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Posted: 2020-9-30
This is the first time APEC is scheduled to take place in the Grand Canyon State, in Phoenix, AZ. The committee is hard at work organizing an in-person event, while also planning for any eventualities. Despite the current climate, there has been a positive response from companies planning to exhibit at APEC 2021. And the number of submissions for Technical Paper, Industry Sessions and Professional Education seminars has been very encouraging. PSMA and PELS will again be sponsoring two workshops, the sixth High Frequency Magnetics Workshop and the fourth Capacitor Workshop. For more information see the articles on each workshop in this issue of the UPDATE. Please visit the APEC website https://apec-conf.org/ for additional information and updates.
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lans are moving ahead for
Posted: 2020-7-6
I'm rather sure everyone who reads this newsletter has seen the announcement regarding the effects of the cancellation of APEC2020. The three sponsors, including PSMA, have taken a serious financial impact. Regardless, we continue to see movement toward full recovery. To "close the book" on APEC2020, here is how the APEC website reported on the complex efforts involved in providing refunds and making available the great conference content: The Steering Committee and the Sponsors of the APEC conference, IEEE PELS and IAS in partnership with the PSMA, wish to thank our loyal community for their patience as we worked through the complex business negotiations required legally to reach our desired goal of maximizing your refund. Always, the health and safety of our APEC community was paramount in actions taken and our decision making. The IEEE Societies and PSMA acknowledge the economic strain this situation has placed on our exhibitors, attendees, and vendor/provider partners. All of whom we consider part of our APEC community. To that end, dozens of individuals have worked tirelessly for weeks to assure a responsible and equitable outcome. We would like to assure our community that the Sponsors have, since the beginning of this process, agreed to take no financial proceeds and in fact agreed to absorb a significant loss to settle obligations to vendors in order to maximize the refund to attendees and our valued and loyal Exhibitors. To that end, the Sponsors have also agreed to absorb additional costs allowing us to now offer the following refund schedule:
To date, all the technical and program materials have been distributed electronically via the APEC mobile app, website, or other electronic means to our registered attendees for download. We will continue to make other elements available as they become available. Furthermore, for our author community, we have arranged for all submitted papers to be published in IEEE Xplore (waiving the requirement for the papers to be presented). As a multi-tiered and large-scale event, we hope our community can appreciate that APEC requires multiple years of planning and thousands of hours of labor, representing a significant investment across conference partners and service providers. Added to that complexity this year was the daunting task of interpreting and navigating the evolving national, state, and city-wide policies in the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic. Information regarding travel bans and health commission decisions were in flux right up to our decision point. We wish the APEC community to please know that our decision to cancel when we did was to absolutely cap or limit those financial obligations and expenses so that the organizers and sponsors would be in a final position to return as much money as possible to our attendees and valued exhibitors. We thank you all for your continued support and patience, and pledge to continue to work hard to advocate on your behalf. Since this statement was published, APEC has also announced that select additional recordings and other content will become available on, or around, July 1st. Again, check www.apec-conf.org for more details. PSMA is also doing it's part and will present some of the Industry Session content that it had planned in webinar format. As a long-standing participant in APEC for over 30 years, I have personally witnessed and benefitted from this truly amazing industry event. My hope and frankly my prayers are that we will return to the growth and excitement of our work together in 2021. In the meantime, please stay safe.
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s we all remain impacted by the effects of COVID-19 and as we start to see some early movement toward slowing reopening the world economy, plans for APEC2021 are now being developed. The
Posted: 2020-7-5
Outgoing Chair Stephen Oliver opened the meeting at 10 a.m. CDT. He welcomed all attendees and introduced Mike Hayes who was elected Chair by the Board of Directors at the February Board meeting. Mike Hayes introduced the Executive Team that will serve 2020 -2022:
Next on the agenda was the election of four people to the Board of Directors. Each candidate introduced themselves and provided a brief summary of their background and reasons for wanting to serve on the board. The following candidates were elected to the Board of Directors for the three-year term (2020-2023):
Mike Hayes congratulated the four Directors, all elected to serve their second terms. Mike then presented awards to Tony O'Brien and Brian Zahnstecher, Co-Chairs of the Reliability Committee, for their leadership of PSMA's newest committee, formed in 2017, and publication of the 2019 PSMA Power Supply Software/Firmware Reliability Improvement Project and Report.
Jose Cobos, General Chair for APEC 2020, reviewed the background and decision by the committee with the three sponsors to cancel the in-person APEC2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. He also briefly identified some of the major and outstanding issues with the convention center, the many vendors, exhibitors and individual registrants that were being addressed. The Steering Committee is considering the possibility of organizing a Virtual APEC program that would include presentations of the Plenary Session, accepted Technical Papers, planned Seminars and selected Industry Sessions, but the details have not yet been worked out. APEC2021 is scheduled March 21-25 in the Phoenix Convention Center but detailed planning has been delayed as the Organizing Committee addresses the outstanding issues with APEC2020. Mike Hayes, Chair, discussed the mission of the Association, the current status of the membership, the immediate concerns in scheduling and being able to hold a number of workshops scheduled for 2020 and other challenges facing the Association. Mike briefly reviewed and discussed his vision and objectives for the next two years including:
Mike then presented an overview of the background and objectives of the PSMA Tiger Teams, small ad hoc groups formed to resolve short and very targeted initiatives that can be addressed quickly. He reviewed a list of completed and ongoing projects recently addressed. Among completed projects include a comprehensive Privacy Policy, a Workshop Support Policy, the new PSMA logo and consolidation of Active Technical Committees. Ongoing Tiger Team projects include an updated website and improving the Public Image. Secretary/ Treasurer Tim McDonald presented the Financial Report including PSMA's current financial status and a six-quarter financial forecast. Tim highlighted that the forecast is based on the best-known data at this point in time but that there are a lot of additional uncertainties in the post COVID-19 world. Each of the PSMA Committees provided updates on the recent activities. All of the committees support the 2021 Power Technology Roadmap, and most are planning to provide at least one webinar to the roadmap webinar series. The committees all had face-to-face meetings planned during APEC and will be rescheduling these meetings by webconference in the coming weeks.
The invited speaker at this year's Annual Meeting was Marc Benowitz, CEO of iNEMI, the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative, which is a nonprofit R&D consortium of approximately 80 leading electronics manufacturers' suppliers, associations, government agencies and universities. He reviewed the organization, their roadmap, current projects and projects planned for the next few years. Marc also suggested some possible areas that PSMA and iNEMI might consider collaborating on in the near and longer term. The PSMA Power Technology Report Technical Committee discussed that there has been cooperation with the iNEMI Roadmap team over the past several years and each has made contributions to their respective Roadmaps. Mike Hayes and Marc Benowitz agreed that the two Associations will work to increase the relationship and identify areas of mutual benefits. Before adjourning, Chair Mike Hayes asked the attendees for their comments and input on the Annual Meeting as a virtual meeting. The response to the virtual meeting was very positive and the number of PSMA members in attendance was comparable to previous in person meetings. Mike Hayes thanked all presenters and attendees for their participation. 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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he PSMA Annual Meeting, originally scheduled to be held in New Orleans, was changed to a virtual meeting due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the cancellation of the in-person APEC. Almost 60 PSMA members and guests attended the meeting.
Posted: 2020-3-10
In light of growing concerns surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak, and after much thoughtful deliberation, APEC and its sponsors, IEEE IAS, IEEE PELS, and PSMA have decided not to move forward with the in-person conference event scheduled for March 15- 19, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
In making this difficult decision, paramount is the health, safety, and welfare of our community. We acknowledge that the increase in corporate and institutionally-mandated travel restrictions make it impossible to ensure the execution of a quality conference and on-site experience for our APEC community and valued exhibitors.
Planning is already underway to assemble and deploy a virtual conference experience in the near future to preserve value for attendees, speakers, and exhibitors. Peer reviewed papers accepted by the conference will still be submitted to IEEE Xplore.
APEC wishes to offer sincere thanks to its loyal exhibitors, sponsors, partners, and attendees for their patience and understanding as we move forward together.
For continuing updates, please visit www.apec-conf.org.
Posted: 2020-3-5
Session explores energy harvesting technologies advancing IoT and 5G deployment
The Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC2020), to be held in New Orleans, LA, March 15-20, 2020, will feature an Industry Session sponsored by the Energy Harvesting Committee of the Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA). This Industry Session, “Energy Harvesting Enables the IoT and 5G,” features three timely presentations plus a capstone hands-on demonstration period. The session will address the latest developments in this rapidly emerging technology ecosystem that is disruptively increasing in relevance for a wide variety of power electronic applications, particularly IoT where the grand challenge is to get the battery to outlive the IoT edge device. The Energy Harvesting Session (IS11) will be held on Wednesday, March 18, from 8:30 to 10:10 a.m. in the New Orleans Convention Center, Room R07.
The session includes four presentations:
- 3D Silicon Capacitive Interposer for RF Energy Harvesting Device: Higher Efficiency, Higher Integration and Simplified Topology (Mohamed Mehdi Jatlaoui, Murata)
- Optimizing Piezoelectric Synchronized-Discharge Harvesters (Siyu Yang, Qualcomm)
- Growing the Power IoT Ecosystem (Mike Hayes, Tyndall National Institute)
- Live Demo (Brian Zahnstecher, PowerRox)
In addition to registering for the Energy Harvesting session, APEC attendees are encouraged to participate in the many other informative and timely PSMA-sponsored Industry Sessions and Committee Meetings taking place during the show.
PSMA Energy Harvesting Committee Meeting Notice
All APEC attendees are invited to attend the PSMA Energy Harvesting Committee meeting, scheduled for 12:00 to 2:00 pm on Tuesday, March 17th in the New Orleans Convention Center, Meeting Room 231.
Posted: 2020-3-3
APEC 2020 is still scheduled to be held as scheduled from March 15-19, 2020 in New Orleans. We encourage you to review the conference's Travel Information page for tips and travel recommendations. The APEC 2020 Conference Committee has put together:
On the Saturday prior to the start of APEC2020, PSMA and PELS will again be sponsoring two workshops: the fifth High Frequency Magnetics Workshop "Power Magnetics @ High Frequency" and the third Capacitor Workshop "How to Choose and Define Capacitor Usage for Emerging Applications". 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 New Orleans to be part of our annual gathering. You really don't want to miss it. As the folks in New Orleans like to say, "Laissez le bon temps rouler." Check the APEC website for details (www.apec-conf.org).
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or thirty-five years, APEC has established itself as the leading power electronics conference and exposition and has evolved to be the annual get-together event for applied power electronics professionals for knowledge exchange and networking. APEC 2020 will be held at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, LA, March 15 - 19, 2020 and, like its predecessors, APEC 2020 will once again offer attendees an extraordinary program of seminars, technical and industry sessions, forums and social events.
Posted: 2020-2-20
Committee responds to attendee demand for more information as wide bandgap semiconductor devices capture rapidly increasing share of power conversion system designs
The Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) Semiconductor Committee is sponsoring a total of four Industry Sessions at APEC 2020 that address the rapid emergence of wide bandgap semiconductors as a significant power conversion technology. The sessions will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, March 17-19, 2020, in the New Orleans Convention Center.
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 four sessions are as follows:
- IS4: Tuesday March 17, 8:30 to 11:55 a.m., Room R06
- “Silicon and Wide Bandgap Performance”
- IS8: Wednesday March 18 from 8:30 to 10:10 a.m., Room R02-03
- “Production Use Cases of Wide Bandgap Semiconductors”
- IS23: Thursday March 19 from 8:30 to 11:25 a.m., Room R07
- “The Modernization of Quality and Reliability: Testing Methods & Benchmarks for GaN and SiC”
- IS30: Thursday March 19 from 1:45 to 5:25 p.m., Room 8
- “Challenges of Semiconductor System Integration for Power Electronics”
“SiC and GaN have been the most popular topics at APEC over the past several years. It is clear that the promise that these devices have offered in size and efficiency gains are being realized,” said Tim McDonald, Co-Chairman of the PSMA Semiconductor Committee. In addition to informative presentations, these Industry Sessions will afford attendees the opportunity to interact and network with industry colleagues engaged in power conversion system design.
PSMA Semiconductor Committee Meeting Notice
All APEC attendees are invited to attend the PSMA Semiconductor Committee meeting, scheduled for 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17th, in the New Orleans Convention Center, Room 232.
PSMA to Sponsor APEC 2020 Industry Session - “Electrification Everywhere: Trains, Aircraft and Vehicles”
Posted: 2020-2-13
Session will address ubiquitous electrification technologies addressing trains, planes, buses and automobiles
At APEC 2020, the Power Sources Manufacturers Association's (PSMA) Transportation Power Electronics Technical Committee will sponsor an APEC Industry Session titled: “Electrification Everywhere: Trains, Aircraft & Vehicles.” The session (IS17) will feature six talks delivered by ten expert speakers who will discuss the new and evolving technologies shaping the transportation market. The session will be held during APEC 2020 on Wednesday, March 18th, 2020, from 2:30 p.m. to 5:35 p.m., in the New Orleans Convention Center, Meeting Room R7.
Topics to be presented in this session include a two-part session addressing high-speed electric train technologies; two sessions dealing with battery technology and fast-charging, another dealing with electrifying school busses and yet another delving into power electronics function safety standards. The final presentation in the session will address trends, obstacles and opportunities in aircraft power electronics.
PSMA Transportation Power Electronics Committee co-chairs, Ralph Taylor of Delphi Technologies and Fred Weber of Future Technology Worldwide, encourage attendees of APEC 2020 to attend this informative Industry Session and to consider participating in the other PSMA-sponsored Industry Sessions during the week.
PSMA Transportation Power Electronics Committee Meeting Notice
If you have ideas or suggestions about topics that you would like to learn more about regarding automotive electrification, or about the theme of next year's Industry Session, please be sure to attend the PSMA Transportation Power Electronics Committee meeting. The committee meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 18th from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. (New Orleans Convention Center, Room 232).
Posted: 2020-2-5
Session will present innovative packaging and manufacturing solutions and address the reliability challenges created by higher power density through 3D power packaging
The Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) Packaging Committee is sponsoring an Industry Session at APEC 2020 in New Orleans, LA titled, “Packaging Power Circuits to Make Small and Reliable Products.” Featuring speakers from leading industry and research organizations, the session (IS15) will present an up-to-date look at current and future packaging and manufacturing technologies utilizing high-density 3D packaging. The session will take place on Wednesday afternoon, March 18th, 2020, from 2:30 - 5:35 p.m. in Room R1 of the New Orleans Convention Center.
Manufacturers utilizing power sources in their products are continually asking for smaller solutions. The industry can deliver with new components, design and manufacturing techniques that support higher density, higher reliability, and higher frequency operation. A 3D packaging approach using embedded components (actives and passives) combined with advanced manufacturing technologies is proving to be the most reliable solution, offering the fastest time to market for achieving increased power density in a smaller footprint. This solution is already in production in semiconductor, component and power supply designs.
The 3D Power Packaging Industry Session will feature seven invited experts, offering application details, real-world examples of implementation and a comprehensive analysis of the reliability challenges of high power in small packages. Attendees will get a realistic understanding of the challenges in diverse applications such as 5G base stations and automotive motor drives.
Co-chairs of the session, Ernie Parker of Crane of Aerospace & Electronics and Brian Narveson of Narveson Consulting, encourage industry professionals to attend the Industry Session on 3D Power Packaging. Parker stated, “This session will provide a valuable opportunity to meet other professionals who are active in the evolving design, reliability and manufacturing of 3D in higher power applications.” Narveson added, “The 3D Power Packaging Industry Sessions at APEC continues to be the place to go for leading edge packaging solutions.”
PSMA Packaging Committee Meeting Notice
All APEC attendees are invited to attend the PSMA Packaging Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 17th, 2020 from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon in the New Orleans Convention Center Room 231. Participants are also encouraged to participate in the other PSMA-sponsored meetings being held throughout the week.
Posted: 2020-1-29
Capacity audience expected for Magnetics Industry Session focused on addressing high-frequency power conversion design challenges
The Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) Magnetics Committee is sponsoring an Industry Session at APEC 2020 addressing magnetics design applications for high-frequency power conversion. The session will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 11:55 a.m. on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, in Rooms R04-R05 of the New Orleans Convention Center.
The Magnetics Industry Session (IS01) will feature seven presentations by industry experts focusing on optimizing the design of high-frequency magnetics. Topics in this session include:
- Optimized Inductor Designs for DC/DC Buck Converters from 150 kHz to 3 MHz Using Distributed Gap Core Materials
- Flyback Continuous Mode – Planar Transformer Design Tutorial
- Combined Inductor and Transformer Design for Resonant Converters
- Design Space of Flyback Transformers
- Transformer Design Consideration for Full Bridge Phase Shift
- From Brute Force Grid Search to Artificial Intelligence: Which Algorithms for Magnetics Optimization?
- Magnetics Design Considerations for Wireless or Contactless Power Transfer for EV Charging and Data Center Servers Directly from MV DC Grid
Ed Herbert, Chair of the Magnetics Industry Session encourages APEC attendees to register and attend this valuable industry session and to consider participating in the other PSMA-sponsored meetings during the week.
PSMA Magnetics Committee Meeting Notice
Interested individuals are also invited to participate in the PSMA Magnetics Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 18th from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the New Orleans Convention Center Room 231 to plan the committee program for the coming year.
PSMA Energy Management Committee to Host APEC 2020 Industry Session: “Not Knowing the Rules Can Ruin Your Power Converter Design”
Posted: 2020-1-22
Session hits on key stumbling blocks to product success; time-saving databases covering global energy efficiency and safety & compliance standards and regulations will also be introduced
The Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) Energy Management Committee is sponsoring Industry Session IS29 at APEC2020 on Thursday, March 19th, at 1:45 pm in the Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Convention Center. Four presentations each address an “if” that can throw a wrench into a power converter design:
- “If Your Efficiency is Too Low, Your Sales will be Too Low” (Ada Cheng, Ada’Clock; Arnold Alderman, Anagenesis, Inc)
- “If Your Standby Power is Too High, Your Power Converter Won’t Sell” (David Chen, Power Integrations’ Director Applications Engineering)
- “If Your Power Converter is Not Safe, You May Have an Expensive Recall” (Mark Batulan, Product Safety Engineer, Power Integrations)
- “EMI: If You Don’t Comply, It Will Interfere with Your Sales.” (Jim Spangler, Spangler Prototype, Kevin Parmenter, Taiwan Semiconductor US)
Most power converter designers know that a product design must meet its design specification. They may not be aware of regional standards and regulations that also must be met. The testing of the product and its labeling may have special requirements as well. Failure to comply may mean that the product cannot be marketed or used in some jurisdictions or for some applications. The topics in this Industry Session will address the more important standards and regulations that must be met.
Time saving data bases
This Industry Session also will introduce two databases that are maintained by PSMA to find these elusive standards and regulations: 1) The Energy Efficiency Database, maintained by the PSMA Energy Management Committee; and 2), The Safety and Compliance Database, maintained by the PSMA Safety and Compliance Committee.
“These comprehensive databases, which can be searched using any of several criteria. are great time savers if you are looking for an efficiency regulation or a standard,” reported Ed Herbert, Session Chair. “Plus, you can sign up for daily activity updates that keeps you informed of new regulations or new standards activity, or both. These tools are a free service from PSMA.”
PSMA Energy Management Committee Meeting Notice
Interested individuals are also invited to participate in the PSMA Energy Management Committee meeting on Tuesday, March 17th from 2:00 – 4:00 pm to plan the committee program for the coming year.
PSMA Announces APEC 2020 Capacitor Committee Industry Session: “Capacitors that Stand Up to the Mission Profiles of the Future”
Posted: 2020-1-17
Industry and academic experts will discuss critical issues facing capacitor technologies in e-mobility and broadband applications; APEC attendees also invited to participate in the Committee’s annual planning meeting
The Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) Capacitor Committee and Forum is sponsoring Industry Session IS05 at APEC2020 titled, “Capacitors that Stand Up to the Mission Profiles of the Future – e-Mobility and Broadband.” The session will take place on Tuesday, March 17th from 8:30 to 11:55 a.m. in the Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Convention Center. The session will feature several experts from capacitor companies that serve the power electronics industries, including: KEMET, Xiamen Faratronic and Wurth Electronik, as well as from the University of Waikato, New Zealand.
The Industry Session on capacitors will feature presentations delving into capacitor technologies addressing e-mobility and broadband design challenges: MLCC miniaturization, tantalum polymer capacitors, hybrid aluminium capacitors, supercaps and power capacitor technologies for wide bandgap semiconductors.
The Industry Session will be chaired by KEMET’s Wilmer Companioni. “Capacitor technology needs to continually change to support higher frequencies and higher reliability,” stated Companioni. “This Industry Session will provide real-world insights into capacitor performance challenges facing designers of high-performance power supplies that must withstand harsh environmental profiles.”
PSMA Capacitor Committee Meeting Notice
Interested individuals are also invited to participate in the PSMA Capacitor Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 18th from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to plan the committee program for the coming year. The meeting’s agenda will include discussing contributions by the Committee to the PSMA biannual Power Technology Roadmap, planning for the next installment of the Committee’s Capacitor Fundamentals podcast series and mapping out ideas for the Committee’s Industry Session for APEC 2021.
Posted: 2020-1-16
Posted: 2019-12-6
Attendees of the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC 2020) will converge on New Orleans, March 15-19, 2020, adding a bit of Cajun influence to our annual meeting. Chicory coffee and beignets, jambalaya, po'boys, great music… As the folks in NOLA like to say, "Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler." – that is, "Let the Good Times Roll."
Yes, it is indeed a "bon temps" to be part of the dynamic power electronics industry. So, start making your plans to come and join in. Registration is now open for the Conference Sessions (Tuesday-Thursday) and for the Professional Development Seminars (Sunday-Monday). As always, APEC 2020, will be packed with valuable educational experience, expanded Industry Sessions, more hours to explore a dynamic exhibit featuring the latest products and enjoyable social events.
Remember, you need to register to get access to the discounted hotel reservations. These special hotel blocks will sell out well before March.
On the Saturday prior to the start of APEC2020, PSMA and PELS will again be sponsoring two workshops, the fifth High Frequency Magnetics Workshop and the third 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 New Orleans 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 2020 budget to attend this exceptional event – truly The Premier Event in Applied Power Electronics™
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Posted: 2019-12-6
The 2019 PSMA Planning Meeting was held on October 5, 2019 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside in New Orleans, LA with 24 members in attendance. The purpose of the Planning Meeting was to review where the Association is today, discuss outstanding issues and to identify possible programs and projects that promise to bring value to the membership.
PSMA Chairman Stephen Oliver led the meeting and reviewed his vision for the organization and summarized the general health of the association as well as membership statistics and the changes since the 2018 Planning Meeting. He listed organizations PSMA interacts with, reviewed recent sponsored conferences and workshops and emphasized that the technical committees are the heart of the organization. It is in these committees that the real work of PSMA is done.
In discussing some of the areas of concern to the organization he highlighted the need to continue to invest in special projects that will bring value to our members, increase the effort to develop more and deeper involvement with more individuals within member companies and the continued commitment to bring more industry content to APEC.
Stephen reported on the progress of the "Tiger Teams", powerful, agile groups of experts brought together for a single, short project, formed out of the 2018 Planning Meeting. He noted that the Tiger Team list will be reviewed and updated at the end of the meeting based on the topics identified during the meeting.
Tim McDonald, Secretary/Treasurer, presented a preliminary draft of the latest 6-Quarter financial forecast, which indicated that the Association will remain in a reasonable financial position over the period which will allow funding to support Special Projects that promise to bring value to the membership and the industry.
There was a report from each of the technical committees that summarized their accomplishments over the past year and focused on ongoing programs and projects for 2020. Eight of the technical committees have submitted proposals to organize Industry Sessions at APEC 2020 and all technical committees are supporting the 2021 Power Technology Roadmap effort. In addition:
- Pierre Lohrber, Capacitor Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee has completed 2 educational webinars on Capacitor Fundamentals, and is planning a third webinar in January. They are also organizing the third pre-APEC workshop "How to Choose and Define Capacitor Usage for Various Applications, Wideband Trends, and New Technologies"
- Energy Harvesting Committee Co-Chairs Mike Hayes and Brian Zahnstecher reported that the committee is organizing EnerHarv 2020 to be held at NCSU in June 2020. The committee is hoping to organize a student competition and looking for volunteers to help with this effort.
- David Chen and Ed Herbert, Energy Management Committee Co-Chairs, reported that the committee is considering a potential research project for 2020 on residential energy storage or a report summarizing worldwide standards and regulations. The committee continues to support the Energy Efficiency Database (EEDB) on the PSMA website.
- An Industry-Education meeting was held prior to the main planning meeting which had active participation and suggestions from all attendees. In recent years the committee has primarily focused on APEC Student Travel Support, but there is a lot of interest in expanding the committee activities. Following up on the face-to-face meeting, there will be a teleconference in November for all interested members to develop specific programs and activities aimed at students to help them to better understand the power industry and making informed career decisions.
- Ed Herbert, Magnetics Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee held a very successful Magnetics Workshop at APEC 2019 and is organizing a fifrth Power Magnetics @ High Frequency Workshop, for the Saturday before APEC 2020. The committee is also working on a Special Project with SMA on core testing and continues to support the Magnetics reprints available from the PSMA website.
- Frank Cirolia and Greg Evans, Marketing Committee Co-Chair, reviewed the recent activities of the committee including plans for APEC 2020. For the seventh year, the committee will sponsor the "PSMA Passport Game" to increase visibility and traffic to PSMA member exhibit booths during APEC and is exploring options for including the Passport in the APEC app in the future. A major focus at APEC 2020 will be on PSMA turning 35, including a "birthday party" at the PSMA booth in the Expo Hall, a memory wall, a large display that participants can sign listing what they appreciate about PSMA, an interactive timeline video and more. The committee is also supporting the 35th Anniversary article and podcast project which will include 12 monthly feature-length articles in Electronic Design and 8-10 podcasts published by EEWorld. A new PSMA logo is being designed and the proposed logo is currently being reviewed. And the committee is working to update the "Handbook of Standardized Terminology" and considering making it web based.
- The Power Electronics Packaging Committee continues to be very active, with 2-4 meetings a month, as reported by committee Co-Chair, Ernie Parker. IWIPP 2019 in Toulouse in April was very successful with over 90 attendees (target was 70). The committee is organizing the 3D-PEIM 2020 Symposium to be held in Osaka Japan in June. The committee is also planning for PwrSoC 2020 at the University of Pennsylvania and PwrPack, a mini PwrSoC, at Arizona State University in October 2019.
- Conor Quinn, Power Technology Roadmap Committee Co-Chair, reported that the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap Report was published in March and was the subject of a Plenary Presentation at APEC 2019. The PTR 2021 Committee will be formed in December 2019. The committee will include both returning Section Leaders and New Blood – volunteers and nominees are welcome. A new PTR webinar series will begin in January of 2020 and continue through the year. The 2021 Power Technology Roadmap Report needs to be finalized by December of 2020 and the report will be published in March, in time for APEC 2021.
- Reliability Committee Co-Chair Brian Zahnstecher reported that the committee was formed in July 2017 and now has 27 members. The Power Supply SW/FW Reliability report was recently completed and a copy was sent to all PSMA Regular members. The committee's next proposed project is to create and publish a document (or series of documents) to enhance procedures for development, interaction, and verification of communication bus to improve Quality & Reliability.
- While the Safety & Compliance Committee is not meeting currently and looking for new leadership, the committee continues to support the Safety and Compliance Data Base (SCDB)on the PSMA website. Arnold Alderman provided an update on the SCDB. The database continues to grow both in the number of standards, regions and agencies tracked and the number of registered users. Committee members also contribute a monthly column in How2Power.
- Semiconductor Committee Co-Chair Tim McDonald reported that the committee has proposed 4 Industry Sessions for APEC 2020. The committee will manage the Component Technology section of the 2021 Power Technology Roadmap Report and plans to contribute a minimum of 6 webinars for the Roadmap webinar series. The committee is also supporting as technical and financial co-sponsor with IEEE PELS the WiPDA Workshop in Raleigh, NC.
- Fred Weber, Transportation Power Electronics Committee Co-Chair, report that the committee is planning a webinar on what the DOE is doing to enable electrification of vehicles and their infrastructure. The committee supported a 2019 study of automotive executives and engineers. The results were clear – few in this industry were aware of PSMA and/or APEC. If PSMA wants to reach this segment, a clearly stated business case for automotive OEMs and Tier 1s to join PSMA is needed. A flyer will be created to help in those efforts and a tiger team is suggested to help drive this initiative to expand PSMA membership in the Automotive Industry.
During the Committee Reports a number of issues and possible future activities were identified and discussed. These issues will be the focus for PSMA over the next year (and beyond).
Following the committee reports, PSMA President Mike Hayes led the Planning Discussion which focused on updating the Tiger Teams lists based on initiatives and topics identified during the meeting.
PSMA members can view the minutes of the Planning Meeting on the "Members Only" section of the PSMA web site.
The APEC Technical Program Committee for APEC 2020 met on Sunday and were joined by many of the PSMA members from the Planning Meeting. Based on the results of their work we can all look forward to a very interesting and a successful APEC 2020.
Posted: 2019-9-10
All members of PSMA companies are invited to attend and to offer their inputs and suggestions for the projects and activities the Association should focus on in the coming year. The 2019 PSMA Planning Meeting will take place on Saturday October 5, in the Jackson Room at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, New Orleans, LA.
The Board of Directors relies on the inputs generated at the Annual Planning Meetings to identify, consider and select programs for the following year that will bring benefits to the PSMA membership. For example, initiatives generated at recent Planning Meetings have resulted in the Power Supply in Package and Power Supply on Chip project and workshops, the Energy Efficiency and Safety & Compliance Database projects and the 3D Power Packaging projects and 3D-PEIM Symposiums.
This year's meeting will begin with a brief review of the year to date accomplishments and a summary of ongoing activities by Stephen Oliver, Chairman of the PSMA. This will be followed by an update of the six-quarter financial forecast from Treasurer Tim McDonald, and a status report and plans from the active PSMA committees.
Most of the meeting will feature an open forum to introduce and discuss possible special projects, initiatives, and priorities for the coming months. All members of PSMA Companies are encouraged to provide inputs. If you cannot attend the meeting in person, email suggestions to power@psma.com and they will be considered and included in the discussions. In the coming months, the PSMA Marketing Committee will summarize the results of the meeting and prioritize which projects and initiatives should be included in the focus for the next year.
All members and guests attending are invited to remain after the Planning Meeting to participate in a meeting of the Board of Directors, which will take place immediately following. After the Board Meeting, interested individuals are invited to tour the exhibit area space in the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Centerand the meeting room facilities planned for APEC 2020.
The APEC 2020 Technical Program Committee will meet the following day, Sunday October 6, to discuss the technical abstracts submitted and to organize the technical sessions, professional education seminars, rap sessions, and industry presentations for APEC 2020 in March. Since PSMA is a co-sponsor of APEC all members are invited to participate and contribute in this important activity.
If you plan to attend the 2019 PSMA Planning Meeting, please email the Association Office at power@psma.com. We look forward to seeing many of you at these important meetings.
Posted: 2019-9-10
The folks in New Orleans like to say, "laissez le bon temps rouler," that is "let the good times roll." And that certainly holds true for all of us currently in the power electronics industry. Never in the history of electronics has the contribution of 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. So, get yourself ready to let those good times roll at APEC 2020 in New Orleans next March.
The Call-for-Papers closed in July with over 1,000 digests submitted. Now the committee and over 100 volunteers have the task of peer-reviewing all the digests in preparation for the mid-year meeting in early October. At that time, the tough task will be to select the top 500+ papers for the program. Students with an accepted paper are encouraged to apply for APEC Student Travel Support. For more information, see the article on page 4 of this issue.
Work continues in development of the Plenary Session program. The committee has put together an exceptional roster of potential candidates. The program will be finalized before the next edition of this newsletter. The Plenary Session is expected to attract 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 early September 2019, 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 that run in parallel with the Technical Sessions are expected to be as popular as ever.
At APEC 2019, over 1500 attendees arrived early to take advantage of the weekend and Monday morning Professional Education Seminars. The committee is planning for a repeat of this attendance in 2020.
The exhibit area for APEC 2020 has been expanded and it looks like the exhibit hours will be extended on Tuesday. As always, the APEC exhibits will be buzzing with the latest innovations to make your design job successful. The Wednesday Social Event will be held at Mardi Gras World with over 1000 attendees expected. It should be an interesting venue to view the many floats and costumes used during Mardi Gras events.
On the Saturday prior to the start of APEC2020, PSMA and PELS will again be sponsoring two workshops, the fifth High Frequency Magnetics Workshop and the third Capacitor Workshop. For more information see the articles on each workshop in this issue of the UPDATE.
Registration opens the week of October 28th. Go to https://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 New Orleans, March 15-19, 2020. Laissez le bon temps rouler!
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Provided by Greg Evans, |
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Posted: 2019-6-9
Technical Sessions - Now Open Submissions of technical papers for consideration are due by late July. (Right now, the date is July 19, but this is subject to change.) Prospective authors are asked to submit a digest explaining the problem that will be addressed by the paper, the major results, and how this is different from the closest existing literature. Papers presented at APEC must be original material and not have been previously presented nor published. The principal criteria in selecting digests will be the usefulness of the work to the practicing power electronic professional. Reviewers value evidence of completed experimental work. Go here for more information and submission details: https://www.apec-conf.org/callfortechnicalsessionpapers Professional Education Seminars – Opens in Early July Professional Education Seminars at APEC2020 will address the need for in-depth discussion of important and complex power electronics topics. Submission are due by early September. Seminars are three-and-a-half hours (including breaks) in length, can range from broad to narrow in scope, and can vary from introductory to advanced in technical level. Topics selected are to address the practical issues of the specification, design, manufacture and marketing of power electronic components, products, and systems. Visit the APEC website to find out more information when available. Industry Sessions – Opens in Early July The Industry Sessions run in parallel with the technical sessions and have proven to be very popular. Submissions are due by early September. Speakers are invited to make a presentation only without submitting a formal paper. The target audience for these sessions differs from the engineers in typical technical sessions and may include system engineers/architects and business-oriented individuals such as purchasing agents, information technologists, regulatory agencies, and others who support the power electronics industry. Visit the APEC website to find out more information on the program when available. Make your plans to be part of APEC2020. Be sure you have this important event on your calendar and included in your budget for next year. And do your part to make it an even better conference by volunteering to be on the technical paper peer-review panel in areas where you are qualified. See you in New Orleans – Laissez Bon Temps Roule.
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uilding upon the very successful APEC2019 in Anaheim, the APEC2020 will take place for the first time since 1988 in New Orleans. Our initial return visit, planned for 2005, was undermined by Hurricane Katrina. Fortunately, we were able to relocate that year's event to Dallas. A lot have things have changed since that APEC in 1988. Back in the 1980s, APEC took place in hotel meeting rooms with a small ballroom exhibit. Since then, APEC has grown to be the unrivaled venue for the Power Electronics Industry and our industry has emerged to its rightful place as enabling many of the advances in electronics technology. Back in 1988, a competitive power supply had an efficiency of maybe 85%, today we are discussing supplies with 98% efficiency. Back then, we had APEC attendance that numbered in the hundreds. In 2019, we had over 6,000!
Posted: 2019-6-9
ver 70 PSMA members and guests attended the PSMA Annual Meeting, held at the Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, CA on Monday March 18, 2019.
The buffet breakfast before the meeting start provided attendees an opportunity for networking and meeting colleagues. The Chairman Stephen Oliver officially opened the meeting by welcoming all the attendees and asked each to briefly introduce themselves. Among those present were many of the 60 recipients of the APEC Student Travel Support. This support is provided jointly by IAS, PELS and PSMA and attracted 109 applicants from 63 different schools in 16 countries.
Next on the agenda was the election of five people to the Board of Directors. The following candidates were elected to the Board of Directors for the three-year term (2019-2022):
| Trifon Liakopoulos | EnaChip (Affiliate Member) | ||
| Stephen Oliver | Navitas Semiconductor (Regular Member) | ||
| Ralph Taylor | Delphi Technologies (Regular Member) | ||
| Matt Wilkowski | EnaChip (Affiliate Member) |
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Ada Cheng (Affiliate Member) was elected to fill the unexpired term (2019-2020) vacated by Alain Chapuis.
Stephen Oliver and the attendees congratulated and welcomed Trifon Liakopoulos, Ralph Taylor, and Matt Wilkowski and Ada Cheng as newly elected Directors.
The Chair recognized the contributions of Michel Grenon and Brian Narveson whose terms as Directors expired at the meeting and expressed the appreciation of PSMA for their service and continued contributions to the Association.
Stephen Oliver then presented an award to Trifon Liakopoulos in recognition of his outstanding contributions over the past three PwrSoC Workshops as Financial Chair for each of the events. He also presented awards to Dhaval Dalal and Conor Quinn for their Quinn for their leadership as Co-Chairs of the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap.
 Trifon Liakopoulos and |
 Conor Quinn, Dhaval Dalal and |
 PSMA Chairman, |
The Chair briefly reviewed some of the major accomplishments of the association for the past year including:
- Organizing 9 Industry Sessions for APEC2019
- Organizing the fourth Magnetics Workshop and second Capacitor Workshop the day prior to APEC2019
- Holding EnerHarv, PwrSoC and 3D-PEIM workshops and a joint workshop with CPSS in China during 2018
- Continuous updating of the Energy Efficiency and Safety and Compliance Data Bases
- Publishing for 2019 Power Technology Roadmap
- Joint sponsorship of APEC Student Travel Awards
Stephen also reviewed the Membership Statistics since APEC 2018 which currently shows a total of more than 200 Members – a new high.
The Chairman then discussed his vision for the organization. He looks to continue the amazing growth of the activities of the Technical Committees to make PSMA the relevant source for technology and market trends, to increase collaborations with selected partners, to have an increased presence on social media, and to increase the Regular Membership by focusing on emerging markets. He highlighted the successes and continuing work of the newly formed "Tiger Teams", powerful, agile groups of experts brought together for a single, short project, to address some of the current opportunities and challenges. Stephen also encouraged the membership to pick one or two of the Technical Committees and to actively participate in their activities as being the best way for people to increase the benefits of membership.
Following the Chairman's Report was a Financial Report. Outgoing Secretary/ Treasurer, Michel Grenon was unable to attend the meeting. but provided a report on the current financial status of the Association and a six-quarter financial forecast. Joe Horzepa reviewed the report which supported that the financial status and outlook for the Association continues to be very positive The surpluses from APEC conference together with the PSMA sponsored and co-sponsored workshops and events should generate sufficient funds to support a number of Special Projects that can be of benefit for the membership and the power sources industry.
Each of the PSMA Committees presented a report. You can read more about these on page 3 of this issue.
Ernie Parker, General Chair for APEC 2019, provided an update on the overall conference. APEC2019 is expected to be a financial success with a full program of events. The schedule includes 18 Professional Educational Seminars, 592 Technical Papers in 8 parallel sessions and Dialog session, 119 Industry Sessions in 5 parallel sessions, 3 Rap Sessions, 302 exhibitors in the Exhibit Hall and a Social Event.
Jose Cobos will be the General Chair for APEC 2020 which will be held at the Ernest Moria Convention Center in New Orleans LA March 15 – 19, 2020.
 Manfred Schlenk, EPSMA |
The invited speaker at this year's Annual Meeting was Manfred Schlenk from the European Power Sources Association – EPSMA - who presented an overview of the number of companies in the organization and the current focus. They have a 17-member Technical Committee with experts on safety, EMC, and product qualification. The output of the Technical Committee includes a series of best practices and design guides. The organization also works to influence international standards with CENELEC as a liaison partner.
Before adjourning, Chairman Stephen Oliver asked the attendees for their comments and any suggestions for the future directions and activities for Association that would increase the value of their membership. A number of areas were discussed including suggestions for encouraging students to participate in the industry and to consider career opportunities in power sources and power electronics. These and other suggestions will be considered by the Board. Stephen Oliver thanked all presenters and attendees for their participation and invited interested individuals to attend the March meeting of the PSMA Board of Directors, which immediately followed.
The minutes from the PSMA Annual Meeting have been posted in the Members Only area of the PSMA web site together with the charts from the presentations.
The Sunday prior to the Annual Meeting PSMA hosted a reception with members of the China Power Supply Society (CPSS). This provided a great opportunity for members of both organizations to network and discuss options and activities that will benefit members of both organizations over the next year. Several members of CPSS also attended the PSMA Annual Meeting.
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The Annual Meeting, PSMA Committee meetings, as well as the technical sessions, seminars, Industry Presentations, exhibits and other events kept PSMA members busy all the week. The APEC social event, featured a number of Food Trucks serving a variety of food options, several game activities and music, gave everyone a chance to relax and enjoy themselves.
There was a full exhibit hall at APEC 2019. Many of the PSMA member companies exhibiting participated in a "Passport" game in which attendees who visited their booths had their passport booklets stamped. Attendees turned in their completed passports for a chance to win an AirPods, a Samsung Smartwatch and the grand prize a Charles and Colvard Necklace, Featuring Gemstone Grade Silicon Carbide by Wolfspeed, A Cree Company. Traffic to members' booths was brisk and the lucky winners were very happy with the prizes.
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Posted: 2019-6-9
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Fred Weber, Capacitor Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee now has two additional co-chairs (Pierre Lohber and Wilmer Companioni) and have organized a four speaker Industry Session with the theme of "Which Capacitor Technology You Should Use for Power Conversion Applications". The committee also organized two technical webinars in support of the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap and an educational webinar on Capacitor Fundamentals. The committee held a successful workshop on Saturday prior to start of APEC2019 with over 50 registrations. The committee is meeting during the week to review the workshop, plan for a follow-up workshop at APEC2020 and discuss the theme and subjects for the upcoming year.
Mike Hayes and Brian Zahnstecher, Energy Harvesting Committee Co-Chairs, reported that the committee now has 46 members covering 4 continents and been meeting monthly via teleconference. The committee supported the 2019 PSMA Power Technology Roadmap with two Technical Webinars and has organized a seven presentation Industry Session for APEC 2019 with the theme "Making the Batteries Outlive the Devices They Power". The Industry Session includes a Live Demo with hardware, models and systems.
The committee organized EnerHarv 2018 Workshop in Cork Ireland. This was a very successful workshop attracting over 80 registrations. The committee will be meeting during APEC to discuss and plan EnerHarv 2020, develop a theme for the APEC2020 Industry Session and plan a possible student competition.
Patrick Le Fevre and Ed Herbert, Energy Management Committee Co-Chairs, reported the committee was unable to organize an Industry Session for APEC2019 but is planning one for APEC2020 and considering ideas for a special project. The committee is currently looking for new leadership and to increase committee membership and participation. The committee continues to support the efforts to update the Energy Efficiency Data Base that is available on the PSMA web site. Arnold Alderman, provided a brief update of the current status of the Energy Efficiency Data Base. Joe Horzepa reviewed the objectives of the Industry-Education Committee which are to promote interaction between power electronics students and industry and to promote power electronics to university and pre-university students. The committee has been and continues to spearhead a joint program with PELS and IAS for Travel Support for students to attend APEC. For APEC 2019, 60 students from 15 countries will share a total of $60,000. In addition, all students were encouraged to post their resumes on the PSMA website for the industry member to consider for position openings. Joe Horzepa discussed the need for PSMA members to take a more active role in encouraging students at the high school levels to consider the opportunities for a career in power electronics and encourage qualified candidates to pursue a degree in the field. He encouraged the attendees to join the Industry Education Committee and to initiate special projects focused on middle and high school students that highlight the potential of a career in the power electronics industry. Steve Carlsen, Magnetics Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee has held monthly meeting this past year and has organized a seven presentation Industry Session focusing on new magnetic materials for APEC 2019. The committee has been sponsoring two special projects during the past year. A preliminary report is currently available and the final results will be documented in a Report when completed. Under the leadership of Matt Wilkowski and Ed Herbert, the committee, with technical support from IEEE PELS, organized fourth very successful one-day workshop on high frequency magnetics the day prior to APEC2019 with about 110 people registered. An overview of the workshop will be presented at the Industry Session and Magnetics Committee meeting. A fifth workshop is being planned for APEC 2020. Frank Cirolia and Greg Evans, Marketing Committee Co-Chairs, provided an overview of the committee and highlighted some of the activities on its current agenda. The committee was instrumental in reducing and simplifying the number of Membership Categories for the Association and defining Component Suppliers as Regular Members. The committee also updated and printed a new Membership Brochure and continued the Passport program at APEC2019. In addition, the committee is considering a new logo for the Association and will be distributing a survey during APEC2019 to better understand the awareness and expectations for the Association.
Power Packaging and Manufacturing Committee Co-Chair, Ernie Parker, reviewed the activities and results of the committee this past year. It has been another outstanding year with the organizing of a 7-presentaion Industry Sessions for APEC 2019 entitled "Making Power Sources Small with 3D Power Packaging Solutions", organizing the Second 3D PEIM Symposium the past June which attracted 70 attendees, and providing financial and technical support for a very successful PwrSoC 2018 in Taiwan with over 150 registrations. In addition, the committee supported the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap. The committee is currently supporting IWIPP 2019 in Toulouse, France, planning for PwrSoC2020 in Philadelphia and the third 3D-PEIM2020 scheduled for Osaka Japan. Dhaval Dalal and Conor Quinn, Power Technology Roadmap Committee Co-Chairs, reported that the committee committee has completed work on the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap Report which has been published and will be distributed to the membership in the next several weeks. In support of the Roadmap the committee organized 17 Technical Webinars and significantly expanded the survey (more than 100 responses) to include a Chinese translation with the support of CPSS. In addition, a new section was included on University Research activities on future products and technologies. The Plenary Session for APEC2019 includes a presentation on the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap focusing on the University Research. The committee will be meeting during APEC2019 to discuss plans for the 2021 Roadmap effort. Tony O'Brien and Brian Zahnstecher, Reliability Committee Co-Chairs, reported that the new committee has monthly meetings and has 22 members from the industry. The recent focus of the committee has been sponsoring a Special Project that addresses Power Supply Software/Hardware Specifications and Testing Standardization. The project will be documented in the coming year. The committee organized a Technology Webinar in support of the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap. The committee will be meeting during APEC2019 to discuss the special Project and planning for the coming year. Safety & Compliance Committee Co-Chairs, Kevin Parmenter and Jim Spangler, reported that the committee is looking for more active members and new co-chairs to continue the committee's efforts in 2019 and beyond. The committee contributed a section to the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap and continues to promote and support the Safety and Compliance Data base on the web site which is updated on a continuing basis as well as adding additional agencies that are tracked. The co-chairs have also provided monthly articles on Safety and Compliance issues to How 2 Power. There will be a committee meeting during APEC2019 to discuss the need for new co-chairs and the future of the committee. Tim McDonald, Co-Chair of the Semiconductor Committee, reported the committee has been very active this past year and has organized three Industry Sessions -the first two are 7-presentation Industry sessions entitled: "Getting up to Speed on Switching: Wide Band Gap & Other High Performance Components" and "Current reliability and product qualification topics for SiC and GaN wide band gap devices" The third is a 6-presentation session entitled: "Production use cases of wide band gap semiconductors". The committee has also provided support to the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap including a number of technical webinars. The committee sponsored the 2018 WiPDA (Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications) and will help organize and sponsor the 2019 WiPDA workshop.to be held in Raleigh, North Carolina. The committee will be meeting during APEC2019 to plan the activities for the coming year including considering a Special Project of interest to the industry. Fred Weber, Transportation Power Electronics Committee Co-Chair, reported the committee has been very active this past year and organized a 7-Presentation Industry Session with the theme: "Enablers for Transportation Electrification" The presenters are from the major automotive manufacturers and experts from the industry. The committee has also contributed to the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap. The committee will meet during APEC2019 to identify possible themes for APEC 2020 and to discuss the initial results of a Special Project focused on ways to generate more awareness of PSMA to the automotive industry. More information about the PSMA committees was made available during the week at the individual committee meetings. PSMA members and guests were encouraged to attend these meetings to learn more about the committees and to help plan activities for the coming year. All of the PSMA Technical Committee meetings are held via webconference and are open to individuals interested in learning about and participating in the work of the committees. This is an excellent way to network with others and to influence the technical direction of the committees. |
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ach of the PSMA Technical Committees provided updates on the recent activities of their committees at the Annual Meeting at APEC 2019 in Anaheim, CA. In addition, each Committee also held individual meetings during the week of APEC 2019.
Posted: 2017-4-14
Posted: 2016-6-12
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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.
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