1. Meet Your Directors
   
2. Executive Committee Update
   
3. APEC Update
   
4. Welcome to PSMA
   
5. About Our Members
   
6. PSMA Planning Meeting
   
7. Power Magnetics @ High Frequency Workshop
   
8. Mentoring at WiPDA 2025
   
9. Suggestions for Mentors
   
10. Strengthening the Bond Between Industry and Academia
    
11. How to Run a Successful Workshop
    
12. Meeting Medical System Needs with Configurable Digital Power
    
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: Q1_2025 | Q2_2025 | Q3_2025

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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.

 

our members of the Board of Directors are elected at the PSMA Annual Meeting held every year, usually held during the APEC conference. 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 Brian Zahnstecher.

SMA recently announced on Energy Efficiency Day two finalists for PSMA's 2026 Global Energy Efficiency Award. The winner will be revealed at APEC 2026 next March in San Antonio. This year, with an eye still on overall global impact, the judging panel opted to focus more on industrial systems when choosing the two finalists. As last year, we'd like to take this opportunity to highlight in more detail the contributions of both finalists.

PSMA created the Global Energy Efficiency Award to inspire electrical system designers and manufacturers to explore new technologies, architectures, and components for better energy efficiency. The award casts a spotlight on these successful efforts for us to celebrate.

Energy efficiency is a critical area for addressing climate change and sustainability challenges. It goes beyond feeling good about the environmental impact or meeting regulations. Tangible benefits are obvious to users such as longer battery life, lighter portable products, lower electric bills, reduced cooling loads, longer product lifetimes or increased reliability due to lower thermal stress. These benefits will help electric systems stand out.

Finalists:

VoltServer (US) – For its energy management system for Fault Managed Power (FMP) networks

There is a growing consensus in the electrical industry that appliances and devices in future homes, factories, data centers and vehicles will rely on DC power as their primary supply input. Electric vehicles are natively DC devices, and recently NVIDIA announced a program to convert AI Data Centers to an 800 VDC infrastructure. For appliances and equipment, DC is often more adaptable, controllable, and efficient while offering compatibility with renewable energy and storage resources that are natively DC technologies. Substantial energy savings come from eliminating extra power conversion stages. Converting back and forth from our legacy AC grid to DC for modern appliances incurs unnecessary expense and energy loss. For example, VoltServer claims indoor agriculture clients save 7% of energy by using direct DC power. Furthermore, their partners, Cisco and Panduit claim up to 30% increase in energy savings and up to 20% increase in energy efficiency in smart buildings with DC power distribution.

One major blocker to the evolution to DC, however, is DC's stronger electrical arc vs. AC, when a fault is encountered, or when a switch is used to interrupt power. Beyond safety concerns around arc faults, derating components such as the circuit breakers, switches, and relays needed to control DC power, is expensive.

In response, the US National Electric Code in 2023 has adopted a class of power electronic devices that generate and manage DC power in a new way. The technology called Fault Managed Power (FMP) also goes by the brand name Digital Electricity from its inventor, VoltServer.

Digital Electricity networks are formed by power electronic modules called transmitters and receivers. The transmitters send electrical energy to a receiver in discrete energy packets that contain electrical energy and data. In contrast to Power over Ethernet, that operates at up to 57 VDC, FMP systems operate at up to 450 VDC and are designed to power entire buildings.

Most notably, FMP conductors, even at hundreds of volts and thousands of watts are touch-safe, arc-free, and will not exhibit the energy to produce a fire. Data is an inherent part of the energy packets exchanged by FMP networks, providing inherent energy management and control functions to align with DC evolution as well as the rapid increase in digitally enabled devices globally.

In summary, Fault Managed Power transmitter and receiver power electronics can foster a new era in the global power electronics industry, based on massive FMP-DC networks that extend with great efficiency from renewable energy resources to the devices and appliances that inherently demand DC as their primary source of energy.

RECOM (Austria) – For its super-efficient power supply for industrial automation

A reliable power supply is the foundation of every automation solution. Industrial production faces increasing demands: more compact control cabinets, higher ambient temperatures, shorter maintenance cycles, and intelligent systems that set narrow limits for conventional power supply units.

The RACPRO1-T960/24 from RECOM is just such a compact, high-reliability, three-phase AC input DIN rail mount power supply and is setting new benchmarks for energy efficiency in industrial automation.

Thanks to its outstanding efficiency of 96.9%, each individual unit saves not only energy but also CO2 (and of course, costs) day after day, year after year. Based on 3-shift operation, 365 days a year, RECOM estimates that in a typical factory hall with 1,000 units, this translates to ~268,000 kWh less energy consumption and 102 tons of CO2 savings annually.

The RACPRO1-T960/24 impressively demonstrates that technology and sustainability can go hand in hand. Companies benefit twice, through lower operating costs and a measurable contribution to achieving their climate targets. By combining maximum efficiency, reliable performance, and sustainable impact, the RACPRO1-T960/24 shows what the future of industrial power supply looks like.

Congratulations again to our two finalists! Our hope is that these finalists and those from before will continue to inspire others to improve their electrical energy efficiency too!

Provided by David Chen

reparations for APEC 2026, in San Antonio this coming March, are now nearly completed. The mid-year planning session held late last month covered every aspect of the event—plenary session, tech and industry sessions, professional education sessions, rap sessions, special events (Micromouse and First Robotics), Wednesday evening social and, of course, the exhibition.

This year APEC 2026 is excited to announce the inaugural Student Demonstration Competition, inviting student teams from universities worldwide to showcase their innovative research in power electronics and related fields.

The committee toured the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center to review the meeting room locations and the exhibit hall. The booth space in the exhibit hall has already sold out. If you missed the opportunity to exhibit, please consider getting on the waiting list.

• Mobile App — attendees will have access to a cool new app to navigate the event.
• Exhibit Hall — nearly 300 exhibitors
• Technical Sessions — 14 multi-session tracks
• Industry Sessions — 30 sessions in parallel with Tech Sessions including several produced by PSMA committees.
• Plenary Session — Four Monday afternoon speakers covering power electronics technology advances and market projects; Check the program in January for the complete program.
• Dialog (formerly known as RAP) Sessions — Three Tuesday sessions following the close of exhibits offering point-counterpoint positions on key topics.
• Professional Education Seminars — A selection of over two dozen half-day sessions taking place on Sunday morning/afternoon and Monday morning. Full conference registration includes access to these seminars is included.
• Student Job Fair – Event will be held on Tuesday, March 18th. Companies must register to participate.
• MicroMouse — Ever popular event pitching university teams against each other will take place on Monday evening in the exhibit hall from 7:30 to 9:30 PM. The three top teams will receive cash prizes.
• First Robotics — Where high schools students are challenged to build industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game in alliance with other teams, will also take place Monday evening in the expo hall from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.
• Minors — To encourage STEM development with younger generations, minors are allowed accompany the registered attendees to visit the exhibit floor and attend the plenary and debate sessions.
• Social Event — A great gathering for paid attendees to unwind and celebrate.

As a PSMA member, you and your company collages are eligible for very attractive full conference discounts. Remember, you need to register to get access to the discounted hotel reservations. These special hotel blocks will sell out well before February.

If you haven't made plans to attend, don't wait any longer. Be sure you have it in your 2026 budget to attend this exceptional event – truly The Premier Event in Applied Power Electronics™

I hope to see you in San Antonio, March 22-26, 2026

Provided by Greg Evans, APEC 2025 Publicity Co-Chair

Cincon Electronics Co., Ltd.

Sabrina Wu
Marketing Specialist
14F., No. 306, Sec. 4, Hsin Yi Rd., Da'an Dist., Taipei City, Taiwan
(R.O.C.)
Taipei 106427
Taiwan
Telephone: +886227086210
E-mail: sabrinawu@cincon.com
Website: www.cincon.com

Cincon Electronics Co, Ltd. is a global supplier of switch mode power conversion products for the communications, computer, industrial, medical and consumer lighting markets. They design and manfacture industry standard RoHS compliant DC-DC converters and AC-DC power supplies.

Their current offerings comprise over 3000 standard products including single & multiple output DC-DC converters from 1W to 750W, single & multiple output AC-DC adapters from 5W to 220W, AC-DC brick power from 70W to 700W, AC-DC encapsulated power from 4W to 60W, and open frame AC-DC power supplies from 4W to 700W.

Quality and process control is insured using a variety of statistical sampling and analysis techniques throughout the manufacturing cycle. In addition, all products must pass a rigorous burn-in and fully automated final test before shipment. Their power supplies are engineered to meet worldwide safety standards. All AC-DC products and a variety of DC-DC products are UL listed or recognized; TUV approved and carry the CE mark. Cincon also certifies to other international safety standards, including PSE and CCC, on request. Products are also designed to meet the various international EMI standards.

Mondragon University

Asier Arruti Romero
Research Associate and Lecturer
Orona Ideo - Fundazioa eraikuntza; Jauregi Bailara
Hernani, Gipuzcoa 20120
Spain
Telephone: +34 664299159
E-mail: aarruti@mondragon.edu
Website: www.mondragon.edu

Asier Arruti Romero is a Research Associate and Lecturer at Mondragon University in Gipuzkoa, Spain.

Mondragon University (MU) is a cooperative university in the Basque Country, Spain, recognized for its close collaboration with industry and applied, practice-oriented education. Within its Faculty of Engineering (MGEP), the university places strong emphasis on electronics, automation, telecommunications, and related fields, combining academic excellence with real-world projects and research. MU's cooperative model fosters innovation, entrepreneurship, and social responsibility, preparing students to meet current and future technological challenges.

ince its inception in 2008 by Prof Cian Ó Mathúna of Tyndall National Institute, the International Workshop on Power Supply on Chip (PwrSoC) has evolved into the global flagship conference for Power Supply-on-Chip technologies. Co-sponsored by the Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) and IEEE Power Electronics Society (IEEE PELS), this biennial event has been hosted in leading innovation hubs across the world – including Cork (Ireland), San Francisco, Boston, and Pennsylvania (USA), Madrid (Spain), Taipei (Taiwan), Hanover (Germany), and most recently, Seoul (South Korea) in 2025. https://pwrsocevents.com.

This year's event welcomed a record-breaking 210 attendees from Europe, the USA and Asia, with an even split between academia and industry. As the leading international forum for Power Supply-on-Chip technologies, the workshop fosters critical discussions around the technology, business, and supply chain, challenges and opportunities. These conversations are key to driving the field forward in the miniaturization and integration of power conversion and power management solutions. The record attendance highlights the strategic importance of the conference in addressing current and emerging demands for high efficiency power delivery in high performance computing, AI and Data Centres, with currents in the range 1,000 to 5,000 amps.

Ireland's presence at PwrSoC2025 showcased a dynamic blend of cutting-edge research, high-tech entrepreneurship and strategic investment promotion. Delegates included representatives from Tyndall as well as innovative Irish companies, Pulpo Semiconductor - a recent Tyndall spin-out - and Nexalus, a high performance, thermal management company leveraging licensed technology from Trinity College, Dublin. Also in attendance was IDA Ireland, the government agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment, underscoring Ireland's commitment to advancing global leadership in power electronics and semiconductor innovation.

Tyndall was represented by Prof Cian Ó Mathúna, Research Programme Director, Integrated Power and Energy Systems; Hugh Smiddy, Head of Business Development, Dr. Yi Dou, Senior Researcher, Integrated Power and Magnetics. IDA Ireland was represented by Seamus Carroll, VP and head of the Semiconductor Unit and Derek Fitzpatrick, Director for Korea and Japan. Their participation focussed on engaging Korean and Japanese companies, and promoting Ireland's ambitious National Semiconductor Strategy, Silicon Island.

At PwrSoC 2025, Intel, NVIDIA and Samsung Electronics delivered plenary talks emphasising the critical role of the conference in addressing the technology and supply chain issues in this age of AI. Meta also presented, showcasing its Orion AR Glasses. The company is closely connected to Ireland's innovative ecosystem having acquired InfiniLED in 2016- a micro LED spin-out co-founded by Tyndall's Brian Corbett-underscoring the global impact of Tyndall's research.

Tyndall's collaboration with Taiyo Yuden on large signal characterisation of the company's state-of-the-art, high frequency, ultra-thin, chip inductors-operating up to 50MHz- was featured at PwrSoC. The work was presented by Toshio Hiroaka of Taiyo Yuden in the Magnetics Session and by Tyndall's Dr. Yi Dou in the Poster Session.

Commenting on PwrSoC2025, Prof Cian Ó Mathúna said: "The success and longevity of PwrSoC is proof of Ireland's growing influence in the global semiconductor landscape as we continue to position ourselves as a global partner for advanced semiconductor technologies in integrated power for high performance computing, AI and Data Centres."

On the evening prior to the conference, the IDA organised a semiconductor seminar in Seoul which was attended by industry, academia and the Korean press and was opened by Michelle Winthrop, Ambassador of Ireland to Korea.

Tyndall is proud to be a long standing PSMA and IEEE PELS member, and earlier this year completed a technology report for PSMA on 3D Power Packaging developments focussed on Embedded and Integrated Magnetics. https://www.psma.com/publications#item-8004

In addition there is a recent interview by Dr Rebecca Pool, Science and Technology Journalist in Power Electronics World with Tyndall's Prof Cian Ó Mathúna titled, "Industry eyes integrated magnetics for AI chips", https://cdn.bitmagazine.net/assets/images/magazines/PEW_Issue_5_2025_V2.jpg

Tyndall Past and Present at PwrSoC2025 Right photo: Dr. Yi Dou, Tyndall Integrated Power/Magnetics; Prof. Ningning Wang, Hangzhou Dianzi University; Prof Cian O'Mathuna, Tyndall; Dr. Paul McCloskey and Mr. Seamus O'Driscoll, Pulpo Semiconductor.

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.

he 2025 PSMA Planning Meeting was held on Sunday, October 5, 2025, at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio Riverwalk in San Antonio, TX with both in person and virtual attendees representing the PSMA Board of Directors, PSMA Committees and other PSMA members. The purpose of the Planning Meeting was to review where the Association stands today, discuss outstanding issues and to identify possible new programs and projects that promise to bring value to the membership.

President Renee Yawger welcomed all the attendees and reviewed the agenda for the meeting. Chair Trifon Liakopolous talked about the state of PSMA and our future vision to become an industry support leader and strategic partner. He focused on how PSMA can strengthen its value proposition and evolve from individual engagement to corporate alignment. He reviewed the discussion from the 2025 Annual Meeting when it was agreed that PSMA needs to grow to remain relevant and he revealed a prospective budget allocation strategy with surplus funds allocated to marketing and public relations, new special projects, and maintaining a strategic reserve to protect against any downturns in the global economy. There was a great deal of discussion following Trifon's presentation, and many members voiced their views.

Financial Forecast
Tim McDonald, Secretary/Treasurer, presented the latest 6-Quarter financial forecast. The financial state of PSMA is strong – there is a healthy cash reserve, and we have recently funded several major projects. Tim said that funding is available for new projects and encouraged all committees to think of special projects that can add value to PSMA.

Committee Reports
Following the Financial Forecast the individual committees were all given an opportunity to present the upcoming needs for each of them. The focus was on what the committees need to go forward rather than on looking back at the activities the committees had engaged in since the last Planning Meeting.

Several committees are planning workshops for the coming year, including Packaging and Manufacturing (several workshops), Semiconductor (a potential pre-APEC workshop in 2027) and Energy Harvesting (the fourth EnerHarv workshop). The Magnetics Committee said they are investigating expanding their workshop offering, currently they present a workshop prior to APEC, they would like to expand that to have additional workshops going forward. In addition, some of the committees expressed a need to invigorate their committee with new members and there was discussion on how to bring new contributing members to the committees.

Planning Discussions
After the Committee reports the discussion turned to planning and future direction. Ada Cheng offered a vision of expanding the Student Attendance Support to give the students more money so they could better attend all of APEC rather than just attending their session. There was agreement that increased funding was desirable but only if the other sponsors (IEEE IAS and IEEE PELS) are willing to step up as well. There was a request for new Chairs to lead the Power Technology Roadmap Committee. The Executive Committee led a discussion on how to evaluate Special Project requests based on the current financial status of PSMA; this discussion was prompted by a suggestion from George Slama to the Executive Committee.

PSMA members can view the minutes of the Planning Meeting on the "Members Only" section of the PSMA web site.

There was also a tour of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center the afternoon before the planning meeting. Based on the continued dedication of the APEC Technical Program Committee, we can all look forward to a very interesting and successful APEC 2026.

Power Magnetics @ High Frequency
Saturday March 21 2026
Prior to APEC 2026
Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center
San Antonio, TX 78205

he PSMA Magnetics Committee and IEEE PELS is currently planning to conduct the eleventh Power Magnetics at High Frequency Workshop on Saturday, March 21, 2026, which is the day before and at the same venue as APEC 2026 in San Antonio, TX. The 2026 workshop will build on the ongoing dialogue established throughout the first ten workshops.

The purpose of this workshop is to explore recent improvements in magnetic materials, coil (winding) design, construction, and fabrication, as well as evaluation techniques, characterization methods, and modelling and simulation tools. The workshop targets the advancements deemed necessary by the participants for power magnetics to meet the technical expectations and requirements of new market applications where higher operating frequencies and emerging topologies are driven by continuous advances in circuits topologies and semi-conductor devices.

The target audiences for the 2026 Power Magnetics @ High Frequency workshop include the designers of power magnetic components for use in electronic power converters, those who are responsible to implement the most technologically advanced power magnetic components necessary to achieve higher power densities, specific physical aspect ratios such as low profile, higher power efficiencies and improved thermal performance. The target audience also includes people 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 theme of the 2026 Power Magnetics @ High Frequency will be measurements and data processing trends to improve analytic models and simulation models towards developing better design tools, enabling magnetics optimization for existing and emerging applications. The workshop will address various aspects of measurement methods and creation of analytical models employing equations re-enforced with empirical data.

The workshop will open with a keynote presentation by Peter Zacharius of the University of Kassel reviewing the fundamentals of analytical models for magnetic components. The morning session will consist of lecture presentations by Lukas Pniak of Safron Research and Technology Center covering modeling of capacitive coupling of planar transformers, Miroslav Vasic of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid applying Artificial Neural Networks and Digital Twin to optimize the design Dual Active Bridge transformers, and Reddy Andapally Bharawaj of CBMM addressing data collection and analysis to create accurate models for FEA simulations. There will be one additional presentation regarding qualifying measurement data for use in models.

During lunch, breakfast, and the networking hour at the end of the workshop there will be an interactive session of tabletop technology demonstrations, each addressing specific technical disciplines and capabilities consistent with the workshop agenda. Workshop attendees typically spend ten to fifteen minutes at each technology demonstration station viewing informal interactive presentations. The technology demonstration format facilitates Interaction between the attendees and the presenters as a segue from the morning technical presentation sessions to the afternoon lecture presentation session. Technology demonstrations are confirmed by Mike Arasim of Fair Rite, Ihsan Dalgic of Hioki, Tobias Trupp of Magnetec collaborating with JC Sun of Bs&T, Lukas Mueller of Micrometals collaborating with Jacob Lamphere of the University of Nebraska, Kevin Hermanns of PE Systems, Chris Ball of Rohde & Schwarz, Sebastian Bachman of Tridelta collaborating with Fritz Wohlrath of STS and Lucas Riebenweber of Coburg University, Joaquim Tristan of University of Pittsburgh, Marcin Kacki of Hitachi Energy collaborating with Lufan Zhou of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Jun Wang of the University of Bristol, David Ruiz Gomez of Wϋrth Elektronik and Alfonso Martinez of Wϋrth Elektronik. We still have room for additional technology demonstrations. If anyone is interested to present a technology demonstration, we encourage them to contact the workshop organizing committee via e-mail to power@psma.com.

The afternoon session will begin with a keynote presentation by Asier Arruti Romero of Mondragon University on the development of unified magnetic loss model bridging empirical equations and physical insight. The keynote presentation will be followed by lecture presentations by Alfonso Martinez of Wϋrth Elektronik addressing modelling of stray capacitance and leakage inductance, Andrija Stupar of SIMPLIS Technologies speaking to the development of magnetic models for power electronics simulation and Chema Molina of Frenetic providing an update on the transition of magnetic design from design spreadsheets towards AI.

The workshop is still identifying students for student poster presentations. If you are a student and interested to present a poster, please contact the organizing committee through PSMA via e-mail to power@psma.com

Registration for the workshop is limited and is open at the following URL:

2026 Power Magnetics at High Frequency Workshop Registration

Any company interested in financially supporting the workshop as a partner can find more information regarding partner opportunities and benefits at the following URL:

2026 Magnetics Workshop Partnerships

Or contact the organizing committee through PSMA via e-mail to power@psma.com.

SMA created a mentorship program for APEC 2023. For PSMA's 40th anniversary, we expanded the mentorship program to the Workshop for Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications (WiPDA) held November 2025 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. At WiPDA2025, nine students participated in the mentorship program (roughly 29% of the students attending), and seven unique mentors (roughly 7% of the non-students attending) were matched to these student mentees (some mentors had more than one mentee).

Student mentees could choose the basic minimum mentorship route of contacting their mentor before WiPDA and then meeting their mentor at WiPDA during the lunch and learn session on career options. Motivated mentees could choose the fully immersive mentorship program similar to the one at APEC. To help spur the mentor program engagement and participation in WiPDA events, participants were sent a last-minute reminder email which also spiked out the Monday breakfast and Elevated Engineer Series Workshop hosted by PELS Women in Engineering program. The topic was Crafting your Power Introduction – a great skill for both mentees and mentors. This workshop helped program participants to engage earlier and more constructively, since they could utilize their new developed skill immediately.

1. Take advantage of WiPDA
2. Explore career options & directions
3. Promote self & network (socially)
4. Meet subject matter experts
5. Introduce activities & events for PSMA IEEE EDS, and IEEE PELS
6. Have fun along the way

Each mentee receives a mentorship workbook guide with three separate phases: Pre-WiPDA, WiPDA, and Post-WiPDA each containing multiple suggested activities. Mentors received mentoring resources to help them be effective mentors, such as powerful questions to ask mentees, as well as understanding the differences between mentors, coach, advocate, and sponsor.

Gamification was utilized to encourage mentees to do activities and attend events that they normally may be reluctant to try. As a minimum to win a special PSMA pin and 40th anniversary sticker, mentees and mentors had to complete a short survey while at WiPDA. For a more immersive experience, mentees earned points for completing each activity from the workbook, and up to the top 3 submitted point earners could win cash prizes. The students had to take the initiative to accumulate the most points and submit their workbooks to qualify for prizes. The workbooks were due after WiPDA, because an immersive mentorship experience requires post WiPDA activities.

IEEE PELS Support

• The Women in Engineering (WIE) workshop as part of their Elevated Engineer Series
• Lunch and Learn on career options

Student mentees appreciated these extra programs as part of their mentorship.

Mentorship Feedback

100% of all participants completed the short survey, providing feedback to PSMA on what is working well, what participants like most, and possible changes and additions for future years.

Student Mentee Feedback

Here's what some student mentees had to say about this mentorship program:

"Good program to define careers path."

"Extremely valuable, meet[sic] a lot of people and got a lot of insight of the mentors field and people around him. Thank you."

"This program gives an excuse to meet professionals. These professionals were very open and happy to help me, and discussion with them was extremely interesting. I don't think I could have such fluid talks without the program."

"The mentor was so supportive, easily explained the industry need, the role and responsibilities, how the complete ecosystems works."

Mentor Feedback

Some mentors shared their inputs too:

"My first time to attend this, pretty good so far actually."

"I just joined the program at the last moment to fill in for someone who cancelled. Folks helped me out to get started and sent me a lot of useful information. My mentee reached out to me before the conference and has been great to talk with here!"

"My mentee was very engaged when we were speaking, and she also knew exactly what she wanted to discuss. Was great experience."

Student Winners

Finally announcing the student winners:

1st Place (300 US dollars): Ludovic Roche – Université de Toulouse

2nd Place (200 USD): Majharul Muhammad Islam – University of Arkansas

3rd Place (100 USD): Manaswini Gangineni– New Mexico State University

Although PSMA only offered cash prizes for the top point earning students who submitted a workbook guide, all the student mentees benefitted from the mentorship as "winners."

Congratulations for all the students for taking the initiative to join this mentorship program! We look forward to your contributions for driving the wide bandgap devices and applications forward.

Mentor Appreciation

Furthermore, mentees could nominate their mentors for recognition:

• Lauren Kegley – Wolfspeed
• Robert Kaplan – Sandia National Laboratories
• Stephanie Butler – WattsButler

Thanks to these outstanding mentors and all others who volunteered to guide our next generation of engineers!

This is just a summary of our mentorship efforts. Consider joining the PSMA Industry-Education Committee to help shape the mentorship program going forward.

Interested in becoming a mentor for APEC 2026? Contact mentors@psma.com.

his is a mentee-driven program because mentees decide their career goals and are ultimately responsible for their own career development. PSMA furnishes them with a Mentee Workbook guide to help prepare for a thoughtful, productive mentorship experience.

Mentees are also curious about your background before meeting you. You may wish to share a brief biography or link to your LinkedIn. Your background helps mentees know what questions to ask about your experience. For example, let your mentee know if you have both academic and industry experience or startup or national lab experience.

Mentees appreciate mentors who listen to his/her concerns. They need to know whether their concerns are valid or what they did not understand. Resist the need to solve their problems (unless they ask). Ask open-ended questions that help them reflect on and understand themselves better, and solve their own problems. Encourage mentees to lead the discussion and take the initiative.

Here are some examples of open-ended questions to ask your mentee:

• What does success look like to you?
• What do you hope to gain from this mentorship?
• What excites you most about your area of research?
• What are your short-term career goals?
• What is an obstacle you are currently facing?
• What are the things you can control?

Some mentees may only plan to participate during the in-person APEC meeting. If so, encourage them—gently—to share their interests and questions in advance. This helps you prepare and helps them gain more value from the experience. Naturally, urge them to do more than the bare minimum so they get more out of the mentorship. Once the mentorship discussion is complete with this minimum option, please provide feedback to this mentorship program so we can improve it at mentors@psma.com

The rest of this article provides suggestions for mentors with highly motivated mentees that want to do more than the minimum and engage more deeply.

Mentees need to prepare to have a good discussion with their mentors using the "worksheet" (in the Pre-APEC Phase of the mentorship guide). This completed worksheet will not only save time during discussions but also make the mentee more receptive to your advice. When they ask to meet with you, encourage them to send their completed worksheet beforehand if they haven't already. Thank them for taking the initiative to reach out and for preparing for the mentorship discussion.

Pre-APEC Phase

Objective: Prepare APEC schedule and objectives together as there are many simultaneous events.

Encourage student mentees to embrace the six major objectives of the mentorship program:

1. Take advantage of APEC
2. Explore career options & directions
3. Promote self & network (socially)
4. Meet subject matter experts
5. Introduce activities & events for PSMA, IAS & PELS
6. Have fun along the way.

Objective 1: Take advantage of APEC
They may think they are only coming to present their paper and leave. Remind them that APEC is the Premier International power electronics conference. They should take full advantage of the opportunities to meet future colleagues, employers, suppliers, and customers, as they have already paid the full registration fee and may receive up to $1000 in travel reimbursement from the Student Attendance Support Program.

Encourage them to learn more about the application(s) they are interested in. Specifically, the problems in that application(s).

Consider attending your mentee's presentation as your schedule allows. This enables you to provide input or feedback on their research.

Lastly, encourage the mentee to be specific about scheduling activities to avoid conflicts and resolve priorities. Preparation is key as there are many parallel sessions and presentations of interest. Help them choose activities wisely to get the most out of the experience. Presentation slides are usually available in the APEC app for the industry and technical sessions, which can help with scheduling conflicts.

Objective 2: Explore career options & directions
Many students may not know about other engineering aspects or research options beyond design. For example, if they enjoy troubleshooting, they might be interested in field applications engineering (FAEs), failure analysis, or manufacturing. They could also use investigative skills in test (verification & validation) engineering or quality assurance. Moreover, engineering can be a stepping stone to other professions and careers.

Objective 3: Promote self & network (socially)
Networking is crucial at this stage of their lives. Remind them that "it is not just what you know, but also who you know" and explain why. You could guide them on how to introduce themselves and how to follow up with contacts. Another suggestion would be to work with them to develop a simple networking "script".

Objective 4: Meet subject matter experts
Use your network to introduce mentees to key experts of interest. Encourage them to prepare interview questions and to reach out early before schedules fill up. Sometimes meeting experts ancillary to a mentee's area of focus is also helpful in growing new perspectives, as the more one knows, the more he/she learns how much he/she still needs to learn.

Objective 5: Introduce activities & events for PSMA, IEEE IAS, & IEEE PELS (APEC Sponsors)
Opportunity to share your participation in activities and events for PSMA, IEEE IAS, and IEEE PELS, or to encourage mentees to investigate them.

PSMA: an industry association that focuses on making reliable electrical power supplies & power electronics commercially available in quantity. Various businesses, each with different professionals, participate to help the industry grow. Consequently, there is a strong focus on industry benefits.

IEEE: a professional organization that focuses on electrical and electronics engineers. Mostly engineers advocate engineering as a career which embraces both theory and practice.

• Industry Applications Society (IAS): branch of IEEE focused on the needs of the industrial or commercial sector.
• Power Electronics Society (PELS): branch of IEEE that facilitates and guides the development and innovation in power electronics technology.

Other tips

Some students may be traveling for the first time, especially internationally. They may need travel advice and tips to stay safe, avoid unnecessary fees, and adjust to circumstances, and time zone differences, etc. Furthermore, mentees may not realize that there may be a long lead time in obtaining travel-ready documents such as a RealID, passports, or visas. In fact, some speakers end up withdrawing simply because they did not get an approved visa in time.

APEC Phase

If the mentee did not reach out before APEC, many of the suggestions in the Pre-APEC section still apply.

Sign in at the mentorship room. Meet other mentors and exchange ideas, advice, and tips to improve.

Wear a mentor ribbon (if available) to connect with other mentors. Learn from other mentors and share your mentoring experience.

Consider taking selfies with others to encourage participation in those mentorship program guide activities.

Follow up with mentees on how things are going and help them adjust their schedules accordingly. Find out what they have learned so far and continue to encourage their initiative and progress.

Encourage mentees to connect with other mentees, as they may be future colleagues. For example, they could eat together, take the class photo, or attend sessions together.

Give feedback on their presentation if you were able to attend or do so after APEC if time is constrained.

Post APEC Phase

Take the initiative to provide feedback to the APEC mentorship program to help improve it.

Find out the mentee's most important takeaway from the experience and their biggest disappointment. This reflection helps them consolidate what they learned and helps you better understand how to support future mentees. Discuss what they can do to continue gaining positive experiences and how to prevent similar disappointments. Celebrate their achievements. Use the opportunity to learn how to be a better mentor.

Encourage mentees who take the initiative to reach out to others and mentor them. Suggest they reach out to colleagues and alumni to interview and explore their career options.

Finally, encourage mentees to turn in their mentorship guides, as even if they do not win the prizes, they can be publicly recognized as an APEC Rising Star! These APEC Rising Stars are recommended to the APEC organizing committee for the planning and running of various programs at the next APEC.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What if my mentee informs me that he/she is withdrawing from APEC?

A. Decide between the two of you, if you both want to end the mentorship or if you want to continue virtually.

Q. What if I don't know what advice to give my mentee?

A. Mentors do not need to have all the answers. Actively listen. Ask questions as an objective observer to help them problem solve, such as, "How would you decide between these interesting career options?" Also, you can refer your mentee to someone else who might have advice which would demonstrate the power of having a good network. Remember, mentorship is not about having all the answers—it's about helping them navigate uncertainty.

Q. What if my mentee misses our specified meeting?

A. Clarify the situation by following up. Give your perspective such as "I thought we were going to meet today at 1pm at the mentorship room, but I did not see you. Unfortunately, I must catch my flight tonight so I cannot meet with you until after I return to the office."

Q. What if my mentee "ghosts" or does not respond to me?

A. If a mentee stops responding, send a brief, supportive message to reset expectations. Explain the situation and your response, such as "Since I have not heard back from you in two weeks, I am going to step aside for two weeks to give you time to prepare for our next discussion." If the mentee still does not respond, then disengage from the mentorship.

Do you have suggestions for mentors that should be in this article? Feel free to share at mentors@psma.com.

Most Importantly: Thank You for being a Mentor! Thanks again for giving our next generation of engineers a head start!

Importance of Industry and Academia Collaboration

ower electronics is a multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary function that requires various skills. Consequently, to accelerate innovation and industry growth, the industry needs to collaborate with academia. Academia provides strong theoretical knowledge for Industry's practical applications, but the transition is not always smooth and can be lengthy. Students who demonstrate engineering skills stand out in getting jobs in industry. Applied research that addresses industry problems tends to get funding, recognition, and adoption, which leads to industry growth. This article highlights how both sides can work together more effectively—especially when focusing on applied research that directly benefits the industry

Engineering Basic: Define the Problem

Many universities are so focused on providing the tools and techniques, such as circuit design, that little emphasis is placed on understanding the problem to solve. The consequence is that research can produce non-practical results. Since the core of engineering is solving problems, if research does not address an industry problem, the research may struggle to attract attention or funding. Typically, the problem is defined by the application.

Applications are difficult to identify

Unfortunately, even identifying the application is tricky! For example, artificial intelligence (AI) is NOT an application, as people cannot buy AI. AI is a technology or feature in systems such as servers, electric vehicles (EVs), gaming consoles, and robots. These systems or applications may even use the same AI chip, but the requirements differ. Due to space limitations in datacenter racks, a server may have a height constraint of less than 2mm for its back-mounted point-of-load (POL) converter. However, EVs may have a weight constraint that eliminates low profile planar magnetics for its POL converter. Furthermore, EVs have stricter thermal and shock requirements. Even if the EMI constraint is the same for both applications, the implementation may differ due to the different application requirements. Therefore, a POL that supports a particular AI chip may not work in both applications. In other words, POL designs for AI may omit important considerations to make them useful and practical.

To understand ALL the design constraints, identify the final application (hint: it is usually a purchased system).

Need for a multidisciplinary approach

While many times circuit design can provide a solution, the solution is not always optimal. For example, clever system architecture might reduce the system hardware to provide more system flexibility through software. Speaking of hardware and software, digital power can benefit from the domain expertise of power engineers and from the discipline, scalability, and maintainability of software engineers. While power engineers may be able to write software, they may fail to realize the basics of software engineering, resulting in poor revision control, errors in the field, difficulty growing or maintaining the software, and unnecessary complexity. Similarly, software engineers can write good software but are not familiar with power requirements so the software might not be energy efficient. While people in industry can grow expertise in more than one area, it not only takes significant time to grow them sequentially, but also human tendency is to favor one's strength. For instance, it is rare to find a true mixed-signal designer. Usually if one started as a digital designer, he/she will favor design synthesis and digital design approaches. Similarly, an analog designer will favor analog approaches with some digital mixed in. However, a student who learns both at the same time may optimize based on the best approach.

New power applications need a multi-disciplinary approach. Such as a robotic replacement limb needs various engineering disciplines: bio-medical, mechanical, electrical (analog, digital, power & maybe even RF), software, human interface and possibly chemical engineering for the battery just to name a few. Only by working together can innovation happen.

Benefits of problem definition

Take time to understand the requirements up front (this is an industry practice so academia can help students prepare for industry) to prevent wasted effort. Industry should take an active role in directing academic research toward productive outcomes. Be sure to distinguish true design constraints (requirements) from beneficial features that are nice-to-have or make the system distinctive.

Any student who understands more about an application than their peers will undoubtedly stand out as an engineer rather than a scientist, even if their proposed solution is not perfect. People tend to learn more from their failures than from their successes.

Approaches to Understanding the Applications

There are multiple approaches to understanding the applications. Students can choose either single or multiple approaches.

Common sense

Some applications have characteristics that usage will dictate as constraints. For example, vehicles and photovoltaic applications need to operate outdoors under various weather conditions. Although a circuit works in a lab at room temperature, it is unclear if the circuit will work in cold or hot weather. Humidity and elevation may also play a factor. Students who can address these conditions will have a significant advantage compared to the "average" student, as these conditions are not taught.

Search engines (or AI)

Leverage search engines (or AI) to understand the application. Each application will have specific terminology, requirements, and conditions. It is easier to ask good questions when one is familiar enough to know what and how to ask. Research state-of-the-art solutions to understand why they are effective and the issues or limitations of each. Find the leaders and their suppliers to target white papers, application notes, and technical presentations.

Patent searches

Conduct industry patent searches, as many patents explain the context for a particular invention. Moreover, there are some historical references to what industry has deployed. By knowing what topologies are already patented, designers can innovate to avoid these patents and the associated royalties for using these patents. Finally, note the key authors as people to meet at conferences or industry associations.

Get more hands-on

Research the winning solutions by tearing apart the system (learn reverse engineering skills, non-destructive versus destructive test methods, and reassembly). Get creative in procuring a system cost-effectively, such as visiting junkyards, finding used or defective systems, or asking for a corporate system donation. Find out how these systems work and what makes these solutions special.

Consider testing proposed solutions in the field, depending on the application, not just in the usual air-conditioned lab, to gain insights. Be sure to note conditions such as weather or humidity, temperature, elevation, etc.

Develop key contacts

Leverage alumni, industry connections, industry associations (like PSMA), white paper & trade articles authors, conferences, workshops, exhibitions & tradeshows. Conduct information gathering interviews. Be prepared to ask good questions.

Embrace Inputs

Sometimes, academia views industry input as negative or discouraging, especially to the students, which can potentially shut down conversations.

For example, note the following discussion on research reducing capacitor size for a low dropout (LDO) regulator in a wireless access point (AP).

Question (from industry): Have you evaluated the EMI performance of this design?

Response (from an academic advisor): Did you have to bring up a non-starter issue? Don't discourage the students.

Response (from student): Why?

Response (from industry): LDOs are traditionally used due to low EMI in wireless applications. Significant electrical noise in the audio or video channels can degrade the quality. If your design has good EMI performance, you may achieve significant design improvements.

The initial industry input was neutral, but the academic response automatically assumed a negative perspective. However, the industry input also turned out to have a potential benefit, which the student drew out.

If the student or the advisor knew more about wireless access points, they would have already understood LDO's pros and cons in this application. They could compare the tradeoffs of the new design topology with the smaller capacitor. Even if the EMI performance was not as good as LDOs, the student would have learned about electrical noise, EMI, measurement, test, and possible ways to address the issue (which are not typically taught but are important aspects of good design). Furthermore, the conversation would have been different. Perhaps more interesting for all involved.

Career Options

By encouraging students to try various approaches, they learn what skills are exciting and what skills they want to de-emphasize, which will help drive their career direction. Learning about the design application may be a step towards other fulfilling careers in industry. For more information about various career options, check out the following resource from the PSMA: https://www.psma.com/sites/default/files/uploads/tech-forums-education/resources/1367/Career%20Options%202025%20Final.pdf

Students who enjoyed researching the requirements of an application may make good technical marketing engineers in the industry. Similarly, students who can debug, troubleshoot or teach about an application may make a good applications engineer.

Furthermore, by learning who the corporate leaders are in the application of interest, students will know which companies they need to intern or find jobs at.

By Brian Narveson, member and past chairman of the Packaging and Manufacturing Committee.

 have been asked to write an article on how to hold a successful workshop. Success of a workshop is based on the planning and execution of hundreds of details; this will not be a manual or a timeline on How To put on a great workshop. The intention is to provide ideas on workshop related topics that may help increase the success of a workshop. For approximately 10 years I have been on the organizing committee of 3D-PEIM, IWIPP and PwrSoC serving various roles but usually finance, publicity chairman or advisor. The hints below come from these experiences.

Recruiting a Host: It is ideal if this can be accomplished before the previous workshop. This allows members of the next host location to attend the previous workshop and see how things are done and the location announced to attendees.

Location: The suggestion is to make it a desirable place to go during a season that is desirable. Don't schedule Boston in the Winter or Arizona in July. It's a good idea to be near a major transportation hub. My experience has shown the harder it is to travel to the lower the attendance.

Organizing Committee: It is very helpful if the organizing committee starts meeting about one year ahead of the next workshop. Key roles such as General Chair and Technical Program Chair should be in place for this first meeting. It is helpful if these roles are filled before this meeting, so the organizing committee can focus on recruiting another chairman right away. I highly recommend each workshop has the following positions: Finance, Partner, Publicity, Publications (if a proceeding will be published), and local arrangements chairman. It's bad if the general chair takes on too much.

Facility: Spacious, well lit, close to hotels with separate rooms for technical sessions, eating and posters.

Budget: To avoid surprises, get quotes for facility, food, banquet food and transportation (if needed) before submitting budget for board approval. They will encompass 80%+ of the budget, other costs can be estimated.

Registration Fees: We traditionally focused on this needing to be as low as possible. In 2025 the IWIPP registration was about 66 people with an average registration of less than $500, 3D-PEIM had an average registration fee of over $800, it had a record attendance with just under 100. 3D-PEIM received no negative feedback on cost. Both were great workshops, but Denver was a lot more expensive than Tuscaloosa, Alabama. While price is important don't sacrifice quality for low price.

Technical Program: My thought here is to let the Technical Program committee pick the session topics, avoid just handing them last times topics. They will be more enthusiastic about finding speakers. Also set up a timeline so the technical program is 90%+ complete before registration opens. Experience has shown people don't like to register until they see the speakers both for plenary and technical sessions.

Website: It is great publicity to have it up with basic information when you start recruiting Technical Program Committee people who are not familiar with the Workshop.

Partners: Partners can make a big difference in the financial success of the workshop. An enthusiastic partner chairman and a Technical Program Committee willing to recruit partners will make a difference. The last 3D-PEIM we had 12 paid Partners. Creating a session where the partners were given 7 minutes to present to the attendees (provided they signed up for a high-level partnership) was big draw.

APEC Tie In: Most of our committees that sponsor workshops also do an Industry Session. The Industry Session is a target rich environment. Announce the next workshop in the session and have a flyer available to hand out in the session and available in the PSMA booth. Also, some basic information on the website even if you are over a year away.

Publicity: As much as possible. Send emails to the PSMA Seminar List often. Create a special email list for past attendees to your workshop. Articles for the newsletters of PSMA and all IEEE sponsoring societies (PELS, EPS, DEIS etc.). Send articles to Bodo's and How2Power (they will gladly run an article if they can be listed as a media sponsor of the workshop. Reach out to local and campus IEEE chapters. Work with the PSMA Office to put out a Press Release when registration opens.

Banquet: Attendees really like a banquet on the evening of day 2 of a 3-day workshop. It is best received if included in the registration fee. Try to make it an experience in both local culture and food.

Tours: Special tours with a limited number of attendees drive early workshop registration. But it's best if at least one tour can accommodate anyone who can attend.

I hope this provides some ideas to consider during future workshop planning. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at bcnarveson@gmail.com.

arge-scale, high-power medical devices—such as diagnostic imaging scanners and surgical or cosmetic laser systems—often present complex power design requirements. These challenges are driven by the need to support numerous digital and analog subsystems, as well as arrays of sensors and actuators operating at varying, often non-standard, voltages. Further complexities can emerge from elements like battery chargers and capacitor banks, which provide pulsed energy to lasers and frequently require stable constant-current supplies.

Complexity arises not just from technical specifications, but also from strict safety and isolation requirements, especially limits on leakage current for medical equipment designers. Defined in specifications such as the IEC-60601 safety standards for medical electrical equipment, these encompass means of operator (MOOP) and patient (MOPP) protection for those coming into contact with the equipment (Fig. 1).

Faced with such varied yet exacting requirements, finding an off-the-shelf, medical-approved multi-output ac-dc power supply (PSU) tailored to the requirements of the application at hand is difficult. In the past, multiple off the shelf power supplies were combined or custom power supplies were developed to satisfy such application requirements. This article discusses some of the limitations of those approaches and how configurable, digitally controlled power supplies can overcome those limitations in medical applications.

Fig. 1. In medical environments such as operating rooms, power supply requirements are complex both in terms of electrical specifications for voltages and currents, but also with regard to the approvals needed to ensure the safety of equipment operators and patients.

Custom Power Supplies Or Off-the-Shelf?

One solution is to use individual ac-dc PSUs that collectively meet power needs, installing them separately within the enclosure. However, this requires more space, which can be a drawback.

Despite the large overall physical size of "big iron" equipment such as scanners or surgical systems, there is often little space available to install the PSUs themselves. This can be for a variety of reasons, ranging from the need to integrate as much functionality and performance into the system as possible or the fact that power is often considered late in the project development timeline. Using separate PSUs with individual ac-dc front ends wastes space inside the equipment.

In addition, the use of multiple ac-dc units also imposes multiple sets of transformers (and associated circuit) losses, which leads to reduced efficiency as well as significant power dissipation and thermal management challenges.

The obvious alternative is to take a turnkey route by creating a custom power design tailored to exactly meet application-specific requirements. While such an approach may help to address performance, functionality, efficiency, size and weight tradeoffs, design and development are typically time-consuming and expensive. Additionally, each custom design requires the PSU to undergo full medical product-level testing, which increases development time and cost.

Configurable Digitally Controlled Power

The above tradeoffs were essential in analog-regulated platforms that are fixed for a given conventional power supply design. However, recent years have seen the rise of a third approach that makes use of the significant flexibility that comes from the deployment of digitally controlled power supplies.

Unlike traditional analog regulation techniques, digital control allows parameters such as voltage regulation, current limits and fault protection to be configured through software. These parameters can be monitored in real-time and adapted dynamically if needed. This flexibility enables configurable modular power supplies to reduce the complexities associated with providing multiple different constant-voltage and constant-current supplies, in a space-saving and energy efficient solution compliant with medical-industry safety approvals.

In this methodology, a universal chassis equipped with ac-dc front-end circuitry, including power-factor correction (PFC), offers several standardized slots for the installation of individual power modules. These modules are digitally configured to efficiently and rapidly deliver the specific output requirements of each application (Fig. 2).

Digital power control technologies can be managed over a fieldbus such as MODBUS RTU. Chassis and modules equipped with this connectivity are configurable via digital commands, using standard instructions that enable the programming of parameters including voltage regulation, current limits, power sequencing, and fault response. These systems also support real-time monitoring for system control and diagnostics. Additionally, many of these power supplies include a black box feature to support fault analysis.

In addition, both the implementation of automated fault detection and recovery and real-time setting adjustment can be enabled. The former helps mitigate power failures and prevents damage while the latter more effectively meets the demands of a system in a dynamic operational environment.

Fig. 2. Configurable pre-certified supplies such as the NP08 help optimize medical power designs.

One example of configurable supplies for optimized custom designs is Advanced Energy's NeoPower NP08 ac-dc PSU for output powers of up to 4000 W.

Fig. 2. Configurable pre-certified supplies such as the NP08 help optimize medical power designs.

This platform offers eight output power slots, can be programmed to be both a voltage and current source, and has an output current range of 0 to 448 A. Sharing the ac-dc front-end between all modules in the chassis makes for an energy-efficient and space-efficient solution.

Modules can be selected to provide individual outputs up to a maximum voltage or current. Furthermore, because galvanic isolation can be ensured, the supplies can be connected in series to provide a higher voltage or in parallel to deliver higher current (see the reference).

Meeting Medical Standards

As previously mentioned, the configured power supplies must comply with medical standards. These are almost universally based on IEC 60101 and, as a result, power schemes deployed in medical systems will need to implement operator and patient protection and ensure limits on permissible leakage current. The NP08 mentioned above, for example, is fully IEC/EN-60601-1 3.2 compliant and BF-rated—but what does this mean?

For equipment that will come into contact with the patient, creepage and clearance distances need to be designed to ensure input-to-out isolation that meets the MOPP specification. For 250-Vac-powered equipment, input-to-output isolation of at least 4000 Vac is needed to meet the MOPP requirement.

In addition, leakage currents are subject to maximum limits and equipment that will be in contact with the patient must satisfy the type BF (body float) limit or type CF (cardiac float) for dialysis and other equipment that comes into contact with the heart or bloodstream.

For type BF, the leakage to earth must be less than 0.5 mA in normal conditions (NC) and below 1.0 mA in single-fault condition (SFC). Type BF also sets a maximum enclosure leakage current limit (in case of touch) of less than 0.1 mA (NC) and 0.5 mA (SFC).

Pre-testing and certifying the chassis according to general electrical safety standards, such as IEC 62368-1, and medical-specific standards, such as IEC 60601, ensures compliance with relevant regulations once the final power supply configuration is established. If changes to the design are needed later in the product lifetime, engineers can quickly make adaptations by changing one or more modules or reprogramming without needing to re-certify the PSU as a new item of equipment. Provided the designer configures the modules in accordance with manufacturer instructions, the certification remains valid and there is no delay in releasing the end product to market.

This contrasts with the requirement for recertification that typically applies when developing a custom PSU, which can be expensive and time-consuming, potentially delaying any new product release by weeks, if not months.

Conclusion

Digital power technology, especially when paired with configurable and modular approaches, can greatly simplify complex power supply design for medical devices. Certification to IEC 60601-1 medical specifications also allows designs to be modified for future adaptability and scalability without re-certifying.

The benefits of these systems include space savings and efficiency gains over the approach with multiple individual power supplies each having their own independent ac-dc front end. In addition, designers gain extra flexibility to refine and quickly adapt their designs throughout development and in subsequent revisions to the product after launch.

Reference

NeoPower NP08 series product page.

About The Author

Nate Mandelko has been with Advanced Energy since 2012 and is a senior product marketing manager for Industrial Power Conversion Products within System Power. He has worked in the power conversion industry for more than 20 years. Mandelko received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.

Provided by Nate Mandelko, Advanced Energy, Eden Prairie, Minn.

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