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Committee Chairs Report at PSMA 2021 Annual Meeting

Each of the PSMA Committees provided updates on their recent activities. All of the committees are supporting the 2022 Power Technology Roadmap, with most planning to provide at least one webinar for the roadmap webinar series. Nine committees have organized Industry Sessions for APEC 2021. In addition, several committees are collaborating to organize a paid virtual Vehicle Electrification Workshop in the fall of 2021.


Fred Weber, Capacitor Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee meets monthly with 10-12 attendees. The committee hosted their fourth Capacitor Fundamentals educational webinar "Choosing a Capacitor from Start to Finish" in August 2020 and will be holding the 4th Annual Capacitor Workshop "Design Techniques for the 21st Century – Behind the Scenes, Make Sure You Choose & Use the Correct Capacitor" in June 2021.


Mike Hayes and Brian Zahnstecher, Energy Harvesting Committee Co-Chairs, reported that the committee membership is approaching 50 members with 15 regularly attending monthly meetings. The second EnerHarv Workshop, originally scheduled for 2020 has been postponed until an in-person event can be scheduled. A white paper on Energy Harvesting issues is being prepared and is supported by 16 committee members who meet biweekly.


David Chen, Energy Management Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee currently has 24 members with about 8 who regularly attend the monthly meetings. There have been significant interactions with the Capacitor, Safety & Compliance and Energy Harvesting Technical Committees. The committee is currently supporting and overseeing both the Energy Efficiency Database (EEDB) and Safety & Compliance Database (SCDB).

Eric Schneider, Energy Storage Committee Co-Chair, reported that this new Technical Committee began as a subcommittee of the Capacitor and Energy Management Committees and became an official standalone committee last month. The committee's focus is on Energy Storage technologies, applications and issues that are applicable to many of the other PSMA Technical Committees.


John Horzepa presented the Industry-Education Committee report prepared by Gerry Moschopoulos, Committee Co-Chair, who was unable to attend the meeting. The committee has begun meeting monthly again after being less active in recent years. These meetings have been well attended by both long time and new committee members discussing initiatives and resources to encourage student to pursue a career in power electronics. The objectives of the committee are to promote interaction between power electronics students and industry and to promote power electronics to university and pre-university students. The committee plans to collaborate with IEEE PELS to develop programs and provide support to young professionals as they enter the industry and are early in their career.


George Slama, Magnetics Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee meets at least once a month, with an average of 15 attendees. Under the leadership of Matt Wilkowski, George Slama, and Ed Herbert, the committee, with technical support from IEEE PELS, is organizing the 6th Power Magnetics @ High Frequency Workshop scheduled for June.


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 meets monthly with 4-7 people attending each call.  Several planned initiatives for 2020/2021, including the 35th Anniversary celebration and the Chuck Mullet Lifetime Achievement Award have been put on hold due to the pandemic.


Power Packaging and Manufacturing Committee Co-Chair Brian Narveson reviewed the activities and results of the committee this past year. There are over 20 people on the committee, with a good cross-section of industry and academia. The committee is very active, supporting 3 upcoming workshops: 3D-PEIM in Osaka, Japan, IWIPP in Aalborg, Denmark, and PwrSoC in Philadelphia, PA, USA.


Dhaval Dalal, Power Technology Roadmap Committee Co-Chair, reported that the next Power Technology Roadmap Report is scheduled for publication in 2022. The committee continues to evolve the report each cycle to add more relevant sections.  A new section on dc-ac inverters will be added in 2022. The 2020/ 2021 Power Technology Webinars have been very well attended, and Dhaval thanked the PSMA Technical Committees for their support in providing high quality presentations. The Committee continues to collaborate with iNEMI. They presented a webinar for iNEMI in August 2020 and participate in the quarterly meetings with the new iNEMI Roadmap Chair.


Brian Zahnstecher, Reliability Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee holds monthly meetings and has 18 members. Brian is actively seeking an additional co-chair, since Tony O'Brien stepped down last fall. Work on the Power Supply Communication Bus Reliability Initiatives Special Project has been significantly delayed and the committee is exploring alternatives. The committee has collaborated with EPSMA and IPC in exploring possible future activities that would benefit the memberships of each Association.


John Horzepa reported that the Safety & Compliance Committee recently held its first meeting after being dormant since 2019 and is looking to identify new leadership. Ongoing activities include the Safety & Compliance Database (SCDB) on the PSMA website and former committee co-chairs, Kevin Parmenter and Jim Spangler contribute monthly articles on Safety and Compliance issues to How2Power. The Committee will be hosting an Educational Webinar on EMC in April which hopefully will generate renewed interest and support for the committee.


Tirtha Sarkar, Co-Chair of the Semiconductor Committee, reported the committee meets monthly with 5-10 attendees at each meeting. The committee has been very active this past year and has welcomed a new Co-Chair, Reenu Garg from Microchip Corporation, to help shoulder the responsibilities. The committee again plans four Industry Sessions for APEC2021. The committee also supports the Workshop on Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications (WiPDA).


Fred Weber, Transportation Electronics Committee Co-Chair, reported the committee has been very active this past year meeting monthly with 12-15 members attending each call. The committee recently changed its name, dropping the word Power, and adding Electronics to better represent power electronics focused on Autonomous Vehicle Technology.

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. Contact the PSMA Office at power@psma.com if you are interested in attending a committee meeting. This is an excellent way to network with others and to influence the technical direction of the committees.

 

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