The 2nd Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES) Outreach Workshop recently held in Tampa, Florida included Dr. Michael Briere, Executive Vice President for Research and Development at International Rectifier. His presentation, “Global Impact of Efficient Power Electronics on Energy Consumption and an Industry Roadmap Initiative for CPES,” provided insight into the world’s overall energy consumption. It also described how advancements in power electronics technology could generate significant societal impact via improved energy efficiency and energy savings.
In addition, as CPES has demonstrated a successful long term system approach to power electronics development over the past eight years, IR has committed to support CPES in developing a 7-year to 15-year roadmap for architectural, control, component and package requirements. Briere presented a $100K check to CPES Director Fred Lee to begin this initiative.
The dedicated funding will cover two main areas of research. The first is <10-kW motor control systems, especially for high-volume appliance applications. The second is power delivery for electronic loads having >90% efficiency, >10-MHz operation, >3 kW per cu. in. power density, and a cost of <$0.05/W.