Princeton-Philly Power Electronics Advancement Consortium (PPPEAC) was founded in 2019 to facilitate power electronics activities in the Central/South Jersey and Philadelphia regions. These regions have a long history and abundance of power electronic practitioners, industry, labs, and focused educational programs. Our mission is to encourage communication and engagement with these diverse groups so that we can learn, grow, and network. We are sponsored by the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) and Industrial Application Society (IAS), and work under the guidance of the Princeton and Philadelphia IEEE sections. The Princeton-Philadelphia Power Advancement Consortium (PPPEAC) the joint IEEE Princeton/Central Jersey & Philadelphia Section for Power Electronics & Industry Applications in regions 1 and 2, geo-code CH01279.
Upcoming Events
Save the date! PPPEAC is hosting the next IEEE PELS/IAS Chapter meeting on April 12th in Glassboro, NJ. Event highlights include:
- Overview by ECE Department Head of the Rowan Robi Polikar.
- A walking lab tour of Rowan University ECE Labs.
- Distinguished Lecture about Modern Power Conversion Solutions – From Electric Power Grids to Aerospace Power Applications by Brandon Grainger, University of Pittsburgh.
The talk continues our theme at the meeting in September, Lockheed Martin Factory Tour, which was published in the March 2024 Issue of Power Electronics Magazine, and includes a picture of everyone who made it to this sold-out event.
In-person guests will need to register using the Eventbrite. We have reduced the fee to $6, but it is non-refundable this time. The fee will be used to subsidize the Eventbrite service fees, travel expenses for the invited speaker, feeding guests, etc. Each chapter event is a fiscal loss for us, the paid registration discourages no shows and limits our losses.
Eventbrite In-Person Registration Link
Virtual guests can attend for free with the help of our neighbor Connecticut PELS chapter who will be moderating. Click the link below to register (required) and schedule a calendar invite.
PELS WebEx Registration Link
Educational Credits
We have had numerous requests to offer CEU and PEH credits at our events. At the end of the event contact Fei Lui (fei.lu@drexel.edu ), where you will be asked to complete an evaluation form. Credits are being offered to in-person guests, as we have have limited capabilities to track online participation
Agenda (last updated 3/14/2024)
6:00PM Start walking tour of the labs
6:30PM Self-serve pizza, soda, water, cookies. Take to seats.
6:35PM Introduction to Rowan by Robi Polikar, Head of the Rowan ECE Department
6:50PM PELS/IAS Chapter update by Chapter Chair Vishram Deshpande
7:00PM Brandon Grainger from Univ. of Pittsburgh will present, Modern Power Conversion Solutions – From Electric Power Grids to Aerospace Power Applications.
7:50PM Question and answer
8:00PM Socialization and networking
8:30PM Meeting adjourned
Arrival
Visitors can park for free in Lot D, which is next to Engineering Hall (Building 10). Meeting is taking place in Rowan Hall Auditorium (Building 9) as highlighted in the bottom of the announcement, as taken from the campus map.
Topic
Modern Power Conversion Solutions – From Electric Power Grids to Aerospace Power Applications
It has been stated that by 2030, 80% of our electricity generation on land, sea, and in space will be processed by power electronic systems. The electric power industry is seeing continued improvements in wide bandgap device technology, new circuit topologies for direct medium voltage interconnection, and trends in the utilization of DC based architectures for integrating DC generation resources, like solar, and forthcoming loads such as electric vehicles. Power electronic systems enable this transition to occur and build intelligence into grid systems, future all-electric ship designs, aircraft, and satellite systems.
Electric ships, aircrafts, and satellites can be all be considered one of the earliest examples of a functioning microgrid. In these environments, high power density design and minimized size, weight are often constraints of the power conversion system while ensuring peak efficiency performance with minimal filtering requirements. For aerospace design, reliability and lifespan is of special consideration as the latest device technology, like GaN, is explored where components must be radiation tolerant, handle wide thermal range, and extreme system input and output conditions.
Although the voltage and power levels are drastically different between all domains mentioned, there is indeed overlap that can be considered in these system designs. New circuit topologies, magnetic design and materials, wide bandgap device utilization, and control strategies for the power electronic systems all play a role in optimizing the power quality, efficiency, and size, weight of the converters in all arenas. In this talk, we will first explore a modern, modular multilevel converter (MMC) and how academia has cleverly increased the power density of the converter topology for use in medium voltage drives and satellite systems by using SiC and GaN, respectively. Having discussed SiC and GaN in multilevel applications, we will explore the latest radiation tolerant GaN technology suitable for space environments and compare these to commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products. Comparisons will be done for point of load converters through SPICE simulation and in hardware. Finally, with an understanding of rad-hard vs COTS definitions, we will evaluate the limitations of readily available rad-hard components compared to COTS and explore GaN device optimization in forward converters, a popular, isolated, dc-dc converter of choice for space environments. All efforts discussed in this talk were supported by Mitsubishi Electric Company and by members of the NSF SHREC center at the University of Pittsburgh.
About PPPEAC
Princeton-Philly Power Electronics Advancement Consortium (PPPEAC) was founded in 2019 to facilitate power electronics activities in the Central/South Jersey and Philadelphia regions. These regions have a long history and abundance of power electronic practitioners, industry, labs, and focused educational programs. Our mission is to encourage communication and engagement with these diverse groups so that we can learn, grow, and network. We are sponsored by the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) and Industrial Application Society (IAS), and work under the guidance of the Princeton and Philadelphia IEEE sections. Please share this email with whomever you think can benefit from joining the group. Membership to PPPEAC is free and can be online through our website. If you are looking to grow your professional career and network, please considering volunteering.
Officers
Chair: Vishram Deshpande
Vice Chair: Fei Lu
Secretary: Miles Wright
Past Chair and Treasurer: Grant Pitel
Sub-Committees
Tours and Events Chair: Bogdan Proca
Webmaster: Miles Wright
