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he 2014 PSMA Planning Meeting was held on September 20 at the Westin Charlotte in Charlotte, NC with 22 attendees. The purpose of the Planning Meeting was to review where the Association is today, discuss issues and to identify possible programs and projects that promise to bring value to the membership.
PSMA Chairman Ernie Parker led the meeting and reviewed his vision for the organization and provided an overview of the general health of the organization as well as membership statistics and the changes since the 2013 Planning Meeting. He emphasized that the technical committees are the heart of the organization and 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 projects that will bring value to our members, increase the effort to develop more and deeper involvement by member companies and continued commitment to bring more industry content to APEC.
Ernie Parker leading the meeting |
Michel Grenon, Secretary/Treasurer, prepared a 6-Quarter financial forecast that indicated that the levels of expenses are expected to increase moderately while income from membership dues will have modest growth and the APEC surpluses continue at recent levels. He forecast that the Association will remain in good financial position which will allow funding to support Special Projects that should bring value to the membership.
There was a report from each of the technical committees which summarized their accomplishments in the past year and ongoing programs and projects. Seven of the technical committees have submitted proposals for Industry Sessions at APEC 2015.
• The Alternative Energy Committee provided an update on committee members and plans for a four presentation Industry Session at APEC 2015. In addition, the committee is considering holding a workshop as a follow up to the Engineering Efficient Buildings Workshop held prior to APEC 2014.
• The Capacitor Committee provided a report summarizing their 2014 activities. The committee is organizing a seven presentation Industry Session for APEC 2015 updating the latest technical advances in capacitors.
• Ed Herbert, Co-Chair of the Energy Efficiency Committee, reported that the committee is organizing a seven presentation Industry session for APEC 2015 focusing on Mission Critical Power Systems. The committee also oversees the Energy Efficient data base on the PSMA website and recommended the effort to maintain and update the data base be continued for the next year.
• The Energy Harvesting Committee organized a seven presentation Industry Session at APEC 2014 on the technical details of key technologies that are driving successful commercialization in the areas of: Energy Harvesting transducers, energy conversion, energy storage, power management, ultra-low power microcontrollers, sensors and wireless radio solutions. In addition, at the end of the session there were working demonstrations of energy harvesting systems. However because of a number of issues, the committee will be dormant until there is more support from interested members.
• Judy Horzepa reported that the Industry-Education Committee is again participating in the Student Travel Support for APEC. Together with PELS and IAS the program will provide up to a total of $40,000 to student authors. This program provides up to $1,000 in travel reimbursement per student whose technical abstract was selected for presentation and who attends the conference.
• Ed Herbert, Magnetics Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee continues to be active, but since it alternates with the Capacitor Committee on Industry Sessions, they will not organize an Industry Session on magnetics issues for APEC 2015. The committee is considering holding a workshop on magnetics issues together with PELS prior to APEC 2016.
• Frank Cirolia, Co-Chair of the Marketing Committee, reviewed the recent activities of the committee including plans for APEC 2015. For the third year, the committee is proposing to sponsor a “PSMA Passport Game” to increase visibility and traffic to PSMA member exhibit booths during APEC. Frank also presented an analysis of the financial results from past APECs and highlighted the factors that appear to have had a significant impact on the surplus available to the sponsors.
• Chuck Mullett, Nanotechnology Committee Co-Chair, reported that the Nano 300 course was released and will be offered to students at universities with the opportunity for students to submit a report on possible applications of nanotechnology and compete for a financial award. For APEC 2015 the committee is organizing a four presentation Industry Session focusing on state and federal activities in nanotechnology.
• Brian Narveson, Packaging Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee has started Phase 2 of the Special Project on 3D Power Packaging which focuses on embedded technology used for PCB scale products, both complete power supplies and power stages capable of delivering up to 1 kW. The committee is also organizing a seven presentation industry session titled “Substrate Embedded Components Enabling High Density 3D Power Packaging”. Finally, the committee is co-sponsoring the PwrSoC14 Workshop scheduled to be held in the Boston MA area October 6, 7, and 8 2014.
• Carl Blake, Semiconductor Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee had been dormant for several years, but has reorganized and has been meeting monthly with 5 to 10 attendees. The committee has organized a seven presentation Industry Session for APEC 2015 to provide an overview of the latest technologies in power semiconductors in an unbiased view.
• Ralph Taylor, Transportation Power Electronics Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee meets each month and has averaged 6 to 8 people per meeting. The committee is focused on the key issues in Vehicle Power Electronics and is organizing a seven presentation Industry Session for APEC 2015 focused on components and systems technologies related to transportation power electronics.
Joe Horzepa, Aung Thet Tu, Brian Zahnstecher, Carl Blake and Eric Persson at Roadmap meeting |
• Eric Persson, Committee Co-Chair, reported that the 2015 Power Technology Roadmap committee met prior to the PSMA Planning meeting with 20 attendees. The committee has conducted a number of one hour webinars presented by industry experts on topics relevant to the latest applications and technology trends. A total of 15 webinars are expected to be completed by mid-December. A number of teams have been organized to focus on specific segments of the roadmap with the final report scheduled to be introduced at APEC 2015.
Following the committee reports Ernie Parker led an interactive “brain storming” session to list the possible activities and focus for PSMA over the next year (and beyond) that will bring benefit to the membership. PSMA members can view the minutes of the Planning Meeting on the “Members Only” section of the PSMA web site. Although a lot was accomplished during the busy weekend, it was not all work. Participants at the Planning Meeting joined members of the APEC Technical Program Committee at Bentley’s on 37 for dinner that evening.
PSMA |
The APEC Technical Program Committee met on Sunday and were joined by several of the PSMA members. Based on the results of their work we can all look forward to a very interesting and a successful APEC 2015.
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