The Impact of Wideband Technologies on Application of Capacitors - A Deep Dive on Capacitor Technology
Date: Saturday March 16. 2019
APEC 2019 Anaheim, California

he PSMA Capacitor Committee and IEEE PELS will conduct the second capacitor workshop on Saturday, March 16, 2019, which is the day before and at the same venue as APEC 2019 titled: "The Impact of Wideband Technologies on Application of Capacitors - A Deep Dive on Capacitor Technology".

Many consider that a capacitor is a capacitor, it can be charged and discharged, no more no less. In 2018 the first PSMA/ IEEE PELS pre-APEC Capacitor Workshop started to lift the curtain to show some of the magical behaviors that designers must understand in the capacitor world for use in their designs. In the 2019 workshop, we will do much more than that. The primary focus will be on applications to highlight the specific requirements that must be satisfied by capacitors. Not only are evolving GaN and SiC based topologies challenging designers, the worldwide tight market for certain capacitors limit designers when selecting available capacitors that will satisfy their applications.

This workshop will address specific needs of both beginners and advanced designers of DC-DC converters, frequency drives, inverters, and other power conversation applications. The workshop agenda addresses application-based challenges on capacitor technologies and the latest capacitor developments as well as the impact of market shortages on new developments and possible solutions to overcome actual problems. The presentations will deliver the most valuable theoretical content. Complementing this will be the related demonstration stations offered before, during breaks and after the workshop. A number of industry specific topics, including automotive (e.g. emobility) and others are included in the workshop agenda. There will be a high application-based focus that will offer new horizons for the attendees.

Beside resistors, capacitors are primary in every electronic design, so it is necessary to shine a spotlight on them. The workshop will cover the following topics to deliver the highest value to attendees:

• Application challenges. GaN and SiC topologies open new horizons to hardware designers. However, this nice, new world will only work with the right passives. Capacitors are challenged with physical requirements that need to be managed properly. Additionally, eMobility is a key driver of the future; we will highlight capacitors in this new world.
• New technologies. The main dielectrics are, more or less, well known. Nevertheless, beside ceramic, film and electrolytic, there are new developments, even from inside new and bright technologies, that will find their way to the market. We will focus attention on supercapacitors, tantalums, polymer horizontal chips, ceramic specialties and the latest film developments.
• A panel Q&A will follow each technical lecture presentation session.

The organizers' aim is it to strike a perfect balance between practical content delivered by main capacitor manufacturers and information offered by leading worldwide universities with presentations on future capacitor research & development. Starting and ending with keynotes from forward thinking market players, the interactive full day session will deliver a fruitful package to the attendees. The lunch session will offer an interactive technology presentations session during which the workshop attendees can visit and engage with the experts as they provide technical demonstrations of different topics associated with capacitor design, modelling and characterization. The demonstrations will also be available during breakfast and the end-of-day networking session following the workshop's formal presentations.

The full day agenda addresses application-based challenges on capacitor technologies and the latest capacitor developments as well as the impact of market shortages on new developments and possible solutions to overcome actual problems. Presentations are designed to open new horizons of capacitor technologies to designers and answer questions engineers have, or will have, when working with different capacitor dielectrics.

The registration fee for the workshop is $375 per participant, reduced to $275 for PSMA members and IEEE PELS members. On February 1, 2019, the registration fee will increase to $425 reduced to $325 for PSMA members and IEEE PELS members. There will be a $25 surcharge for onsite registration, if seating is available. Breakfast and lunch will be provided as part of the workshop. Electronic copies of the technical lecture presentations and technology demonstration presentations will be made available to the workshop participants.

One can register for the workshop at: www.psma.com/2019_capacitor_workshop_registration

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

Please contact Pierre Lohrber (pierre.lohrber@we-online.de) of the organizing committee if you have any questions in advance.

Provided by members of the Capacitor Workshop Organizing Team:

Pierre Lohrber, Wurth Electronics
Fred Weber, Future Technology Worldwide

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