Alex Gerfer, Würth Elektronik eiSos Group, Germany, presents his talk at the opening plenary session from APEC 2022 in Houston, Texas. 

Abstract: We have a huge variety of inductors and transformers in the magnetics universe. Orders of magnitude in size and power, a large range of application frequencies into the MHz, and hundreds of core materials. Is it any wonder that most designers find it hard to navigate through this deep cosmos to find the best solution for their design goal. This presentation will give a comprehensive overview of new, interesting design tools. It highlights the importance of increased cooperation between research institutes, manufacturers, and consultants to overcome existing design barriers. Solutions are around the corner: AI and 3D printing will more and more help us, to build low loss and volume optimized magnetic components.

John H. Scott, NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate, delivers his plenary presentation about the challenges facing power electronics when sustaining life on the surface of the moon. 

Abstract: NASA’s Artemis Program seeks not only to return humans to the Moon for the first time since the 1970s but also to provide the technological basis for infrastructure that will enable permanent and expanding scientific and industrial exploitation of the Lunar surface. The primary purpose of this infrastructure is to generate and distribute power to a diverse and growing range of scientific and industrial assets, and the keys to success for this function are power management and control circuits that are highly reliable and maintainable for a decade of operation in the extreme thermal, radiation, and dust environment of the Lunar surface. While various combinations of wide band gap semiconductors, electronic devices, circuit topologies, and shielding schemes have been successfully developed for mission environments ranging from low Earth orbit to the Jovian system, power management technology has not been optimized to meet the full combination of mission requirements for the Lunar surface. To accomplish this, NASA requests the dedicated focus of the power electronics industry.

Together, co-presenters Jelena Popovic, University of Twente, The Netherlands, and Liuchen Chang, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada, discuss topics related to the challenges of accessing energy resources around the world. Popovic and Chang present the IEEE-PELS initiative, IEEE Empower a Billion Lives. 

Abstract: Ensuring universal, affordable, and sustainable energy access is one of the biggest societal challenges of our time. Energy poverty has far-reaching consequences on health, education, and livelihoods for almost 1 billion people with no access to electricity and over 2 billion people with poor and unreliable access. Decentralized approaches, such as solar home systems and mini-grids, have emerged in response to the shortcomings of centralized grid extension, sparked start-up innovation, and are increasingly being integrated into national electrification plans. However, affordability, scalability, quality, interoperability, business models, technology obsolescence, and lifecycle sustainability remain challenges. This plenary talk frames the energy access challenges, benchmark existing solutions, highlight opportunities for the power electronics community, and present the engagement of the IEEE Power Electronics Society with energy access. Flagship initiatives are IEEE Empower a Billion Lives, a recurring global competition aimed at fostering innovation to develop technically, economically, and socially viable energy access solutions and IEEE Global Energy Access Forum; a platform to facilitate multistakeholder engagement in discussions on how rapid technology developments, forward-leaning policies, and new financing mechanisms intersect and can accelerate the development and deployment of scalable solutions for energy access.

Gideon (Don) van Zyl, Advanced Energy Industry, Fort Collins, CO, USA, presents his plenary talk about plasma processing, its power electronics engineering challenges, and its semiconductor industry role. 

Abstract: Plasma processing is well established and known in semiconductor wafer manufacturing and for creating highly engineered coatings in advanced industrial applications. The ability to precisely power and drive plasma loads has also enabled electrosurgical applications. For the power electronics engineer, plasma loads present unique challenges, including wide swings in load impedance, the highly nonlinear and time-varying nature of the load, arcing, and the difficulty in precisely measuring and controlling power delivery. In the semiconductor industry, higher etch rate requirements for 3D memory devices result in ever-increasing power being applied to bias the workpiece. This results in severe modulation of the plasma impedance creating problems for other generators that are also coupled to the plasma load. In medical applications, where a small plasma is created at the tip of a powered electrosurgical probe to cut and ablate tissue, challenging plasma impedance variations to create the same challenge for power delivery and control. We will show how advances in power electronics devices, circuits, and measurement and control are enabling advanced plasma processing.

Dr. Ritu Sodhi, Power Transistor R&D Consult to ROHM, presents her plenary talk on making their roadmap more interactive, live real-time, and contextual while staying relevant to its users. 

Abstract: Our success as individuals, as companies, and as institutions, depends on anticipating and being equipped to deal with the future. To help the power electronics industry in this endeavor, PSMA published its first Power Technology Roadmap (PTR) in 1994 using a collaborative approach. A lot has changed since then in our industry and in the way that we do road mapping. Along with increased participation from the community, our methodology has adapted to the times to stay relevant, with an aim to provide wide-ranging perspectives on the growth and evolution of power conversion technology. In this talk, we will walk down memory lane and track the evolution of the PSMA PTR –from a single, in-person, roundtable event in the early years to a multidimensional, multimedia, multiyear activity to track key trends across a broad variety of power conversion markets. See how the community anticipated industry trends such as efficiency, digital control, and the shift from silicon to wide bandgap materials. And revisit what we got wrong. The PTR will continue to evolve. Find out how it can continue to be useful to you or better yet, how you can help chart the next 30 years of the industry!

Dr. Deepakraj (Deepak) Divan, Georgia Institute of Technology, presents the closing plenary talk on distributed energy and how to create solutions that use science and technology to achieve impact. 

Abstract: Hundreds of gigawatts of PV solar, wind, and storage are being deployed globally on the grid every year. Over the next 5-10 years, millions of geo-dispersed inverters will replace the rotating synchronous generators that are the heart of today’s grid. These inverters will have to work together collectively and autonomously to also form and sustain the grid as an ecosystem and will have to do so without causing stability issues or interacting with each other or with other grid elements. This will require new hardware, software, and control principles. It will also drive the industry towards multiport power converters that are flexible, modular, and scalable, and which can simultaneously and safely interface with PV solar, batteries, generators, and loads, managing power flows between various sources/loads and ensuring stable operation under normal, transient and fault conditions. Fast-moving technologies, lagging standards, diverse communications protocols, cybersecurity issues, hundreds of inverter vendors, and hundreds of grid codes to comply with, pose a very challenging set of issues – but they need to be solved soon. Availability of a next generation inverter for the future grid can be a key factor in addressing climate change and saving the only planet that we have