PSMA and IEEE PELS Sponsored Workshop Webinar Series Tuesdays April 21 – May 5, 2020

he Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) and the IEEE Power Electronics Society (IEEE PELS) jointly sponsored the virtual capacitor workshop "How to Choose and Define Capacitor Usage for Various Applications, Wideband Trends, and New Technologies". The Capacitor Workshop had been scheduled in parallel with a Magnetics Workshop on the Saturday prior to APEC.

The year 2020 started with a major challenge that hit all of us hard. After months of preparation for the third consecutive PSMA and PELS Capacitor Workshop scheduled on March 14th in New Orleans everything changed dramatically. With a worldwide travel ban and the cancellation of APEC, we had to change the very successful in-person workshop format into a virtual session in just a couple of weeks. Despite the difficulties the Workshop Committee faced, their primary goal was to create the highest possible value to all of the registered attendees which would closely follow the agenda planned for the in-person workshop. Both of the committees, Magnetics and Capacitor agreed, that as an additional bonus, registered attendees would be offered both workshops regardless of which workshop they had originally signed up for.

With the tremendous effort of the Capacitor Committee and the magnificent support of the PSMA staff, the virtual workshop outline solidified and the schedule was published accordingly.  On three consecutive Tuesdays, that started on April 21st the Capacitor Workshop attracted presenters and attendees from around the world. A mixture of technical based presentations from industry professionals and contributions from professors of international renowned universities were well fitted into the three sessions. Supporting demonstrations as well as a live video panel discussion took place to make this virtual workshop a success.

Without exaggeration, the 2020 virtual Capacitor Workshop was a success based on the outstanding efforts of all presenters. With professors and technicians, technical marketing experts and specialists covering a wide range of subjects the value to all attendees was much more than just a replacement of the planned workshop in New Orleans. Brilliant sessions, presented by international speakers from the United States to Europe down to New Zealand had been a promise to all of the participants. Each session concluded with a live and interactive question and answer session and panel discussion that continued until all audience questions were addressed. The feedback was more than just positive. We are pleased to recap that, despite the unique circumstances, the 2020 Capacitor Workshop fulfilled the mission of the workshop organizing committee "to educate the attendees on capacitor trends, technologies, and innovations… to present the best material available to meet the industry's needs." All of the highest praise, and respect is extended to the presenters, the PSMA and IEEE PELS staff and all of the attendees for their contributions. All of the presentations were made available to participants and each session was recorded and is available to all registrants for viewing on demand.

Special credits to all the speakers and organizers for their overwhelming efforts and unstintingly contribution listed below:

• Pat Wheeler, University of Nottingham, UK; Trends and Challenges in Components for Aircraft Electrification
• Kevin O'Connor, Caporus Technologies, US, Capacitive Energy Storage in Power Conversion Systems
• Mark J. Scott, Miami University, US; Failure Modes and Conditional Monitoring Techniques for Capacitors
• Dong Cao, GE EPISCenter and University of Dayton, US; High Density Converter Capacitor Design Challenges for Data Center and Automotive Application
• Stephan Menzel, CapXon Europe, Germany; Solid Conductive Polymer and Hybrid Technologies
• Wilmer Companioni, KEMET Electronics Corporation, US, Ceramic Capacitors for Harsh Environments / Ceramic Capacitors for RF Applications
• Frank Puhane, Würth Elektronik, Germany; Backup Your Application – Hot Swappable Supercapacitor Backup Solution / DC Link Capacitor and Wireless Power Transfer A Perfect Couple
• Manuel Gomez, TDK Electronics, US; Innovative Film Capacitor Technologies For Wide Band-Gap Semiconductors
• Nihal Kularatna, Waikato University, NZ; Benefits of Million Times Larger Capacitance in EDLCs
• Mike Wens, MinDCet NV, Belgium; Custom Integrated Power Management Solutions
• Hengzhao Yang, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, US; Peukert's Law for Supercapacitors Physics and Application

The 2020 Capacitor Workshop was different in many ways to prior years. With the feedback provided by attendees following each session, we learned a lot about this format and were able to incorporate many of suggestions received in the later sessions. While nothing will fully replace the face to face dialog and interaction during an in-person workshop, the virtual session is an excellent alternative and/or add-on to increase the value and convenience to attract more attendees all over the world. And the virtual format also allowed individuals to participate in both the Capacitor and Magnetics workshops. With these and additional takeaways from the workshops in 2020 and previous years, we are looking forward to an even brighter future and even more successful workshop 2021 in Phoenix AZ, or perhaps virtually again.

Provided by members of the Capacitor Workshop Organizing Team:
Pierre Lohrber, Wurth Electronics
Fred Weber, Future Technology Worldwide

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