ach of the PSMA Technical Committees provided updates on the recent activities of their committees at the Annual Meeting. Each of the Technical Committees also held individual committee meetings during the week of APEC 2014.

Chavonne Yee and John McManus, Alternative Energy Committee Co-Chairs, reported that the committee has been meeting monthly with an average attendance of 6 people. For APEC 2014, the committee has organized a 4 speaker Industry Session. Together with IEEE PELS, the committee sponsored a workshop this past week on Engineering Energy Efficient Buildings. During the next year the committee is looking to attract more participants from Alternate Energy companies and plans to organize an Industry Session for APEC 2105.

Joe Horzepa reported that the Capacitor Committee has been meeting monthly via teleconference and is planning to organize an Industry Session for APEC 2015.

Dusty Becker, Energy Efficiency Committee Co-Chair, reported the committee has organized an Industry Session for APEC 2014 titled “Energy Storage and the Power Converters that Control Energy Storage. They continue to regularly update the Energy Efficiency Data Base which is available on the PSMA web site. For the next year the committee plans to organize and Industry Session for APEC 2015 that will focus on Smart Grid, Micro grids and hybrid systems.

Arnold Alderman, Energy Harvesting Committee Co-Chair, reported the committee has been very active this past year. Besides organizing a six speaker Industry Session for APEC 2014, the committee will include a working demonstration of 6 energy harvesting systems immediately following the presentations in the same meeting room. In addition, at the committee meeting that will be held during APEC, they plan a 2 hour workshop focused on “putting all the pieces together” for cost effective end-to-end energy harvesting solutions.

The Energy Harvsting Committee meeting was well attended.

Judy Horzepa, Industry-Education Committee member, reviewed the objectives of the committee to promote interaction between power electronics students and industry and to promote power electronics to pre-university students. The committee has spearheaded a joint program with PELS and IAS for Travel Support for students to attend APEC – a total of $40,000 will be awarded for APEC 2014. An on-going initiative of the PSMA Industry-Education Committee encourages student to submit their resumes for posting on the Members Only area of the PSMA website.

Steve Carlsen, Magnetics Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee has held monthly meeting this past year and has organized a 7-presentation Industry Session for APEC 2014 on “How are magnetics catching up to Sic and GaN?” He also discussed other activities including a possible virtual workshop on high frequency magnetics.

Frank Cirolia, Marketing Committee Co-Chair, provided an overview of the committee and highlighted some of the activities on its current agenda. He also reviewed the activities to increase the membership base and the value of membership.

Mohan Mankikar and Frank Cirolia

Kevin Parmenter, Nanotechnology Committee Co-Chair, reported that committee accomplishments for the past year have been outstanding. The Nano 300 course is now available to students worldwide. For APEC 2014, the committee organized a 7-speaker Industry Session. For the coming year, the committee plans to work with component experts on applications of nanotechnology in critical material and processes. All are invited to attend the Nanotechnology Technical Committee meeting during APEC and provide their inputs on the work of the committee.

Jeff Rosedale, Dale Teeters and Mike Rice

Ernie Parker, Power Electronics Packaging Committee Co-Chair, reviewed the activities and results of the committee this past year. It has been an outstanding year with the organizing of a 7-presentaion Industry Sessions for APEC 2014 and the publication of the report of the Special Project on 3D Power Packaging for Power Electronics. Brian Narveson will present an overview of the 3D Power Packaging for Power Electronics at a Plenary Session later that day. The committee has a meeting later in the week to consider a possible Phase 2 for this project.

Brian Narveson Garry Tomlins, Ernie Parker and Cian O’Mathuna with a copy of the latest PSMA report on 3D Power Packaging

Carl Blake, Semiconductor Committee Co-Chair, reported that in recent years the committee focused on supporting the Power Technology Roadmap efforts. However, based on a survey of the membership and with the advances and interests in wide band gap semiconductors, it has been decided to expand the objectives of the committee and to make it more proactive. An organizing meeting of the new Semiconductor Committee will be held during APEC 2014 and all are invited to join and participate in the committee.

Eric Persson, Power Technology Roadmap Committee Co-Chair, reported that there was a kick off meeting for the 2015 Power Technology Roadmap committee on Sunday. A team is being organized to address the major products to be considered, the applications and the associated technology trends for the next three to five years. The 2015 Roadmap will follow the same format as for the 2013 Roadmap with invited webinars and key leaders for each of the major topics considered. Participation by all interested individuals is invited and each participant can be guaranteed to benefit in excess of their contributions.

Ralph Taylor, Transportation Power Electronics Committee Co-Chair, reported that this a new committee was spun off from the Power Electronics Packaging Committee. The committee has held monthly meetings with 7 – 10 members attending and has organized a 7-presentation Industry Session for APEC 2014. The topics for the presentations range from thermal management, interconnection, wireless charging to wide-band gap devices for automotive applications.

Arnold Alderman, organizing committee chair for the 4th International Power Supply on Chip Workshop, reported that the workshop will be held in Boston MA October 6 – 8, 2014. The workshop is jointly sponsored with IEEE PELS and Northeastern University College of Engineering as the host for the workshop. Matt Wilkowski, chair of the Technical Program Committee is planning for a single track workshop with seven technical sessions plus a poster session. The website is being set up and the latest information will also be available from the PSMA website.

Doug McIlvoy, moderator for the Alternative Energy Committee’s workshop held the Saturday before APEC, presented an overview of the workshop and initial implications. The workshop was organized jointly by PSMA, PELS and NREL and the title was “Power Electronics and Electrical Challenges for Engineering Energy-Efficient Buildings: A Focused Workshop”. The workshop report is being prepared and will be available as a PSMA publication in the near future.

Workshop participants taking part in smaller group discussions

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 teleconferencing 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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