1. APEC 2022 – On the Houston Launchpad for March 20-24 Event
   
2. 2021 PSMA Planning Meeting
   
3. Meet Your Directors
   
4. About Our Members
   
5. Welcome to PSMA
   
6. International Awards for Tyndall's MagIC Technology
   
7. PSMA and IEEE PELS Educational Series for Young Professionals: "Social Networking for Engineers"
   
8. 2022 PSMA Magnetics Committee and PELS High Frequency Magnetics Workshop
   
9. PSMA/PELS Sponsor 2022 Capacitors in Power Electronics Workshop
   
10. EnerHarv2022: The Second International Energy Harvesting Workshop
    
11. International Workshop on Integrated Power Packaging (IWIPP 2022)
    
12. 2021 International Power Supply-on-Chip (PwrSoC)
    
13. WiPDA 2021 Workshop: The 8th Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications
    
14. Convection and Conduction Cooling – What's Next?
    
15. Safety Compliance Testing: It's a Business, So Shop Around
    
16. 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: Q1_2021 | Q2_2021 | Q3_2021

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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.

 

ttendees of the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC 2022) will converge on Houston, TX, March 20-24, 2022, returning to an in-person event after two years. The conference and exhibition will continue the long-standing tradition of addressing issues of immediate and long-term interest to the practicing power electronic engineer. Outstanding technical content, including Technical Program Papers, Industry Sessions and Professional Education Seminars, is offered at one of the lowest registration costs of any IEEE conference. APEC 2022 promises to provide attendees with a truly significant professional experience. Complete details for registering and hotel booking can be found at APEC Registration.

Photo courtesy of Space Center Houston

APEC has secured discounted rates at two hotels near the Houston Convention Center. Attendees are encouraged to secure their hotel reservations early, as these hotels are expected to book up well in advance of the conference. Hotel reservations can only be made following conference registration. Links to APEC's contracted hotels will be sent via an automatic registration confirmation email.  For more details, please visit the Travel Information page.

A special highlight of APEC 2022 will be the Wednesday evening Social Event at the NASA Space Center. The entire facility, including the Johnson Space Center Park, will be open exclusively to APEC Conference Registrants. The event will be catered by Wolfgang Puck, and it might even include surprise appearances by former astronauts.

On the Saturday prior to the start of APEC2022, PSMA and PELS will again be sponsoring two workshops, the seventh High Frequency Magnetics Workshop and the fifth Capacitor Workshop. For more information see the articles on each workshop in this issue of the UPDATE.

Speaking for all of us on the APEC Conference Committee, I invite you to come to Houston to be part of our annual gathering. You really don't want to miss it.  Check the APEC website for details (www.apec-conf.org).

Provided by Greg Evans, APEC 2022 Publicity Chair

he 2021 PSMA Planning Meeting was held virtually on October 19, 2021. The Annual PSMA Planning Meeting addresses the future direction of the organization and focuses on the current major issues in the industry.  The objective is to identify programs for the next year that will continue to bring benefits to the membership. While it was disappointing not to be able to see everyone in person, the online format did create the opportunity for a strong showing with 40 attendees.

PSMA Chair Mike Hayes welcomed all attendees and briefly reviewed the mission of the Association, the Vision for 2020-2025 (and beyond). the progress to better define and strategically align the Executive Committee and the many activities to minimize the financial impact of the Covid storm to minimize the financial impacts.

Mike summarized the general health and status of the organization and recognized the outstanding contributions by the Technical Committees, highlighting the newly formed Energy Storage Committee and the resurrection of the Industry-Education Committee. There have also been continued efforts to increase the relationships and cooperation with other key industry organizations – most notably with IPC, iNEMI, PELS, EPSMA and CPSS.

Mike ended his presentation with a discussion of some next steps currently underway to maintain the momentum of the key activities to maintain the position and stature of the Association for the benefit of our member companies and the power industry.

Following Mike's presentation, there were presentations from each of the other Executive Committee members.

Financial Forecast
Tim McDonald, Secretary/Treasurer, presented a 10-Quarter financial forecast for October 2021 – March 2024, including three scenarios – best case, nominal case, and worst case.  The Financial Forecasts highlighted the need to identify New Revenue Opportunities as the Association works to maintain an acceptable financial position despite the lost revenue and financial obligations from events that were canceled or held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the new revenue opportunities being considered include Power Technology Roadmap Underwriting, increasing membership dues, and hosting paid webinars.

In summary, the forecast supports that the Association will remain in good financial position assuming modest revenues from planned workshops and symposia in the coming year. Although the current financial position does limit available funding for Special Projects, through a combination of controlling expenditures and increasing revenues, the forecast projects that in the next 12-18 month timeframe there will be opportunities to fund a limited number of Projects that promise to bring value to the membership and the industry.

KPIs-Metrics that Matter
Trifon Liakopoulos, PSMA Vice President, discussed the work underway to identify the KPIs – Key Performance Indicators - that are actionable and tied to the business and financial goals of the organization. KPIs are metrics that matter since they will provide information on the success of current activities, identify opportunities to improve the activities of the Technical Committees, improve the effectiveness of the website, workshops, special projects, and webinars, and enhance efforts to attract new membership. This is a work in process with the initial focus to identify and plan for the infrastructure (people, web management and responsibilities) that will enable us to gather the information to improve the performance and effectiveness of the organization.

Power of the Pillars
Fred Weber briefly reviewed the Power of the Pillars and updates since the 2020 Planning Meeting. He highlighted the value of collaborations, including both committee collaboration within PSMA and collaborations with other organizations. Other themes discussed included increasing PSMA's visibility with companies in industries that are currently underrepresented, such as automotive; increasing member participation; and identifying revenue opportunities.

Following each of the Executive Committee opening presentations there was a brief Q&A including questions and suggestions from attendees. To keep the meeting on schedule, Fred took notes on these discussions for inclusion in the Planning Session later in the agenda.

Committee Updates
There was a report from each of the PSMA committees that summarized their accomplishments over the past year and focused on ongoing programs and projects for 2022. Nine of the committees have submitted proposals to organize Industry Sessions at APEC 2022 and all technical committees are supporting the 2022 Power Technology Roadmap effort. The committee reports each included information on how their activities align with the Four Pillars and strategic focus on IoT, smart mobility and storage.

In addition:

• Pierre Lohrber, Capacitor Committee Co-Chair, reviewed the mission of the committee and highlighted the current activities to interact with other Technical Committees - specifically the Magnetics, Energy Management and Energy Storage Committees. Pierre recognized Wilmer Companioni who recently stepped down as Co-Chair and welcomed new Co-Chair Andrew Mikulski.
• Energy Harvesting Committee Co-Chairs Mike Hayes and Brian Zahnstecher reviewed the mission and recent activities of the committee. The committee recently published and released a seminal White Paper which was authored by 28 experts from several countries reviewing the technology and challenges that will bring Energy Harvesting to a significant market presence. They are also planning EnerHarv 2022 to be held at North Carolina State University.
• David Chen, Energy Management Committee Chair, reported that the committee has grown to 32 people on the distribution list with 12 active members that participate in monthly meetings. David recognized Ed Herbert who has stepped down as committee Co-Chair. The committee is looking for a co-chair to assist in the planning and future activities. The committee continues to support the Energy Efficiency Data Base (EEDB) and the Safety and Compliance Data Base (SCDB).
• Energy Storage Committee Co-Chair Edward Schneider reported that the PSMA Board accepted the Energy Storage Subcommittee as a standalone Technical Committee earlier this year. The committee continues its cooperation with the Capacitor, Energy Management and other technical committees since energy storage is recognized as a critical technological focus for the overall power sources industry.
• John Horzepa presented a report prepared with Gerry Moschopoulos, Committee Co-Chair. The committee continues to support the student attendance program for APEC and the posting of Student Resumes on the PSMA website. In recent months, the committee membership and active participation have increased resulting in several new initiatives that are being considered. A Young Professionals Seminar Series is being planned together with IEEE PELS as a series of in-person, hybrid and virtual events that will focus on the needs of students and young professionals to help them develop the technical and interpersonal skills that will enable them to succeed in their careers. The committee is also planning a program providing an introduction to the PSMA Committees during APEC 2022.
• Magnetics Committee Co-Chair George Slama reported that the committee is planning its seventh annual workshop at APEC 2021. George recognized Steve Carlsen who recently stepped down as Co-Chair and welcomed new Co-Chair Matt Wilkowski.
• Ada Cheng, Marketing Committee Member, reviewed recent activities of the committee. The committee is again supporting the PSMA Passport Program at APEC 2022. The committee has also been active in identifying and supporting New Revenue options including reexamining increasing the levels of membership dues and identifying opportunities for attracting new membership. The committee is currently looking for new co-chairs to assist in the planning and future activities.
• Brian Narveson, Packaging and Manufacturing Committee Co-Chair, reported the committee has been very active in the past year, including supporting 3 workshops. The Covid-19 pandemic impacted the planning for all these events. The 3D-PEIM 2021 Symposium was held in Osaka Japan in June as a full virtual event and was both a technical and financial success. PwrSoC and IWIPP were both postponed from their originally scheduled dates and each held successful free corridor webinar series. PwrSoC 2021 is planned as a live hybrid event in late October.
• Power Technology Roadmap Committee Co-Chairs Dhaval Dalal and Conor Quinn reviewed the timeline for the 2022 Roadmap and reviewed the webinars that have been held to date and those that are currently scheduled. He thanked the PSMA Technical committees for their contributions and asked that they continue their efforts to identify webinar topics and presenters for the remaining slots in November and December for the upcoming Roadmap. Dhaval also reviewed the PTR Webinar Underwriting effort to identify and signup underwriters for 2021-2022 to generate additional revenue for PSMA.
• Reliability Committee Chair Brian Zahnstecher reported that the continues to look for a co-chair to assist in the planning and future activities of the committee. He reviewed the growing relationship with IPC and the planned collaboration in the generation of a new software reliability standard. The committee is currently working with EPSMA to schedule a webinar on the EPSMA Component Lifetime Prediction White Paper.
• John Horzepa reported that the Safety and Compliance Committee continues to seek additional membership and volunteers to serve as co-Chairs and requested the group to suggest individuals from their organization that may be interested in contributing to the work of the committee. Committee members share information and updates through regular email blasts but has not been holding regular meetings due to lack of leadership and member participation. In the past year, the committee sponsored a very successful webinar on EMC Basics presented by RECOM Power and hosted by David Chen and has a second webinar planned later this year. Together with the Energy Management Committee, the Safety and Compliance committee has supported the Safety and Compliance Data Base available on the PSMA website.
• Co-Chair Tim McDonald reported the Semiconductor Committee continues to be very active. He recognized Tirthajyoti Sarkar who recently stepped down as Co-Chair and welcomed new Co-Chair, Jaume Roig. For APEC 2022, the committee has again proposed 4 Industry Sessions. The committee is working to further align its activities in support and collaboration with other PSMA Technical Committees, including identifying industry-relevant topics for a future tutorial.
• Fred Weber, Transportation Electronics Committee Co-Chair, reported that committee remains very active with 12-15 people attending the monthly meetings. The committee continues to seek additional members from companies in the Automotive industry segment and continues their interaction with National Labs and other organizations involved with R&D projects in support of vehicle and transportation technologies.

PLANNING EXERCISE
There was a short break after the Committee Reports, and when the meeting reconvened, Fred Weber, PSMA President, led the 2021 planning exercise. During the first half of the meeting, he tracked the ideas brought up in the reports and discussion and split them into quick "Tiger Team" actions and long-term strategic issues. He then opened the brainstorming session by reviewing the Four Pillars (Build on Strengths, Become more Applications Oriented, Integrate Metrics, Engage with Stakeholders) and inviting everyone at the meeting to suggest ideas for the coming year.

Fred then briefly reviewed the completed and ongoing activities of the Tiger Teams over the past year. Building on the plans of the Technical Committees and Executive Committee as presented in the meeting and considering the comments by attendees, Fred identified and listed a number of new Tiger Team initiatives for the coming year. Each initiative was discussed to identify suggested champions, the support groups and target due dates.

Summary and Close
Mike Hayes thanked the attendees for their inputs and participation. PSMA members can view the minutes from the Planning Meeting in the Members Only section of the PSMA web site.

our members of the Board of Directors are elected at the PSMA Annual Meeting. 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 Dhaval Dalal who was elected to his second term in 2020.

Dhaval Dalal
Principal, ACP Technologies

Dhaval Dalal is a power electronics consultant, specializing in power architecture definition, design guidance, competitive benchmarking and evaluation/refinement of strategic direction all geared towards renewable energy proliferation and high efficiency power solutions. 

From 2014-2020, Dhaval was a Business Unit Director at ON Semiconductor, where he was responsible for defining and providing components for high power solutions to customers. His prior experience includes stints at TI/Unitrode, Digital Equipment Corporation and Philips Laboratories.

Dhaval's educational background includes a B.Tech. (EE) from IIT-Bombay, an MSEE from Virginia Tech and a Master's in Management of Technology from NTU. He has published and presented more than 25 technical articles, papers and invited talks. In addition to serving on the PSMA Board of Directors, he is the co-chair of the PSMA Power Technology Roadmap Committee and is also a participant in the iNEMI roadmap activity. Dhaval serves as a co-chair of Industry Sessions Program Committee for APEC 2022.  Dhaval holds five U.S. patents.

Provided by Dhaval Dalal, Principal, ACP Technologies
 

  privately held company headquartered in Liberty, SC, Cornell Dubilier Electronics, Inc. is a technology leader and manufacturer of high-quality capacitors used in demanding industrial, medical, and military/aerospace applications

The company got its start in 1909 when Octavio Blake, a young entrepreneur, ventured into business after graduating from Princeton University. He later merged his company with Dubilier Condenser and Radio Co., which was started in 1919 by William Dubilier.

Dubilier was a prolific inventor who would go on to hold more than 300 patents. He discovered that sheets of naturally occurring mica act as a superb dielectric for capacitors. The mica capacitor – still sold by Cornell Dubilier and in use today – would be broadly used in early radio communications, especially on navy ships, because of its compact size and robust construction as compared with its predecessor, the Leyden jar.

Today Cornell Dubilier is dedicated to advancing plastic film, aluminum electrolytic and supercapacitor technology for applications in inverters, wind and solar power, electric vehicles, power supplies, motor drives, HVDC, motors, welding, aerospace, telecom, medical equipment, and UPS systems.

Over the past 20 years Cornell Dubilier acquired several capacitor companies, broadened its product portfolio, and expanded its reach into higher power inverters and high energy pulse-discharge applications.

The company employs over 1,000 people and reaches over 30,000 customers world-wide with standard and highly customized capacitor solutions.

A global group of companies, Cornell Dubilier has ISO-9001 certified manufacturing and distribution facilities in Liberty, SC; New Bedford, MA; Snow Hill, NC, Mexicali, Mexico; and Hong Kong.

Provided by Scott Franco, Director of Marketing, Cornell Dubilier Electronics, Inc.

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.

Adel Nasiri
University of South Carolina
301 Main St, Rm 3A32
Columbia, South Carolina 29208
Telephone: 803-576-7796
E-mail: nasiri@sc.edu
Website: sc.edu

Prof. Adel Nasiri joined the University of South Carolina (USC) in August 2021 after a 16-year career at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). Prof. Nasiri has served as a primary investigator on many federal and industry sponsored projects. His research interests are high power/voltage energy conversion, energy storage, and microgrids. Dr. Nasiri has published numerous technical journal and conference papers on related topics. He also holds seven patents and has co-authored two books.

Dr. Nasiri is currently the chair of IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS) Committee on renewable and sustainable energy conversion and Vice Chair TC5 (sustainable energy systems) at IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS). He is also an Editor of Power Components and Systems, and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Power Electronics and was an Editor of IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid (2013-2019) and paper review chair for IAS (2018-2019). He was the general Chair of 2012 IEEE Symposium on Sensorless Electric Drives, 2014 International Conference on Renewable Energy Research and Applications (ICRERA 2014), and 2014 IEEE Power Electronics and Machines for Wind and Water Applications (PEMWA 2014).

Power Electronics Group, Tallinn University of Technology
Andrii Chub
Ehitajate tee 5, NRG-402
Tallinn, Harjumaa 19086
Estonia
Telephone: +0037254592062
E-mail: andrii.chub@taltech.ee
Web site: taltech.ee

Founded in 1918, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), located in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is the only university of technology in Estonia. It is an international university in the with around 10,000 students including 1,350 international students from nearly 100 different countries.

Research in the Power Electronics Group, Tallinn University of Technology is focused on the development and experimental validation of new state of the art power electronic converters for such demanding applications as rolling stock, automotive, telecom and renewable energy systems. Key research directions include synthesis of new converter topologies, development of special control and protection algorithms, implementation of new components and elaboration of design guidelines to further improve the efficiency, power density, reliability and flexibility of the on-market power electronic converters. Other research activities are concentrated on the development of power flow control algorithms and new supervision, fault detection, protection and communication methods for the electronic power distribution networks (Micro- and SmartGrids).

Professor Cian Ó Mathúna recognized for his leadership

Professor Cian Ó Mathúna with the 2021 EARTO Innovation Award for Impact Expected

ne of PSMA's long-time contributors and supporters, Professor Cian Ó Mathúna, from Tyndall National Institute in Cork, Ireland has been recently named the recipient of two major international awards celebrating innovative technology created in Ireland, which could have a lasting environmental impact.

Minimizing energy consumption in electronics continues to be a major, technological challenge. Responding to this challenge, Cian, who is currently Head of MicroNano Systems at Tyndall, has, over the last 27 years, developed MagIC (Magnetics on Silicon), an innovative technology that can greatly extend the battery life of portable electronics and dramatically reduce the energy use of high-performance electronic systems and equipment.

The ground-breaking impact of the technology has been recently recognized with prestigious awards from the 400,000 member IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and EARTO (European Association of Research and Technology Organisations).

The IEEE Power Electronics Society Technical Achievement Award for Integration and Miniaturisation of Switching Power Converters celebrates Cian's extraordinary, global influence and leadership over the last decade in bringing together the electronics industry and academia to collaborate toward the development of the Power Supply-on-Chip (PwrSoC).

Tyndall is the first Irish recipient of an EARTO Award, which recognizes key contributions from European research to high-impact, technological innovation. The 2021 EARTO Innovation Award for Impact Expected looks to the future and recognizes the impact Professor Ó Mathúna's research will have on the technology of the future. Including dramatically reducing system energy consumption, extending battery life and reducing the overall size, weight and cost of future electronic systems.

Tyndall's MagIC technology makes bulky magnetics components in electronic equipment to disappear onto the silicon chip, just like Gordon Moore and colleagues did with the transistor over 50 years ago. Using MagIC technology, electronics will be able to use power more efficiently by minimizing the energy wasted or lost as the battery powers the multiple-voltage rails required in multi-core microprocessor chips and/or other complex SoC chips. This improved efficiency can extend the charge time of batteries by more than 50%. The breakthrough technology will have a huge impact on markets for mobile phones, IT equipment, and any device needing a battery. It is also envisaged that the technology will deliver significant energy savings in servers in the data centre and high-performance computing space.

Professor Ó Mathúna said, "This ground-breaking and disruptive innovation is set to change the global approach to how power is managed in electronic devices and will contribute to addressing a critical environmental issue for society and our planet. We continue to partner extensively with global companies to develop and commercialize the technology which has already received more than €20M in funding from research, licensing and productization. We have joint publications with companies such as Global Foundries in Dresden and Singapore; Intel, USA; Philips in the Netherlands, TI in the USA; Wurth Electronics in Germany as well as a joint patent with Apple Computers."

Cian joined the November 2021 PSMA Board of Directors meeting and was very gracious and effusive in acknowledging the influence PSMA has had on the emergence of PwrSoC over the last 3 decades. Cian mentioned that he was first introduced to PSMA by Don Staffiere who managed to convince one of his Irish clients, Gary Duffy, then MD of Computer Products (later Artseyn Technologies) to fund Cian's attendance at the 1994 APEC. Cian came to APEC with a very limited background in power electronics but, through Don's introductions to PSMA, he began participating in the PSMA Technology Roadmap initiative, and was quickly able to leverage his expertise in microelectronics packaging which was just beginning to have a very positive impact on the miniaturization and integration of power electronics products.

Joe Horzepa, Gary Duffy, Arnold Alderman and Cian Ó Mathúna at APEC in the mid 2000s

With the support of Don Staffiere, Bob Huljak, the late Prof. William Sarjeant and the strategic guidance and wisdom of Joe Horzepa (and Judy!), Cian engaged with Arnold Alderman and Doug Hopkins to run the Packaging Technical Committee with Brian Narveson and Ernie Parker later contributing their expertise. Around 1997/98, PSMA awarded NMRC (National Microelectronics Research Centre – the precursor to Tyndall) funding to undertake a special project on the state-of-the-art in commercial 3D power electronics packaging and followed this, in 2006/2007, with funding, for Tyndall and Anagenesis, on the very first study on fully-integrated power – the visionary and seminal "PSiP2PwrSoC" project.

Looking back, Cian sees this project as the inspiration for him to establish PwrSoC, the International Workshop on Power Supply on Chip which was first held in Cork in 2008 with over 100 international participants. At PwrSoC2010, Tyndall agreed to hand over the workshop to PSMA and the IEEE Power Electronics Society from which point the Workshop has become recognized as the flagship technical forum worldwide for both industry and academia to get together to discuss both the technological and business challenges and opportunities for PwrSoC.

In his closing remarks, Cian commented "the vision and strategic perspective of PSMA, over the last 27 years, has had a dramatic impact on seeding research in power electronics, on providing a dedicated forum to gain insight into major power industry challenges and, in particular, in providing me, and the wider team at NMRC/Tyndall, with the international perspective to succeed. For all of this, I am forever in PSMA's debt."

he PSMA Industry Education Committee and IEEE PELS have partnered to sponsor a series of seminars for young professionals designed to provide them with guidance in their professional careers in the power electronics industry. The seminar series will include in-person, webinar and possibly hybrid events. The series is designed to provide training of critical skills that most colleges do not teach but are important for advancing engineering careers. The seminars are being made available at no cost to attendees.

"Social Networking for Engineers," which was the first in the series, was held in-person on Sunday October 24 at the Singh Center for Nanotechnology on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia PA. This one-hour introductory class was held in conjunction with the 2021 Power Supply on Chip (PwrSoC) Workshop so that attendees had the opportunity to apply their new skills right away and thus maximize their event experience.

Many engineers tend to be introverted or shy, so social networking may not come naturally. However, the good news is that the class offered practical tips to overcome these challenges.

The class had four major sections:

• What is social networking & why is it important?
• Preparing to network
• How to network at an event
• How to network after an event

The seminar was conducted by Ada Cheng, Technical Marketing Consultant with AdaClock. Ada developed this shorter introductory class from training on social networking she created for clients to develop a competitive edge.

The feedback from all who attended this session was very positive.

For more information and to join the mailing list to receive information on future seminars, visit the PSMA Education Forum. If you have any suggested topics to be included in the series and/or are interested in presenting a seminar, please contact the PSMA Office at power@psma.com.

Power Magnetics @ High Frequency
Saturday March 19 2022
(Prior to APEC 2022)
George R Brown Convention Center
Houston, Texas

he PSMA Magnetics Committee and IEEE PELS are currently planning to hold the seventh "Power Magnetics @ High Frequency" workshop on Saturday, March 19, 2022, which is the day before and at the same venue as APEC 2022 in Houston, TX.

The purpose and focus of this workshop are to identify the latest improvements in magnetic materials, coil (winding) design, construction and fabrication, evaluation and characterization techniques and modelling and simulation tools. The focus is to target the advancements deemed necessary by the presenters and the workshop participants 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 2022 Power Magnetics @ High Frequency workshop include the designers of power magnetic components for use in electronic power converters responsible to implement the most technologically advanced power magnetic components that are 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 individuals involved in the supply chain for the power magnetics industry ranging from manufacturers of magnetic materials and magnetic structures, fabricators of magnetic components, providers of modelling and simulation software as well as manufacturers of test and characterization equipment.

The 2022 Power Magnetics @ High Frequency Workshop will open with a keynote presentation by Dr. Charles Sullivan of Dartmouth College followed by several lecture presentations regarding effects of magnetic core geometries on magnetics characteristics such as inductance, saturation, power losses and coupling. The afternoon session will open with a keynote presentation followed by several presentations focused on design for manufacturability, safety, and reliability. In addition to a brief Q&A period after each individual presentation, there will be a panel of the presenters at the end of the session to address topics requiring more detail as deemed by the workshop attendees.

During breakfast and lunch there will be a joint interactive session available of tabletop technology demonstrations covering both Magnetics and Capacitor technologies that address specific technical disciplines and capabilities consistent with the workshop agenda. Each of the technology demonstration stations will include a ten-minute presentation at fifteen-minute intervals. The attendees are encouraged to interact with the presenters during this portion of agenda as a segue to enhance and expand the technical presentation sessions.

The 5th Annual 2022 PSMA/PELS Capacitor Workshop, "How Materials and Environmental Effects Influence Capacitor Performance" will be held concurrently with the Power Magnetics @ High Frequency Workshop. Continuing the tradition from previous years, the workshops will share the demonstration area. New this year, a joint Magnetics and Capacitors rap session will address the trade-offs between choice of magnetic components and capacitors. This Rap Session will be held during the networking reception after the afternoon technical presentation sessions have been completed. The workshop attendees will be encouraged to submit questions to the panel of magnetics and capacitor experts for the Rap Session.

If anyone would like to participate as a presenter for the technical demonstration session, please contact the organizing committee through PSMA via e-mail to power@psma.com with a description of your proposed technical capabilities topic. The preferred topics for technical demonstration session should be related to the following themes: computer aided design and simulation including manufacturing, safety, and reliability requirements, near magnetic field coupling, thermal issues and emerging magnetic materials and structures.

Registration for the workshop has opened at: https://www.psma.com/power-magnetics-high-frequency-workshop-2022-registration

There will be up to four student waivers for registration fees. Students can apply for a waiver at www.psma.com/webforms/power-magnetics-high-frequency-student-registration-fee-waiver-2022.

If you are interested to financially support the workshop as a partner, please contact the organizing committee through PSMA via e-mail to power@psma.com .

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

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

"Influences on Capacitors, How Materials and Environmental Effects Influence Capacitor Performance"
Saturday March 19 2022, Prior to APEC 2022
George R Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas

he PSMA Capacitor Committee and IEEE PELS will sponsor a workshop," Influences on Capacitors, How Materials and Environmental Effects Influence Capacitor Performance" on Saturday March 19, 2022, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. The 2022 workshop will be the fifth in the series offered as a pre-event to the annual APEC conference. The 2020 and 2021 workshops were both held virtually due to the impact of COVID-19, and while we designed these workshops to be as interactive as possible, we look forward to returning to a face-to-dface onsite workshop in 2022 and the additional opportunities that provides attendees.

At the upcoming workshop, we will continue our efforts to educate and inform the industry about the latest news and developments related to Capacitors. Each year we are happy to see a growing interest and receive valuable feedback from Workshop attendees which we use when planning the next events. The first workshop, held in 2018, introduced the basics and now, in 2022, the Workshop will focus on the inner materials and construction of capacitors, the secrets of these  materials and how environmental effects influence its performance in applications.

The PSMA Capacitor Workshop Organizing Committee has a clear mission:

The PSMA Capacitor Committee Annual Workshop aligned with APEC has a mission to educate the attendees on capacitor trends, technologies, and innovations. Wherever and whenever applications need energy, Capacitors are at the spotlight, and as energy moves the world, it is incumbent for everyone to have a good understanding of capacitor issues. The PSMA Capacitor Committee is committed to educate and share the most recent information available to meet the industry's needs.

In 2022, our aim is to deliver value to the industry, whether they be newbies or advanced designers of DC-DC converters, frequency drives, inverters, and other power conversation applications. The Capacitor Workshop agenda will include presentations by leading experts from a variety of manufacturers, designers, testing and supporting companies.

From the feedback we have received, attendees confirmed their interest in some of the highlights of recent workshops including joint panel discussion featuring members from the Magnetics and Capacitor Committees as well as the live demonstrations of real measurements and test setups. These are scheduled to be included again in 2022. Attendees will be able to address questions to a panel of presenters to expand on specific topics. The expert roundtable talk is planned along with live demonstrations from Magnetics and Capacitors specialists who will show the behavior of the components in various applications. The workshop agenda will include presenters who will dive deep into the component structure to show the relation between the materials and address the environmental impact of capacitor behavior.

The agenda for the 2022 workshop is currently being finalized, and the planned presentations will deliver high value to all attendees. The organizers aim is to provide an optimal balance between practical content delivered by leading capacitor manufacturers and a view of technology advances offered by worldwide renowned universities on future capacitor research and development.
 
The 2022 Capacitor Workshop is scheduled to open with a keynote presentation from Tomas Zednicek, President of EPCI - European Passive Components Institute who will discuss the future of capacitor technologies and will set the stage for the full day workshop. The Technical Presentations will include speakers from world-class manufacturers including KEMET - a YAGEO company, KYOCERA – AVX, Würth Elektronik, and CapXon Europe who will present information about materials, technologies and environmental influences. Presenters from Universities in New Zealand and the United States will discuss the latest research results on various technologies. The Workshop will also feature panel discussions with the presenters allowing the attendees to submit questions and for the panel to address and expand on the material presented.

During breakfast, lunch and the end-of-day networking period there will be demonstrations of products, technologies, equipment, and measurements to highlight many of the key concepts discussed during the presentations. These demonstrations will show the reliability and practical performance of various capacitors in applications. Nearly all Capacitor technologies from Aluminum to Polymer, from Ceramics to Tantalum, from Film to EDLC are included in the workshop agenda. Attendees will also be able to visit the technical demonstrations for the Power Magnetics @ High Frequency Workshop that will be held concurrently.

Registration for the workshop has opened at: https://www.psma.com/capacitor-workshop-2022-registration

There will be up to three student waivers for registration fees. Students can apply for a waiver at www.psma.com/webforms/capacitor-workshop-student-registration-fee-waiver-2022.

If you are interested to financially support the workshop as a partner, please contact the organizing committee through PSMA via e-mail to power@psma.com .

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

Provided by members of the Capacitor Workshop Organizing Committee:
Pierre Lohrber, Wurth Electronics
Fred Weber, Future Technology Worldwide

April 5-7,  2022
ASSIST Center, North Carolina State University

"Building the Ecosystem for Powering the Internet of Things"

nerHarv 2022 will bring together experts from around the world working on all technical areas relevant to energy harvesting, power management and its IoT applications. This workshop, organized and sponsored by the Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA), will be held on the Centennial Campus of NC State University in the award-winning Hunt Library. The workshop will be hosted by the ASSIST NSF Engineering Research Center.

The vision of EnerHarv 2022 is to create a focal point for experts and users of energy harvesting and related technologies to come together and to share knowledge, best practices, roadmaps, experiences and to provide opportunities for collaboration that will increase the uptake of such technologies.  The workshop is targeted at a broad audience from industry and academia working on materials and devices for energy harvesting and storage, low-power sensors and circuits, micro power management, and their applications in powering IoT devices for health and environmental monitoring, assisted living, and monitoring of equipment and buildings.  The program for the Workshop will be divided evenly between lecture sessions, functional demonstrations, and interactive panel discussions with plenty of time reserved for networking and team-building prospects.

More information on the workshop can be found at http://www.EnerHarv.com.

General Chairs
Mehmet C. Ozturk, Professor NC State University, Electrical Engineering		Brian Zahnstecher, Principal, IEEE Senior Member PowerRox

Technical Chairs
Shad Roundy, Associate Professor University of Utah, Mechanical Engineering		Mike Hayes, Head of Group ICT for Energy Efficiency, Tyndall National Institute

Provided by PSMA Energy Harvesting Committee co-chairs
Mike Hayes, Tyndall National Institute
Brian Zahnstecher, PowerRox

SMA is excited to again be a co-sponsor of the 2022 edition of the International Workshop on Integrated Power Packaging (IWIPP) which will be held August 24-26th, on the beautiful campus of Aalborg University, in Aalborg, Denmark. Attendance to the Workshop will be available in-person and virtually. As with all PSMA workshops or webinars, IWIPP has attracted excellent speakers and provides networking opportunities.  The program of IWIPP 2022 will include 6 keynote addresses from leading power technology experts and a broad range of technical sessions, all of which are included in the registration fee.

IWIPP is a workshop focused on Power Packaging and related Technologies which are . are the keys to creating high-density power sources. Attendance at this important workshop can keep you and your colleagues on the cutting edge of power packaging technology.

Call for Papers

If you have technology advancements or research accomplishments to share with the community, Technical Chairman Nick Baker, Assistant Professor, Aalborg University, invites you to submit a digest for review by the technical committee. Papers are sought that address important challenges in power electronic components and systems and present solutions to increase reliability and manufacturability while targeting increased performance and reduced system cost. Papers can range from core material technologies to complete power converters.

The complete list of topics of interest can be found at Call for Papers – IWIPP. The submission portal of the website Submit your Abstracts – IWIPP is now open to accept submissions. Abstract submissions are due January 28th, 2022.
 
Travel Restrictions Due to COVID-19

The IEEE, PSMA and the IWIPP 2022 organizing committee are carefully monitoring the developing COVID-19 outbreak. The IWIPP 2022 leadership is committed to supporting conference participants who may be unable to travel to Aalborg, Denmark from affected regions. If an attendee has an accepted paper but does not wish to travel due to COVID concerns, or has difficulty obtaining a VISA, the committee will provide opportunities for virtual participation, presentation of her/his paper, and networking.

Sponsored by:
Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA)
IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS)
IEEE Electronic Packaging Society (EPS)
IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS)
European Center for Power Electronics (ECPE)

Provided by Brian Narveson,
IWIPP 2022 Publicity Chair

October 24-27, 2021
Sponsored by PSMA and IEEE PELS

he 2021 Power Supply on Chip (PwrSoC) Workshop was successfully held as a hybrid event from October 24, through October 27, at the Singh Center for Nanotechnology on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia PA. Considering the difficult circumstances due to Covid-19, the workshop was still able to have a 40/60 split of in-person and on-line attendees while maintaining a safe environment for the in-person attendees. A few international in-person attendees were able to join the in-person audience which was predominantly from North America. As expected, the majority of the on-line attendees were from Europe and Asia-Pacific. The workshop continues to have near equal attendance between industry (57%) and research/academia (43%) and a strong global international interest typically favoring the host region. The global distribution of workshop attendees was North America (58%), Europe (22%) and Asia Pacific (20%).

In keeping with its history, this workshop  spotlighted the advanced technologies needed to build granular and modular power supplies and provided some compelling demonstrations of commercialized products that make a clear case that PwrSoC and PSiP technologies are becoming more prominent and mainstream.

The organizing team of world-renowned experts, innovators and pioneers of the Power Supply on Chip technology assembled the technical program for the nine technical sessions following the single-track format of past PwrSoC workshops.

• Plenary Session - Jose Cobos, University Polytechnic Madrid
• Systems and Applications - Francesco Carobolante, IoTissimo
• Topologies and Control - Bruno Allard, Université de Lyon
• Wideband Gap Integration - Brian Ma, University Texas Dallas
• Integrated Capacitors & Energy Storage - Mehdi Jatlaoui, Murata
• Integrated Magnetics - Masahiro Yamaguchi, Tohoku University Japan
• System Integrated Manufacturing and Packaging - Baoxing Chen, Analog Devices
• Granular Power - Santosh Kulkarni, Dialog Semiconductor
• Posters – Minjie Chen – Princeton University

There were a total of thirty-one lecture style presentations and fourteen poster presentations. Each of the seven technical disciplines of the workshop were represented by four lecture presentation and the plenary session added three technical presentations. The poster session covered topics from all of the technical disciplines of the workshop. As with past workshops, the balance between presenters from industry and presenters from research and academia was 50/50 indicating a strong acceptance by industry of the technology as well as continuing pursuit of further breakthroughs and innovations by research and academia. There also continues to be presentations provided by the three global regions with the global distribution of the presenters similar to that of the attendees.

The technical plenary session provided insights regarding the role of GaN, packaging architectures and integrated voltage regulators in the powering of electronics. The three plenary presenters were:

• Isik Kizilyalli,Associate Director of Technology of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E),
• Ravi Mahajan, Intel Fellow and Director of Pathfinding for Assembly and Packaging Technologies for 7-nonometer silicon and beyond, and
• Tim Phillips,founder and Chief Executive Officer of EmPower Semiconductor.

There were two "in-person" only events included in the program.

The 'first in-person only" was a seminar on "Social Networking for Engineers" presented by Ada Cheng, a market consultant with AdaClock and Anagenesis, and sponsored by the PSMA Industry-Education committee and IEEE PELS. This session was open to and well received by students, young professionals and even seasoned professionals who registered for the workshop and attended the session to gain insights and guidance on making meaningful connections with others. See the separate article in this issue of the UPDATE for more information on this seminar.

The second in-person only event was the spirited and interactive 'Roadmap for Power Integration Discussion" co-moderated by Francesco Carobolante of IoTissimo and Hanh-Phuc Le of University of California at San Diego. The roadmap discussions will be fed back to technical roadmap activities of IEEE and PSMA regarding power integration.

The "Trends and Opportunities" discussion originally announced as in-person only was broadcast on-line so all workshop attendees could hear the dialogue of experts from markets analysis, venture capitalist, integrated device manufacturers, small start-up component manufacturers and semiconductor fab organizations regarding the market environment to further advance Power Supply on Chip technology.

All in all, the 2021 Power Supply on Chip workshop provided two and a half days of useful and focused dialogs that will continue to drive PwrSoC and PSiP technologies forward. We look forward to the next workshop of the Power Supply on Chip workshop series. Planning is in process for the next workshop to be held as an in-person workshop in Europe. It is evident from this workshop that roadmaps are in place product releases with roots in PwrSoC and PSiP are accelerating. The momentum and interest witnessed during this workshop will lead to an exciting in-person workshop in Europe.

General Chair:
Mark Allen  mallen@seas.upenn.edu

Technical Program Co-Chairs:
Matt Wilkowski mwilkowski@enachip.com
Hanh-Phuc Le hanhphuc@ucsd.edu

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

espite the continuing challenging environment, the organizing committee for the 8th Annual IEEE / PMSA Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications (WiPDA) hosted a virtual conference from November 7 – 11, 2021.

The workshop provided engineers and scientists with opportunities to share their expertise in wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor technology. The conference kicked off on Sunday, November 7th with two tutorial tracks covering Silicon Carbide (SiC) power devices and Gallium Nitride (GaN) power devices. The weekday proceedings began each day with two keynote sessions featuring industry leaders discussing the latest developments in wide bandgap technology and applications including speakers from Navitas Semiconductor, GaN Systems, Wolfspeed, Efficient Power Conversion (EPC), Infineon Technologies, Transphorm Inc, University of Toronto, and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging. Daily proceedings featured technical sessions, panel discussions, and poster sessions. These sessions covered four technical tracks: Silicon Carbide (SiC) power devices, SiC applications, Gallium Nitride (GaN) power devices, GaN applications, and new this year, Gallium Nitride (GaN) RF devices and applications and International Technology Roadmap for Wide Bandgap Power Semiconductors) (ITRW) sessions.

The workshop was brought to you by the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS), the Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA), and the IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS).  The General Chair was Sameh Khalil, Senior Principal Engineer, GaN Device Reliability and Product Engineering Management at Infineon Technologies.  He was supported by Vice Chair Helen Li, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, FAMU-FSU college of Engineering
 
The committee is deeply appreciative of our sponsors and valued audience members to have a successful conference and to enjoy the opportunity to share the latest in device and applications of WBG technology during a continuing fluid situation.  Continue to stay safe and well and we look forward to seeing everyone in person next year in Redondo Beach!

Please subscribe to stay informed of the latest news and receive deadline reminders for WiPDA 2022. Also, join the conversation with the WiPDA group on LinkedIn.

Provided by Provided by Renee Yawger WiPDA 2021 Publicity Chair

ver since their introduction, keeping the temperature of a power supply down to a level that guarantees the highest levels of performance and safety has been a major concern for power designers. Considering the amazing increase in power densities that we have witnessed during the last 20 years, thermal management has become a preponderant part of the design process. Layout and mechanical design are now as important as efficiency topologies, and how to evacuate the calories out of modules has become an art!

The race to get greater power density!
Efficient thermal management has been one of the challenges that I faced in the early nineties when working for the microelectronics company Micro-Gisco. I took part in the design of a 100W DC/DC converter in a package size equivalent to what is today called a quarter-brick, for an application where the environmental temperature flirted with the junction temperature. At that time, the only technology available was to use thick film technology and chips bounding on a ceramic substrate. In such types of applications the only way to guarantee efficient cooling was through a base plate attached to a fluid refrigerant exchanger. There's no need to explain the importance of conduction cooling and efficient thermal management, that remains in every power designer's mind.

Figure 01 - In 20 years the quarter-brick output power increased by an average factor of more than 10x. (Credits: PRBX/FLEX Power Modules)

At the same time, with the development of mobile telecommunications the increased demand for integrated power solutions contributed to the emergence of the so called 'bricks', and a race to package more power into smaller sizes began. The increases of power have been really impressive. One example is the increase in power density of the so called 'quarter-brick'. In March 2000, the power modules division of ERICSSON (EPM) launched a state of the art 100W quarter brick DC/DC converter, the PKM 4000 series. 20 years later FLEX Power Module (which acquired EPM in 2017) launched a 1300W quarter brick, the BMR480 (Figure 01).

Increasing the output power by a factor of more than 10 in less than 20 years is the result of a combination of more efficient topologies, digital control, new components, heavy-copper multilayer PCBs, integrated magnetics and outstanding layouts. But in addition, to guarantee full performance of such products, efficient cooling is a must!

Figure 02 - in 1822 the French Physician Joseph Fourier demonstrated that the time rate of heat transfer through a material is proportional to the negative gradient in the temperature and to the area. (credit: PRBX)

Keeping Fourier's Law in mind
Over the last 20 years power electronics engineers have improved products' efficiency to a high level, and we are all aiming to reach the magical figure of 99.99%. But until then we have to manage the heat generated by the power losses. A 1000W DC/DC converter with a typical efficiency of 97% will have to dissipate 31W [Pd = Pout x ((1-È ) / È )]. Considering an average ambient temperature in a telecom or industrial equipment of 55 degrees Celsius, efficient cooling will be required to guarantee the internal temperature of the module does not exceed the safety limit specified by the manufacturer e.g., +105 degrees C at specified test point.

Figure 03 – Fourier's Law formula of thermal conduction (Credit: PRBX)

As we all remember from school, in 1822 the French Physician Joseph Fourier (Figure 02) demonstrated that the time rate of heat transfer through a material is proportional to the negative gradient in the temperature and to the area. Fourier's laws (Figure 03) of thermal conduction governs the principle of heat exchange from the lowest level e.g., the semiconductor junction to ambient. Thermal resistance is the reciprocal of thermal conductance. Just as an electrical resistance is associated with the conduction of electricity, a thermal resistance may be associated with the conduction of heat. Making the thermal resistance as low as possible is a challenge for all power designers and that's where electronics meets thermodynamics.

The packaging practices of AC/DC and DC/DC power modules are optimized to evacuate the heat through a conduction cooling mechanism from silicon to an exchanger surface e.g., aluminum baseplate. In most common applications a heatsink is attached to the baseplate and cooled by a flow of air, thus evacuating heat from the module (Figure 04). In telecom/datacom applications, a 400 LFM (2 m/s) airflow circulating inside the rack to cool the overall system is very common, but some very high power density systems may require up to the double that (800 LFM (4 m/s)), which is very noisy and reduces the life time of fans and cooling turbines.

Figure 04 – Illustration of a typical Power Module being cooled by an attached heatsink. Just as an electrical resistance is associated with the conduction of electricity, a thermal resistance may be associated with the conduction of heat. (Credit: PRBX)

Air forced cooling is the most common method to keep the temperature within safe limits though there are a number of applications where such cooling methods are not possible. However, there are a growing number of concerns about reliability and sustainability related toforced air cooling. Usually the air ventilated through datacenters and other high power equipment is exhausted outside the building and the calories are not converted into any usable resource. Thereforemost of the datacenters require air-conditioning systems which consume a lot of energy, which is a major concern.

Figure 05 – Example of PRBX thermal conduction platform, optimized for conduction cooling, with all dissipating components attached to the baseplate. (Credit: PRBX)

When forced air cooling is not an option
There are a number of applications where it is not possible or even permitted  to use active ventilation. In harsh environments or in applications where the required reliability level imposes the need to remove all possible risks of failure, fans and blowers are not allowed. Here are a few examples.

Industrial machinery such as laser cutting equipment that generates burnt particles, smoke, and steam have their monitoring and control boxes sealed to avoid contamination and the risk of damage as a result of the cutting process. In order to power the control system, the power supply is enclosed in a sealed box, thus requiring the dissipated heat to be extracted by conduction from the chassis, or the need for it to be attached to a cold-wall. To make the cooling as efficient as possible the power supply is designed with a large base-plate to which all dissipating components are attached (Figure 05). In some equipment a liquid cooling is required to cool vital parts, e.g., a laser or plasma torch during operation. In such applications the power supply benefits from the fluid circulation and the baseplate attached to a cooling element (Figure 06).

Industrial surveillance and safety equipment may be installed in remote places where exposure to extreme weather conditions is common, and where maintenance can become complicated. In such installations reliability is extremely important, and system designers need to exclude all possible causes of failure. Despite significant improvements in quality, fans and blowers are subject to mechanical failure and are not suitable for such applications. Again, as in the previous example, cooling can only be achieved through conduction to the outside of the sealed box and a passive heat exchanger.

Figure 06 – In demanding applications, a liquid cooling element can be added to PSU baseplate to facilitate the evacuation of calories (Credit: PRBX/SUNON)

When silence is golden
There is also a growing demand for equipment that is installed in supervisory rooms or even offices, where, for the comfort and health of the employees, generated noise is simply not produced or is very much limited.

One example is open-landscape offices where in some cases noise levels can be as high as 60 to 65 decibels. This may seem minor compared to say a busy highway that generates 85 decibels, but it can make cognitively demanding work difficult and tiring  to undertake, with subsequent effects on health and safety. In fact, a number of companies now require noise levels in open-landscape offices to be below 55 decibels.

In such situations, all of the equipment installed in the room which may include computers and large displays, such as those used in a road or air traffic control office, the noise levels must be reduced to the lowest level possible, and noisy forced air cooling is banned. Under such conditions the power supply must be designed to operate without ventilation, using a conduction cooling solution.

In Conclusion
Designing a power supply for conduction cooling requires power designers to work in very different ways compared to when designing a power supply that benefits from a high airflow and extensive cooling. Conduction cooled power supplies used to be considered an anecdotal segment, but emerging new environmental regulations may soon require a number of forced-air cooled applications to move to more environmentally friendly solutions and conduction cooling.

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

Théorie Analytique de la Chaleur par M. FOURRIER – 1822
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1045508v.texteImage#

FLEX Power Modules : https://flexpowermodules.com/

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

ver the years I have worked with various safety, compliance, and certification agencies and NRTLs (Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories) and similar types of labs. Let's call them businesses who make money from certifying products of various sorts. In the past, before legal, finance and operations ruled the world, some of these agencies were not-for-profit organizations which were funded by insurance companies to enhance safety and minimize losses from coverage of fires and damages caused by unsafe conditions in products. Today many or all the NRTLs are businesses who charge like lawyers in billable hours.

This approach to safety and compliance certification has changed how test labs conduct business to the point where your success in obtaining certifications for your new product will depend to a large extent on which laboratory you choose to work with. And in my experience, your success will also depend on who you get assigned to at that particular NRTL. Success in this case involves meeting your goals for budget and time to market on your project. This article recounts a series of compliance stories, let's call them case studies, in which companies encountered difficulties in attempting to obtain safety certifications.

As these stories illustrate, there are a variety of pitfalls in the safety approvals process, often relating to the unfortunate choice of an NRTL that places profit over serving the customer. But as we'll also see, choosing the right NRTL and the right lab representative can not only avoid the nuisance problems caused by the laboratory, but also educate the customer on better design choices that will ultimately make compliance easier.

This article focuses on the problems that occur when companies seek safety compliance certifications. But before we delve into examples of these problems, let's consider some of the reasons why the choice of test lab is more of an issue with safety than with other compliance certifications.

How Safety Compliance Differs from Other Areas

First, let's define in today's landscape what compliance regulatory certifications are needed to make a product that can be sold in the marketplace. These include global environmental and materials certifications, radiated and conducted EMI-RFI, CE certification, energy efficiency standards, and electrical safety/flammability of materials. In some cases, all of these must be met. So, let's look at these areas one by one.

Environmental and materials content has turned into a mandatory disclosure area with penalties to the OEM for not conforming. While very onerous and time consuming, this process is pretty black and white. What components comprise your product inside the shipping box? And probably these days you must also disclose the contents of your shipping box, including cords and cables and perhaps even the composition of the box as well. Nevertheless, it's scientifically cut and dried.

With radiated and conducted emissions, you either meet the standard or you don't via methodology and measurements. It's pretty much a pass or fail situation and you want to pass with margin to account for production deviations.

CE is all about whether your product conforms to European health, safety, and environmental protection standards, which mostly encompasses the same items as RoHS and Reach. The CE certification is a super big deal in Europe but not a factor in the U.S. It's mostly obtained by hiring a consultant, paying them, and filling out documents in which you attest that your product adheres to the standards—tick a box and you get CE certification.

Energy efficiency standards, while they vary country by country and range from mandatory to voluntary, are also applied in scientific ways. You measure the energy consumed in various modes of operation and the product either conforms or not. If it doesn't, you re-spin the software or the hardware design until it meets the standards, and then you are certified to the standards. It's measured and validated, and again, data wins. It's a pass-fail situation. In some cases, you are allowed to self-disclose (self-certify the product).

However, what I have observed in the safety area has been very different from these other types of certifications. In my experience, it depends not only on the company you choose to certify your product, but also on who you get to work on your product certification at that agency. Without naming names of organizations, I have seen situations where one NRTL certifies a product or subsystem—and since we are in the power electronics industry lets be specific to merchant power supplies—but another NRTL rejects that certification.

The compliance process has become so challenging that some see this situation as a business opportunity. I was amazed to recently see an advertisement by a group of former NRTL test employees that will, for a fee, coach and guide you on how to get your product prepared for getting through the process at a specific, or perhaps all NRTLs. That's somewhat the reverse of a situation in the healthcare industry where insurance companies are paying retired dentists and doctors to help them reject or delay claims!

In theory, power supply makers usually will only need to get certification from one NRTL and all the other NRTLs are supposed to accept those test results. However, some labs have learned that doing so doesn't maximize billable hours. This statement is not meant to impugn all NRTLs. There are a lot of top-certificating organizations who are moral and ethical. But there are some for whom the guiding principle seems to be just "is it legal, and what can we get away with?" We'll see examples of both in the following stories.

Case 1: When NRTLs Don't Accept Each Other's Work

A large scientific instrument company designed a new instrument using a power supply which was previously certified by NRTL "A". This power supply meets not only the industrial standards that the instrument must conform to, it also meets medical electronic specifications IEC 60601 3rd edition and 4th edition EMC—both of which are more stringent specifications than that required of the industrial instrument. The power supply also meets IEC 62368 and legacy IEC 60950 IT power supply standards.

In this scenario, the instrument maker submitted their new instrument to NRTL "B" to certify its compliance with the applicable safety standards. Test lab B ran its tests and found that the product passed all tests. However, NRTL B questioned everything about the power supply and took exception to its previous certifications. They said they cannot accept the certifications from NRTL A, and the customer must completely re-certify and validate the conformance of the power supply to a standard to which it has already been tested and conformed. This would of course cost the instrument maker a great deal of time and money, while generating goodly income for NRTL B.

For the instrument manufacturer, the options included paying the NRTL to redo the testing, which was unnecessary, switching the project to another NRTL or redesigning the product with a power supply that the NRTL would find acceptable. It's likely that had the instrument company used another NRTL, the power supply would have been accepted and the product would have passed readily. Although, it's also possible that something else might have been brought up instead as an excuse not to pass the product. Frankly, it's also possible that had they been assigned another individual at that same NRTL it would have passed as well. But regardless of the solution, is the product any safer or more compliant because of how NRTL B handled the certification?

In the end, the instrument maker did in fact switch to another NRTL and they passed safety approvals without any issues. Of course, they had to pay the first NRTL for the time and aggravation as well as the NRTL they ended up using.

Case 2: Problems Within a Single NRTL Organization

A medical product company decided to use NRTL "C" to certify their new product for global sales. NRTL C has branches around the world. It's the same organization—just with different branches.

The medical product manufacturer developed its product in North America using a power supply which was designed in Europe. Then it submitted the product to a branch of NRTL C in North America for certification. As is customary during the certification process, the NRTL created a list of "things we need more information about" or that the customer simply must change. In this case, NRTL C took exception to the certifications of the power supply and would not accept them.

However, the medical product company quickly pointed out that those power supply certifications were from the NRTL C organization, so how could they possibly have an issue with them? It would be taking exception to its own work one would think.

The answer was that NRTL C Americas and NRTL C Europe are different entities, and the Americas branch would not automatically honor the certification of their European colleagues. In this case, the customer elected to pay NRTL C Americas to re-certify NRTL C Europe's work. It was paperwork only and no further testing was done. So, is the product safer or more compliant due to this?

Case 3: When It's Easier to Find a New Lab

Another medical instrument company submitted their product to NRTL "D" for approval. Here, the NRTL took exception to the type of plastic used in the product case. Their concern was not related to flammability, but rather the insulation barrier and conductivity of the plastic used in the chassis. Unfortunately, changing the type of plastic, the vacuum molding set-up and die, and associated things to modify this aspect of the design, especially at this late stage, would cost a great deal of money. This change would also add delays to the project launch, resulting in a loss of market share to the medical instrument company.

The solution in this case was to move to another NRTL, which passed the product to the same specifications with no changes made. Had the instrument company submitted their product to a different NRTL in the beginning, or possibly just been assigned to a different individual at NRTL D, they might have passed compliance testing with no problems.

Case 4: When the Lab Doesn't Test Appropriately

In this situation, a third medical instrument company was failing hipot testing with a power supply that had passed medical electronics standards with some margin. The maker of the power supply states they do so right on the product and offers documentation for same. But the NRTL doing the hipot testing was using ac testing and damaging the Y capacitors in the power supply in the process.

The standard allows for dc equivalent testing, and it was pointed out to the NRTL that all they were doing was damaging the Y capacitors and not measuring the actual safety barriers of the power supply. Nevertheless, they continued to test and damage power supplies, charging the customer for their time and of course damaging power supplies so that they could not be used after the destructive testing.

In this case, the power level was low, and the medical instrument company had chosen to embed the offline power supply in their product. However, because of the problem with getting the product to pass hipot, I recommended to the medical instrument company that they re-design the product to get all high voltage out and just have a low-voltage sealed connector on their product. Then they could use an external "wall wart" power supply with as many approvals and medical certifications as I could find at that power level.

The NRTL accepted the external power supply's certifications and stopped hipot testing. For some reason, this external power supply approach with a fully certified one was such that no testing was needed on the power supply and the medical product passed safety certification immediately using the same NRTL from start to finish. Was that necessary? The product in the end might have been safer or not. But the low-voltage approach was a better one as it passed the burden of passing hipot onto the power supply vendor, so I have mixed thoughts on this one.

Case 5: When the Lab Gives Good Advice

A customer decided to design their own power conversion in an industrial product and went to NRTL "E" for testing. The customer had made many mistakes in the design including not using bridge rectifiers which had safety certifications including those for flammability compliance. The NRTL flagged these issues and also objected to the X and Y caps and other items connected to the mains. The laboratory recommended that the customer simply use a commercial power supply that had all the necessary documentation and not try to build their own.

In this case, NRTL E did a good job because it educated the customer that they really should not be designing their own power supplies. Although it was a blow to their egos, they were not better at it than companies which design and build power supplies as their end products. In this case it I wondered if they had gotten another tester at NRTL E or used another test company, would they have passed the product? Would that have been the right thing to do? In the end, it was better that the medical company used a commercial medical power supply—whether they knew it or not.

Case 6: Some NRTL Reps Go Out of Their Way to Help

While working at a power supply company, I had once provided extensive information to NRTL "F" on a certain power supply that was being used by one of our customers in a medical product. That power supply was originally approved by another NRTL, so the agent at NRTL F was just doing the research to confirm the power supply's compliance. That done, the medical product was approved.

Sometime later, I was contacted again by NRTL F about their testing of another medical product from a different company, also our customer. It turned out this second customer was using the same power supply as the previously approved medical product discussed above.

Once informed of the test lab's previous experience with the power supply, the NRTL F representative informed me that he didn't need any more information. He would simply take the data he already had from the past product approval and use it for this second medical device customer.

Now that was class. Since the present medical customer didn't know about the power supply's history, the NRTL representative could have easily charged the customer full price and billed hours for learning about something they already knew and making it new all over again.

NRTL F did the right thing both times. They could have given the first customer a hard time because the power supply was originally approved by another NRTL. But they just confirmed the approval and accepted it. Then they could have charged the second customer for redoing the research, or even rejected the power supply's approval from another NRTL. But they did not do those things.

In both cases, they saved our mutual customers time and money. I hope the individual didn't get in trouble for being helpful, efficient, and using common sense.  These days in most organizations, "following the process" is more important than results.

Case 7: Promises Made But Not Delivered

A scientific instrument company submitted a project to NRTL "G" who promised the customer a timeline for completion of the project to certify their product. The project was assigned to an individual at the lab who started to work on the project and sent the customer lots of questions to answer. The customer answered the questions and NRTL G went dark on asking for anything else.

So, it was assumed that the project was being worked on. It turned out that the employee at NRTL G left and the project was not reassigned. But this was just the beginning of the problems. It seems that NRTL G had a systematic problem with turnover, so the project would be handed off to a new representative several times. And every time a new person was placed on the project, a different set of questions was asked, and there was no mention of the questions asked by the prior employee. The project was new repeatedly. 

This of course cost the company time and money and the solution in the end was that the scientific instrument company changed NRTLs. With compliance being handled by a different lab, the customer was served with a small list of questions, which they answered, and the product passed without further incident.

How to Avoid Safety Compliance Nightmares

What can we learn from all this? The system works sometimes and sometimes not. In some cases, the exceptions taken seem to be more about maximizing billable hours than about verifying safety and compliance. Sometimes this system gives you a better product, but often the equipment maker doesn't change anything on the product—lots of paper (or now electronic files) just get moved around and money changes hands.

So how can you avoid having to pay out a lot of money or wasting a lot of time? If your organization has an internal safety and compliance group and/or you can self-certify, that is often the best situation. Your internal team can collaborate with you early to avoid potential certification issues.

If you must go outside for compliance testing, keep in mind that the mindset of your NRTL partner might not be to help you achieve your goals in a timely manner. Don't believe for a second that all NRTLs are the same, they are not. You should interview them ahead of time, interview who they are going to have working on your project and give a "not to exceed" quotation for the project.

If they say they can't quote it until they have more information, then let them know you will supply the information needed to quote. Otherwise, you are giving them a blank check to have their way with you. If no exceptions are taken during the quoting process, why would they become an issue after the project starts? Well, that's because you were a prospect before and now you are a client customer—if the rules change after the fact, you are too far in.

Also ask for the background on the person doing the work for you. How many years do they have working on projects such as yours? How long have they been with the NRTL? If they will let you involve them early and often in the product development process, it may prevent problems later, as it becomes more expensive to change things as the project moves along the development pipeline.

You may think that since the person works at a big NRTL organization they must be competent, right? Well don't assume that. Ask to interview the person who is going to be doing the work and ask about qualifications, longevity, projects worked on successfully, etc. Interview them like you are interviewing a prospective employee. If you don't like the answers, request another person or find another NRTL.

Another tip is to choose sub-assemblies with compliance in mind. Do the equipment and components being selected meet all the usual necessary and customary compliance certifications with documentation available to back up claims?

Finally, talk to other customers of the NRTL being considered, ask for references, and call them—what has been their experience working with the lab? Do they stick to the set price or are they constantly finding reasons for billing more hours? Don't forget that selecting an NRTL and staff to work with is like interviewing a potential employee. You will potentially live with this decision for a long time, and they can cause delays and costs to spiral out of control such that the only way to fix it will be the application of more time and money.

Choose carefully and involve the lab early, keeping in mind that you are more likely to have a good result if you set clear expectations on both sides from the start. If you think that the nightmares described in this article cannot happen to you, consider that neither did any of the companies involved in these stories. By the time, these companies discovered their problems, they were too far into the compliance process to fix them easily and resolving them required much more time and money than they had expected to invest.

Editor's Note: This article was first published in the October 2021 issue of How2Power Today (http://www.how2power.com/newsletters/index.php).

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