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he 2017 PSMA Planning Meeting was held on Saturday October 7 at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter Hotel in San Antonio, TX with 23 members attending. 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 Eric Persson 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 2016 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.
Michel Grenon, Secretary/Treasurer, prepared a 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. 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. Eight of the technical committees have submitted proposals to organize Industry Sessions at APEC 2018 and all technical committees are supporting the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap effort. In addition: - James Lewis, Capacitor Committee member, reported that the committee is planning a workshop, Everything You Wanted to Know about Capacitors but Were Afraid to Ask, the Saturday before APEC.
- Energy Harvesting Committee member Brian Zahnstecher reported that the committee is planning a 2-3 day workshop the week of May 28, 2018 at Tyndall in Cork Ireland.
- The Alternative Energy and Energy Efficiency Committees have merged since the 2016 Planning Meeting to form the Energy Management Committee which focuses on addressing all forms of the management of energy from generation to consumption. Martin Fornage, Committee Co-Chair, was unable to attend the meeting in person but provided a report on the committee's activities, including continued support of the Energy Efficiency Database (EEDB) on the PSMA website.
- Joe Horzepa reported that the Industry-Education Committee supported the Student Travel Support for APEC 2017 and, together with PELS and IAS, provided up to a total of $40,000. The 3 sponsors have increased the Student Travel Support for APEC 2018 to provide up to $1,000 in travel reimbursement per student for 60 students whose technical abstracts were selected for presentation and who will be attending the conference.
- Ed Herbert, Magnetics Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee held a very successful Magnetics Workshop at APEC 2017 and is organizing a third High Frequency Magnetics Workshop, Power Magnetics @ High Frequency - Eliminating the Smoke and Mirrors, for APEC 2018.
- Frank Cirolia, Marketing Committee Co-Chair, reviewed the recent activities of the committee including plans for APEC 2018. For the fifth year, the committee will sponsor the "PSMA Passport Game" to increase visibility and traffic to PSMA member exhibit booths during APEC. The committee will continue to issue news releases for PSMA events and activities. He also identified a number of activities for consideration, including PSMA exhibiting at PCIM and classification of Semiconductor companies as Regular Members.
- The Power Electronics Packaging Committee has been very active in 2017, as reported by committee Co-Chair, Brian Narveson. The committee has been holding up to 6 meetings each month with 10-12 people attending. For the coming year major projects include a Phase 3 Technology Report on Embedded Power Components being conducted by Georgia Tech as a Special Project and organizing the second 3D-PEIM Symposium at University of Maryland.
- Conor Quinn, Power Technology Roadmap Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee published the 2017 Power Technology Roadmap that was released at APEC 2017 and has already begun planning for the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap. The first meeting of the 2019 Power Technology Roadmap Technical Committee is scheduled this month and planning is underway to host a number of Webinars starting this year.
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- The Reliability Committee is PSMA's newest committee, formed in July 2017 and held its first meeting on August 10 with 9 attendees. The committee has since gained 7 more members and is working to increase the diversity of the committee membership. Committee Co-Chairs Tony O'Brien and Brian Zahnstecher, reviewed recent activities and planning for the coming year. The committee has distributed a survey to help prioritize their initiatives.
- Kevin Parmenter, Safety and Compliance Committee Co-Chair, reported that the committee continues to support and works to enhance the Safety and Compliance Data Base which was launched in 2016 and is available to all PSMA members as well as to individuals in the power sources industry. Committee members have presented at external events to build awareness and contributes a monthly column in How2Power.
- Semiconductor Committee member Eric Persson reported that the committee is supporting as technical and financial co-sponsor together with IEEE PELS the WiPDA Workshop in Albuquerque, NM. Members of the committee are also working as part of a team that is putting together a standardization guideline for wide bandgap devices in terms of datasheets, testing and reliability.
- The Co-Chairs of the Transportation Power Electronics Committee, Ralph Taylor and Fred Weber, were unable to attend in person, but submitted a report reviewing the committee's activities. The committee typically has 5-7 participants at their monthly meetings, but participation has increased to up to 10 members as the prepare for their Industry Session at APEC 2018.
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). 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 2018 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 2018.
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