Below you will find our previous events. Whether you are catching up on the latest or need a refresher, we hope to see you at the next event!
General Meeting and Factory Tour
Date: Friday, September 8, 2023
Location: Lockheed Martin, Moorestown NJ
Agenda:
6:00-6:20 Arrival and socialization
6:20-6:40 Walking tour
6:40-7:00 Food and PPPEAC update, Grant Pitel
7:00-7:10 Question and answer
7:10-7:40 Presentation “Lockheed Martin (LM): Moorestown NJ Site
Profile, LM Products and the Role of Power Electronics
Technology in LM Products” by Dr. John Tsinetakes,
Principal Member of Engineering Staff
7:40-8:00 Question and answer, socialization, departure
Event Minutes:
IEEE PELS/IAS PPPEAC Chapter Holds Meeting and Industry Tour on Sept 8th 2023
The Princeton-Philly Power Electronics Advancement Consortium (PPPEAC), a joint region PELS/IAS chapter, completed their much-awaited industrial tour on Sept 8, 2023, at Lockheed Martin facility in Moorestown, New Jersey. The agenda included a factory, dinner, socialization, networking, a chapter promotional presentation by Dr. Grant Pitel, the chapter chair, and ended with a presentation on the history and technical accomplishments of the Moorestown Lockheed Martin facility by Dr. John Tsinetakes.
Sudden thunderstorms did not dampen the enthusiasm for the sold-out event, as visitors gathered sharply at 6 pm to kick start the visit. Two groups of about 25 visitors were escorted around the state-of-the-art facility to see micro-electronics and other manufacturing divisions. Manufacturing stages of some of the highly technological Lockheed Martin products such as land based and shipboard RADAR systems, and shipboard launching systems were witnessed by the PPEAC chapter visitors. The tour concluded at the EMC test area, consisting of multi story anechoic chambers used for product acceptance tests.
Sandwiches and beverages were provided during professional networking/socialization after the tour. At the end, the joint organizers from PPPEAC and Lockheed Martin delivered presentations, thanking guests for participating in the first-of-its-kind opportunity to see this facility with over 70 years of history, with ownership transitioning from RCA to GE, and eventually to Lockheed Martin. The facility is over one million square feet and employs more than 4000 working professionals to safeguard the United States as well as its allies. Lockheed Martin’s commitment to research and education was demonstrated from their sponsorship of the Center for Power Electronics Research (CPES), Power America, and local high school robotics clubs. The event lasted nearly 2 and half hours. PPPEAC wanted to thank Lockheed Martin, the Lockheed Martin tour escorts, and chapter volunteers for their support in making this year’s power electronics factory tour series a great success!
Reported by Dr. Vishram Deshpande, PELS Chapter Vice Chair.
Talk Title: Power Electronics Hardware Design for Manufacturability
Date: Thursday, September 15, 2022, 2:00-3:00PM EST
Speaker: Grant Pitel, CEO Magna-Power Electronics Inc., President PPPEAC
Event Recording:
Abstract: With a small diverse team of engineers, Magna-Power Electronics can offer over 160,000 different configurations of programmable power supplies and electronic loads, spanning current levels up to 10,000 Adc, voltage levels up to 10,000 Vdc, and power levels up to 3,000 kW. While Magna-Power has nearly fully in-sourced manufacturing operations under one roof, the strategies presented can also be implemented through close manufacturing partners by understanding the constraints imposed by various production processes and machinery. The presentation shares an overview of some of Magna-Power’s prototyping techniques, design automation software, team management tools that were developed iteratively over its 40-year history. Topics include printed circuit board (PCB) design and vendor selection, production and design controls, and electro-mechanical integration. New content, beyond the original article, now includes recent progress in programmatically defined assembly
General Meeting and Factory Tour
Date: Friday, September 16, 2022, 4:00-6:00PM
Location: Magna-Power Electronics Inc., 39 Royal Road Flemington, NJ 08822
Event Minutes:
Agenda: Factory Tour, Food and Refreshments, Call to Order, Approval of Minutes, Officer Introduction and Reports, New Business, Creation of Education and Tours/Trips Subcommittee, Open Floor, Announcements, Open Floor, Adjournment
Factory Tour Overview: At Magna-Power’s 73,500 sq-ft company-owned design and manufacturing facility in Flemington, New Jersey, the company has vertically integrated production of its products, starting from raw materials and electrical components, to completed high-power electronic assemblies. This level of integration provides Magna-Power with complete control over its quality, lead-time, and costs.
The visitors would be split up into multiple groups, and each group would spend around ~5 minutes in each department with a Magna-Power team member. The facility is divided into the following departments:
- Sheet Metal
- Printed Circuit Board
- Machining
- Sub-Assembly
- Magnetics
- Final-Assembly
- Testing
- Logistics
Visitors would have the oppurtunity to witness first hand how Magna-Power makes all of their products from start to finish along with the production processes employed.
Talk Title: High-Efficiency/Density Composite Converters for Electric Drivetrain Apps
Date: Monday, November 15, 2021
Speaker: Dragan Maksimović, Professor and Director, University of Colorado
Event Recording: Google Drive
Abstract: This talk is focused on composite switched-mode power converter architectures where device stresses and sizes of passive components can be substantially reduced compared to conventional converter configurations. The composite architectures are inspired by the concepts of direct and indirect power processing and the fundamental limits of dc-dc converter networks. In electric drivetrain architectures, including xEV and electrified aircraft applications, a boost dc-dc converter is often utilized to interface a battery system to variable-speed ac drives, thus enabling the system operation at increased dc bus voltages. Using standard boost converter realizations, it has been shown how wide bandgap SiC devices lead to improvements in efficiency and reductions in the size of magnetic components. We then show how further improvements can be achieved using the composite architectures where SiC device and passive component stresses and losses are substantially reduced. Optimization of composite converters involves complex design tradeoffs in terms of losses, size, and reliability. To address these challenges, a design methodology is presented, which involves selection of the converter architecture, magnetics design, control techniques, and electro-thermal co-design. The approach is illustrated by modeling, simulations, and experimental results on a 125 kW SiC composite converter prototype featuring 21.3 kW/L power density and 99% drive-cycle weighted efficiency.
Talk Title: The Future of Electric Cars: How Do We Charge Them Up? Do They Really Bring Benefits?
Date: Thursday, November 11, 2021
Speaker: Philip Krein, Professor, University of Illinois
Event Recording: Youtube Link
Abstract: The shift to more electric cars and transportation brings opportunities for control, extreme performance, energy reduction and flexibility, cheaper operation, and lower emissions. Customers see limited range, battery performance limits, slow refueling, and lack of charging facilities as big drawbacks. This presentation shows how the energy needs of most electric and plug-in hybrid cars can be met with the conventional electrical outlets most of us have. Safety protection, metering, billing, and other functions can be supported by a car to turn a “dumb” electrical outlet into a smart vehicle charge point. Actual driver needs are discussed, showing how more advanced chargers fit in. Survey results on the University of Illinois campus help to support the ideas. The talk explores how to think differently about electric cars and energy. Flexibility can make electric vehicles important partners for the future of electricity.
Talk Title: The Digital Carbon Footprint Is Growing, or Is It?
Date: Thursday, May 13, 2021
Speaker: Todd Brady, Director of Global Public Affairs and Sustainability, Intel Corporation
Abstract: There are two trends that are rapidly changing the world we live in – digitalization and climate change. At first glance, the two appear to be completely disparate trends. However upon further examination, there are correlations that are worth exploring. For one, digital technologies, devices and applications are ubiquitous in today’s world and growing. With such growth comes environmental impact. But what is that impact and is the growth significantly contributing to climate change or do efficiency improvements offset emissions? Digitalization has a clear environmental “footprint” that must be prioritized by information and communication technology (ICT) companies. At the same time, ICT has a “handprint” that has had a measurable benefit in reducing the growth of the world’s carbon emissions, with many more unrealized opportunities. The seminar will examine this topic from the lens of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, Intel Corporation, and will discuss both the challenges ahead as well as the opportunities that digitalization presents.
Talk Title: Bi-Directional Wireless Power Transfer Technologies for V2G-H2V Applications
Date: Monday, November 30, 2020
Speaker: Udaya K. Madawala, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
Abstract: Electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining global acceptance as the means of future transport for sustainable living and as an alternative energy storage to offer services through the vehicle-to-home (V2H) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) concepts. For V2G and V2H applications, EVs essentially require a bi-directional power interface with either the electricity network (grid) or home to allow for both storing (charging) and retrieval (discharging) of energy. This can be achieved by both wired and wireless means, but the latter, based primarily on Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) technology, is becoming more popular being convenient, safe, and ideal for both stationary and dynamic charging of EVs. The seminar discusses the standards, challenges and future directions of V2G-H2V technologies, and presents the latest advances in bi-directional wireless power transfer (BD-WPT) technology developed for V2G-H2V applications.
Inaugural meeting, on October 3rd, 2019, PPPEAC
