefly reviewed some of the major accomplishments of the association for the past year including:

• Organizing 9 Industry Sessions for APEC2018
• Organizing the Second Magnetics Workshop the day prior to APEC2017
• Planning Capacitor, Magnetics, EnerHarv, PwrSoC and 3D-PEIM workshops for 2018
• Joint workshop with CPSS in China
• Continuous updating of the Energy Efficiency and Safety and Compliance Data Bases
• Planning for 2019 Power Technology Roadmap
• Joint sponsorship of APEC Student Travel Awards

Stephen Oliver

Stephen Oliver presenting award to Ed Herbert

Stephen Oliver presenting award to Don Woodard

Stephen Oliver presenting award to Fred Weber

Stephen also reviewed the Membership Statistics since APEC 2017 which currently shows a total of 192 Members.

The new Chairman then discussed his vision for the organization which were to continue the amazing growth of the activities of the Technical Committees to make PSMA the relevant source for technology and market trends, to increase collaborations with selected partners, to have an increased presence on social media, and to increase the Regular Membership by focusing on emerging markets. Stephen also encouraged all the membership to pick one or two of the Technical Committees of personal interest and to actively participate in their activities as being the best way for people to increase the benefits of membership.

Following the Chairman's Report was a financial Report. Michel Grenon, Secretary/ Treasurer, was unable to attend the meeting, but provided a report on the current financial status of the Association and a six-quarter financial forecast. Joe Horzepa reviewed the report which supported that the financial status and outlook for the Association is good.  The surpluses from APEC conference together with the PSMA sponsored and co-sponsored workshops and events should generate sufficient funds to support a number of Special Projects that can be of benefit for the membership and the power sources industry.

Each of the PSMA Committees presented their report for the past year and future plans. You can read more about these on page 3 of this issue.

Ernie Parker will be the General Chair for APEC 2019 which will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim California March 17 – 21, 2019.

The invited speaker at this year's Annual Meeting was Chris Whaling from Synthesis Partners LLC of Reston, VA. The title of his presentation was: Electric and Autonomous Vehicles: A Technology Base Being Discovered by Disruptive Business Models. Chris reviewed the growth and current market estimate of Electric passenger vehicles worldwide and by country. The global market is forecast to continue its rapid growth with the emergence of autonomous vehicles expected by 2021. This potential opportunity is being addressed by major companies worldwide. He briefly reviewed some of the technology and materials gaps that need to be solved to bring the technology to market. 

Before adjourning, Chairman Stephen Oliver asked the attendees for their comments and any suggestions for the future directions and activities for Association that would increase the value of their membership. A number of areas were discussed and will be considered by the Board. Stephen Oliver thanked all presenters and attendees for their participation and invited interested individuals to attend the March meeting of the PSMA Board of Directors, which immediately followed.

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

The Sunday prior to the Annual Meeting PSMA hosted a reception with members of the China Power Supply Society (CPSS). This provided a great opportunity for members of both organizations to network and discuss options and activities that will benefit members of both organizations over the next year. Several members of CPSS also attended the PSMA Annual Meeting.

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 social event, featuring live music and several Texas themed activities, gave everyone a chance to relax and enjoy themselves.

There was a full exhibit hall at APEC 2018. Many of the PSMA member companies exhibiting participated in a "Passport" game in which attendees who visited their booths had their passport booklets stamped. Attendees turned in their completed passports for a chance to win an iPad and a Samsung Smartwatch. Traffic to members' booths was brisk and the lucky winners were very happy with the prizes.

ach of the PSMA Technical Committees provided updates on the recent activities of their committees at the Annual Meeting at APEC 2018 in San Antonio, TX. In addition, each Committee also held individual meetings during the week of APEC 2018.

Fred Weber, Capacitor Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee has organized a seven speaker Industry Session with the theme of "Capacitor Technologies for Emerging Power Conversion Applications". The committee also held a successful workshop on the Saturday prior to start of APEC2018 with over 50 registrations. The committee is meeting during the week to review the workshop, plan for a follow-up workshop at APEC2019 and discuss the theme and subjects for the upcoming year.

Mike Hayes and Brian Zahnstecher, Energy Harvesting Committee Co-Chairs, reported that the committee now has 34 members and been meeting monthly via teleconference. The committee supported the 2017 PSMA Power Technology Roadmap and has organized a seven presentation Industry Session at APEC 2018 with the theme "Energy Harvesting and Ultra-Low Power Management is Real and of Fast Growing Relevance for the PE Community". The Industry Session will includes a Live Demo with hardware, models and systems. The committee is also planning for EnerHarv 2018 – the Inaugural International Energy Harvesting Workshop to be held in Cork, Ireland May 29 – 31. The workshop will follow the successful format used by the PwrSoC workshops to grow their events.

Patrick Le Fevre, Energy Management Committee Co-Chair, reported the committee is the result of the merger of the Alternate Energy and Energy Efficiency committees. Because of personal circumstances, both of the past Committee co-chairs had to withdrew from the committee in the past month. As a result, the committee was not able to support their planned Industry Session for APEC 2018 but continues to support the efforts to update the Energy Efficiency Data Base that is available on the PSMA web site. Arnold Alderman, provided a brief update of the current status of the Energy Efficiency Data Base.

The Industry-Education Committee has primarily focused for the last several years on the APEC Student Travel Support, initiated by PSMA and now jointly sponsored with IAS and PELS.  Joe Horzepa reviewed the objectives of the committee which are to promote interaction between power electronics students and industry and to promote power electronics to university and pre-university students. He discussed the need for PSMA members to take a more active role in encouraging students at the high school levels to consider the opportunities for a career in power electronics and to encourage qualified candidates to pursue a degree in the field. He challenged the attendees to join the Industry Education Committee and to initiate special projects focused on middle and high school students that highlight the potential of a career in the power electronics industry.

Steve Carlsen, Magnetics Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee has held monthly meeting this past year and organized a seven presentation Industry Session for APEC 2018. Under the leadership of Matt Wilkowski and Ed Herbert, the committee, with technical support from IEEE PELS, organized a third very successful one-day workshop the day prior to APEC2018. Steve presented a brief summary report on the "Power Magnetics@ High Frequency – Eliminating the Smoke and Mirrors" workshop. The workshop was attended by 160 people – 85% were from Industry and 15% were from Academia. A fourth workshop is being planned for APEC 2019.

Greg Evans, Marketing Committee Co-Chair, provided an overview of the committee and highlighted some of the activities on its current agenda. The committee updated and printed a new Membership Brochure and continued the Passport program at APEC2018. The Board approved the expenditure for a PSMA Exhibit Booth at PCIM 2018. He also briefly reviewed a study to categorize Semiconductor Companies as Regular Members and reduce the number of membership levels. This issue will be further discussed at this month's BOD meeting.

Power Electronics Packaging Committee Co-Chair, Brian Narveson, reviewed the activities and results of the committee this past year. It has been an outstanding year with the publication of a Phase 3 Technology Report on Embedded Power Components, organizing of a 7-presentaion Industry Sessions for APEC 2018, organizing the Second 3D PEIM Symposium in June, providing financial and technical support for PwrSoC 2018. The committee is also providing support for the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap. Brian presented a brief overview of the Phase 3 Technology Report which will be a Plenary Presentation at APEC 2018. Finally, he provided an update on the Second PEIM Symposium scheduled for June 27 – 27, 2018 at University of Maryland in College Park.

Dhaval Dalal and Conor Quinn, Power Technology Roadmap Committee Co-Chairs, reported that the committee has begun work on the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap Report and will hold a planning meeting later this week to review and assign champions for the major segments in the next report as well as identifying possible Webinars topics and presenters in support of the report.  The committee is planning to contract with a qualified industry consultant on Surveys to organize, administer and provide a summary of the effort that will also include input from Asia (China) organizations. The committee is currently seeking volunteers to join the committee and contribute to the 2019 PSMA Power Technology Roadmap effort.

Tony O'Brien and Brian Zahnstecher, Reliability Committee Co-Chairs, reported that the new committee has monthly meetings and has 19 members from the industry. The initial focus of the committee has been to conduct a survey to identify and rank the major concerns relative to reliability and quality. Based on analysis of survey results the committee will consider sponsoring a Special Project that addresses the key issues. The committee has agreed to contribute to the next Power Technology Roadmap effort and to sponsor a Webinar on one or more Quality/Reliability topics.

Safety & Compliance Committee Co-Chairs, Kevin Parmenter and Jim Spangler, reported that the committee is active and organizing a 7 Presentation Session and a 4 Presentations Session at APEC2018. The committee has also supported the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap with a webinar on TUV standards. The committee continues to promote and support the Safety and Compliance Data base on the web site which is updated on a continuing basis as well as adding additional agencies that are tracked.

Tim McDonald, Co-Chair of the Semiconductor Committee, reported the committee has been very active this past year and has organized two Industry Sessions -the first is a 7-presentation Industry session focusing on latest advancements in device and package technology for high power, high frequency switching devices. The second 6-presentation Industry Session is titled "Reliability and Ruggedness – How to Address These Challenges in Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Devices". The committee has been supporting the 2019 PSMA Power Technology project and is organizing webinars for the project. The committee will also participate and sponsor the 2018 WIPDA (Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications) workshop.to be held in Atlanta, GA October 31 to November 2, 2018. In addition, during the current year, the committee is considering organizing a Special Projects that would be of benefit to the industry.

Ralph Taylor and Fred Weber, Transportation Power Electronics Committee Co-Chairs, , reported the committee has been very active this past year and organized a 7-Presentation Industry Session with a theme entitled: "Vehicle Batteries; It's more than just stacking cells together and an EVI Retrospective". The presenters are from the major automotive manufacturers and experts from the industry. The committee has begun to identify possible themes for APEC 2019 and is discussing means to generate more awareness of PSMA to the automotive industry

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.

All of the PSMA Technical Committee meetings are held via webconference and are open to individuals interested in learning about and participating in the work of the committees. This is an excellent way to network with others and to influence the technical direction of the committees.

SMA membership provides many benefits for you and your company. It gives you personally the opportunity to meet, network and interact with your counterparts in other companies on an ongoing basis. It also provides an opportunity to be involved with the planning and managing of APEC, as well as giving you and your colleagues a discount on registration fees for attending APEC and other PSMA sponsored workshops and events.
Other Benefits:

• Your company gets a listing on the PSMA web site with a hyperlink directly to your company web site. In addition, your company has an invitation to provide a Spotlight Banner to showcase its latest product on the PSMA Home Page
• Your company also receives free or discounted copies of PSMA publications and reports,
• An important membership benefit is the opportunity to join and participate in one or more of the PSMA Technical Committees. 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 that surpass the time spent participating – both for their company and for their own careers. Just ask someone who is a committee member. The committee provides the opportunity to network with knowledgeable people who are influencing the power sources industry.

You are personally encouraged to join a committee and get involved in their activities. Most committees meet about once a month for about one hour by web conferencing. You are welcome to attend and monitor 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.

This is an open invitation to participate in or join any committee. Bring your experience, interest and enthusiasm to influence and impact the direction of the organization. Currently PSMA has the following committees:

• Capacitors
• Energy Harvesting
• Energy Management
• Industry-Education
• Magnetics
• Marketing
• Power Electronics Packaging
• Reliability
• Safety & Compliance
• Semiconductors
• Technology Roadmap
• Transportation Power Electronics

Your participation will contribute added value to the subject and enhance your own knowledge.
This is also a great way to network with your colleagues.

For more information describing the committees and the dates for the next meetings, please view the PSMA web site or contact the PSMA office at power@psma.com.

our members of the Board of Directors are elected at the PSMA 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.

At the PSMA Annual Meeting in March 2018, Mike Hayes and Kevin Parmenter were elected to their second terms and new board members Alexander Gerfer and Tim McDonald were elected. In this issue we would like to introduce you to Alexander and Tim.

Alexander Gerfer is Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer of Würth Elektronik eiSos group, one of Europe's largest manufacturers of electronic and electromechanical components, with it´s base in Waldenburg, Munich and Berlin.

Already at the age of 15 he repaired and built electronic devices. As a result, he completed an apprenticeship as a radio/television technician and gained extensive professional experience in R&D and production of precision measuring devices. He graduated from the engineering school of communications engineering at the Rheinische Akademie Köln and studied electrical engineer (FH) at the Rheinische Fachhochschule.

He also gained years of professional experience in sales at the company RS Components and in product management at the distributor Schukat Elektronik. Alexander Gerfer has been part of the Würth Elektronik eiSos group since 1997; since 2000 he has been responsible for product management, quality, research and development.

He shares his knowledge in countless specialist seminars on inductors and EMC components, EMC and circuit technology. He is the author of many professional contributions and publications in the field of consumer electronics, application notes and the book "Trilogy of inductors", as well as co-author of various books such as the "Trilogy of Connectors". Numerous patents bear his name. Alexander Gerfer also travels internationally as a sought-after key speaker and as a promoter of innovative startups.

Provided by Alexander Gerfer, Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer, Würth Elektronik eiSos GmbH & Co. KG

Previously, Tim was Vice President of device engineering and product development for International Rectifier's GaNpowIR™ Technology Development team where he was responsible for  successfully developing and marketing GaN on Silicon devices into consumer high volume applications.   Before that he served as Vice President of IR's  iPOWIR™  Power Stage Business Unit where he defined and developed integrated DC-DC power conversion solutions with benchmark efficiency and power density for application in netcom, servers, mobile computing and game stations.

Tim has over 35 years of diversified experience in power conversion/management and has held positions in device engineering management, product and market development, product engineering, device characterization, test platform development and operations. He  holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the University of California at Los Angeles.

As a member of the PSMA board of directors and co-chair of the PSMA Semiconcuctor Technical Committee, Tim would like to ensure continued strong leadership while PSMA  plays a vital, growing and active role as the industry rides its next growth phase (driven by adoption of  wide bandgap technology).

Provided by Tim McDonald, Consulting Advisor for the CoolGaNTM Program, Infineon Technologies

Associated Power Technologies
Nicholas Piotrowski
13860 W Laurel Drive
Lake Forest, IL 60045
Telephone: 414-587-0615
E-mail: nick.piotrowski@ikonixusa.com
Website: www.aptsources.com

Associated Power Technologies (APT), a division of Ikonix USA, is a leading manufacturer of AC power sources and frequency converters. APT offers single phase and three phase solutions in power configurations from 500 VA to 18 kVA.  APT's products are commonly used in such industries as aerospace, military, test & measurement, medical device, lighting, components, power supplies, consumer electronics, transportation, testing laboratories, consumer appliances, and utilities/power distribution.

Al-Thaddeus Avestruz
University of Michigan
1301 Beal Avenue
4118 EECS Building
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Telephone: 734-763-3183
E-mail: avestruz@umich.edu
Website: www.fair-rite.com

Al-Thaddeus Avestruz is Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. Professor Avestruz's main research focus is in the area of high performance power electronics and wireless power transfer for renewable energy, biomedical, automotive, and consumer applications.   He has complementary interests in circuits and systems for sensing, electromagnetic systems, feedback and controls, renewable energy, automotive, biomedical, and consumer applications. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Pyro-E
Kevin Lu
1000 S. Hope St.
No. 208
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Telephone: 510-578-8849
E-mail: kevin.lu@pyro-e.com
Website: www.pyro-e.com

Pyro-E custom designs and deploys solid-state technologies for energy harvesting applications. Their electromechanical device could extract energy from low-frequency, intermittent vibrations befitting of buildings, train rails, oil/gas pipelines, etc. By coupling with commercial sensors, vibrational energy harvesting enables other devices to operate without wiring, thus paving for an interconnected future that is attainable today.

Foreseeably, Pyro-E's unique perpetual sensor solution will 1) enable Smart Cities, 2) improve urban mobility, and 3) utilize a greater portion of the renewable energy resources.

Rohde & Schwarz
Tom Neville
9255 SW Nimbus Avenue
Beaverton, OR 97008
Telephone: 503-484-0355
E-mail: tom.neville@rsa.rohde-schwarz.com
Website: www.rohde-schwarz.com

Founded more than 80 years ago, Rohde & Schwarz is one of the world's leading manufacturers of information and communications technology products for professional users. Initially focusing on RF engineering and RF applications in test and measurement, radiocommunications and broadcasting, the company has continually expanded its fields of activity over the past decades . In the meantime Rohde & Schwarz has also become one of Germany's largest manufacturers of IT security products.

SMA Magnetics Sp. z o.o.
Marek Rylko
Krakowska 390
32-080 Zabierzow, Malopolska
Poland
Telephone: +48122830958
E-mail: Marek.Rylko@sma-magnetics.com
Website: www.sma-magnetics.com

SMA Magnetics Sp. z o.o. specializes in high performance custom magnetic components ranging from current sensing devices up to multi-kilowatts power high-frequency inductors and transformers as well as EMI filters for electronic equipment and switched mode power electronic supplies. Tbey have an onsite R&D team that provides customer support in product development and product support throughout entire lifecycle.

With manufacturing locations in Poland and China, SMA Magnetics provides tailored inductive components to a wide range of market segments.

 

Everything You Wanted to Know About Capacitors But Were Afraid to Ask

n Saturday, March 3, 2018, the day before the start of, and in the same venue as APEC 2018 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, TX , The Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) and the IEEE Power Electronics Society (IEEE PELS) jointly sponsored an all-day workshop titled "Everything You Wanted to Know About Capacitors But Were Afraid to Ask".

The workshop addressed the fundamentals of capacitor technology, as applied to a wide range of power conversion applications, including dc-dc converters, variable frequency drives and inverters. The primary technologies discussed were: Ceramic, Electrolytic Caps (Aluminum), Dry Film, and Super Caps which were broken into Low Voltage, High Voltage, and Failure Modes considerations. There was an interactive panel discussions following each topic. In addition, there were presentations discussing new capacitor technologies, a discussion on reliability testing, and Embedded Capacitors. During the breakfast, lunch and post event networking sessions, all attendees were able to participate and review the demonstrations for not only the Capacitor Workshop, but also the Magnetics Workshop.

The PSMA Capacitor Committee is currently working on the technical agenda for next year's workshop to be held prior to APEC2019in Anaheim, CA. Possible topics include covering other technologies (i.e. Tantalums), more focus on application discussions, and emerging technologies. Your inputs and opinions are certainly welcome at this early stage of planning. If you are interested in participating in the planning and demonstrations for 2019 Capacitor Workshop, contact the Association Office at power@psma.com.

Organizing Committee

Fred Weber, Future Technology Worldwide
Pierre Lohrber, Wurth Electronics
Wilmer Companioni, KEMET Electronics

Power Magnetics @ High Frequency
Eliminating the Smoke and Mirrors
Date: Saturday March 3, 2018
San Antonio, Texas

he "Power Magnetics @ High Frequency – Eliminating the Smoke and Mirrors" workshop sponsored by the PSMA Magnetics Committee and IEEE PELS was held on the day before APEC 2018, Saturday March 3, 2018 from 7:00 AM thru 6:00 PM in San Antonio Texas.

This third workshop continued the traditional of the first two magnetics workshops in 2016 and 2017 by bringing together experts from all aspects of the magnetics industry research and academic organizations, world renowned consultants and the everyday heroes of magnetics design who are responsible for commercializing magnetic products on a regular basis. The number of workshop attendees increased to 160 with about 85% of the attendees from industry and 15% of the attendees from academia/research. The agenda of the workshop included panel discussions and technology demonstrations to supplement traditional lecture type presentations which led to high energy dialogue between the attendees and the invited experts throughout the workshop.

The purpose and the focus of the workshop was:

• identify the latest improvements in areas of magnetic materials, coil (winding) design, construction and fabrication,
• identify, discuss and demonstrate evaluation and characterization techniques as well as modelling and simulation tools needed to meet the technical expectations and requirements for power magnetics operating at higher frequencies
• identify and discuss the technical expectations and requirements of higher application frequencies and emerging topologies that are being driven by continuous advances in circuits topologies, semi-conductor devices driven by new market applications.

Many thanks to the invited presenters and panelists who included Dr. Charles Sullivan (Dartmouth), Stefan Ehrlich (Fraunhofer Institute), Marek Rylko (SMA Magnetics), Ed Herbert (PSMA), Byron Beddingfield (North Carolina State University), Dr Ray Ridley (Ridley Engineering), Dominik Neumayr ( ETH), Michael Baumann (Sumida), Michael Seeman (Eta One Power), George Slama (Wurth Elektronik), Bruce Carsten (PEAK), Jenna Pollock, J. C. Sun (Bs&T Technologies), Martin Gruebl (Sumida), Doug Malcolm (Sumida), Ryu Nagahama (IWATSU), Marcin Kacki (SMA Magnetics), Chris Oliver (Micrometals), Chuck Wild (Dexter Magnetics), John Lynch (Fair Rite), Kyle Jensen (Rubadue), Dr. Sadhab Ganda (EPCOS), Philip Laurer (EPCOS) and Brad Van Fleet (Magnetics).

Based on post workshop discussions, the next High Frequency Magnetics workshop in the series will be held the Saturday before APEC2019. This fourth workshop will be in conjunction with APEC 2019 in Anaheim California. A survey of attendees is in process to identify the theme, specific topics and presenters for the next workshop will continue to drive efforts to improve the characterization and specification of magnetic materials and magnetic cores to support the power electronics industry and to identify efforts that will move the industry forward in terms of magnetic material and magnetic structure development.

Anyone interested in participating as a presenter or as part of the technology demonstration session during the 2019 worksop in Anaheim California should contact the PSMA office (power@psma.com). We are looking forward to the fourth workshop and driving the industry forward to meet the expectations of the workshop attendees.

Organizing Committee
Khurram Afridi, University of Colorado Boulder
Ali Bazzi, University of Connecticut
Steve Carlsen, Raytheon Systems Company
Ed Herbert , PSMA
Laili Wang, Xi'an Jiaotong University
Rodney Rogers, Allstar Magnetics
Fred Weber, Future Technology Worldwide
Chuck Wild, Dexter Magnetic Technologies Inc.
Matt Wilkowski, Intel

he Second Biennial International Symposium on 3D Power Electronics Integration and Manufacturing (3D-PEIM-18) will be held June 25-27, 2018 at the University of Maryland, College Park.  The Symposium is being organized by two leading experts in this field: Prof. Patrick McCluskey of the University of Maryland, College Park is General Chair; Prof. Guo-Quan Lu from Virginia Tech is Technical Program Chair.

Professionals and Educators engaged in R & D of power electronics packaging design, and manufacturing processes

This Symposium provides attendees a perfect opportunity to gain insight or broaden expertise in 3D power electronics  packaging and integration. The Symposium schedule is arranged to provide ample time between sessions  for people to share ideas, progress, and challenges with leading members of international associations and societies.

General Chair, Prof. Patrick McCluskey of the University of Maryland shares, "It is my pleasure to welcome power electronic professionals of all disciplines to attend the leading conference dedicated to 3D integration and additive manufacturing of power electronics.  The symposium promises to be filled with tutorial, technical, and interactive sessions highlighting the latest discoveries and developments that are making miniaturized, intelligent power electronic systems a reality in a wide range of applications."

Our Outstanding Program is Complete

All of the world-class speakers are lined up to provide you with an outstanding program encompassing additive, embedded, co-designed, and integrative packaging technologies with sessions that address mechanical, materials, reliability, and manufacturability issues using small, smart, power dense components and modules.

Technical Program Chair, Prof. Guo-Quan Lu from Virginia Tech in completing the 3D-PEIM program says, "It is an exciting time for professionals working in the field of power electronics. The world is moving into more and more electrified. We are seeing a rapid rise of research and commercial activities in power electronics.  One indication is the growing number of international conferences and workshops that bring together thousands of PE engineers and researchers. I am glad that our 3D PEIM symposium uniquely addresses the need for a dedicated forum on power electronics packaging and manufacturing. We have assembled many of the leading experts in the field. I am sure that the attendees will have a fruitful learning experience through the lectures and one-on-one interactions."  

Our program includes:

A keynote address by Prof. Mark Johnson Director of the EPSRC Centre for Power Electronics and holds a personal Chair at the University of Nottingham, England. His personal research expertise is in power devices, power electronics packaging, thermal management, reliability and integration. He was instrumental in establishing a nationwide collaborative program in Silicon Carbide (SiC) electronics and was a member of the Executive Committee for the EPSRC-funded Innovative Electronics Manufacturing Research Centre (IeMRC) and project manager for the IeMRC Flagship Project in Power Electronics.

A keynote address by Dr. Rolf Aschenbrenner, deputy director of the Fraunhofer IZM focused on chip interconnection technologies. He received the iNEMI International Recognition Award in 2005, the CPMT David Feldman Outstanding Contribution Award 2013 and the European Semi Award 2016. His research work has spanned from manufacturing process fundamentals, to applied manufacturing and 3D Packaging. From 2002-2015, Rolf Aschenbrenner was a member of the IEEE CPMT and during the term 2010-2011 he was IEEE CPMT President and in 2012 he became IEEE Fellow.

Filling out our 3-day program are outstanding invited speakers and events:

• Three tutorials by invited specialists: Chris Williams of Virginia Tech; Doug Hopkin of NCSU; and Mike Ohadi of U. of MD.
• Eight technical sessions of four (4) speakers each that include hardware demonstration and one-on-one discussions with the speakers
• An interactive poster session.
• Rapping up our Symposium, attendees will have a guided tour of the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) at the U. of MD.
• You can see from our program schedule that plenty of time is available for you to network with speakers and fellow attendees.

You can view the complete Symposium program here.

The Symposium will have exhibits

Those who sign up to be an exhibitor will have an oportunity to display and domonstrate their products and technologies on a Table Top. The exhibits are planned to be open several times each day during the Symposium. Each registered Exhibitor will be given one complementary conference registration.

Sponsorship is offered

All sponsors will be at one common level. Those who become sponsors will get: one table top exhibit, website recognition, and projector recognition. Company banners will be placed in seminar room. Sponsors will receive one complimentary conference registration and complimentary tutorial registration.

Registration, Exhibits, and Sponsorship Information for June 25, 26, 27 is readily available at http://www.3d-peim.org/registration/

If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact us at http://www.3d-peim.org/contact/ or Sponsor PSMA at power@psma.com.

Provided by:

General Chair
Prof. Patrick McCluskey, University of Maryland, College Park

Technical Program Chair
Prof. Guo-Quan (GQ) Lu, Virginia Tech

Publicity Chair
Arnold Alderman, Anagenesis, Inc.

elebrating its 10th anniversary, the International Workshop on Power-Supply-Chip (PwrSoC) is announcing the opening of registration for June 15th, 2018. The workshop is co-sponsored by the Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) and IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) and will be held at National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Hsinchu, Taiwan from October 17-19, 2018.

The workshop will continue its reputation as the leading international forum for the discussion of the challenges and opportunities, in technology, business and supply-chain, to be considered in advancing the miniaturization and integration of power conversion and power management solutions. The workshop will feature advanced technologies from global academic and industry experts aimed at miniaturizing power management circuits and passive components initally in package, (power supply in a package - PSiP) but ultimately on-chip, (power supply on chip - PwrSoC).

Highlight topics this year include:

1. manufacturing - given the workshop will be held in one of the world's major manufacturing centers, and
2. low-voltage, wide-bandgap (WBG) devices for integrated power management.

PwrSoC is held every two years and previous workshops have been held in Europe (Cork, Ireland in 2008 and 2010 and Madrid, Spain in 2016); in the U.S. (San Francisco 2012 and Boston 2014). This next workshop will be held in Taiwan, a center of world leading microelectronics development and manufacturing. National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), located in the historic and educational center Hsinchu, Taiwan is hosting PwrSoC Workshop 2018.

Tyndall's Prof. Cian ÓMathúna, founder of the workshop and Co-General Chair for the Taiwan event shared the following, "Our endeavor is global. Therefore, coming to Hsinchu we are excited about inviting our Asian colleagues and friends into this most important dialogue. Manufacturing as well as technology development are key cornerstones to the realization of our vision to enable a supply-chain to deliver a fully integrated PwrSoC in the commercial marketplace."

Cian Ó Mathúna, Co-General Chair, Tyndall National Institute, Hsiao-Hui Tai, Local PwrSoC18 Organiser, NCTU and Prof. Ke-Horng Chen, Co-General Chair, NCTU

Technical Program & Invitation to Present

Prof. Hanh-Phuc Le from University of Colorado is the Technical Program Chair for the 2018 workshop and he encourages both engineers and scientists from academia and industry who are developing advanced PSiP or PwrSoC technologies and platforms to contact him directly at his email below. This is a great opportunity to share your work with distinguished scientists and engineers in this emerging and very important field. There is still time and room for session and poster presentations.
 
Prof. Le explains: "This is going to be one of the most interesting workshop in PwrSoC's short history. We are going to see advancements in converter topologies, passive component technologies, wide-bandgap devices and circuits and new concepts for integration and manufacturing. We are going to have the privilege of hearing world-leading experts discuss far-reaching goals and achievements in a wide range of applications from powering high-performance processors to automotive and bio-medical systems. Attendees can expect to go away with a detailed perspective on the technological and business challenges and opportunities that can impact their future business in this emerging space."
 
Program Details

As always, PwrSoC18, is an intimate, multi-disciplinary single track. The following table outlines the proposed session and the associated Session Chairs.  covering the following sessions.

Registration Opens June 15th
Past attendance has averaged about 175 attendees so space will be somewhat limited. It is best to register early once registration opens. Those wishing to attend will be able to register at http://pwrsocevents.com/registration/

Visas
If you need a visa to enter Taiwan, the approval process can be quite lengthy. So, it is recommended that you start early. Contact for a letter of invitation to apply for your visa at http://pwrsocevents.com/visa-information/

The Tour – Attendance Quite Limited

This workshop will feature a special tour that covers Hsinchu Science Park, TSMC Museum of Innovation, ending with a TSMC Company Profile and Power Technology talk. This tour is currently scheduled in the afternoon of the workshop last day, Oct. 19, 2018. Attendance is limited to two 2 groups of 60 people each. This is another reason to register early.

Table Top Exhibits Available

Attendees have found it helpful to have an opportunity to view new commercial PwrSoC technologies and products. So table top exhibits are available to anyone who wishes to share details of their recent work. Fees and viewing times are on at the website "Registration and Partnership" page http://pwrsocevents.com/registration/

Sponsorship and Partnership

The workshop is offering two levels of Sponsorship or Partnership. The Gold level ($2000) includes 1 free registration. The sponsor's company logo will be displayed on the PwrSoC website, booklet, and in the banner at the auditorium entrance. The Platinum level ($4000) includes 2 free registrations. In addition to the Gold level benefits, the sponsor's company logo will be displayed on a banner at the reception and/or banquet and in the workshop blast-email announcements. The sponsor will also get an exhibit table for the duration of the workshop. Please refer to http://pwrsocevents.com/registration/ for further information.

General Co-Chairs:
Professor Ke-Horng Chen. khchen@cn.nctu.edu.tw
Prof. Cian Ó Mathúna. Cian.omathuna@tyndall.ie

Technical Program Chair
Prof. Hanh-Phuc Le. hanhphuc@Colorado.EDU

he 'powering the Internet of Things' market is set to explode with a recent McKinsey study reporting an estimated one trillion IoT devices globally by 2025. All of these devices need a power source representing unprecedented opportunities for the power electronics community. This includes designing parts and systems with lower power consumption & higher energy storage, smarter and context aware energy management devices and potentially the use energy harvesting and related technologies to eliminate the need for battery placement. This has led to the formation of the PSMA EnerHarv 2018 workshop, '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.'

In the First Quarter 2018 edition of PSMA Update we brought exciting news on the initial launch of EnerHarv 2018 with an outline agenda and keynote speakers from TI & Imperial College London. The committee has since then defined the detailed agenda, lining up selecting presentations, demos and posters in energy harvesting, storage, micro-power management and system integration based on real life applications. Thanks to the committee and our technical sponsors (IEEE PELS, ECPE, CONNECT and CPSS) an exciting program of presentations from industry and academia has been confirmed including Analog Devices, Carnegie Mellon, ST Micro, Ilika, ARM, UNIST (S. Korea), Fraunhofer, IMTEK-University of Freiburg, Tyndall, NCSU (North Carolina), Lightricity, Cap-XX, University of Southampton & United Technologies.

The workshop will demonstrate examples of successful energy harvesting products already created via synergies between the energy harvesting source and the load demand developers. A key workshop message and driver is that emerging technologies, if properly guided and integrated, will enable a dramatic penetration of energy harvesting solutions into a broader range of applications.

EnerHarv is targeted at a broad audience ranging from potential adopters of energy harvesting for IoT devices for specific applications (building management, medical technologies, assisted living, environmental, conditional monitoring of equipment, systems, power supplies) to industrial and academic developers of materials and devices (active and passive) to systems integrators and installers of IoT solutions.

EnerHarv will be hosted by Tyndall National Institute in Cork, Ireland, May 29-31, 2018.  Tyndall is one of Europe's leading industry-led IoT research centers and is an epicenter for energy harvesting research.

An opportunity not to be missed for anyone interested in 'powering the Internet of Things.'

Registration is still open with limited spaces. Please visit www.EnerHarv.com or contact Mike Hayes (General Chair, michael.hayes@tyndall.ie) or Brian Zahnstecher (Technical Chair, bz@powerrox.com) to learn more.

Provided by

General Chair
Mike Hayes, Tyndall National Institute

Technical Program Chair
Brian Zahnstecher, PowerRox

Wednesday, October 31 – Friday, November 2, 2018
GeorgiaTech Hotel and Conference Center, Atlanta, GA USA

he IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications (WiPDA, www.wipda.org ), sponsored by IEEE and PSMA, provides a forum for device scientists, circuit designers, & application engineers from the Power Electronics & Electron Devices Societies to share technology updates, research findings, experience & potential applications. The 6th WiPDA will be held from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, 2018, at the GeorgiaTech Hotel and Conference Center in Atlanta, GA.

This year's event will have a similar structure as previous years, including an extensive program of tutorials; keynote, technical, and poster sessions; a panel discussion; an exhibition; and a banquet. The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Heteroepitaxial & Bulk Materials Growth
• Gate Dielectrics & Surface Passivation
• Device Structures & Fabrication Techniques
• Device Characterization & Modeling
• Very-High Efficiency Or Compact Converters
• Safe Operating Areas Of Wide Bandgap Devices, Including Short Circuit, Spike, &Transient Tolerance
• Harsh Environment (High Temperature) Operation & Reliability
• Packaging Power Modules & ICs
• Hard-Switched & Soft-Switched Application Analysis
• Gate Drive & Other Auxiliary Circuits
• High-Performance Passive Components
• Applications in Renewable Energy & Energy Storage, Transportation, Industrial Drives, & Grid Power Systems

All presented papers will be included in the conference proceedings and submitted to the databases of IEEExplore.

Participation Opportunities:

• Tutorials: Tutorial proposals on state-of-the-art WBG power device technology and applications are sought. Tutorials will be offered in the morning and afternoon of October 31.
• Keynote Sessions: Two keynote sessions will be held on November 1 and 2, where leading experts from academia, industry, and research institutes will be invited to share their insights on technology developments and future trends.
• Panel Session: Leading experts from federal agencies, industry, and academia will be invited to discuss pressing technical issues at a panel session on November 1.
• Exhibition & Sponsorships: A limited number of exhibitor and corporate sponsorship opportunities are available.

Key dates for this year's event:

• Two-page abstract deadline: June 15, 2018
• Notification of acceptance: July 20, 2018
• Tutorial Abstract Submission: June 29, 2018
• Tutorial Notification Of Acceptance: July 27, 2018
• Final Paper Submission: August 24, 2018
• Tutorials: October 31, 2018
• Tech. & Dialogue Sessions: November 1–2, 2018

For more information, visit www.wipda.org.

We are looking forward to meeting you in Atlanta, GA!

Organizing committee:

• Maryam Saeedifard, General Chair, Georgia Tech
• Victor Veliadis, Vice-Chair, NC State/Power America
• Dong Cao, Technical Program Co-Chair, North Dakota State University
• Mahshid Amirabadi, Technical Program Co-Chair, Northeastern University
• Khurram Afridi, Technical Program Co-Chair, University of Colorado - Boulder
• Eric Persson, Plenary Sessions Chair, Infineon
• Babak Parkhideh, Treasurer, North Carolina -Charlotte

EEE International Power Electronics and Application Conference and Exposition (PEAC) is an international conference for presentation and discussion of the state-of-the art in power electronics, energy conversion and its applications. The IEEE PEAC'2018 is the second meeting of PEAC, which will be held in Shenzhen, China, November 4-7, 2018.

The worldwide power electronic industry, research, and academia are cordially invited to participate in an array of presentations, tutorials, exhibitions and social activities for the advancement of science, technology, engineering education, and fellowship. Technical interests of the conference include, but are not limited to:

• Switching Power Supply: DC/DC converter, Power Factor Correction converter
• Inverter and control: DC/AC Inverter, Modulation and Control
• Power Devices and applications: Si, SiC, and GaN devices
• Magnetics, Passive Integration, Magnetics for Wireless and EMI
• Control, Modeling, Simulation, System Stability and Reliability
• Conversion Technologies for Renewable Energy and Energy Saving
• Power Electronics for Transmission and Distribution
• Power Electronics for Electric Vehicles, Railway, Marine, Airplane etc.
• Power Electronics for Lighting and Consumer Electronics
• Power Electronics for Data center and Telecom

Paper Submission

The working language of the conference is English. Prospective authors are invited to electronically submit digests of their work in English (Maximum 6 pages in double space, in pdf format) through PEAC User Central following this link http://www.peac-conf.org/UserCentral/Index/CreateAccount. The digest is a summary of your paper including the digest title, abstract, digest text and references, download Digest Template.
Accepted and presented papers will be published in the conference proceedings and submitted to the IEEE Xplore on-line digital library and EI Compendex.

Important Deadlines

• Submission of digests                         May 30th, 2018
• Submission of tutorial proposals        June 30th, 2018
• Notification of paper acceptance        July 15th, 2018
• Submission of final papers                 Aug 30th, 2018

More Participation Opportunities:

Tutorials

Several high-quality tutorials will be offered on Sunday, November 4, 2018. Prospective lecturers are invited to send a proposal before June 30, 2018 to the Tutorial Chair: Xinbo Ruan, ruansb@nuaa.edu.cn.

The proposal should be no more than 3 pages including:

• Tutorial title
• Name, affiliation and short bio(s) of the lecturer(s)
• Objective Audience
• Synopsis

Industry Session Presentations

In order to strengthen the cooperation among industries with academics, PEAC'2018 will arrange industry sessions during the conference. Speakers are invited to make a presentation only without submitting a formal paper. These presentations will be included in the PEAC '2018 conference proceeding. Each presentation should be limited to 30 minutes (25 minutes for presentation, plus 5 minutes for questions and discussions). We seek technical presentations rather than marketing-oriented talks.

Please send the proposal before June 30, 2018 to peac@cpss.org.cn including:

• Title of the presentation
• Summary of the presentation content
• Description of the target audience
• Short professional biography of the speaker

Other wonderful content

• Plenary Session: Leading experts from academia, industry and research institutes will be invited to share their insights on technology developments and future trends.
• Exhibition: A limited number of booths will be available during the conference which will show the latest technologies, solutions and products from industry.
• Social Event: Welcome reception and gala dinner with Chinese traditional performance will be included in the conference program.

Welcome to Shenzhen China

Shenzhen is a coastal city in South China, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The city has a subtropical marine climate with plenty of sunshine and is rich in tropical fruit. It is a popular tourist destination renowned for its pleasant seashore, well-preserved forests and various theme parks such as Dameisha beach, Xichong Beach, China Folk Culture Village, Window of the World, Ecoventure Valley and Tea Stream Resort Valley.

Besides joining the activities of the conference, please plan your time to visit the city and enjoy the culture and local food.
For more information on PEAC '2018, visit http://www.peac-conf.org/.

PCIM Europe is the Place for Power Electronics. Make Your Plans to Come to Nuremburg this June.

CIM Europe is the leading exhibition and conference for power electronics and its applications. More than 450 exhibitors from all over the world present their most recent product innovations to more than 10,000 highly qualified trade visitors. The international conference that takes place in parallel is renowned for the superior quality of its 300 lectures and poster sessions, all of them initial publications. With a topical focus on latest research findings, the conference is a valuable source of information for both academia and industry.

The unique combination of exhibition and conference makes PCIM Europe the forum for technologies along the entire value chain of the power electronics industry, from the components to the final intelligent system.

Does this sound appealing? Learn more about how to exhibit at PCIM Europe or simply register for a visit to the event on www.pcim-europe.com/.

bout 30 years ago I attended a key supplier conference for a very large OEM for which I was the FAE assigned to the account. One of the activities at this conference involved an exercise conducted by a consultant. The consultant split the attendees into small groups and gave them all the assignment of getting a house painted. The groups would need to determine all requirements and considerations associated with painting a house. But there was a catch: One half of the groups would do so while planning to paint the house themselves. But the other groups would outsource the task to a painter or painting company.

After 30 minutes or so we compared our lists. The teams which presented on painting the house ourselves had much shorter lists of requirements which were not overly demanding. For example, if we spilled some paint, "we would just wait till the grass or bushes regrew and cut the paint splattered part out". On the other hand, the groups that "outsourced" the painting had much stiffer requirements such as "if paint is spilled or gets on the bushes, the painter must re-sod and replace the bushes at the painter's expense, no questions asked."   

This exercise taught a simple lesson: if you do a job yourself the expectations will be a lot lower than if you outsource it.

Now, fast-forward to the present. For many companies in the electronics design and supply chain, the business has not changed much except that the margins everyone is making are much lower and the expectations are probably even higher. But does the lesson learned all those years ago still apply?   

Recently I was called by one of our customers who was failing EMC in the test lab. They were using one of our competitor's power supplies and we had been talking with them about using ours because of its superior value and performance. It was hard to ascertain if our pitch was falling on deaf ears or not.

Fig. 1. A product failing EMC testing. When this happened to one of my prospective customers, they assumed that the power supply was at fault and tried swapping power supplies to no avail.

But now, with their product failing compliance testing, suddenly we were important to them as evidenced by them calling me after hours. The discussion went something like "does your power supply have lower EMC than the one I'm now using?" Of course they were talking about radiated EMC as I already had helped them with selecting a line filter, which was sufficient to make sure either power supply would pass conducted EMC. With their product in the test lab there was real urgency as—chah–ching, chah–ching—the money meter was running with the test lab charging them by the hour as the customer tried to get their product to pass EMC (Fig. 1). 

I mentioned that I was going to be in their area the very next week and I offered to work with them in the test lab. When I arrived at the designated time, this would-be customer showed me what they had done thus far. Their product was in an RF anechoic chamber like the one shown in Fig. 2. They took the covers off and showed me the product and power supply location. Our competitor's product was buried inside the device with little shielding or attention to wire dress or filtering. Meanwhile our power supply was on the bench with an IEC cord feeding it ac from an outlet and twisted pair wires connecting the power supply's outputs to the product's electrical connections.

As I surveyed the scene, they asked "if your power supply can't pass, can you recommend one that will?" Like a gambler playing a slot machine, they were more than happy to keep pulling the power supply "handle" in hopes a better power supply would pay off and make them a compliance winner.  They thought it's like picking resistors off a catalog distributor's website or something similar.

However, both power supplies were running and every test was failing. I knew from experience that neither power supply was probably having much of an effect. The rails in the product were 12 V and 24 V at about 1 kW total. 

With those voltages in mind, I advised the customer to go to the auto parts store and buy a couple of car batteries. They could then run shielded cables from the batteries into their product's chassis to power it, and re-run all the tests from the 12 and 24 V dc. Batteries after all, produce no EMI. So can we agree at that point power supplies would have nothing to do with the test? They agreed and set the test up.

As I expected, they failed radiated emissions again with very little change in the emission profile. Whoops! The customer realized it was the house they painted themselves, so what now? "Oh, we will just get the CE mark and ship it out to beta customers," they decided, bypassing the requirement for an EMC test lab certification. And the unspoken parting message to me was "when I need more free consulting work without actually using any of your products, we will call you again."

Besides confirming that the painting-the-house lesson still holds true, this story also has a moral: The power supply does not cause all radiated emissions problems in the end product. But the customer will call the power supply company anyway because it's easy to blame the problem on what they think is the noisiest part of the system.

Fig. 2. An example of an RF anechoic chamber used for radiated EMC testing. (Photo courtesy of NST)

What Did We Learn?
Several mistakes were made by the customer in the above story:
1. EMC was an afterthought—if they had called me earlier we would have had more options and fixed it properly.

2. The power supply selection, particularly the choice of the power supply vendor, was given as much consideration as the selection of paper towels and the power towel maker, for the towels used in the company restrooms. They thought the power supply was just another commodity item—it's all generic. So when a problem that might be power supply related occurred, they just kept trying anything and everything in the hopes that something would work. 

3. They waited until the end of the process to test the product for EMC with no pre-compliance testing.  

4. They didn't build a relationship with the power supply company or bother to select one that actually has field applications staff that can come and help. They waited until they had an emergency and when no support was available from the default supplier they asked us for help. Their alternatives would have been to suffer in silence or deal with phone support from a far off land.

5. They didn't design for EMC all during the design process from concept to finish.  

6. They thought that a power supply is always the main culprit in radiated emissions regardless of its integration in the end product with no consideration of their system impact or how the power supply is integrated in the system.

7. They kicked the compliance can down the road for later. CE won't accept other EMC approvals and other EMC agencies won't accept CE since all you have to do is pay a CE consultant to pass. This problem will surface another day. Probably when time to market is critical.

I offered to help the customer with a re-design of their product so they would pass EMC. I also mentioned that, in general, it's best to pick a power supply up front and then work closely with the supplier on the design of the product's I/O to the power supply, system design, filtering and such so that the test lab experience will be a good one. 

Power supply selection is much more important than most engineers realize. It's not just picking a part from the Internet. It's a system selection and partnership commitment. Beyond that, power electronics is a partnership relationship. It's a collaborative commitment to making sure your product passes all safety, compliance and regulatory testing on the first pass.

Reference: "When Invaluable Kills Business" by Frederic Leens, 12-11-2017.

Kevin Parmenter, Vice President of Applications Engineering in the U.S.A., Excelsys, an Advanced Energy company

Jim Spangler, President, Spangler Prototype Inc. (SPI)

Editor's Note: This article was first published in the January 2018 issue of  How2Power Today (www.how2power.com/newsletters).

n a study presented at the international rail exhibition, Innotrans 2016 in Berlin, the European Rail Industry summarized the state of the business as representing a market size estimated to reach 229 billion USD by 2020. This amount includes new infrastructures, trains and vehicles and an often hidden yet important part, railway modernization. From Asia to the USA, every country has a railway infrastructure, some of which some are 100 years old (e.g. catenaries).

To meet the growing market demand for enhanced safety and modernization in the USA the 'Grow America Act' supports railway modernization with predictable, dedicated investments. States and local communities need the certainty of sustained funding to make these transportation investments that are necessary to improve the infrastructure and support their economic growth. To meet this, the Act is investing $29 billion over a six year period to improve rail safety and invest in a National High-Performance Rail System. One particular area to benefit from the Act is Positive Train Control (PTC). PTC is a system of functional requirements for monitoring and controlling train movements, a type of train protection system. The Act also builds on current investments to enhance flexibility in financing programs that will better enable the rehabilitation of aging infrastructure. For sure, the power supplies share of these investments is marginal compared to heavy rolling stock or infrastructure. Though without power supplies, nothing would be possible, and so power designers are actively engaged in railway modernization.

As we approach the next edition of Innotrans, it is both relevant and interesting to take a minute to consider the many challenges that power supply manufacturers are facing in their quest to make railways safer, coupled with the highest service levels for passengers.

From conservative to progressive

For decades, the railway sector has been a challenging area for the power supply industry to develop very specific power solutions to meet the requirements of this complex market. The sector consists of three main categories: new equipment, modernization, and the maintenance and upgrading of equipment that entered service 10 years ago or more. Each of these categories represents particular demands on the part of the developer and requires skills specific to each case.

Although the railway sector is very conservative and priority is given to reliability and robustness, the new generation of "digital technology trained" engineers involved in the development of new rail systems are increasingly integrating digital control and encouraging the implementation of energy-efficient topologies such as the Gallium Nitride transistors. In the railway sector this approach is quite new, requiring more extensive qualification work during product development, bringing new constraints for engineers responsible for guaranteeing durable solutions for the next twenty years. This is a very interesting aspect for design engineers and a great opportunity to cooperate directly with the design offices of major railway customers.

From point-of-load to multi kilowatts - with compliance

The range of railway applications is very wide and consists of a large number of applications requiring simple proximity voltage regulators point-of-load (POL) to converters or inverters of several hundred kilowatts powering the motors of traction engines and other traction vehicles. In term of overall railway market, if we exclude the service part of the segment, rolling stock represents the majority of applications, followed by infrastructure and finally, track side and signaling. Each of these sub-segments has its own requirements that are specific to its environment. For example, converters for vehicle (e.g. locomotive) startup control, so called Low Battery Voltage Starter (LBVS) are connected to high voltage catenaries to deliver a low battery voltage, requiring very high insulation and high-level safety constraints. In addition, all on-board equipment must comply with general standards such as EN50155, which covers electronic equipment used in rolling stock (a standard that incorporates many other standards such as EN 50121-3-2 for electromagnetic compatibility). The railway field is highly standardized and each development begins with an analysis of the application case and related standards.

In addition to the traditional standards governing operating quality, operational parameters and safety, after more than 20 years of evaluation and its publication in 2013, this year the EN45545 standard (resistance and fire behavior) has become mandatory for all rolling stock. This standard aims to eliminate the risk of fire during a technical incident and all toxic fumes resulting from combustion of the product. For power supply manufacturers, this means selecting components that meet this standard and carrying out additional tests to ensure full compliance with the various chapters of EN45545.

Apart from the large number of standards, one of the specificities of the railway sector is the fact that many applications have very specific requirements in terms of housings and connectors, often resulting in products that are dedicated to a particular customer. While the trend is towards the standardization of card modules such as DC/DC converters, for more complex products such as locomotive starter converters or decentralized battery chargers, custom designed product remains the norm. This requires a development capacity geared towards these products and a high degree of flexibility in production. In fact, despite a growing market (+6% per year), the volumes of power supplies used in the railway sector remain modest compared to the millions of units consumed in the telecommunications sector, requiring the manufacturers, such as Powerbox, to adapt their production tools to specific demands.

Designing power for long life time

The majority of customers in the railway sector require a 30 years or more availability for some critical equipment. This means that during development this service life must be taken into account, as well as the possibility of the replacement of certain components such as electrolytic capacitors affected by aging during life time, must be considered during the design. Knowing that railway power supplies can be exposed to severe environmental effects such as temperature variations or shock and vibration during the life of the product, equipment manufacturers include "components refreshment and re-calibration" in their specifications. It is common to see products delivered more than 15 years ago return to the manufacturer for review and updating. This practice is very specific to the railway sector and has a strong influence on the way feeds are designed.

Indeed, a 30-year lifespan obliges design engineers to select components with a low risk of obsolescence but also to design the product for possible upgrade during its useful life. This adds a level of complexity but also limits the introduction of new technologies. As mentioned above, engineers in charge of the development of tomorrow's railway systems want to integrate new technologies, but the limited knowledge of their lifecycle and sustainability raises questions about the level of risk associated with their introduction. This is a topical issue that is being debated within the railway community which on the one hand wants to modernize its power supply systems to make them more energy-efficient and with better communications, and on the other hand to guarantee a risk-free sustainability.

Time to market challenges

Basically, the technologies used to develop railway power supplies are very similar to those used in other segments, and with years of experience, developers of the former have built up expertise enabling them to reduce development times. However, new standards and the introduction of new technologies will increase development time. Considering the wide range of power supplies used in railways, if we exclude so-called "standard" products such as modules for boards having a development cycle of about 14 months, more of customers' complex projects can easily reach 24 or even more months awaiting approval. This means working closely with OEMs who, aware of these delays and facing increasing price competition from Asia, are pushing for the development of blocks of functions that can be reused on multiple projects.

Because of the large and increasing demand pressure for modernization of rail systems, the design lead times have to be shortened, which means a different approach. In the case of rolling stock, this is rather complicated involving a number of specific aspects such as certifications. In the case of traffic control and signaling systems, the constraints are less stringent and it is possible to use power supplies such as those for DIN rail mounting that already exist. An energy subsystem such as ones provided by Powerbox's Battery Backup Unit (BBU) can be customized in less than three months to meet specific demands, including the addition of radio transmission telemetry systems. This is the type of modularity that OEMs are beginning to implement in rolling stock, but it will take time.

The impact of modernizing railway networks on power supplies has many aspects because it is not conceivable to stop the operation of the existing systems, nor to replace all existing infrastructure. For rolling stock, this often involves the addition of complementary technologies such as Wi-Fi for passenger comfort or on-board telemetry to increase safety. In this case, the power supplies are of a rather standard type and are often part of the installed system without any major change to rolling stock.

In the case of major modernization of a complete train (what is usually referred as "refurbishment") which consists of the revamping of one that has already endured a long life span, equipment manufacturers ask power supplies manufacturers to develop Fit, Form and Function (3F) alternatives. That is, a revised and updated power supplies but where the units' fit, form and function remain the same, thus reducing implementation delays and guaranteeing the durability of the host equipment for many years. The development of a 3F power supply is very close to a specific development, but by combining the expertise of engineers, the platforms available from manufacturers specialized in the field of railroads, and the reuse of the original case or chassis it makes possible to reduce development times spectacularly.

Most of the modernization of European rail networks is carried out at tracks and signaling systems level. Accordingly, equipment cabinets very often remain in place and installers ask for 3F solutions from the power supply manufacturers that can be installed in place of the old systems; a relatively simple process of "old equipment out, new equipment in". In the case of very old systems, the technique used is to install an industrial chassis in the cabinet to facilitate the installation of standardized racks, which subsequently reduces the time required for updating, such as adding additional radio-telemetry systems or connecting the cabinet to fiber optic systems.

The general trend in railway power supplies is to reduce development times by adopting standardized or semi-standardized sub-assemblies. This is the intention of equipment manufacturers and increasingly the adopted solution for systems close to the tracks or embedded applications using card converters or cassettes. However there will always remain very specific power supplies requiring on-demand solutions that will continue to call upon very specific skills.

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

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