APEC
The organizers of the Power Supply on Chip (PwrSoC) Workshop Series with the support of the PSMA Packaging & Manufacturing Committee have organized an Industry Session at APEC 2022 that will present an overview of key topics discussed during the most recent Power Supply on Chip Workshop that was held October 2021 at the Singh Center for Nanotechnology on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania and a preview of the topics planned to for the next workshop in 2023. The presentations in this Industry Session will cover current trends in magnetic and capacitor components, silicon packaging and manufacturing processes, circuit topologies with a vision towards the applications and systems required for future power delivery.
This Industry Session titled “PwrSoC for Next Generation Power Delivery and Management” will be held on Tuesday March 22 from 8:00 AM to 11:55 AM in room 320C of the George Brown Convention Center in Houston Texas. The session includes seven presentations:
- Circuits and Topologies: Review and Trends; Bruno Allard; Univ Lyon
- Integrated Capacitors and Energy Storage Devices for PwrSoC: Trends and Challenges; Mohamed Mehdi Jatlaoui; Murata Integrated Passive Solutions
- Thin Film Magnetics for PwrSoC and Hybrid Integration; Martin Haug, Wurth Electronic.
- Wide Bandgap Integration Trends and Opportunities; Bernhard Wicht, Lebiniz Universität Hanover
- System Integrated Manufacturing and Packaging Trends and Roadmaps; Hongbin Yu, Arizona State University
- New Architectures for High Performance Granular Power Supplies; Santosh Kulkarni, Renesas Electronics Corporation
- PwrSoC: Industry Adoption in High-Volume Applications; Francesco Carobolante, IoTissimo
Hanh-Phuc Le, Session Co-Chair, stated “The presentations in this session will provide attendees an appreciation on the background and insight on the applications of this technology.” Session Co-Chair, Matt Wilkowski, continued, “The session will focus on some of the recent advances in the technologies in moving PwrSoC to marketplace availability.”
Hanh-Phuc and Matt encourage everyone to register for APEC and attend this valuable industry session and to consider participating in the other PSMA-sponsored Industry Sessions and Meetings during the week.
About PwrSoC
PwrSoC started by the initiative of Tyndall Institute, in Cork, Ireland, where the first 2 editions were hosted in 2008 and 2010. IEEE/PELS and PSMA became co-sponsors of the workshop, strengthening its international scope in San Francisco (2012), Boston (2014), Madrid (2016) Hsinchu (2018) and Philadelphia (2021). This rotation - Europe, America, Asia - reflects the ambition of PwrSoC to remain a global workshop. The workshop is sponsored by the Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) and the Power Electronics Society (PELS).
- Capacitor Technology Trends for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors; Daniel West, AVX
- Multiple Capacitor Dielectrics Support Wide Bandgap Power Solutions; Phil Lessner, KEMET Electronics
- Capacitor Solutions for Resonant Converter Applications; Eduardo Drehmer – TDK; Michael Cannon – TDK
- Mind the Gap: E-Cap Technologies for Wide Bandgap Solutions; Stephan Menzel, CapXon
- High-Density Low-Profile Capacitors Toward 3D Heterogeneous Integration; Raj Pulugurtha, Florida International University
Check the APEC website for details (https://apec-conf.org/). On the Saturday prior to the start of APEC2022, PSMA and PELS will be sponsoring two workshops, the Seventh High Frequency Magnetics Workshop "Power Magnetics @ High Frequency" and the Fifth Capacitor Workshop "How Materials and Environmental Effects Influence Capacitor Performance". For more information see the articles on each workshop in this issue of the UPDATE. The APEC 2022 Committee is looking forward to seeing you. And, as the next article explains, we are taking every measure necessary to assure a safe and healthy environment. So, y'all come and be part of this great event.
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he 2022 PSMA Annual Meeting will be held in conjunction with APEC 2022 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX on Monday, March 21. For the first time in two years, the meeting will be held in person after meeting virtually in 2020 and 2021. A buffet breakfast at 7:30 a.m. will precede the meeting and individuals from member companies as well non-member guests are invited to attend and participate in a full agenda of topics of interest to the industry. At the meeting, you will have the opportunity to meet and interact with many of the students who received APEC Attendance Support to present their papers at the Technical Sessions. The new Executive Committee will be introduced, and Regular member company representatives will participate in the election of four Directors to serve on the PSMA Board for a three-year term beginning immediately and ending at APEC 2025.
The detailed agenda for the meeting is available on the PSMA web site and includes reports from each of the technical committees and stimulating discussions on new PSMA initiatives for 2022 and beyond. The APEC 2022 Conference Chair will review the progress on APEC 2022 and there will be a report on plans for APEC 2023 in Orlando, FL There will also be an invited presentation from IPC to review their activities and opportunities to continue to strengthen the relationships between PSMA and IPC.
 Photo: Courtesy of Visit Houston |
Members and guests are also welcome to remain for the Board of Directors meeting that will immediately follow the Annual Meeting. Participation in these meetings will provide you with the opportunity to network with colleagues from other companies and to influence the direction of the PSMA and the power sources industry.
The best way to get more out of your company membership in PSMA is to become involved with one of our active technical committees. The Capacitor, Energy Harvesting, Energy Management, Energy Storage, Industry-Education, Magnetics, Marketing, Power Electronics Packaging, Power Technology Roadmap, Reliability, Safety & Compliance, Semiconductor and Transportation Electronics committees all plan to hold open meetings during the week of APEC 2022. All are invited to participate or to just drop in any of these committee meetings to hear and provide input as the committee activities are being planned for the coming year. Visit the PSMA website to see the schedule of PSMA meetings and events at APEC 2022.
On March 19, the Saturday prior to the start of APEC 2022, PSMA and PELS will be sponsoring two workshops, the seventh High Frequency Magnetics Workshop -"Power Magnetics @ High Frequency" and the fifth Capacitor Workshop – How Materials and Environmental Effects Influence Capacitor Performance". Information on these workshops is available in separate articles in this issue of the Update.
Be sure to visit us at the PSMA booth in the APEC hub, at the exhibition area during APEC. PSMA is again sponsoring the popular PSMA/ APEC Passport Program in the Exhibit Hall. Visit the booths of participating PSMA members to enter a raffle drawing for some great prizes sponsored by PSMA members Rubadue Wire, Premier Magnetics, Microchip and Navitas Semiconductor.
We look forward to a good turnout at the PSMA meetings and a very busy and exciting week.
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or the first time since 2019, APEC 2022, being held at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston, Tx, in March, will once again be held as a face-to-face conference and exhibition. To assure a safe and healthy environment for all APEC participants at the in-person event, the conference organizers are taking special precautions by requiring proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test (obtained within 72 hours of attendance) as a condition of entrance. To facilitate this screening, APEC has partnered with CLEAR Health Pass, enabling attendees to show their vaccination using a free mobile app. According to local current guidelines, face masks while indoors also will be encouraged at the event. Attendees can use the QR Code (shown here) to download the CLEAR app.
"Although conditions are improving," said Omer Onar, APEC 2022 General Chair, "the APEC 2022 Conference Committee recognizes the unique and changing impact the pandemic has had on our practices, families and plans over the last two years. Since the health and safety of APEC attendees is of utmost importance to us, we are providing a CLEAR Health Pass app free to all attendees. Additionally, we are working closely with the George R. Brown Convention Center, as well as federal, state and local public health officials, to incorporate best practices to ensure the highest level of protection at APEC 2022."
Health Pass by CLEAR provides secure, digital proof of COVID-related health insights via the CLEAR mobile app. Attendees are encouraged to download the CLEAR app* and complete the process at least 24 hours prior to arrival at the event. The QR Code and further details can be found at http://apec-conf.org/exposition/health-and-safety.
* The CLEAR app is intended to speed attendee access to the conference and exhibit. To avoid delays in entering, all are encouraged to download the app. Please note that CLEAR is not able to read vaccination cards from places outside of the United States. For European attendees, we will ask that they present their digital vaccine passport to the registration personnel upon arrival. All other international guests and others who unable to use the CLEAR app will be asked to present their physical vaccine card and ID upon arrival.
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Provided by Greg Evans, |
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The Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC2022), to be held in Houston, Texas, March 20-24, 2022, will feature an Industry Session sponsored by the PSMA Energy Harvesting Committee. This Industry Session, “Energy Harvesting State-of-the-Art with Functional Demos,” features three timely presentations plus a hands-on demonstration period. The session will address the latest developments in this rapidly emerging technology ecosystem providing an insight not only into the enabling technologies but also many of the applications, including medical, smart mobility and industry 4.0, where they will be used.
The Energy Harvesting Session (IS24) will be held on Thursday, March 24, from 1:45 to 3:25 p.m. in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX.
The session includes four presentations:
- EnABLES – Free of charge power IoT feasibility studies for real world applications; Mike Hayes, Tyndall National Institute
- Electromagnetic Energy Harvesting System Enabling 20 mW Output Power for IoT Application; Dragan Dinulovic, Wurth Electronic
- How to turbo charge the Internet of Things with Ultra Capacitors and Energy Harvesting; Ronald de Graaf, NAWA Technologies
- Interactive Energy Harvesting Demo Session; Brian Zahnstecher, PowerRox
Mike Hayes, Session Co-Chair, commented, “Retrofitting ultra-low power wireless sensors as part of the rapidly evolving internet of things (IoT) infrastructure offers huge potential to achieve a more efficient, healthy, green, safe and better-connected world. However, the limitations of battery life are a major challenge. Energy harvesting solutions offer an outstanding opportunity for the power electronics community.” Session Co-Chair, Brian Zahnstecher, continued, “The presentations will highlight not just the potential of these technologies, but also the current applications. The presentations will include success stories and real-life demonstrations of several technologies in development and some that are already in commercial usage where battery life has not only been significantly extended, but in some cases provides complete power autonomy.”
Mike and Brian encourage everyone to register for APEC and attend this valuable industry session and to consider attending the other PSMA-sponsored Industry Sessions during the week.
PSMA Energy Harvesting Committee Meeting Notice
All APEC attendees are invited to participate in the PSMA Energy Harvesting Committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday March 23 from 8 – 10 a.m. in Room 332B at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Participants are also encouraged to participate in the other PSMA sponsored meetings being held throughout the week.
The Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) Energy Storage Committee has organized an Industry Session IS15 entitled “The Ins & Outs of Energy Storage,” at APEC2022. This provocative and broad Industry Session focuses on a range of energy storage topics with specific emphasis on control and whole cycle efficiency.
The session will take place on Wednesday afternoon, March 23rd, 2022, from 2:30 - 5:45 p.m. at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX.
The six presentations in this session include:
- Thermal Management of Battery Systems; Justin Farrelly, Vercet
- How Lithium Battery Technology is Powering Sustainable Development; Henrik Lundgren, Polarium
- Ins and Outs of Commercially Available Supercapacitors; Nihal Kularatna, The University of Waikato
- Control of Distributed Energy Storage Systems for Energy Communities; Shafi Khadem, The International Energy Research Center
- Grid Systems Integration for Future Electric Charging Infrastructure; Brian Rowden, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Grid Energy Storage and Advanced Power Conversion Systems; Stanley Atcitty, Sandia National Laboratories
Eric Schneider, Energy Storage Industry Session Co-Chair, commented “This session will focus on topics of high current interest to the power electronics community. It is not a clone of the dozens of available battery and super-capacitor forums, rather these presentations are targeted to be of interest to the APEC audience. The topics that will be covered include many kinds of energy storage, as well as issues on control and protection, including cybersecurity.” Session Co-Chair Ed Herbert continued, “The invited experts presenting will focus on real world situations, such as the challenges to a small to medium sized power converter manufacturer with limited resources faced with the requirement of incorporating energy storage into their systems. What issues must they address, and what problems must they solve?”
Eric and Ed encourage everyone to register for APEC and attend this valuable industry session and to consider participating in the other PSMA-sponsored Industry Sessions during the week.
PSMA Energy Storage Committee Meeting Notice
Interested individuals are also invited to participate in the PSMA Energy Storage Committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 23 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon in Room 332B at the George R Brown Convention Center to plan the program for the coming year.
- Driving Jobsite Productivity: Smart, Connected, Cordless Power Tools; Timothy Obermann, Milwaukee Tool
- Electric Vehicles: Why the Sudden Acceleration and How Silicon Carbide is in Pole Position to Win; Llew Vaughan-Edmunds, Applied Materials
- How Emerging Wireless Power Technologies are Set to Cut the Cords; Dinesh Kithany, Wired & Wireless Technologies (WAWT)
- GaN Adoption, Market by Market; Stephen Oliver, Navitas Semiconductor
- Advances in Energy Storages Technologies; Babu Chalamala, Sandia National Laboratories
- Slaying Energy Vampires: A Regulatory Roadmap; David Chen, Power Integrations
- Energy Harvesting powered sensors/IoT devices; Lorandt Foelkel, Wurth Elektronik eiSos
The Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC2022), to be held in Houston, Texas, March 20-24, 2022, will feature three Industry Sessions organized by the PSMA Semiconductor Committee. These sessions will address the rapid emergence of wide bandgap semiconductors as a significant power conversion technology.
The series of Industry Sessions will address topics of both interest and concern as designers address the decision to apply GaN and SiC technologies, with each session focusing on one aspect of the topic: The three sessions are as follows:
- IS07: “Integration in WBG Semiconductors: Increased Power Density and Advanced Functionalities at Application Level”
Session Chairs: Jaume Roig, onsemi, and Andrea Bricconi, Cambridge GaN Devices
Time: Wednesday March 23, 8:30 – 11:55 AM
- IS11: “Power Devices – Performance, Achievements and Road Ahead”
Session Chairs: Reenu Garg, Microchip Technology, and Renee Yawger, EPC
Time: Wednesday March 23, 2:30 – 5:45 PM
- IS21: “SiC and GaN Product and Technology Reliability, Robustness and Qualification”
Session Chairs: Tim McDonald, Infineon Technologies AG and Darshan Gandhi, Navitas Semiconductor
Time: Thursday March 24, 1:45 – 3:25 PM
“Wide bandgap semiconductors are achieving new milestones day after day as they enter new application arenas empowered by SiC and GaN technologies,” commented Reenu Garg, Co-Chair of the PSMA Semiconductor Committee. Jaume Roig, Committee Co-Chair continued, “Our three sessions provide a confluence point for the latest industrial achievements in SiC and GaN power devices and applications.” Tim McDonald, Committee Co-Chair, expressed his admiration and gratitude to the PSMA Semiconductor Committee members for their time, effort and expertise to organize three outstanding industry sessions.
Reenu, Jaume and Tim encourage everyone to register for APEC and attend these valuable industry sessions and to consider participating in the other PSMA-sponsored Industry Sessions during the week.
PSMA Semiconductor Committee Meeting Notice
All APEC attendees are invited to participate in the PSMA Semiconductor Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 23 from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. in the Fort Bend Room at the Marriott Marquis Houston to plan the program for the coming year.
The PSMA Packaging & Manufacturing Committee is sponsoring an Industry Session at APEC 2022 titled, “Latest Improvements in 3D-Packaging of Power Electronics.” Featuring speakers from leading industry and research organizations, the session (IS10) will present innovative power packaging for thermal management and embedded power modules as well as the innovative manufacturing methods needed to produce them.
The session will take place on Wednesday morning, March 23rd, 2022, from 8:30 - 11:55 a.m. at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX.
The session includes seven presentations:
- Meet the New Aluminum...Busbars
Mike Wingard, Amphenol Global Interconnect Systems - A Drop-in High-Temperature Lead-free Solder Solution that Outperforms High-Lead
Hongwen Zhang, Indium Corporation - Application of Soft Magnetic Metal-Flake Composite Material to High Frequency Inductive Components
Ken'Ichi Chata'ni, TOKIN, A KEMET Company - Addressing Solder Hierarchy Issues in Power Module Packaging with TLPS Pastes
Catherine Shearer, EMD Electronics Inc. - Micro-Magnetics based on Single-Litho Core Laminations
Kamyar Admadi, EnaChip Inc. - Advanced Interconnection Technologies in Power Electronics for Improved Reliability and Performance
Aarief Syed-Khaja, Heraeus Electronics. - Highly Thermally Conductive Epoxy Substrates as Ceramic Replacement with High Volume Manufacturing
Douglas C. Hopkins, North Carolina State University
John Bultitude, Session Co-Chair, commented, “Power source manufacturers’ have to consider employing the latest 3-D packaging technologies to fully exploit the benefits of improved performance, such as with WBG semiconductors, to meet the needs of their customers and this session will thoroughly explore new technologies to facilitate this.” Session Co-Chair, Brian Narveson, continued, “This session will provide valuable insights to system and design engineers, program managers and researchers working on projects where decreased size and improved efficiency are required.”
John and Brian encourage everyone to register for APEC and attend this valuable industry session and to consider attending the other PSMA-sponsored Industry Sessions during the week.
PSMA Packaging & Manufacturing Committee Meeting Notice
All APEC attendees are invited to participate in the PSMA Packaging Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 22 from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. in the Fort Bend Room at the Marriott Marquis Houston to plan the program for the coming year.
PSMA Energy Management Committee to Host APEC 2022 Industry Session: Are You Throwing Energy Away? Don't, or Recover It!
The PSMA Energy Management Committee is sponsoring an Industry Session at APEC2022 on Thursday, March 24th, at 8:30 a.m. in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. Featuring speakers from leading industry and research organizations, the session (IS18) will explore a variety of energy recovery options for different applications.
The session will feature 6 presentations:
- Grid Integration of Sustainable EV Charging Systems
Adel Nasiri, University of South Carolina - Energy Storage System for Land Drilling and Mine Sites
Dachuan Yu, Caterpillar - V2G and Wireless Charging for EVs: Perfect Partners
Milisav Danilovic, WiTricity - Energy Storage Systems and Application
Omar Abdel-baqi, Eaton - Emerging Zero-Standby Solutions for Miscellaneous Electric Loads
Daniel Gerber, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - Using Leakage Energy to Achieve Zero-Voltage Switching
Bala Sudhakar Singamaneni, Power Integrations
David Chen, Session Chair, commented, “Energy recovery can take many forms, ranging from small to big. Whether recycling leakage energy in a flyback transformer in a cell phone charger, or using stationary storage to handle transient energy from mining equipment, or integrating EV charging with the grid, the fundamental principles of energy recovery remain the same. The presentations in this session will show the attendees clever ways to avoid wasting excess energy as heat, and instead allow that energy to be recovered for higher system efficiency. Many of these techniques can also reduce stress and improve reliability”
David encourages everyone to register for APEC and attend this valuable industry session and to consider attending the other PSMA-sponsored Industry Sessions during the week.
PSMA Energy Management Committee Meeting Notice
All APEC attendees are invited to participate in the PSMA Energy Management Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 22 from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. in the Montgomery Room at the Marriott Marquis Houston to plan the program for the coming year.
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ttendees of the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC 2022) will converge on Houston, TX, March 20-24, 2022, returning to an in-person event after two years. The conference and exhibition will continue the long-standing tradition of addressing issues of immediate and long-term interest to the practicing power electronic engineer. Outstanding technical content, including Technical Program Papers, Industry Sessions and Professional Education Seminars, is offered at one of the lowest registration costs of any IEEE conference. APEC 2022 promises to provide attendees with a truly significant professional experience. Complete details for registering and hotel booking can be found at APEC Registration.
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| Photo courtesy of Space Center Houston |
APEC has secured discounted rates at two hotels near the Houston Convention Center. Attendees are encouraged to secure their hotel reservations early, as these hotels are expected to book up well in advance of the conference. Hotel reservations can only be made following conference registration. Links to APEC's contracted hotels will be sent via an automatic registration confirmation email. For more details, please visit the Travel Information page.
A special highlight of APEC 2022 will be the Wednesday evening Social Event at the NASA Space Center. The entire facility, including the Johnson Space Center Park, will be open exclusively to APEC Conference Registrants. The event will be catered by Wolfgang Puck, and it might even include surprise appearances by former astronauts.
On the Saturday prior to the start of APEC2022, PSMA and PELS will again be sponsoring two workshops, the seventh High Frequency Magnetics Workshop and the fifth Capacitor Workshop. For more information see the articles on each workshop in this issue of the UPDATE.
Speaking for all of us on the APEC Conference Committee, I invite you to come to Houston to be part of our annual gathering. You really don't want to miss it. Check the APEC website for details (www.apec-conf.org).
If you haven't already made plans to attend, don't wait any longer. Be sure you have it in your 2022 budget to attend this exceptional event – truly The Premier Event in Applied Power Electronics™
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Provided by Greg Evans, |
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he effects of COVID-19 on in-person technical conferences and trade shows have been nearly universal. APEC2020 was an early victim of the pandemic and APEC 2021 was held as a full virtual event in June. The energy and attendance at the Virtual-Only APEC 2021 event is a testament to the importance of our conference as the industry resource for learning of the latest in power electronics technology and new product developments. APEC 2021 attendees were offered a wide-ranging program including:
- 6 Plenary Presentations
- 3 Rap Sessions
- 16 Professional Education Seminars
- Almost 500 Technical Papers
- Over 100 Industry Session Presentations
As the world makes progress toward stemming the impact of the pandemic, plans are now fully underway for a return to a live APEC 2022 in Houston next March.
Never in the history of electronics has power conversion been more in the forefront. Efficiency is a top priority of nearly every new design. And the latest advances in technology are touching virtually every aspect of our industry, from passive components to semiconductors and packaging. And there just isn't anywhere else on earth our industry comes together so completely to learn, connect and grow than at the Applied Power Electronics Conference.
Hundreds of digests have been submitted for the Technical Sessions and now the work of the peer-reviewers is underway to select the best for the APEC 2022 program.
Work continues in development of the Plenary Session program. The committee has put together an exceptional roster of candidates. The program will be finalized before the next edition of this newsletter. The Plenary Session typically beings in well over 2,000 attendees. In addition, IEEE.tv will, once again, be streaming the entire session, live, for those who can't make it to APEC by Monday afternoon.
By mid-September, all the submissions of proposals for both the very popular Industry Sessions as well as the highly informative Professional Education Seminars will be under consideration. The Industry Session tracks which will run in parallel with the Technical Sessions are expected to be as popular as ever.
Back at APEC 2019, over 1500 attendees arrived early to take advantage of the Sunday and Monday morning Professional Education Seminars. The committee is planning for a repeat of this attendance in 2022.
Booth selection for the APEC 2022 exhibit hall is now open and a fully booked and vibrant exhibition is in the works.
Registration opens in October. Go to www.apec-conf.org to get all the information you need. In addition to making your reservation to attend, you will also be able to book your hotel accommodations. APEC has secured blocks of rooms at the close-in hotels to the convention center. As usual, these rooms will sell out long before next March.
The entire APEC Conference Committee is excited about bringing our Premier Global Event in Applied Power Electronics to Houston, March 20-24, 2022.
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Mike Hayes opened the meeting at 10 a.m. CDT welcomed all attendees andintroduced the other members of the Executive Committee - Fred Weber, President; Trifon Liakopoulos, Vice-President; and Tim McDonald, Secretary/Treasurer. The first item of business was the approval of the minutes from the 2020 Annual Meeting. This was followed by the election of four people to the Board of Directors. Each candidate nominated introduced themselves and provided a brief summary of their background and reasons for wanting to serve on the board. Ballots had been distributed in advance of the meeting to the designated representative from all Regular Member companies and additional votes were accepted during the first half of the meeting. After all ballot were received. the following candidates were elected to the Board of Directors for the three-year term (2021-2024):
Mike Hayes and the meeting attendees congratulated Tim McDonald who was elected for his second term and congratulated and welcomed the three new directors and thanked nominee John Bultitude of KEMET Corporation for his continued contributions to the Packaging & Manufacturing Committee and to PSMA. The Chair recognized the contributions of Alexander Gerfer and Kevin Parmenter whose terms as Director expired at the meeting. Chair's Report On behalf of the Executive Committee, Mike Hayes briefly reviewed and discussed his vision and objectives that had been presented last year and outlined the 4 pillars for sustenance and smart growth, each championed by a member of the Executive Committee:
The PSMA Strategic Direction continues to include focus on IoT, Energy Storage and Smart Mobility. Mike highlighted the importance of providing educational resources to encourage students to enter the industry and inform and motivate professionals, especially younger professionals and thanked everyone who is involved with expanding the Industry-Education Committee initiatives. In his summary Mike Hayes discussed some of the major Next Steps for the Association which include careful planning and financial monitoring to get back to stability from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic; further building links with other Industry Associations, including iNEMI, IPC, IEEE PELS, EPSMA and CPSS; focusing on KPIs; and using the Pillars to build growth, succession planning and sustainability Mike highlighted the great progress that has been made in the past year and the opportunities in the coming year. Mike recognized the contributions of the many volunteers who contribute to PSMA and, welcomed others to get involved. Power of the Pillars Fred Weber provided a brief update of the Power of the Pillars by first reviewing the status of the Tiger Team initiatives and giving a brief overview of those that have been accomplished, those that are in progress, and those that are currently tabled. Tiger Teams were introduced in the fall of 2018 by previous PSMA Chair Stephen Oliver and have had great success over the last few years in turning words into actions. Fred then outlined the longer-term goals which currently include inter-committee interactions, becoming more application and solution focused, and growing the PSMA eco-system. He briefly reviewed the progress and current status of these initiatives. Financial Update Tim McDonald, Secretary/Treasurer, presented the Financial Report which included the current financial status of the Association and a seven-quarter financial forecast. Tim reviewed the background and assumptions used in developing the forecastand emphasized the forecast is based on the best-known data available - which may, and probably will, change as more becomes known on the results of APEC2021 and the several workshops scheduled over the next several months. Tim highlighted the inherent risks in the forecast and the critical need to increase revenue from membership and other activities. All of the events PSMA sponsors over the past year have been postponed or switched to virtual and it is unknown when in-person events will resume. This has had and will continue to have a negative financial impact on PSMA. He set a goal to identify an additional revenue by the end of calendar year 2022 to make up for the losses experienced due to the impact of Covid-19.
APEC 2021 Conor Quinn, APEC 2021 General Chair, provided an overview of the strong Technical Program planned for APEC 2021 with six Plenary speakers lined up, 3 rap sessions, 16 Professional Education Seminars, and a full schedule of Technical and Industry Sessions. Thirteen of the Industry Sessions for APEC2021 have been organized by PSMA Committees. Conor noted that the APEC Steering Committee and Sponsors are monitoring the ongoing uncertainties due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and a final decision on whether the conference will take place in-person or virtually is expected in the coming weeks. The safety of attendees and ability for the international APEC community to attend are key factors being considered. With the unexpected shift to virtual last year, APEC 2020 was a limited virtual event. Planning for APEC 2021 has included virtual contingencies to ensure that the quality of the conference will be maintained in either format. If the conference is held virtually, a platform provider has been selected with excellent capabilities, including live and on demand content and an interactive Expo Hall. Note: APEC 2021 has since announced that the conference will be held virtually. For more information, see the article on page 1 of this issue. Committee Reports Each of the PSMA Committees provided updates on their recent activities. All of the committees are supporting the 2022 Power Technology Roadmap, with most planning to provide at least one webinar for the roadmap webinar series. Nine committees have organized Industry Sessions for APEC 2021. In addition, several committees are collaborating to organize a paid virtual Vehicle Electrification Workshop in the fall of 2021. The full reports are available in the Members Only area of the PSMA web site. Invited Speaker
The invited speaker at this year's Annual Meeting was Liuchen Chang, Power Electronics Society (PELS) President (2021-2022). PELS is one of the 46 IEEE Societies. He reviewed the organization of IEEE and PELS, membership, list of major sponsored conferences, technical committees, and current initiatives. Luichen discussed the PELS 5-Year Strategic Plan and their interest in further strengthening the partnership with PSMA. He also identified a number of specific areas for collaboration that would be of benefit to both organizations and the power electronics community. Mike Hayes thanked Luichen for his presentation and affirmed that PSMA will continue to work with and expand the areas of mutual benefits. Open Discussion Chair Mike Hayes then opened the floor for discussion of the major issues facing the Association and suggestions for future initiatives. Several attendees provided ideas and input on the need for PSMA to identify new revenue sources. It was noted that PSMA dues are relatively low when compared to other industry associations but some expressed concern that a large dues increase may result in the loss of members. Suggestions offered included recognizing the largest member companies do receive more benefits than smaller companies based on their number of employees and locations. It was also pointed out that the dues revenue can be increased by expanding the membership. Other suggestions included identifying sponsorship opportunities for webinars and events, as long as it can be accomplished while avoiding commercial influence or the appearance of such on the activities. The Board of Directors will consider all of the suggestions discussed. Before adjourning, Chair Mike Hayes noted that this was the second year that the meeting was held as a virtual event and expressed hope that we can resume the face-to-face meeting at APEC2022. Mike Hayes thanked all presenters and attendees for their participation and suggestions. 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. |
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APEC is truly an International Conference. 1212 Technical Session abstracts, received from 45 different nations, were peer reviewed last fall. Abstracts from 30 of these countries were selected for inclusion in this year’s record setting event. Case in point, engineers traveled from as far away as Australia and New Zealand to share their latest design concepts. Speakers from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan represented Asia. Representing South and Central America, speakers travel from Brazil and Columbia. From the Middle East there were presentations from Egypt, Israel, and Qatar. Representing Europe were speakers from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, German, India, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and the Ukraine. Let me not overlook the speakers from Canada, Ireland and the U.K.
And what was happening with the PSMA you might ask? A lot. There were 24 two to three hour technical committee meetings scheduled, ranging from a workshop on High Frequency Magnetics that started at 7:30 on Saturday morning to a three-hour session addressing Safety and Compliance issues and another three-hour session on Semiconductors advances that were held on Thursday. I would be remiss not to point out that the very popular Power Technology Roadmap Committee met for two hours on Tuesday. We did look into the Packaging Technical Committee meeting on Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday evening attendees could select from three desirable Rap sessions including: Future of Semiconductor Technology Development, Power Electronics for Internet of Things: Will it Happen and Advanced Refueling Technologies for EVs. In quizzing some of the attendees we were told that the new hot item is Gallium Nitride semiconductors. Another area to be aware of is IoT. "Internet of things" where you will be told when you are running low on milk, your coffee is ready and other smart power alerts. "The Internet of Things” is the network of physical objects—devices, vehicles, buildings and other items—embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data."
Where is everyone from my past? We did find representatives from firms dating back to the 70s and 80s. Many of the others have merged, sold outright or folded in a very competitive environment. The APEC 2017 conference will be held in Tampa from March 26-30. If you wish to submit a paper for consideration in the Technical Sessions or be a Trade Show exhibitor simply check the PSMA website for details.
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ince APEC 2016 was being held in virtually our back yard, Cherokee International founder and president Ganpat Patel and I drove to Long Beach to attend the 30th annual Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC).
This year's event was held inside the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center (located adjacent to the Hyatt Regency Hotel). Having served as the APEC Publicity Chairman (1991-96 & 1998-2004) I wanted to meet some former committee colleagues and to see what new products are being developed and introduced. APEC, sponsored by the IEEE PELS and IEEE IAS Societies and the Power Sources Manufacturers Association, PSMA, is "recognized by many as the leading conference for practicing electronics professionals."
Complementing the technical presentations, the APEC exhibit hall contained 370 booths with a wide array of products. “Feed them and they will come” always works. APEC set up multiple serving stations with great entrees and beverages as well as ice cream stations for the 5,100 plus attendees to keep them from leaving the exhibit hall at the Convention Center.
