1. APEC Returns to the Sunshine State – See You in Orlando, March 19-24, 2023
   
2. You are Invited to Attend the PSMA Annual Meeting at APEC 2023
   
3. Meet Your Directors
   
4. About Our Members
   
5. Welcome to PSMA
   
6. Why Should Your Company be a Member of PSMA?
   
7. Get More from PSMA – Join a Committee
   
8. 2023 PSMA Magnetics Committee and IEEE PELS TC2 High Frequency Magnetics Workshop
   
9. The Eighth International Workshop on Power Supply-on-Chip (PwrSoC 2023)
   
10. Digital Product Passports and Power Electronics
    
11. Events of Interest – Mark Your Calendar
    

If you or anyone in your company is interested in getting on the distribution list for future issues of PSMA UPDATE, please send e-mail to: power@psma.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company.

Previous issues of update: Q2_2022 | Q3_2022 | Q4_2022

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PSMA UPDATE is published and distributed via e-mail quarterly by the Power Sources Manufacturers Association. Send editorial information and comments to:

Permission to reprint information and articles as published is granted: a courtesy line is appreciated.

Membership in PSMA is open to any organization or corporation involved in the power sources and supplies industry. For membership information, visit our website or contact us by fax, telephone or email.

If you or anyone in your company is interested in getting on the distribution list for future issues of PSMA UPDATE, please send e-mail to: power@psma.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company.

 

he APEC 2023 is just weeks away. We  hope everyone has made their plans to escape the cold weather and join us in warmer-than-most-places, Orlando, Florida. Here's a run-down of the activities and events that make APEC a must-attend event every year.

• Professional Education Seminars, Sunday March 19 and Monday March 20
  Once again, this year, these valuable and informative half-day seminars are FREE to Full Conference Registrants. If you haven't already made your choices, here's the list of Seminars.
• Plenary Sessions, Monday March 20        
  Open to all, the presentation hall is being set to handle an audience of a couple thousand attendees.
• Exhibit Hall, Monday March 20 – Wednesday March 22
  As always, the opening reception from 5-8 PM on Monday evening will feature hosted food and beverages. And this year, the popular Micro Mouse Competition will again take place in the Exhibit Hall. In addition, plans are underway to also host a robotics competition.
• Technical Sessions, Tuesday March 21 – Thursday March 23
  These peer-reviewed papers always present the latest developments and research. Plan to stay through Thursday so you don't miss any of these great presentation sessions.
• Industry Sessions, Tuesday March 21 – Thursday March 23
  Always popular because these sessions present important new ideas, applications and products.
• Rap Sessions, Tuesday March 21
  Grab a beverage and join these sessions where contentious topics are debated. Pick from one of these three topics.
• Social Event, Wednesday March 22
  The event this year will take place at Disney Hollywood Studios. Explore all the park has to offer and head to Indiana Jones Stunt Theater at 7:00 p.m. to enjoy dessert with fellow APEC attendees.

Check the APEC website for details (https://apec-conf.org/).

On March 18, the Saturday prior to the start of APEC2023, PSMA and PELS will be sponsoring the Eighth Power Magnetics @ High Frequency Workshop.  For more information see the separate article on the workshop in this issue of the UPDATE.

The APEC 2023 Committee is looking forward to seeing you.

Provided by Greg Evans, APEC 2023 Publicity Chair

he 2023 PSMA Annual Meeting will be held in conjunction with APEC 2023 at the Rosen Centre Hotel, adjacent to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida on Monday, March 20. 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 other PSMA members as well as with many of the students who received APEC Attendance Support to present their papers at the Technical Sessions this year. 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 2026.

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 2023 and beyond. The APEC 2023 Conference Chair will review the progress on APEC 2023 and there will be a report on plans for APEC 2024 in Long Beach, CA. There will also be an invited presentation from iNEMI to review their activities and opportunities to continue to strengthen the relationships between PSMA and iNEMI.

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.

Photo Credit: Rosen Centre Hotel

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the active PSMA Technical Committees will hold open meetings during the week of APEC 2023. 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 2023.

On March 18, the Saturday prior to the start of APEC 2023, PSMA and PELS will be sponsoring the eighth annual High Frequency Magnetics Workshop -"Power Magnetics @ High Frequency." Additional information on the workshops is available in a separate article 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. New this year, the Passport will be part of the APEC app!

We look forward to a good turnout at the PSMA meetings and a very busy and exciting week.

Student Mentorship Program at APEC 2023

PSMA is excited to invite you as a potential Mentor in our Inaugural Student Mentorship Program for APEC 2023. Mentors provide valuable professional guidance, support and wisdom to emerging power electronics engineers in STEM career tracks.  

The inaugural cohort of APEC student participants are recipients of APEC's Student Attendance Support Program. Each student is from a different educational institution with an associated technical paper. Your participation in the PSMA's mentorship program puts you on the ground floor of this exciting endeavor, and gives you access to the industry's rising stars.

Please contact power@psma.com with your mentoring interest and we will seek to match you with the ideal candidate for you.

For the latest information on all of the activities planned during APEC 2023, visit us at www.psma.com.

our members of the Board of Directors are elected at the PSMA Annual Meeting held every year during the APEC conference. Each Director serves a three year term and is eligible to be reelected for one additional term.

In this issue we would like to introduce you to Brian Zahnstecher who will complete his second term at the 2023 PSMA Annual Meeting.

Brian Zahnstecher
Principal, PowerRox

Brian Zahnstecher sits on the Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) Board of Directors, is Co-founder & Chair (Emeritus) of the PSMA Reliability Committee, Co-chair of the PSMA Energy Harvesting Committee, Co-founder & Co-chair of the EnerHarv workshop. Brian is a Sr. Member of the IEEE, Chair (Emeritus) of the IEEE SFBAC Power Electronics Society (PELS), IEEE PELS North America Regional (R1-3) Chair, and is the Principal of PowerRox.  He Co-chairs the IEEE Future Directions (formerly 5G) Initiative webinar series and is the founding Co-chair of the IEEE 5G Roadmap Energy Efficiency Working Group and has lectured on this topic at major industry conferences.

Brian previously held positions in power electronics with industry leaders Emerson Network Power (now Advanced Energy), Cisco, and Hewlett-Packard.  He has been a regular contributor to the industry as an invited keynote speaker, author, workshop participant, session host, roundtable moderator, and volunteer.  He has nearly 20 years of industry experience and holds Master and Bachelor degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Provided by Brian Zahnstecher, Principal, PowerRox
 

AdaClock

daClock provides strategic technical marketing which includes:

Insights for Power Management

• Identify company & product strengths and weaknesses
• Market & product trends and analysis
• Identify market disruptions & new markets/customers
• Market entry strategies
• Competitive intelligence
• Strategies for defending current markets
• Specific analytical insights into the Power Supply in a Package (PSiP) & Power Supply on a Chip (PwrSoC) market

Results Oriented

• Defining products that stand out from the competition and command high margins
• Anticipate customers' expectations.
• Identify potential partners, advocates & acquisition targets to strengthen market position.

Benefits of using AdaClock

• Technical marketing expertise without overhead.
• Objective perspective from the outside.
• Ability to talk with customers & competitors without association to your company.
• Scalable resources depending on scope and timing.

Provided by Ada Cheng, Marketing Consultant, AdaClock.

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI)

ong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) was founded by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2000 with the mission of enhancing Hong Kong's competitiveness through applied research. ASTRI's core R&D competence in various areas is grouped under four Technology Divisions: Trust and AI Technologies; Communications Technologies; IoT Sensing and AI Technologies and Integrated Circuits and Systems. It is applied across six core areas which are Smart City, Financial Technologies, Re-Industrialization and Intelligent Manufacturing, Digital Health, Application Specific Integrated Circuits and Metaverse.

Over the years, ASTRI has nurtured a pool of research, I&T talents and received numerous international awards for its pioneering innovations as well as outstanding business and community contributions. As of 2021/22, ASTRI has transferred almost 1,250 technologies to the industry and has been granted over 1,000 patents in the Mainland, the US, and other countries.

What We Offer
As a Hong Kong R&D Centre, one of ASTRI's important goals is to help customers harness business opportunities from the thriving technology market and increase their competitive strengths. Customers and partners can improve their efficacy by drawing on ASTRI's expertise and research achievements.

• Technology Transfers

ASTRI has a rich portfolio of commercially viable technologies readily available for market deployment. There were close to 1,250 cases of technology transfers conducted through research contract, technology licensing and other forms of partnership, generated a total of over HK$450 million income received from industry.

• R&D Professionals

ASTRI has teams of brilliant researchers led by competent professionals, many of whom are prominent technologists in their respective fields. ASTRI has 600 staff, with 23% holding PhD degrees and more than 56% holding Master's degrees.

• Intellectual Properties

ASTRI has produced a volume of home-grown and patent-protected technologies. Since its establishment, the institute has filed more than 1,300 patents and more than 1,000 of which have already been granted in US, China and worldwide.

Provided by Dr. Ziyang GAO, Associate Senior Director of Integrated Circuits and Systems, ASTRI

Editors Note: We would like to feature your company in a future issue of the Update. Please contact the Association Office for information about how to submit an article for consideration.

ABCsWorld Consulting
Alain Charles
1302 Steinhart avenue
Redondo Beach, CA 90278
Telephone: 424-321-1712
E-mail: acharle1@outlook.com
Web Site: www.abcsworld.com

ABCsWorld Consulting is a Power Semiconductor Consulting Company founded by Dr. Alain Charles in 2021. Dr. Charles is a 35 year semiconductor industry veteran. His international career includes working for Motorola in the US and Germany, Chartered Semiconductor (today Global Foundries) in Singapore, and International Rectifier/ Infineon in the UK and the US. He received his Ph.D. in 1989 from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) de Toulouse, France for his work on optical lithography for microelectronics.

Through his career, Dr. Charles has been involved in most of the key technology changes of the semiconductor industry, including subwavelength pattern printing, to larger wafer (300mm) technology development to power efficiency and introduction of wide bandgap semiconductors. He brings to ABCsWorld Consulting this experience in the semiconductors industry worldwide, and in particular in the field of power devices and wide band gap semiconductors.

Allelco Limited
Bruce Choi
Flat/Rm C, 13/F Harvard Commercial Building
105-111 Thomson Road
999077 Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Telephone: +00852 9146 4856
E-mail: Bruce@Allelco.com

Allelco Limited has focused on the international market since 2012 and has more than 10 years of information technology and sales experience in electronic components, ICs and power supplies. Since its founding, Allelco's business has expanded internationally, winning extensive trust and support from customers around the world. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Allelco Limited focuses on the international market, with customers worldwide in America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Allelco Limited's products include DC-DC converters, AC-DC converters, capacitors, semiconductors and integrated circuits, which are widely used in the telecommunications, automotive electronics, computer, military, civil, and other electronic industries. In order to optimize the needs of their customers to the greatest extent, Allelco is committed to the three concepts of customer first, quality first, and reputation first.

GPEM LLC
Robert N Guenther Jr
2181 Silverspur Dr.
Marysville, OH 43040
Telephone: 609-273-7581
E-mail: rnguenther@gmail.com

GPEM LLC is a small power electronic consulting company with considerable expertise in the design and testing of high frequency, high power, and high voltage ac-dc and dc-dc conversion equipment oriented towards industrial applications. The owner has considerable design experience in the ranges of 50/60Hz to200 kHz, 10kW to 500kW, and 10kV to 300kV power supplies.

GPEM LLC was founded in 2020 by Robert Guenther. Robert has nearly 50 years experience designing power supplies and magnetic components for demanding industrial applications with high ambient temperature, often in outdoor operation, and many times connected to HV loads that arc frequently. For the past 24 years, he has focused his efforts on the design of switchmode power supplies with HV output levels (10kVdc-300kVdc) at up to 600kW.  An IEEE Life Fellow, he has been active in the IEEE since 1976.

Nac Semi
James Charlton
1790 Commerce Avenue North
St. Petersburg, FL 33716
Telephone: 727-350-7788
E-mail: james.c@nacsemi.com
Web Site: www.nacsemi.com

NAC Semi is a global distributor of electronic components with a primary focus on power semiconductors, power supplies, inverters, and other related products. NAC bridges the gap between the catalog houses and large fulfillment distributors. With a diverse linecard, NAC supports the design needs of customers in specific market segments including Power, Mil-Aero, Hi-Temp Industrial, Networking/Wireless, Electric Vehicles, & Traction.  NAC specializes in solutions selling and demand creation distribution services, building mutually beneficial partnerships with customers and suppliers.

NAC works with customers from industrial, automotive, renewable energy, and EV Charging on NPI development utilizing wide bandgap semiconductors and related components such as thermal management, resistors, capacitors, busbars, and gate drivers. The company's revolutionary technologies have produced a robust portfolio of commercial innovations in large adjacent markets such as power management, energy storage, electric mobility, fast charging, life sciences, and more.

PowerAmerica
Victor Veliadis
930 Main Campus Drive
Suite 200
Raleigh, NC 27606
Telephone: 443-255-9899
E-mail: jvveliad@ncsu.edu
Web Site: www.poweramericainstitute.org

PowerAmerica is a member-driven consortium of more than 70 companies, universities, and national labs accelerating the adoption of energy efficient silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) power semiconductor technologies. PowerAmerica was founded in 2015 and is headquartered at North Carolina State University with the objective is to reduce the cost and the perceived risk inherent with this new technology.

With the backing of the U.S. Department of Energy and engagement of top researchers, PowerAmerica exchanges knowledge and processes and provides access to an educated workforce. This enables American industry to develop more innovative power electronics products and systems. Harnessing the capabilities of wide bandgap semiconductors can lead to dramatic energy savings in industrial processes, data centers, and consumer devices; increase electric vehicle driving range; and help integrate renewable energy onto the electric grid resulting in tangible environmental benefits.

Standex Electronics
Michael Farrere
4150 Thunderbird Ln
Fairfield, OH 45014
Telephone: 513-222-2781
E-mail: mfarrere@standexelectronics.com
Web Site: www.standexelectronics.com

Standex Electronics is a worldwide market leader in the design, development, and manufacture of standard reed switch-based solutions & custom magnetics and power conversion components and assemblies. Magnetics offerings include planar, current sense, and conventional low- and high-frequency transformers and inductors. Reed switch-based solutions include Meder, Kent, and KOFU brand reed switches, as well as a complete portfolio of reed relays, and a comprehensive array of fluid level, proximity, motion, water flow, HVAC condensate, hydraulic pressure differential, capacitive, conductive and inductive sensors.

Standex Electronics offers engineered product solutions for a broad range of product applications in the transportation, automotive, medical, test and measurement, military and aerospace, aviation, HVAC, appliance, security and safety, and general power and industrial markets. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Standex Electronics has eight manufacturing facilities in six countries, located in the United States, Germany, China, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

he PSMA is a not-for-profit organization incorporated in the state of California whose mission is:

• to enhance the stature and reputation of its members and their products,
• to improve their knowledge of technological and other developments related to power sources, and
• to educate the entire electronics industry, plus academia, as well as government and industry agencies as to the importance of, and relevant applications for, all types of power sources and conversion devices.

By joining with other leaders in the Industry, you and people in your company will have a greater voice and influence on the directions of the Power Sources Industry.  Some specific benefits of membership include:

• Download the PSMA Membership Brochure

  Networking: The opportunity to meet and interact with counterparts in other companies on an ongoing basis.
• Involvement: The opportunity to contribute to the planning of APEC Industry sessions that focus on the specific interest of members.
• Participation: The opportunity to work experts in committees, workgroups and special studies resulting in a better understanding of market trends, industry trends and better operational procedures to improve performance.
• Discounts: All Individuals from PSMA member companies receive discounts on registration fees for attending APEC and other PSMA sponsored workshops and events.
• Industry Trends: Increase your awareness and knowledge of people trends and factors that can impact your career and provide valuable inputs for your company's product planning.
• Company Profile: All member company profiles are listed on the PSMA Web Site together with a hyperlink directly to the company website.
• PSMA Publications: Regular member companies receive a free copy of all new PSMA publications and reports with discounts for additional copies. Affiliate member companies can purchase PSMA publications at a discount.
• Benchmarking: The opportunity to participate in benchmarking studies with other companies in your industry.
• PSMA Newsletter: Receive "Update" the quarterly newsletter of the PSMA, with informative articles on activities in the industry and a calendar of upcoming industry events.
• Spotlight Banner: Your company's products can be featured as a banner on the PSMA Home Page with a link to your website.

PSMA membership dues are modest in comparison to the many benefits offered. Is your company a member of PSMA? If not, why not? You can find the membership application on the PSMA web site at https://psma.com/webforms/psma-membership-application.

PEC 2023 provides the perfect opportunity for you to consider participating in a PSMA Technical Committee. All of the active committees will report at the PSMA Annual Meeting, providing an overview of their recent accomplishments and their plans for the coming year. In addition, all of the committees will hold an in-person meeting during APEC, and everyone is welcome to attend. You can see the full meeting schedule here.

Participating in one or more PSMA committees is the best way to increase the benefits from your company and your personal PSMA membership. People involved in PSMA Technical Committees all agree that their investment returns multiple benefits that surpass the time spent participating – both for their company and for their own careers. Just ask someone who is a committee member. The PSMA Technical Committees provides the opportunity to network with knowledgeable people in your area of interest who are influencing the power sources industry.

You are personally encouraged to join a committee and get involved in their activities. If you are at APEC, the face-to-face meetings are a great chance to learn about the committees and meet some of the committee members. Throughout the year, most committees meet about once a month for one hour by web conferencing. You are welcome to attend and monitor any committee meeting before making a decision to join the group. If you are interested in attending or learning more about the meetings, please contact the Association Office at power@psma.com for joining information.

This is an open invitation to participate in or join any committee. Bring your experience, interest and enthusiasm to influence and impact the direction of the organization. Currently PSMA has the following active committees:

• Capacitors
• Energy Harvesting
• Energy Management
• Energy Storage
• Industry-Education
• Magnetics
• Marketing
• Power Electronics Packaging
• Reliability
• Semiconductor
• Technology Roadmap
• Transportation Electronics

Your participation will contribute added value to the subject and enhance your own knowledge.

This is also a great way to network with your colleagues and meet new ones.

For more information describing the committees and the dates for the next meetings, please view the PSMA web site or contact the PSMA office at power@psma.com.

Power Magnetics @ High Frequency
Saturday March 18 2023
Prior to APEC 2023
Orange County Convention Center
Orlando, FL 32819

he PSMA Magnetics Committee together with IEEE PELS will hold the eighth "Power Magnetics @ High Frequency" Workshop as an in-person event on Saturday, March 18, 2023 at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida, the day before and at the same venue as APEC 2023.

The purpose and focus of the workshop is to identify the latest improvements in magnetic materials, coil (winding) design, construction and fabrication, evaluation and characterization techniques and modelling and simulation tools. The Workshop will target the advancements that are deemed necessary for power magnetics to meet the technical expectations and requirements of new market applications for higher operating frequencies and emerging topologies driven by continuous advances in circuits topologies and semi-conductor devices.

The target audiences for the 2023 Power Magnetics @ High Frequency Workshop include the designers of power magnetic components for use in electronic power converters, those who are responsible to implement the most technologically advanced power magnetic components necessary to achieve higher power densities, specific physical aspect ratios such as low profile, higher power efficiencies and improved thermal performance. The target audiences also include people involved in the supply chain for the power magnetics industry ranging from manufacturers of magnetic materials and structures, fabricators of magnetic components, providers of modelling and simulation software as well as manufacturers of test and characterization equipment.

The morning technical session will feature a keynote presentation and four lecture style presentations. In addition to the brief Q&A period after each presentation, there will be two panel discussions with the presenters who will address attendee questions in more detail. The schedule for the morning session is:

• Keynote: The Broad Spectrum of Technical Requirements for Power Magnetics Across Power Levels and Applications; Mike Ranjram, Arizona State University
• Resonant Magnetics for Capacitive Wireless Power Charging; Khurram Afridi, Cornell University
• Mike Ranjram and Khurram Afridi will lead a panel discussion on technical specifications for magnetic components in general. Everyone's participation is encouraged.
• Design of Planar Transformer and Inductor for 7 kilowatt Application; Harold Eicher, Champs Technology
• Wireless Power Transfer - Useable in Robots; Cem Som, Wurth Elektronik
• Low-profile Integrated Magnetics for Low-power Applications; Ranajit Sai, Tyndall National Institute
• The 5 morning presenters will lead a panel discussion regarding the challenges of addressing technical requirements across a wide range of applications. Everyone's participation is encouraged.

During the provided breakfast, lunch and the networking hour at the end of the workshop there will be an interactive session of tabletop technology demonstrations and posters each addressing specific technical disciplines and capabilities consistent with the workshop agenda. Interaction between the attendees and the presenters is highly encouraged during this portion of agenda as a segue between the technical presentation sessions.

The technical capabilities and disciplines that will be demonstrated and displayed during the technology demonstration/poster session are as follows:

• Technology Demonstrations
• Manufacturing Test Equipment for Validation of Physical and Electrical Properties of Magnetic Cores; Mike Arasim, Fair Rite
• How Capacitor Influence the Performance of a Flyback Converter; Lukas Hoelscher, Wurth Elektronik
• Novel Soft Magnetic Material for Smaller and More Efficient Powder Core Inductors; Aminul Mehedi, CM Materials
• Pitfalls with Inductance Measurements; Lukas Mueller, Micrometals
• Magnetics Optimization - The Fast and Reliable Way; Lucas Nicieza Moro, Frenetic
• Hybrid Electric and Magnetic Component Prototypes; Mike Ranjram, Arizona State University
• REDEXPERT – How More Data Helps You in Understanding the Capacitors; Jon Izkue Rodriguez, Wurth Elektronik
• Oscilloscope Probe and Channel Deskew for Voltage and Current Measurements; Mike Schnecker, Rohde & Schwarz
• Distinction of Validation of Magnetic Material, Core and Coil; JC Sun, Bs&T
• Enabling Concurrent Design of Electric and Magnetic Circuits using the SIMPLIS Magnetics Design Module; Tom Wilson, Andrija Stupar, SIMPLIS Technologies
• Emerging Magnetic Materials and Magnetic Structures; Chuck Wild, Dexter Magnetics
• Posters
• Parasitic Capacitance in Magnetic Components; Shaokang Luan, Aalborg University
• Design and Optimization of High-Power Medium Frequency Transformers for Medium Voltage Applications; Zhicheng Guo, University Texas Austin
• Design and Fabrication of Resonant Inductors for Capacitive Wireless Power Transfer Systems; Sounak Maji, Cornell University
• High Power Density Impedance Control Network DC-DC Converter Utilizing an Integrated Magnetic Structure; Firehiwot Guara, Cornell University

The third technical session will feature a keynote presentation and three lecture style presentations. There will be a brief Q&A period after each presentation. At the end of the session, all the presenters will re-assemble for a twenty-minute panel discussion to address attendee questions in more detail. The schedule for this session is as follows:

• Keynote: Custom Magnetics - Stories of Conflict, Tradeoff and Creation; Victor Quinn, Exxelia
• Addressing Temperature Ratings and Safety Agency Regulations in Magnetics Design; Doug Eaton, Triad Magnetics
• Use of Potting and Encapsulating Resins in Power Magnetic Component – matching chemistry to performance; Darryl Lallande, Elantas
• A Novel Insulation Method and Practical Considerations for MV/MF Transformer Designs in SST Applications; Mahmoud Mansour, Utah State University
• The 4 afternoon presenters will lead a panel discussion to address topics of interest relative to technical performance trade-offs, reliability, manufacturing, and safety.  Everyone's participation is encouraged.

The technical sessions of the workshop will close with remarks by Alexander Gerfer of Wurth Elektronik summarizing the Best of the Best from the magnetics program and their impact on the evolution of power magnetics positively contributing to the power electronics industry.

There will be a networking hour with refreshments after the afternoon technical presentation session has completed. This will be last opportunity to interact with the technology demonstration presenters and the student poster presenters as well as opportunity to relax and have informal dialogues with other workshop attendees.

Registration for the workshop is open and you can register at https://www.psma.com/power-magnetics-high-frequency-workshop-2023-registration.

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

Workshop Partners:

Platinum Partners
Gold Partners				Media Partner

Organizing Committee
Steve Carlsen, Independent
Ed Herbert, PSMA
Chema Molina, Frenetic
Rodney Rogers, Allstar Magnetics
George Slama, Wurth Elektronik
Chuck Wild, Dexter Magnetic Technologies Inc.
Matt Wilkowski, EnaChip

September 27-29, 2023
Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany

he eighth edition of the biennial International Workshop on Power Supply on Chip (PwrSoC 2023) has been scheduled for September 27 thru 29, 2023, to be held at Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany. Professor Bernhard Wicht, Leibniz University Hannover, will be the General Chair and local host.

The Workshop is the leading international forum for the discussion of the challenges and opportunities in technology, business, and supply chain, intent on advancing the miniaturization and integration of power conversion and power management solutions. The Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) and IEEE Power Electronics Society (IEEE PELS) are joint sponsors for the Workshop.

Founded in 1831, Leibniz University is one of the nine leading Institutes of Technology in Germany, with ~30.000 students. Named after the polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the university lives the spirit of Leibniz, combining global thinking and interdisciplinary research. The PwrSoC Workshop will take place in the historic main building of the university close to Hannover city center.

Technical Sessions and Members of the Technical Program Committee PwrSoC is organized as a single-track workshop. Each session typically has four presentations by experts from industry and academia. The Technical Program Committee of PwrSoC 2023 consists of the Technical Program Chair, Professor Bruno Allard, Université de Lyon, INSA Lyon, France, and 16 international experts. The sessions planned for the three days of the Workshop are:

• Granular Power Supply
     Xun Liu, Chinese Univ. Hong Kong, China; Yasser Nour, Lotus, Denmark
• Integrated Capacitors and Energy Storage
     Kousuke Miyaji, Shinshu Univ., Japan; Dina Reda Eldamak, GUC, Egypt
• Integrated Magnetics
     Cian O'Mathuna, Tyndall Institute, Ireland; Maeve Duffy, Univ Galway, Ireland; Marc Wurz, Univ of Hannover, Germany
• Topologies & Control
     Yogesh Ramadass, Texas Instruments, USA; Yan Lu, Univ. of Macau, China
• Systems & Integration
     Jose Cobos, Univ. Madrid, Spain; Francesco Carobolante, IoTissimo, USA
• System Integrated Packaging & Manufacturing
     Min Chen, Innoscience, USA; Tina Thomas, Fraunhofer IZM, Germany
• Wide Band Gap Integration
     Rinkle Jain, Intel, USA; Ke-Horng Chen, NYCU Taiwan
• Poster Session
     Jens Friebe, Univ. of Kassel, Germany; Aleksandar Prodic, Univ. of Toronto, Canada

Partnership Options

For the first time this year, PwrSoc-23 extends the partnership opportunities to the "Gala Dinner" and the "Welcome Reception" in addition to traditional Platinum and Gold options.

For more information, please visit the workshop webpage http://pwrsocevents.com/.

If you are interested in becoming a PwrSoC23 Partner, please contact:

Bernhard Wicht, PwrSoC23 General Chair, bernhard.wicht@ims.uni-hannover.de
or
Trifon Liakopoulos, PwrSoC23 Financial Chair, pwrsoc23@enachip.com

For more information about previous and coming PwrSoC events, visit http://pwrsocevents.com.

Provided by Bernhard Wicht, PwrSoC 2023 General Chair
Arnold Alderman, PwrSoC 2023 Publicity Chair

wenty years ago, the adoption of the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS 1) was one of the driving forces mandating the electronics industry to look for alternatives to replace the tin-lead eutectic alloy which had been used for decades for soldering purposes. Since then many regulations have sprung up restricting the use of hazardous substances, and we are familiar with RoHS, REACH, TSCA and others. In addition, growing concerns about long term sustainability and optimization of natural resources have motivated governments, institutions and industry to consider how to develop a circular business model, including elements from the cradle-to-cradle concept, and to define an optimum way to trace a product from its origin, its content, its compliance to environmental regulations, its reparability or final disposal and recycling. This materialized in March 2022 by the European Commission as part of the EU Green Deal, and was followed by similar initiatives in the US. But what is it about?!

Here comes the Digital Product Passport
After 10 years of local initiatives, the European Commission presented a package of proposals as part of the European Green Deal to make sustainable products the norm in the EU, moving away from the conventional linear economy by boosting circular business models and empowering consumers for the green transition (Figure 01), including the so called Digital Product Passport (DPP).

Figure 01 - European Union moving from conventional linear economy to circular business model (PRBX/ petovarga/Shutterstock)

At this point you may question what this has to do with power electronics and how the power supply community may be affected by this new requirement? Where is the threshold between a Point-of-Load, a multi kilowatts power supply or even an Electrical Vehicle? Which power electronics segment will have to comply with the DPP? Read on to better understand and debug what is DPP.

Having the whole life cycle in mind!
The proposal for a Regulation on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products addresses product design, which determines up to 80% of a product's lifecycle environmental impact. It sets new requirements to make products more durable, reliable, reusable, upgradable, reparable, easier to maintain, refurbish and recycle, and energy and resource efficient. In addition, product-specific information requirements will ensure that consumers are knowledgeable on the environmental impact of their purchases.

All regulated products will have Digital Product Passports making it easier to repair or recycle them and to facilitate the tracking of substances of concern along the supply chain. The aim of the passport is to provide producers and other key supply chain actors, as well as consumers and market surveillance authorities, with relevant information for ensuring the sustainable management of products. If well designed, and if aligned with existing industry initiatives, these Digital Product Passports could help to promote the circular economy and circular business models. This may sound quite hypothetical and even complex but let's consider a practical example with the booming energy storage segment and batteries.

The battery industry showing the way!
Since 2006 batteries and waste batteries have been regulated within the EU under the Batteries Directive (2006/66/EC). Though driven by electric transport and energy storage the demand for batteries has increased rapidly and is set to increase 14 fold by 2030. Such global exponential growth in the demand for batteries will lead to an equivalent increase in demand for raw materials, hence the need to minimize their environmental impact.

With high levels of concern for the long term sustainability of the battery industry, in 2017 two major initiatives took place in Europe and the USA. Both of these were similarly aimed: to develop an innovative, competitive and sustainable battery value chain in Europe and the USA with high regards for the environment and society.

In Europe on October 11, 2017, the European Commission hosted auto, chemical and engineering executives in Brussels to strengthen battery manufacturing in the EU and to develop a European ecosystem to reduce dependency and risk in the supply chain of what will become the heart of energy transition and mass electrification. This was followed by the launch of the European Battery Alliance (EBA) as part of Europe's clean and digital transition and a key enabling technology, essential to the automotive sector's competitiveness.

In the USA, in the same year, a public-private collaboration platform was founded at the World Economic Forum to help establish a sustainable battery value chain by 2030, The Global Battery Alliance (GBA).

It can be said that 2017 has been the EU/USA cornerstone for the battery industry setting the basic principles of what will become the DPP and a completely new way of working, integrating the full life-cycle for all batteries (i.e. industrial, automotive, electric vehicle and portable) in the EU and US markets.

Within the whole chain, industrial suppliers will take responsibility for sourced materials, with restricted use of hazardous substances, minimum required content of recycled materials, carbon footprint, performance and durability and labeling, as well as meeting collection and recycling/reuse targets. The overall process is very complex and both alliances have developed a standardized process, of which the Digital Product Passport is the ultimate representation.

From concept to practice
As we move forwards, the Digital Product Passport has started to become a reality and, as presented in March 2022 by the EU Commission as part of its Circular Economy Action Plan 'Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation' (ESPR), the DPP will cover all stages of the value chain; it will be continuously updated and will follow the product throughout its life cycle (Figure 02). Also worth mentioning, the EU Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have announced support for a collaboration between the European Battery Alliance and the United States. The Li-Bridge alliance is commited to accelerating the development of robust supply chains for lithium-ion and next generation batteries, including the critical raw materials segments. Bolstering the clean energy economy and strengthening the battery value chain is a top priority for both the European Union and the United States.

Figure 02 - Digital Product Passport in circular economy (PRBX/ Dejan Popovic/Shutterstock)

In Europe on April 25 2022, a consortium of German world-class leaders and market drivers from industry and science combined their forces, launching the Battery Pass to support EU circular battery data. A technological feature of the project is the provision of a comprehensive solution for securely sharing information and data across different organizations and value-chain participants in the field of traction batteries, based on mandatory standard datasets and an interoperable technical implementation approach required to meet the EU regulation.

In the United States in October 2022, the Global  Battery Alliance  announced a major milestone with the publication of the Greenhouse Gas rulebook as the first indicator for the Battery Passport, consisting of:

• A global reporting framework to govern rules around measurement, auditing, and reporting of ESG parameters across the battery value chain.
• A digital ID for batteries containing data and descriptions about the ESG performance, manufacturing history, and provenance as well as advancing battery life extension and enabling recycling.
• Harmonizing of digital systems collaborating across the value chain to report data into the battery passport.
• A digital platform that will collect, exchange, collate and report data among all authorized lifecycle stakeholders to advance a sustainable value chain for electric vehicle (EV) and stationary batteries. It will transparently report progress towards global goals along the battery value chain to inform policy-making for governments, the civil society, and to develop performance benchmarks (Figure 03).
• A quality seal for batteries (based on the data reported into the platform) to facilitate responsible purchasing by consumers.

Figure 03 - Battery Digital Passport Example (PRBX/Chesky/Shutterstock)

Those examples reflect the high engagement from the battery industry to finalize the implementation of the DPP, which will be used as a business model for other power electronics industries.

What is the next step for DDP and power electronics?
As for the battery industry, in 2017 Powerbox participated in a Think Tank about the future evolution of the power supply industry to reduce waste and to become part of a project at that time, the Regulation on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products. In a White Paper: 'Will the power supply industry adopt the cradle-to-cradle business model?' PRBX shared ideas on what could become the norm (Figure 04).

Figure 04: Will the power supply industry adopt the cradle-to-cradle business model (PRBX)

Although we are probably a few years away from the power supply industry adopting the DPP, this trend is something to be aware of and to keep in mind and it could happen faster than we may believe. Be ready for it!

References:

Powerbox (PRBX):
https://www.prbx.com/  

EU Green Deal: New proposals to make sustainable products the norm and boost Europe's resource independence
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_22_2013

The Ecosystem Digital Product Passport (CIRPASS)
https://www.digitaleurope.org/digital-product-passport/  

European Battery Alliance
https://www.eba250.com/  

The EU Battery Pass
https://thebatterypass.eu/  

The USA Global Battery Alliance
https://www.globalbattery.org/  

LI-Bridge
https://www.anl.gov/li-bridge  

Will the power supply industry adopt the cradle-to-cradle business model?
https://www.prbx.com/literature/white-papers/#WP012

Provided by Patrick Le Fèvre Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Powerbox

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