Power Electronics Society NEWSLETTER4 IEEE Power Electronics Society NEWSLETTER, Fourth Quarter 2003 IEEE Power Electronics Society Officers Dean Patterson, President Ron Harley, V

Power Electronics Society NEWSLETTER

Continued on page 3

Fourth Quarter 2003ISSN 1054-7231 Volume 15, Number 4

In This IssuePresidents Message ........................ 1APEC® 04 Preview ........................... 1Award Nominations / Forms ... 1,13,14Directors Message ........................... 3Newsletter Changes ......................... 3INTELEC® Fellowship Awarded ........ 3Proposals for Special Transactions .. 4New Newsletter Editor ...................... 4AdCom Meeting Highlights ............... 5Election Results ................................ 5Power Electronics Letters Online ..... 5INTELEC® 04 Call for Papers .......... 6Distributed Power Inverters .............. 7Inductor SPICE Model ...................... 9PESC® 04 Preview ......................... 11PESC® 03 Report ........................... 11PESC® 09 Call for Proposals ......... 11Chapter News ................................. 12Chapter Award Nominations ........... 12Meetings of Interest ........................ 16

Presidents MessageIt is with great regret that I announce

the resignation of our Newsletter Editor-in-Chief, Gene Wester, who has been doing anextraordinarily diligent and capable job.Over the last four years Gene has taken ournewsletter from a very simple community-style newsletter of 8 to 12 pages to its cur-rent highly-developed stage. He has beenresponsible not only for editing in the tra-ditional publishing sense, but has also beenour photographer, as well as personally do-ing all the layout. He has continually drivennewsletter content to be clear, complete, ac-curate, and interest-ing. The quality ofhis work has beenrecognized not onlyby newsletter readersbut by the IEEE it-self, who made spe-cial mention of ournewsletter on theirmost recent 5-year review of the PowerElectronics Society. This year with the helpof an Associate Editor and several Adver-tising Sales Representives, Gene expandedthe Newsletter to 16 pages, including ads andmore pages of technical content.

Gene informed me a couple months agothat due to evolving priorities he would needto be replaced as soon as we could comfort-ably manage that.

It is with very great pleasure, and a hugesense of relief, that in a surprisingly shorttime we have found a very talented and com-mitted person in John Miller, an old friendof PELS and of mine who enthusiasti-cally accepted the challenge to become thenext Editor-in-Chief of the PELS Newslet-ter.

Thank you, Gene, for what you havedone, and thank you John for what you areabout to do!

Before embarking on my main topic, Iwant to brief you on a rapidly evolving ac-tivity. IAS, PELS, and PES have been meet-ing informally quite regularly recently, overshared interests and cooperative issues.Urged by our Division Director, Phil Krein,we are planning a 2 day meeting in Wash-ington DC in late April 2004 on the hot topicof the Hydrogen Economy, and how it im-

Continued on page 13

Continued on page 5

Nominations Soughtfor Society Awards

The Power Electronics Society seeksyour nominations for the three PELS majorawards for 2004. The Awards CommitteeChair must receive all nominations by 15January 2004.

In 2004 the William E. Newell PowerElectronics Award will be presented for thetwenty-eighth year. That year also marksthe eighth one for our two other majorawards: the PELS Distinguished ServiceAward and the Richard M. Bass Outstand-ing Young Power Electronics EngineerAward.

The nomination and selection proce-dures for the three awards are similar. Foreach award, a Nominat-ing Committee is re-sponsible for identify-ing worthy candidates.Additionally, a generalsolicitation of nomina-tions is made throughthis Newsletter article.A separate Selection Committee then ranksall the nominees in priority order. If thereare more than three candidates, a secondballot is prepared with the top three candi-dates from the first ballot. Both ballots aretallied using an arithmetically averaged pro-cess with priority weighting.

The William E. Newell Power Electron-ics Award is given for outstanding careerachievement in power electronics. It is dedi-cated to the memory of Dr. William E.Newell of the Westinghouse Research andDevelopment Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-vania USA. The recipient is judged to havemade outstanding contributions to themultidisciplinary field of power electronicsthat crosses the technical boundaries of anumber of societies of the IEEE. The awardconsists of an inscribed plaque and a cashaward. Over a span approaching three de-

APEC® 2004 Attracts Largest Program EverAPEC Conference Committee since 1991, Iam sure that you will want to attend APEC2004 at Disneyland, CA, February 22-26,2004.

Several new records have already beenestablished and we are still months awayfrom the event. You will see some majorchanges next year, starting with the addi-tion of poster sessions so that papers withexceptional practical information for specialapplications will be included. At APEC1994, a short 10 years ago, the program wasexpanded from 3 to 4 parallel tracks offer-ing 12 professional education seminars and152 technical papers.APEC 2004 will estab-lish new records in of-fering 7 parallel trackswith 21 professionaleducation seminars andapproximately 290 pa-pers, double the numberfrom a decade ago. APEC 2004 received560 technical paper digests and 34 profes-sional education seminar proposals for con-sideration from every corner of the globe.

Knowing that I might be biasedbasedon my many years with the conference andthe relationships that have been estab-

The stage for APEC 2004 is set. OnSunday, 21 September, 30 members of theAPEC Conference and Program Committeesmet at the Disneyland Hotel to formulate theconference for next spring. Mark your cal-endars and get your authorizations beforethe end of the year. As a member of the

2 IEEE Power Electronics Society NEWSLETTER, Fourth Quarter 2003

IEEE Power Electronics Society NEWSLETTER, Fourth Quarter 2003 3


Peng Li Receives INTELEC® FellowshipPeng Li, a student in the Northeastern

University Graduate School of Engineeringin Boston, Massachusetts, was awarded theInternational Telecommunications EnergyConference (INTELEC) Fellowship for hisresearch, Performance Prediction of Dc-DcConverters with Arbitrary Load or Source.The strongest aspect of Mr. Lis research isthe fact that his previous results, publishedin five conference papers (INTELEC 2000,COMPEL 2000, HFPC/PCIM 2000, APEC2001, and APEC 2002), have seen applica-tion within the telecommunications indus-try.

INTELEC representatives RobertJurewicz and Christopher Riddleberger pre-sented Peng Li with the $10,000 Fellowshipaward. Mr. Riddleberger, as the IEEE PELSAwards Chairman, also presented Mr. Liwith a letter from the Power ElectronicsSociety in recognition of his achievements.

The INTELEC Fellowship is interna-tional and is open to individuals from allcountries. The recipient must be an Electri-cal Engineering graduate student who is in-volved in areas of power electronics appli-cable to communications. Visit the web siteat www.intelec.org for further information.

INTELEC Fellowship Award presented by Robert E. Jurewicz (far left, INTELEC)to Peng Li, with Brad Lehman (Faculty Advisor), and Christopher O.Riddleberger (INTELEC & PELS) participating.

Newsletter Changes:Looking Back and Ahead

As my tenure as Newsletter Editor-in-Chief draws to a close, I would like to takethis opportunity to report briefly on somebehind-the-scene changes that were imple-mented during my tenure, and to introducesome changes that are planned for the daysahead.

When I took over as editor in the fourthquarter of 1999 some 17 issues ago, thenewsletter was mailed as camera-readycopy to the publisher for printing and mail-ing. Any newsletter pages with graphic con-tent were printed at high quality by a localprepress service bureau using files that werephysically carried (the old sneaker-net

Division II Directors ReportThe Division level in the IEEE covers

several societies, in this case PELS, IAS,Instrumentation, and Dielectrics. Threemajor activities have been taking placethrough the IEEE Technical Activities Board(TAB the unit that involves all Societiesin combination) and through the IEEE Boardof Directors.

1. New Technologies. The DivisionDirectors have now been assigned to theTAB New Technology Directions Commit-tee (NTDC), and have had several discus-sions about needs, strategies, and ways toproceed. There are topics in which the IEEEhas extensive activities that do not seem tohave broad awareness(such as the hydrogeneconomy and other en-ergy-related and powerelectronics work), andalso topics in whichIEEE activities are scat-tered. TAB will host adiscussion about major new technologyareas at a November meeting.

In response to these issues, a HydrogenElectrical Economy Symposium will be heldin Spring 2004. PELS, Power Engineering,IAS, and the Society for Social Implicationsof Technology will jointly sponsor this ac-tivity in the DC area. There is also specificwork related to our division to better coor-dinate activities in information displays.Other major focus topics for November in-clude security and bioengineering.

2. Governance. Both TAB and theBoard of Directors have been discussing andevaluating the structure of IEEE. At a re-cent retreat the Board identified several is-sues related to governance, including:

How to provide better decentral-ized decision making to empower societies?

How to help major boards focus onstrategic issues and planning and avoidmicromanagement and bureaucracy?

TAB is the place where IEEE worriesabout the future of digital publishing, thevalue of our conferences and journals, andstrategic plans for better serving memberswith technical information.

3. Products and Services. Technicalpublishing and the manner in which mem-bers gain value from IEEE are changing rap-idly. IEEE volunteers are exploring ourwhole operation to find innovative ways toserve members better. Broad products, suchas IEEExplore and the new Member DigitalLibrary (MDL), blur distinctions among

societies, but it is still groups such as PELSthat do the real work of conferences, publi-cations, and continuing education. TheIEEE must adapt quickly and provide moreinnovative services rapidly to meet ourmembers changing needs.

Philip [email protected]

Presidents Message from page 1pacts us in our respective specialist areas.PES has a lot of clout to help get this orga-nized in a very short time. We plan to haveall invited speakers, since there is no timefor a call for papers, and well see what hap-pens. If this is of interest to you, mark yourcalendar nowthere wont be much timefor the usual level of publicity. We believethat this is a very hot topic, and one in whichthe IEEE needs to be actively and visiblyinvolved as soon as possible.

Moving now to my original topic, inprevious columns I have talked about therelationship of our society and the IEEE asa whole, discussing some bigger global is-sues. In this letter I want to start digginginto some of the things that are inside oursociety. Although at first glance we look tobe a pretty homogenous body, all interestedin what some people would describe as afairly narrow and esoteric branch of electri-cal engineering, we actually seenot unex-pectedly when you think about ita fair bitof granularity when we go in closer. Thatis, as power electronics specialists we theneach go off and further specialize in somesub-area!Continued on page 15


IEEE Power Electronics SocietyOfficers

Dean Patterson, PresidentRon Harley, V. P., OperationsF. Dong Tan, V. P., MeetingsSteven B. Leeb, Treasurer

http://www.pels.orgThe IEEE Power Electronics Society News-

letter (ISSN 1054-7231) is published quarterlyby the IEEE Power Electronics Society of theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,Inc. Headquarters: 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor,NY 10016-5997. $1.00 per member per year(included in Society fee) for each member of thePower Electronics Society. Postmaster: Sendaddress changes to IEEE POWER ELECTRON-ICS SOCIETY NEWSLETTER, IEEE, 445 HoesLane, Piscataway, NJ 08855-1331.

News items should be sent to: Gene Wester,PELS Newsletter Editor-in-Chief, Jet PropulsionLaboratory, M/S 303-310, 4800 Oak Grove Drive,Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA; TEL: +1 818354 3489; FAX: +1 818 393 4272; EMAIL:[email protected]. Deadlines for copy areMarch 15, June 15, September 15 and Decem-ber 15. Email submission of items in plain-textformat is preferred. Plain-text (straight ASCII)submissions on 3.5 diskettes are welcome, andshould be accompanied by a backup printout.Fax submissions are acceptable, but are leastdesirable. Full-page calls for papers and an-nouncements of PELS-sponsored conferencesare welcome and should be sent as both high-quality hard copy and RTF format file.

The Editor-in-Chief gratefully acknowledgesthe Jet Propulsion Laboratory for significant sup-port of his editorial activities.

Technical items should be sent to:Juan Carlos Balda, PELS Newsletter AssociateEditor, University of Arkansas, 3217 Bell Engi-neering Center, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA;TEL: +1 479 575 6578; FAX: +1 479 575 7967;EMAIL: [email protected].

Advertising queries should be sent to:Mal Elgar (West & Central USA + Intl)TEL: +1 909 289 5231; FAX: +1 909 883 8337EMAIL: [email protected]

orWalter Chalupa (Eastern USA)TEL: +1 973 626 3412; FAX: +1 973 835 1602EMAIL: [email protected]

The Newsletter in PDF format is posted atthe PELS website approximately three weekssooner than paper copies can be delivered. Toreceive email notification when the internet ver-sion is available, go to http://www.pels.org/Mail-ing/MailForm.html and provide your email ad-dress. Additionally, the email notification some-times includes timely announcements that arenot in the printed newsletter.

©2003 IEEE. Permission to copy without feeall or part of any material without a copyrightnotice is granted provided that the copies arenot made or distributed for direct commercial ad-vantage, and the title of the publication and itsdate appear on each copy. To copy material witha copyright notice requires special permission.Please direct all inquiries or requests to the IEEEIntellectual Property Rights Manager, TEL: +1732 562 3966, FAX: +1 732 981 8062, EMAIL:[email protected].

Periodicals Postage paid at New York NY.andat additional mailing offices.

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

Proposals Invitedfor Special Issues

of the TransactionsThe AdCom of the IEEE Power Elec-

tronics Society has authorized its flagshiptechnical publication, the IEEE Transactionson Power Electronics, to publish one Spe-cial Issue (SI) each year.

Proposals for a Special Issue must in-clude the following: (1) Guest Editor, (2) listof potential Guest Associate Editors,(3) time line, and (4) topic and areas of spe-cialization (scope of the issue).

The following is anexample of the sug-gested time line for a SI.This time line should beused routinely, becausethe SI is scheduled forpublication in May ofeach year. Once theproposed SI has been approved, the Trans-actions Editor-in-Chief (EIC) and the GuestEditor will determine specific dates. Approval by AdCom: February of thefirst year Paper submission deadline: February ofthe second year First reviews: June of the second year Revised paper deadline: August of thesecond year Second and final review: September ofthe second year Final manuscripts: December of thesecond year Issue to IEEE for print: January of thethird year Published: May of the third year

The following special issues are pres-ently planned:

Topic: Distributed Power GeneratorsGuest Editor: Dr. F.Z. PengPublication Date: September 2004

Topic: Integrated Power ElectronicsGuest Editor: Dr. J.A. FerreiraPublication Date: May 2005

Proposals for a SI are to be emailed tothe Transactions EIC at the address givenbelow. The Transactions EIC presents thesubmitted SI proposals and his recommen-dations to the AdCom at the annual Febru-ary meeting for a decision.

The next deadline for SI proposals isFebruary 1, 2004.

Daan van Wyck, Editor-in-ChiefTransactions on Power [email protected]

New Editor Namedfor PELS NewsletterDr. John M. Miller (M82, SM94,

F99) has been named as the next Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Power Electronics Soci-ety Newsletter.

Miller has had an illustrious career inpower electronics, and no doubt many of youalready know him. After receiving a PhDdegree in electrical engineering from Michi-gan State University, East Lansing, MI in1983, he worked on electric vehicle pro-grams, systems, and simulation at FordMotor Company Research Laboratory untilhis retirement in August of 2002 to start aprivate enterprise (J-N-J Miller design ser-vices, P.L.C.) in ac drives, alternative en-ergy, and propulsion systems for transpor-tation.

Dr. Miller has made numerous techni-cal contributions, as indicated by 42 US pat-ents and 106 publications on automotiveelectrical and electronic systems. He hasalso been active in theacademic world and inorganizing technicalconferences. In 2000 hereceived the IEEET h i r d - M i l l e n n i u mMedal for his contribu-tions to IEEE andSoutheastern Michigan Section. He is amember of the Society of Automotive En-gineers, and a Fellow of IEEE where he re-mains active in IEEE Industry Applications,Power Electronics, and Vehicular Technol-ogy Societies. He has been a registered andpracticing professional engineer in Michi-gan since 1980.

John starts his term as editor on Janu-ary 1, 2004. Newsletter correspondents cancontact him at the following address:

John M. Miller3573 E Gatzke RoadCedar, MI 49621email: [email protected] or [email protected] (NOT both)Ph: +1 231 228 5011FAX: +1 231 228 7250Cell: +1 231 218 0381

Email sent to [email protected] (the news-letter editors functional alias) goes currentlyto both the incoming and departing editorsto facilitate communications during the tran-sition.

Please give John your wholehearted co-operation by providing him with timelyitems of interest to our society members.

5IEEE Power Electronics Society NEWSLETTER, Fourth Quarter 2003

Fall AdCom MeetingHighlights

The PELS AdCom held its fall meetingon October 12 in conjunction with the Indus-try Applications Society Annual Meeting inSalt Lake City. The AdCom moved towardembracing new and emerging technologiesand strengthening its ties with other IEEEsocieties with similar interests.

The AdCom also heard from RalphWyndrum, Vice President of TechnologyPolicy for IEEE USA, about its support oflegislation dealing with technology, develop-ment of policies and support of legislation inboth Washington, DC and in critical Congres-sional districts. Wyndrum appealed to PELSmembers with interests in government deal-ings to become active in IEEE USA.

IEEE Power ElectronicsLetters Now AvailableThe first issues of Power Electronics

Letters have been released. We are alwaysseeking good, brief contributions to this fast-turnaround electronic-format publication.The Letters seek to publish three-page pa-pers on rapid-interest topics in power elec-tronics. It delivers peer-reviewed contentmuch faster than more traditional publica-tions. Be sure to look for the subscriptioninformation in your membership renewalmaterials. The low member price is $10 peryear. Papers are made available through themain IEEE web server as soon as all pro-duction work is complete typically wellunder six months after submission for ac-cepted manuscripts. See the links at http://www.pels.org for details or to provide a sub-mission.

Patterson to Lead PELS Again in 2004

Action items emerging from the day-long session included: Reversed a policy whereby requestingLife Members of PELS could receive printedcopies of transactions at no cost; instead,Life Members will be referred to the webwhere transactions in electronic format areavailable. Agreed to sponsor with three otherIEEE societies Power Engineering, Indus-try Applications and Social Implications ofTechnology a Hydrogen Energy Meetingstudying new power aspects to be held inWashington, DC in the spring of 2004. Established two new technical commit-tees: Power Electronics in Distributed Gen-eration and Alternative Energy Sources tobe chaired by Liuchen Chang of New

Brunswick, Canada, and a committee onDiagnostics headed by Gerard AndreCapolino of Picardie, France. Approved a special tutorial at PESC04on technical writing and agreed to cover anyfinancial loss resulting from producing theevent. Adopted new procedures for selectingspeakers for the PELS Society DistinguishedLecturer Program. Discussed in several sessions relationswith other societies and how societies likePELS, Power Engineering, Industrial Elec-tronics, and Industry Applications can workmore closely together in common areas.

Bob MyersPELS Executive [email protected]

lishedI asked two first time participantsfor their observation of our planning meet-ing. Tim Haskew, University of Alabama,an academia representative, stated: Imsurprised at how much gets accomplishedin so short a time. He went on to say thathe was impressed with how passionate thevolunteer leadership (worked) to make this(program committee meeting) a success.Ken Stead, New Product Development Man-ager, Molex Inc., another first time partici-pant, said that this activity was: A lot moreinteresting than I thought it would be. Hefurther added You get a greater apprecia-tion of the behind-the-scenes of the workthat goes into (organizing) the conference.

APEC 2004 will offer three interactiveRAP Sessions where the attendee can chal-

APEC® 2004 Program from page 1 lenge any and all of the panelists. This yearstopics are: Power-Supply Digital Control: Real orVirtual? Who Needs Power Supply Companieswhen the Semiconductor Company can doit All? Were on the Power EngineeringRoadmap But Whos Driving: Compo-nents, Silicon, Topologies, Packaging orControls?

To broaden our audience we have in-cluded a full track of seminars whose focuswill be on the automotive industry. Further-more, we are including a business track thatshould be of great value to the OEM com-munity.

We recognize that requests to attendtrade shows are closely watched, and that

you have other options when it comes to at-tending power electronics conferences. Thecommittee has been extremely sensitive toputting together an event where you willwalk away with immense value for a mod-est investment. We also welcome your com-ments on how to improve any aspect of theAPEC program.

For specific details of the presentations,exhibit hall or to register for the conference,visit www.apec-conf.org.

On behalf of the entire conference com-mittee let me express our gratitude for yourongoing support. We thank you for your pastsupport and look forward to seeing you inAnaheim, CA.

Larry GilbertAPEC Publicity [email protected]

Dean Patterson has been re-electedPresident of the Power Electronics Societyfor a second one-year term and will be theprincipal representative of PELS on theIEEE Technical Activities Board. Patterson,a professor at the University of South Caro-lina, was renamed to the Societys top postat the fall AdCom meeting 12 October inSalt Lake City.

The AdCom established a new position President-Designate and selected RikDeDoncker of RWTH-Aachen, Germany, asits first occupant. The new post is expectedto be renamed President-Elect with adop-tion of projected amendments to the Soci-ety Constitution and Bylaws. The elect jobwill be a one-year assignment and its holderwill be elevated to President at the end ofthat year.

The AdCom re-elected two vice presi-dents Ron Harley of Georgia Tech as VP

Operations and F. Dong Tan of NorthropGrumman Space Technology as VP Meet-ings.

Two at-large members of the AdComwere re-elected DeDoncker and CharlesSullivan of Dartmouth College. New at-large members for three-year terms begin-ning in 2004 are Maria Cotorogea Pfeiferof CENIDET in Cuernavaca, Mexico; PauloMattavelli of the University of Udine, Udine,Italy; Hardus Odendaal of Virginia Polytech-nic Institute; and Toshihise Shimizu of To-kyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo.

Completing their terms on the AdComat the end of 2003 are Johan H.R. Enslin ofKEMA, formerly of The Netherlands but re-located to the US; Kevin Fellhoelder ofSolara, Inc of Knoxville, Tenn; HirofumiMatsuo of Nagasaki University, Nagasaki;and Rene Spee of Alpha Technologies, Inc.,Bellingham, Wash.


Call for Papersfor the 26th Annual

International Telecommunications Energy ConferenceExploring Power; the Foundation for Communications

September 19 23, 2004Hyatt Regency Chicago on the Riverwalk

Chicago, Illinois USAWebsite: http://www.intelec.org

INTELEC is an international forum for the exchange of ideas and information on powering communicationssystems both today and in the future. The conference provides a unique opportunity for network operators anddesigners to interact directly with the designers, manufacturers, and distributors of power equipment and to discuss awide variety of topics related to power systems, components, and energy storage. Over 1,500 representatives frommore than 50 countries are expected to attend.Over 100 technical papers covering virtually all aspects of telecommunications power will be presented. Severalworkshops, tutorials, and an exhibition of power equipment used in communications networks are also scheduled forthe conference. For a full list of topics, please visit the INTELEC website listed above. Abstracts, manuscripts, andoral presentations will be in English.

AbstractsAn abstract that accurately reflects the content of each proposed technical paper must be received by the ProgramCommittee no later than January 23, 2004. The abstract should be between 250 and 500 words in length, and itmust include all information considered necessary by the authors to demonstrate the technical merit of the paper.Author contact information and the topic area of the paper should be included in the submission. Where multipleauthors are involved, please indicate the author to which e-mail should be addressed. Abstracts are to be submittedelectronically as an email attachment (sent to [email protected]) or uploaded directly on the INTELECwebsite (see URL above). For questions, call +1 858 565 9921.Deadlines: Receipt of Abstracts January 23, 2004

Authors Notification of Acceptance March 22, 2004Receipt of Final Manuscripts May 28, 2004

Manuscripts of accepted papers will be included in the conference proceedings. The length of each manuscript mustnot exceed eight single-spaced typewritten pages, tables and figures included. Papers will not be accepted if theyinclude commercial advertising or product endorsements. Detailed instructions regarding manuscript formatting willbe emailed to those authors whose abstracts have been accepted.

ExhibitsExhibits featuring power equipment and related products will complement the technical sessions. Companieswishing to reserve exhibit space are invited to contact:

Mr Brett Overton or Ms Doris PierceShow Management & Services Inc1963 University LaneLisle, IL 60532 USAPhone: +1 630 271 8210Fax: +1 630 271 8234E-Mail: [email protected]

[email protected] is sponsored by the IEEE Power Electronics Society

®


Continued on page 8

Interconnection of Distributed Power Inverters with the Distribution Network©

Johan H.R. Enslin (SM IEEE)KEMA T&D Consulting

Lake Boone Tower3801 Lake Boone Trail

Raleigh, NC 27607 [email protected]

Ph: +1 919 345 1511

I. IntroductionDistributed energy resources, including

wind, solar, gas, petroleum, coal and evenpebble-bed nuclear energy, utilizing dedi-cated small to medium sized (1 kW 100 MW) conversion technologies likehigh-speed turbines, combined heat andpower technologies and fuel-cells, are all in-tegrated with high performance power elec-tronic converters to the electrical distribu-tion network. It is expected that distributedpower may have a 2.5 5 GW/year impacton the supply of electrical energy in 2010.Concerns over reliability in the power sup-ply, power requirements for the digital so-ciety, conversion efficiency, global warm-ing, NOx and CO2 emissions will acceleratethis change in philosophy. There are sev-eral driving forces and opportunities for dis-tributed power technologies, but also majorchallenges including the network intercon-nection issues that have to be solved.

Until now it is mainly wind and photo-voltaic (PV) distributed power systems thathave been connected to the network on alarge scale. We were recently involved withprojects concerning possible power qualityproblems in renewable suburbs with 200 to500 homes with roof-mounted PV arrays.Only few PV inverter network interactionproblems are reported in literature and aremainly associated with the unwantedislanding operation and voltage regulationproblems with the power feedback of largeamounts of solar energy. Problems associ-ated with generated harmonics and possiblenetwork resonances are seldom investigated.Currently some newly developed IEEE andIEC standards indicate that it is expected thatinteraction problems may increase in thefuture.

II. Dutch PV ProjectsA new Dutch suburb with PV arrays

mounted on most of the homes and apart-ments is shown in Fig. 1.

Most of these 200 500 homes have 1 3 kW inverters connected to the 220 Vfeeders. Typically 30 homes are on a singlefeeder, all supplied from a 10 kV trans-former. Standard distribution practices arenormally implemented by distribution plan-ning engineers.

III. Power Quality ProblemsWith PV Inverters

Measurements in networks with a highpenetration of PV generation showed thatthe PV inverters, under certain circum-stances, switched off undesirably, or in-creased their harmonic emission signifi-cantly. This can result that the Point of Com-mon Coupling (PCC) power quality stan-dards are exceeded. This is the result evenwhen all the PV inverters individually sat-isfy the inverter power quality standards.

The PV inverters for these projects arenormally based on single-phase, self-com-mutated voltage-source converters in the 1 3 kW power range. PV inverters consistfurthermore of different topologies powerstages with transformer or transformer-lessoptions. In practice switching frequenciesof 20 500 kHz are used in different powerstages. In practice mainly MOSFETs andIGBTs are used as switching elements forPV inverters. For safety reasons and somestandard requirements, an isolation trans-former is normally required in the topology.

For all these inverter types the ac out-put current will mainly be characterised bythe current-feedback control loop. These

Fig. 1. Example of roof-mounted PV suburb

Fig. 2. Test setup of PV inverter power system

inverters are capable of self-generating a50 Hz sinusoidal output current based on in-ternal tables and only have to besynchronised with the supply voltage. Of-ten a phase-locked loop (PLL) control tech-nique is used to detect the voltage zero-cross-ings.

Some inverters combine the referencesource and the synchronisation with the sup-ply voltage, by using the waveform shape ofthe supply voltage as a reference source.However, if this voltage is polluted, the ref-erence source will also be polluted and thecurrent regulator of the inverter pollutes itsown output current accordingly. Filtering ofthe pollution using such a controller is diffi-cult. This kind of inverter has the characterof a resistor and because the inverter is feed-ing his current back into the network, theinverter behaves like a negative resistor. Thistype of controller for PV inverters should beavoided!

IV. Experimental InverterMeasurements

To evaluate this problem with PV in-verters we did some experimental measure-ments. The line diagram of the experimen-tal set-up is shown in Fig. 2.


Distributed Inverters from page 7The experimental set-up mainly con-

sists of a 10 kW PV simulator and a 4-quad-rant, single-phase power supply which rep-resents the utility network. One to three in-verters are connected between the PV simu-lator and power supply in series with someequivalent network components (L and R).Since the actual system has dozens of in-verters in parallel, the value of L for test pur-poses was made larger than the real induc-tance value to approximate the real imped-ance ratio. The household capacitor C-homeis also included in the simulation. Harmon-ics can be added to the output of the net-work simulator to represent a network withbackground distortion.

To evaluate the performance of the dif-ferent PV inverters under different levels ofbackground supply voltage distortion, volt-age harmonics were measured for three dif-ferent cases: a clean sinusoidal supply volt-age, the Dutch national averaged value(based on annual harmonic measurements),and the maximum allowable voltage distor-tion at a PCC based on the EN 50160.

Results for these three cases are pre-sented in Fig. 3. With the given networkimpedance the test inverter still operatedwith the Dutch average background distor-tion of 3% THD. However this invertertripped when the background distortion con-ditions were set to the maximum allowableEN 50160 levels. Some of the other com-mercially available inverters still operatedunder this condition.

V. Expected Low-VoltageResonance Points

Using validated detailed inverter data,a full network simulation has been done [1]to predict the effect of large numbers of PVinverters on the distribution network indi-cated in the system shown in Fig. 1. In somehome connections large levels of voltage dis-tortion were revealed when the backgroundvoltage distortion was set to 3% THD.

Fig. 3. Measured waveforms for various voltage distortion levels; (a) sinusoidal,(b) Dutch average (THD = 3%), and (c) maximum allowable (THD = 8%).Network impedance is L = 1 mH, R = 0.3 Ω. [VERT: voltage (upper) @ 200 V/div; current (lower) @ 5 A/div; HOR: time @ 4 ms/div]

can be assumed to be the generating har-monic source Ih. The impedance at the reso-nance is high, resulting in higher voltagedistortion at the PCC, or where the PV in-verter and household load is connected.

2. Series resonance of the networkcapacitance and the supply reactance, result-ing from externally generated or injected dis-tortion. In this case the background supplyvoltage distortion is the mechanism. Herethe impedance at the resonance is low, re-sulting in higher current distortion throughthe load and PV inverter capacitor.

In practice these two phenomenon arelinked in one circuit, and both voltage andcurrent distortions are increased.

If one of the harmonics generated bythe PV inverter (parallel resonance mecha-nism) corresponds with the parallel reso-nance frequency, very high resonance volt-ages, damped only by the associated networkresistances, will occur on the network volt-age at the PCC. This may have operationaleffects on the PV inverter and other equip-ment connected to the PCC. Furthermore,this resonance can even be more severe ifthe power network is weak, which results ina lower frequency parallel resonance.

When one of the harmonics present inthe network background distortion (seriesresonance mechanism) corresponds with theseries resonance frequency, very high reso-nance currents will flow in the network,damped only by the associated network re-sistance. The load is parallel to the networkresistance for a parallel resonance and canbe ignored since it is much higher than thenetwork resistance.

VII. SummaryParallel and series resonance phenom-

enon between the network and distributedpower inverters can be responsible for higherthan expected current and voltage distortionlevels in these networks. Mainly the paral-lel resonance phenomenon (initiated bysmall distributed power inverter current har-monics) can trip inverters on a distorted sup-ply voltage. The equivalent household ca-pacitance together with the distributedpower inverter input capacitance is the domi-nant capacitance in resonance circuit calcu-lations.

It was also found that there might becoupling of the resonance in one section ofthe network with another through the me-dium voltage (10 kV) cable network. Inthese cases there may be two resonancepoints. The topology of an inverter has alarge influence on the initiation and size ofthe resonances. Continued on page 10

Assuming that the network parametersof one feeder are:

L = 80 µH (utility transformer leakageplus cabling between transformer and invert-ers),

C = 216 µF = 108 µF (house capaci-tance of 36 homes) + 108 µF (capacitanceof 36 PV Inverters),

then the dominant resonant frequencyfr is given by:

kHzCLrf 2.1

21 ==

π

which is approximately the 24th harmonic.In some other cases with smaller trans-

formers typical resonance frequencies of 11th

harmonic were calculated. With the highpenetration of PV inverters on these feed-ers, generating small amounts of harmoniccurrents at the characteristic harmonics 11th,13th, 23rd and 25th, combined with some back-ground voltage distortion may generatehigher than expected distortion levels onthese feeders. This resonance is dampedonly by the resistive cable and transformerparameters.

VI. Analysis Of HarmonicPollution

To establish the range of the natural fre-quencies in the low-voltage network, val-ues should be calculated for the network in-ductance and capacitance (cable and trans-former) of a low voltage network, as wellas the typical values for the household andPV-inverter input capacitance at each con-nection.

The resonance phenomenon for net-works with large numbers of PV inverterscan be divided into the following:

1. Parallel resonance of the parallelnetwork capacitance (PV Inverter, house-hold and cable) and the supply inductance(transformer leakage and cable), resultingfrom distortion generated internally, i.e.,within the PCC. In this case the PV inverter


Simulation Bits: A SPICE Behavioral Model of Non-Linear Inductors©

Sam Ben-Yaakov and Mor Mordechai PeretzSPICE simulation is already recognized

as a viable tool in Power Electronics. Simu-lation is particularly useful when dealingwith a non-linear behavior that cannot beeasily handled analytically. Such a case isthe analysis of a switching power converterthat includes a non-linear inductor that mightaffect the inrush current, magnitude of thecurrent ripple, small signal transfer functionsand others. Modern SPICE simulation pack-ages, such as ORCAD (Cadence, CA, USA)include a non-linear magnetic core modelthat is based on the Jiles and Atherton model[1]. However, unless the vendor alreadyprovides a model for a given core, develop-ing your own model for your specific appli-cation may prove to be very frustrating ifnot practically impossible.

Here we demonstrate how a SPICEcompatible behavioral model of a non-lin-ear inductor can be developed easily usingcore manufacturers data or simple labora-tory measurements. The resulting model isby no means perfect. It does not includecore losses, temperature effects, or fre-quency dependence of the permeability, andit does not show the hysteresis effect. None-theless, one may still find it useful in manyapplications such as the examination of thecurrent ripple of iron powder core inductorsunder various operating conditions or insmall signal analysis based an behavioralaverage modeling [2].

The basic idea of the proposed induc-tor model is to reflect the behavior of a lin-ear inductor via a non-linear transformerthat is realized by (E1, G1) dependentsources (Fig. 1) defined by:

secpr VK1VE1 =≡ (1)

prsec IIG1 =≡ (2)

Figure 1. A non-linear inductor modelbuilt by reflecting a linear inductorvia a non-linear transformer.

The impedance XL of the original in-ductor L is defined as:

sec

secL I

VX = (3)

Based on Eqs (1) (3), the inductorimpedance '

LX reflected to the primary sideis:

LXK Isec

VsecK

Ipr

Vpr' ===LX (4)

Consequently, the induc-tance 'L reflected to the pri-mary side, expressed in termsof K, is:

KLL' ×= (5)If K is made dependent

on the current through the in-ductor (or through a bias wind-ing [3]), then the model willemulate the non-linearity of thedevice. In the modern SPICEenvironment, one could use be-havioral dependent sources inwhich the dependence of K onthe current can be defined as anexpression (EVALUE or Analog Behav-ioral Model ABM dependent sources inORCAD) or a table (ETABLE element inORCAD). The two approaches are demon-strated by considering two cases: one basedon simple laboratory measurements that mapthe non-linearity of the device, and the otherusing manufacturers data.

Method A Experimental Fitting. Inthis case, one has first to carry out (incre-mental) inductance measurements on thephysical inductor, over the expected rangeof inductor current. Subjecting the induc-tor to a dc current (IDC) via an auxiliary in-ductor (LAUX), and applying a signal genera-tor (VAC) to measure the small-signal imped-ance of the tested inductor (VL/IL) could eas-ily accomplish this (Fig. 2).

Figure 2. Experimental setup formeasuring the small signalimpedance of a dc biased inductor.The results of the inductance measure-

ments are then inserted in the ETABLE ele-ment to form the model of the non-linearinductor (Fig. 3). Notice that for simplicityL is made equal to 1 H and the values listedin ETABLE correspond to the measured in-ductances.

Method B Fitting to ManufacturersData. In this case and for L = 1 H, K is de-fined by the inductance equation:

( )Hreng

e2

0 µL

AnµK = (6)

where µ0 is the air permeability, Ae is theeffective magnetic area of the core, Leng isthe effective magnetic length of the core , nis the number of turns, and µr(H) is the rela-tive permeability as a function of the mag-netic field H.

Core manufacturers provide the µr(H)information as graphs or experimental equa-tions. If an equation is not given then thegraph data could be fitted to an experimen-tal equation or described as a table. In thelatter case one can use again the ETABLEelement. If the equation is available then itcan be used as an expression in an EVALUEor ABM element. For example, the experi-mental equation given by Magnetics [4, 5]for Kool Mu cores is (after some streamlin-ing):

( )285

2105

ir106.21106.7421101.043105.6181

µHµββββ

−−

−−

×+×+×+×−

=

(7)where µi is the initial relative permeability,β =µi H, and H is the magnetic force in Oer-sted units (1 Oe ≈ 80 Amp-turn/m).

The magnetic force H is in turn a func-tion of the magnetizing current I:

engLnIH = (8)

Using this experimental equation (7)along with Eqs (6) and (8) one can easilyconstruct a SPICE model for an inductor thatis built around this core (Fig. 4).

+-

Isec

VsecL

E1

Ipr G1

L' Vpr

+I DC

VAC

C1 C2

CC

ILTAC

VL

LAUX

LDUT


Figure 3. A non-linear inductor SPICE modelbased on measured inductance values. The tableof the ETABLE dependent source lists themeasured inductance as a function of dc current.

E2

I(V_Ipr)

ETABLE k

IN- OUT-IN+ OUT+

0

R1 1meg

V(%IN+, %IN-)/V(k)

G1I(V_Isec)

GVALUE

Vpr-

1

V_Ipr

+ -

2

0VDCVpr+

V_Isec

L1

1H

+ -

R2

1u

0VDC

0IN- OUT-IN+ OUT+IN-OUT-

IN+OUT+0

E1 EVALUE



The proposed model of a non-linearinductor is compatible with all basic SPICE

analyses (DC, AC, TRAN). We have foundit to reproduce faithfully the behavior of thephysical core in practical applications. Themethod can be easily extended to cores withseparate dc bias windings [3] and to repre-sent the non-linearity of the magnetizationinductance of transformers.

SPICE/ORCAD files (Evaluation Ver-sion 9.2) that include examples of the pro-posed inductor model can be downloadedfrom http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~pel/download.htm.

References[1] D. C. Jiles and D. L. Atherton, Theory

of ferromagnetic hysteresis, Journal ofMagnetism and Magnetic Materials,vol. 61, pp. 48-60, 1986.

[2] I. Zafrani, S. Ben-Yaakov, Generalizedswitched inductor model (GSIM):accounting for conduction losses,IEEE Trans. Aerospace and ElectronicSystems, vol. 38, pp. 681-687, 2002.

[3] D. Medini and S. Ben-Yaakov, Acurrent controlled variable inductor forhigh frequency resonant powercircuits, in IEEE Applied PowerElectronics Conference, APEC94, pp.219-225, Orlando, 1994.

[4] Powder Core Technical Data,Magnetics, PA, USA Available: http://w w w . m a g - i n c . c o m / p d f /MAGNETICS_Powder_Core_Technical_Data.pdf

Non-linear Inductor from page 9

Figure 4. A non-linear inductor SPICE modelbased on manufacturers data (Eq. 7) for a 77254-A7 Kool Mu iron powder core. H is calculated inMKS units and then divided by 80 to get it in Oeunits as required for Eqs (7) & (8).

kABM1

E2

(n*I(V_Ipr))/(Leng*80)

EVALUEOUT+OUT-

IN+IN-

H

0

R1 1meg

V(%IN+, %IN-)/V(k)

G1I(V_Isec)

GVALUE

V pr-

1

V_Ipr

+ -

2

0VDCVpr+

V_Isec

L1

1H

+ -

R2

1u

0VDC

0

IN- OUT-IN+ OUT+IN-OUT-

IN+OUT+0

E1 EVALUE

betaV(H)*Mu_i

(pwr(n,2)*Mu_0*Ae/Leng)*Mu_i*sqrt((1-56.18u*V(beta)+104.3p*pwr(V(beta),2))/(1+67.42u*V(beta)+62.1n*pwr(V(beta),2)))

PARAMETERS:n = 130Mu_i = 125Mu_0 = 4*3.14*1e-7Ae = 1.0726*1e-4Leng = 0.0984

[5] Powder Core Data, Magnetics, PA,USA http://www.mag-inc.com/pdf/MAGNETICS_Powder_Core_Data.pdf

BiographiesShmuel (Sam) Ben-Yaakov is a Professor atthe Department of Electri-cal and Computer Engi-neering, Ben-Gurion Uni-versity of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel and headsthe Power ElectronicsGroup there. He can bereached at<[email protected]>.

Mor Mordechai Peretzis a M.Sc. student at theBen-Gurion Universityof the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel. He canbe reached at<[email protected]>.Mail Address (both authors):

Power Electronics LaboratoryDept. of Electrical and Computer

EngineeringBen-Gurion University of the Negev1 Ben-Gurion AveBeer-Sheva 84105 ISRAEL

Stricter and better-defined specifica-tions for small, distributed power invertersin relation with the background voltage dis-tortion and harmonic levels in networks arerequired. For more information and techni-cal results as well as some practical guide-lines, see the reference below.[1] J.H.R. Enslin and P.J.M. Heskes,

Harmonic Interaction between a LargeNumber of Distributed Power Invertersand the Distribution Network, inProceedings 34th IEEE PowerElectronics Specialists Conference,Acapulco, Mexico, June 15 19, 2003.Johan HR Enslin (M85, SM92) is cur-

rently a principal consultant with KEMA T&DConsulting in Raleigh, NC, USA. He receivedthe B.Eng, M.Eng and D.Eng. degrees inElectrical and Electronic Engineering fromthe Rand Afrikaans University), South Africa,in 1981, 1983, and 1988 respectively. Hisconsulting and re-search interests in-clude renewable en-ergy, power quality,reactive power com-pensation, and powerelectronics. He haswritten and co-authored more than150 papers, of whichseven received prize-paper awards. Heholds nine patents and has presented sev-eral short courses. Dr Enslin is a RegisteredProfessional Engineer, an IEEE Senior Mem-ber, and a member of the South African In-stitute of Electrical Engineers.

Distributed Inverters from page 8

Presidents Message from page 3In order to provide for this kind of granu-

larity, my predecessor Tom Habetler decidedto develop our technical committees, some-thing which I soon saw was of great value insupporting our members, and something whichI also should pursue. Thus within the shortspace of 2 years we have gone from 6 com-mittees to 11, and we are busily working toget them all set up with effectiveness for ourmembers as the primary criterion.

So what goes on in a technical commit-tee? We have deliberately left that without alot of fine detailno rules, regulations, briefs,or terms of referenceleaning rather to guide-lines, with an overarching goal that they pro-vide easy and productive ways for interactionbetween our members in each of these sub-specialties.

To put all that in perspective, here is a listof our current technical committees includingtwo very new ones approved by our ADCOMat the IAS annual meeting in Salt Lake City inOctober 2003.

PELS Technical Committees Automotive Power Electronics,John Shen <[email protected]> DC Power Supply Systems, JoseA. Cobos <[email protected]> Electronic Transformers, BillGoethe <[email protected]> Motor Drives, Alfio Consoli<[email protected]> Power Packaging, DouglasHopkins <[email protected]> Rectifiers and Inverters, FangPeng <[email protected]> Simulation, Modeling & Control;Antonello Monti <[email protected]> Education, Leon Tolbert<[email protected]> Telecommunications Energy, MarkJacobs <[email protected]>, KatsuichiYotsumoto <[email protected]> PE for Distributed Generation /Alternative Energy, Liuchen Chang<[email protected]>


PESC® 04 Coming toAachen, Germany

Former capital of EuropeThe 2004 Power Electronics Specialists

Conference and Exhibition (PESC04) willbe held June 20-25, 2004, in Aachen, Ger-many. PESC04 is jointly organized with theConference on Integrated Power Electron-ics Systems (CIPS). The Eurogress Confer-ence Center offers room for up to 1000 par-ticipants, 250 lecture presentations, 350 dia-logue presentations and 60 exhibition booths.

Aachen, situated in the western part ofGermany, has a rich cultural history. Thefirst settlements in Aachen date from a fewthousand years BC. The local hot watersprings became a place to worship GermanGods. During the Roman period, legion-naires liked the hot springs for bathing andAachen developed slowly into a small town.In 794 AD, Charlemagne selected Aachen

as the capital of his em-pire. This way Aachenbecame one of the mostimportant cities in Europein the early Middle Agesand the city attractedtradesmen, artisans andscholars. A rich cultural

heritage from this period can still be wit-nessed in museums and historical buildingstoday. During the late Middle Ages and Re-naissance period Aachen was conquered con-secutively by Dutch, Spanish, and Frenchtroops. The influence of these cultural siegescan still be found today making Aachen atrue international city.

Aachen is also known for emphasizingthis international integration up until now.Since 1950, the Karls-Prize has beenawarded annually to individuals who ren-dered outstanding services to European in-tegration. In 2000 former USA president BillClinton received this prestigious prize, andlast year the Euro was selected as recipientof the Karls-Prize.

Nowadays, Aachen is a must for tour-ists all over the world; its hot water springs,the cathedral or Dom, CharlemagnesCoronation Hall, the old city center, andmuch more, have become major attractions.The corner where three countries meet Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium is an attraction where few places on earthcan match. The gastronomy in Aachen withAachener Printen, excellent internationaland German cuisine, as well as the Germanbeers and wines, together with the kind hos-pitality certainly encourages a visit.

PESC® 2009Call for Proposals

The location of PESC 2009 will be de-cided at PESC 2004 in Aachen, Germany.In keeping with tradition, the 2009 confer-ence would be held normally in NorthAmerica.

A proposal outline for 2009 should besubmitted to the PESC Steering CommitteeChair via the PELS coordinator Bob Myers<[email protected]> by May 15, 2004.The proposal should include: local confer-ence facilities, name of proposed GeneralChair, and outline of budget. Each proposerfor 2009 should plan to attend the PESCSteering Committee in Aachen on Sunday,June 20, 2004 and make a short presenta-tion.

Prof. W.G. HurleyChair, PESC Steering CommitteeNational University of IrelandGalway, [email protected]

PESC® 2003 ReportLast June 15 19, 2003 the IEEE Power

Electronics Specialists Conference,PESC´03, was successfully held at the para-dise port of Acapulco, México with an at-tendance of around 400 hundred people,which we consider quite a success, given thespecial circumstances regarding the Iraq warand SAR disease.

We feel particularly proud of havingintroduced three important changes to im-prove the quality of the event changes thatwe think will have a positive impact on fu-ture events:

(1) A number of well-known special-ists were added to the official database ofreviewers.

(2) The maximum number of possiblereviewers per article was increased from 3to 5, making it possible to reach an averageof 3.24 reviews per article.

(3) In our commitment to deliver a top-quality technical program, we systematicallyshared the list of papers we received withother PELS-sponsored conferences to avoidduplication of papers.

I want to take advantage of this oppor-tunity to thank all the volunteers who workedexhaustively to have PESC03 become amemorable event. Colleagues fromCENIDET and from Section Morelos PELS Chapter, who followed me in this ad-venture, deserve a special mention. Ofcourse, the help from the organizing com-

Industries in and around Aachen havebeen reconverted during the past twentyyears from textile and steel industries to state-of-the-art technology centers specializing inmicro-electronics, automation technology,machine tooling, automotive equipment, andcommunication technology. This develop-ment has been spurred by the many spin-offactivities of the RWTH-Aachen, a univer-sity that is actually the largest employer inthe city and one of the leading technical in-stitutions in Germany.

Keep in mind, Aachen is only a stonesthrow away from other attractive cities, suchas Cologne, Düsseldorf, Maastricht,Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Antwerp, andParis. Surrounded by many airports and con-nected to a large high-speed train network,Aachen can be reached easily from all overthe world.

For further information on PESC 04,visit www.pesc04.org or contact<[email protected]>. I hope to meet you inAachen at PESC 2004!

Rik De DonckerPESC04 General Chair

mittee, session chairs, rap session panelists,reviewers, tutorial instructors, and most cer-tainly the unconditional support from PELS,all made it possible for the event to com-pletely fulfill every expectation.

The PESC ´03 social program gave at-tendees the opportunity to enjoy Mexicanhospitality. During the gala dinner it waspossible to enjoy the folklore, music, andMexican joy, as well as our famous tequilaand margaritas which delighted every at-tendee and gave us the opportunity to dis-cover new talents within the PELS familyfor singing and dancing (see attached pho-tographs). Since the weather was far fromperfect, it increased attendance to the ses-sions; however, it was possible to carry onwith beach sport events (soccer and volley-ball) where the attendees had the chance toenjoy themselves in a quite different man-ner, which turned out to be quite successful.Many of these moments were photographedand may be visited at the PESC´03 web site.

I would also like to have feedback ofthe event from you. This information, whichI will share with PESC´04 General Chair RikDeDoncker, will most surely be very usefulfor him.

In closing I want to thank all of you whomade the success of this event possible, ei-ther by attending and/or collaborating, par-ticularly to PELS for having relied onCENIDET and the Section Morelos PowerElectronics Chapter.

Jaime ArauPESC03 General [email protected]


Chapter NewsIt is with a great pleasure that I am writ-

ing to report on exciting new developments;specifically, three new PELS Chapters havebeen officially established as follows: IEEE Russia (Northwest) Section IAS/PELS Chapter. Please contact ProfessorValery I. Chrisanov <[email protected]>,The State University of Telecommunica-tions, Power Electronics Department, Moika61, St. Petersburg, 191186, Russia. IEEE Greece Section IES/IAS/PELSChapter. Please contact Professor S.N.Manias <[email protected]>, Schoolof Electrical and Computer Engineering,Division of Electric Power National Tech-nical University of Athens, IroonPolytechniou 9, Athens, 157 73, Greece. IEEE Malaysia Section IES/IAS/PELS Chapter. Please contact ProfessorAbdul Halim Mohd Yatim<[email protected]>, Faculty of ElectricalEngineering, University of Technology,Skudai, Johor 81310, Malaysia.

May I take this opportunity to person-ally thank, on behalf of the Society, theabove Chairs who have been actively in-volved in collecting signatures of fellowmembers and dealing with the paperwork,so that the Chapters can be established. Iextend my best wishes for the successfuloperation of the Chapters. There are many

Chapter AwardNominations

To promote technical activities withinPELS chapters, in 2000 the Power Electron-ics Society instituted a Best Chapter Award.The award is given annually to the chapterthat makes the best use of the PELS sup-porting capabilities (Distinguished LectureProgram, Annual Financial Support) andconducts activities such as organizing con-ferences and technical talks, operating a website, and promoting Power Electronics tech-nology.

The Best Chapter Award consists of aplaque including the names of the chapterchair, secretary, and treasurer. PELS willprovide complimentary conference registra-tion and will reimburse expenses up to apredetermined amount to allow the BestChapter chair or nominee to attend PESC toreceive the award. The award applicationform is available online at the PELS websitewww.pels.org under the Chapters Roster andResources link.

Application forms must be received byMarch 31, 2004 to be considered for theaward presentation in June 2004 at PESC inAachen, Germany.

Please send the forms by e-mail<[email protected]>, by FAX (+44141 330 6004), or by regular mail toVassilios G. Agelidis, PELS Chapters De-velopment Chair, Department of Electron-ics and Electrical Engineering, 72 OakfieldAvenue, Glasgow, G12 8LT, United King-dom.

more individuals, members of our Society,who are taking similar initiatives and hope-fully soon I could include more new Chap-ters in our ever-expanding list.

I am also very excited as I am makingmy plan to attend the annual joint IEEE IAS/PELS/IES German Chapter meeting, a jointmeeting this time with the Benelux Chapterand the Student Branch Aachen, which willbe held at Philips Research Laboratories inAachen on 13-14 November 2003. Dr.-Ing.Peter Magyar, Chairman, and his team havebeen working really hard in organizing thismeeting and judging from the planning,which started several months in advance, Iam extremely confident that it is going tobe a huge success. The amount of work andcare that he has put into making sure thingsare organized with the highest possible stan-dards and that evenminute details arelooked after is very im-pressive. Hopefully Iwill be able to report onmy experience in thenext newsletter.

I look forward toexciting new developments and wish you allthe best. Thank you all for your continuoussupport to the activities of our Society.

Vassilios G. AgelidisChapter Development [email protected]

Diagnostics, André Capolino<[email protected]>

Some of these names (e.g., ElectronicTransformers) have links back into history,and some (e.g., Diagnostics) might seem notclosely linked with power electronics. How-ever in each case a group of committedPELS members had an interest in that areaand was prepared to make something hap-pen. The guidelines for these commit-tees are that they should:

(1) Hold a meeting once a year. Thisis not very difficult. In general, book a lunchroom at our annual meeting, let a few peopleknow about it, try to get it on the confer-ence notice board, and see who turns up. Atleast that is how I did it when I ran the Edu-cational Activities Committee! I was alwayspleasantly surprised at the number of peoplewho turned up, had a genuine commitmentto the subject, and really appreciated thechance to meet like-minded colleagues anddiscuss issues. We made some decisions,and spent some society monies; for examplewe made a video, a CD, and we supported

Presidents Message from page 10 Education in Power Electronics work-shops around the globe.

(2) Consider running say a biennialworkshop. Not all technical societies do this,but Simulation, Modeling & Control, andAutomotive have done this very successfullyfor a number of years.

(3) Provide a source of reviewers forour transactions and our conferences. Thisnetworking aspect is really valuable, whenwe can identify a relatively small numberof people with like interest in a specialistarea.

(4) Plan for a Special Issue of ourtransactions. These are usually publishedearly in the calendar year, the most recentexample being in January 2003 on Simula-tion, Modeling and Control. Although thelead time for planning is long, special is-sues have been very successfully taken uprecently; and time slots for the next 2 yearsare already booked (Distributed Generationin 2004, and Integrated Power Electronicsin 2005). The 2006 issue is open for bids,and an expression of interest has alreadybeen lodged. A decision will be made at

APEC 2004, so if you want to have a go,contact Daan Van Wyk<[email protected]> pretty soon.

(5) Do anything else that will enablelike-minded people to interact. Virtualcommunities are words I hear regularly.Im sure there are web-based linkages thatcould be used to good effect. A special ses-sion at a conference might be a good way tostart.

And so to our members if any of thetopics above is close to your heart, just reg-ister interest with the chair, and see whathappens. If your pet passion is not covered,give me a call. These committees are rela-tively easy to set up, and the society as awhole offers real support and encourage-ment.

Dean PattersonPh: +1 803 777 7362FAX: +1 803 777 [email protected]


Nominations Sought from page 1

INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS, INC.

IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS SOCIETYNOMINATION FORM

The William E. Newell Power Electronics AwardAward Year 2004

Nominated by: ________________________________ Nominators IEEE Member Number: _____________________________

Nominators FAX Number: ______________________ Nominators E-mail Address: ___________________________________

Nominees Name: _____________________________ Nominees E-mail Address: ____________________________________

Nominees Business Address: ________________________________________________________________________________

Nominees Educational Background: __________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________On a separate sheet or sheets of A4 or 8½×11" paper, summarize the Nominees qualifications and contributions to the field of

power electronics. Since not all members of the Selection Committee may know the Nominee, please describe his/her most pertinentachievements and provide specific examples of outstanding accomplishments. For example, with respect to patents and paperspublished, their particular significance and value should be pointed out.

A strict limit of 750 words must be observed for the attached document. Nominations longer than this limit will be truncated at750 words before they are submitted to the Selection Committee.

Please send this form and the attached sheet(s) to Christopher O. Riddleberger, PELS Awards Chair, 497 Old Mine Brook Road,Far Hills, NJ 07931-2550 USA; FAX: +1 908 221 1014; E-mail: [email protected] form, fully completed, and accompanying page(s) must be received by 15 January 2004.

cades, this award has come to represent therecipients crowning achievement as a con-tributor to the field of power electronics. TheNominating Committee for this award is thePELS Awards Committee. The SelectionCommittee comprises a subset of past win-ners of the award. Please note that there is anew requirement in the Selection Criteriathat specifies that no nominees name willappear on the first ballot for more than twoconsecutive years. An interval of two yearsis then required before an individuals nameis again eligible for the first ballot. Anynominator with questions regarding this re-quirement should contact the Awards Chair.

The Power Electronics Society Distin-guished Service Award is presented to amember of the Society in recognition ofexceptional dedication and service to thePower Electronics Society over a substan-tial period. This award consists of an in-scribed plaque and a cash award. The Nomi-nating Committee for this award consists ofall elected and ad hoc members of the PELSAdministrative Committee. The PELSAwards Committee serves as the SelectionCommittee.

The Richard M. Bass OutstandingYoung Power Electronics Engineer Award

is given for outstanding achievement in thefield of power electronics by an IEEE mem-ber of any grade who is less than 35 yearsof age on January 1, 2004. It is dedicated tothe memory of Professor Richard Bass, aformer treasurer of the Society. The recipi-ent is judged to have made an outstandingcontribution to the field of power electron-ics. This award consists of a certificate, acash award, and reasonable reimbursementfor transportation expenses up to $500 toattend the Annual PELS Awards Banquet,which is typically held during the PowerElectronics Specialists Conference. TheNominating Committee consists of the Chairof this Awards Subcommittee and six indi-viduals appointed by this Chair. The Selec-tion Committee comprises six past recipi-ents of the Newell Award appointed by thisChair.

Although each of these three awards hasa Nominating Committee, every member ofPELS has the opportunity, and is encour-aged, to nominate candidates for theseawards. You may use the forms printed inthis Newsletter, attaching a separate sheetsummarizing the nominees qualificationsand achievements. These forms and the se-lection criteria are also available at the PELSweb site www.pels.org. Please note the strict

limits on the length of each nomination.Nominations that exceed the limits will betruncated before they are submitted to theselection committees.

At the Awards Banquet, the Society willalso present the PELS Transactions PrizePaper Awards to the authors of the threepapers judged by the Associate Editors tobe the best papers published in the PELSTransactions in 2003. A Best ChapterAward, inaugurated in 2000, will be pre-sented to a PELS chapter. For further infor-mation regarding the latter award, pleasecontact Professor Vassilios Agelidis at<[email protected]>.

The Institute (IEEE) also has an awardsprogram comprising IEEE Medals, IEEETechnical Field Awards, Service Awards andPrize Paper Awards. For additional infor-mation, see the IEEE web site atwww.ieee.org or send a fax to the IEEEAwards Board, Piscataway, NJ USA, +1 732981 9019. If you desire assistance, pleasecontact the PELS Awards Committee Chair.

Christopher O. RiddlebergerChair, PELS Awards Committee497 Old Mine Brook RoadFar Hills, NJ 07931-2550 USATel: +1 908 221 0013Fax: +1 908 221 [email protected]




Distinguished Service AwardAward Year 2004





Nominees Educational Background: __________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________On a separate sheet or sheets of A4 or 8½×11" paper, summarize the Nominees qualifications and contributions to the Power

Electronics society. Since not all members of the Selection Committee may know the Nominee, please describe his/her most perti-nent achievements and accomplishments in introducing new programs, nurturing growth of individual Society members, and enhanc-ing the reputation and stature of the Society. Provide specific examples and explain their significance.





Richard M. Bass Outstanding Young Power Electronics Engineer AwardAward Year 2004





Nominees Date of Birth:________________________ Nominees Educational Background: _____________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________On a separate sheet or sheets of A4 or 8½×11" paper, summarize the Nominees qualifications and contributions to the field of

power electronics. Since not all members of the Selection Committee may know the Nominee, please describe his/her most pertinentachievements and provide specific examples of outstanding accomplishments. For example, with respect to patents and paperspublished, their particular significance and value should be pointed out.




FEATURES BENEFITS

Many models 10 to 600 Vdc, 5 to 3600 Adc.

High-Power Factor Reduces input current demand.

Current fed design More robust than voltage fed designs. Distur-bances cannot saturate isolation transformer.

Polyphase choppers Fast responsing, low ripple power processing.

Local OVP and OCP Convenient front panel controls for displayingand setting over voltage and over current trip.

Mechanical Removes ac power from the power circuit forcontactor enhanced safety.

Inrush limiting Step-start contactor arrangement prechargescapaci tors minimiziing inrush currents.

Remote analog Voltage, current, over voltage trip, and over currentprogramming trip can be remotely programmed via resistance,

voltage, current, or optional IEEE488/RS232.

Series and parallel Allows series or parallel combinations of powermaster/slave supplies with one unit controlling the system.

Optical isolation All front panel digital controls can be accessedfrom rear connectors. All digital lines have ohmicisolation eliminating ground loops.

MAGNA-POWERELECTRONICS, INC.

81 Fulton Street, Boonton, NJ 07005(973) 263-0017 FAX: (973) 263-1928E-mail: [email protected]://www.magna-power.com

cal articles, along with advertising. To support those changes, an as-sociate editor and an advertising manager were added to the newslet-ter team, thus tripling its size! Starting with the second issue of 2003,each newsletter has had 16 pages and two technical articles.

For the record the newsletter was composed using AdobePageMaker®, and graphics were edited using Adobe Photoshop® LE.

Looking now to the future, in view of the increased complexityinvolved with coordination of news, technical articles, and advertis-ing, the Society has authorized the new editor to have compositiondone by the IEEE Publications Department. This present issue is likelyto be the last one in which composition is done by the editor.

Also in the works is a color cover design, which is nearly com-plete. The four pages on the folded outside sheet will soon be printedin color to accommodate advertising.

Although the nominal transition to the new editor occurs on Janu-ary 1, realistically it will take a newsletter cycle or two to completethe transition. I will assist the new editor as needed for approximatelysix months. Newsletter-related email can be sent to [email protected] usual; during the transition it will be mirrored to both editors. Shouldanyone wish to contact me personally, my email address is given below.

I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to serve PELS, and to workwith so many dedicated and talented fellow-volunteers. I will cer-tainly miss it, but editor-in-chief duties were increasingly absorbingall my personal time, so I asked PresidentPatterson to relieve me several months ago. Iam delighted at how quickly a new editor hasbeen found, and I hope he finds it to be as ful-filling as I have.

Gene WesterDeparting [email protected] (Newsletter)[email protected] (personal)

way) to his place of business. Later another trip to the service bureauwas required to retrieve the hardcopy. Those graphic pages were as-sembled with the text pages, and mailed to the publisher, who thenscanned each page at high resolution and produced a proof copy. Thusthe editor had to make at least three physical trips to the service bu-reau and post office for each issue.

One of the first process changes I made was to obtain and config-ure a printer driver for the high-resolution imagesetter used by thepublisher for printing the final master. That is much easier said thandone, but after implementation it permitted me to compose the news-letter for the imagesetter using its fonts, settings, etc. That changeenabled me to print the finished newsletter to a file that could be emailedto the publisher, thus saving time and money by eliminating at leastthree trips to the prepress service bureau and post office for each issue.

Another process improvement was made in the way graphics arehandled. Most photographs, conference announcements, and calls forpapers were initially scanned from hardcopy to get them into the soft-ware program used for composing the newsletter. Later the publisherscanned each hardcopy page to get it into the program used for print-ing the final master. Thus each graphic was scanned twice, and reso-lution inevitably suffered. Contributors now are requested to emailgraphic elements to the editor as separate, attached files in standardgraphical formats, rather than mail hardcopy. This sometimes requiredpersistence in tracking down the original creator of the graphic ele-ment, and in getting the cooperation of contributors to provide graph-ics in the required formats, but it gave me much better control of reso-lution, and it eliminated most image scanning.

While photographs of conferences, contributors, awards, etc. addinterest to the newsletter, getting them in a timely manner and in therequired resolution was a challenge initially. Print media requires muchhigher resolution than does a computer monitor, so most photos down-loaded from the internet are unsuitable for the newsletter. With fundsprovided by the Society, I bought at digital camera and became the defacto newsletter photographer, as well as editor. The digital cameragave me control and consistency over format and quality, and it alsosimplified the composition process by eliminating the delay and ex-pense of getting and scanning prints.

Along the way I developed several aids to assist with composi-tion. After each news item is edited, it is listed and prioritized in aspreadsheet. It is then imported into the newsletter and formatted withthe proper fonts and column width. The effective column length isadded to the spreadsheet, which keeps a running tally of remainingspace. The layout step does not begin until the spreadsheet indicatesthat the amount of edited material matches the available newsletterspace. At that point I use another template I designed consisting ofpairs of boxes representing facing pages. Starting with multi-columnitems (e.g., conference announcements), each item is fitted into thenewsletter, not unlike assembling a jigsaw puzzle. The ongoing chal-lenge is to minimize the number of continuations and to keep relateditems together.

The time saved by these process changes was used for iteratingwith contributors to clarify news items, thereby improving the quality.My underlying goal has been to publish items that are accurate, under-standable, and interesting, so sometimes numerous iterations were re-quired. I view the editors role as a spokesman for the reader, so Ihave tried to anticipate and answer questions of the typical reader.My sincere thanks and appreciation go to those who patiently perse-vered while we sought the balance point between adequacy and excel-lence.

The Society decided this year to expand the number of pages ineach issue to accommodate more Tricks of the Trade type of practi-

Newsletter Changes from page 3 RUGGED DC POWER SUPPLIESPQ SERIES 3.3 TO 10 KWSQ SERIES 20 TO 30 KWMQ SERIES 20 TO 60 KW

16

The INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS, Inc.445 Hoes Lane, P.O. Box 1331 Piscataway, NJ 08855-1331, USA

Meetings of Interest to PELS MembersIECON 2003, the 29th Annual Con-

ference of the IEEE Industrial Elec-tronics Society, is planned for 2 6 No-vember 2003 in Roanoke, Virginia,USA. For further information see http://iecon03.crts.vt.edu.

PEDS 2003, the 5th IEEE Interna-tional Conference on Power Electron-ics and Drive Systems, will be held 17 20 November in Singapore. The IEEEPower Electronics and Industry Appli-cations Societies are technical co-spon-sors. Visit http://www.ieeepeds.org fordetails.

APEC® 2004, the 19th Annual IEEEApplied Power Electronics Confer-ence, sponsored by the IEEE PowerElectronics Society, the IEEE IndustryApplications Society, and the PowerSources Manufacturers Association, willbe held 22 26 February 2004 at theDisneyland Hotel, Anaheim, CaliforniaUSA. Advance registration discountsare available through 19 January. Visithttp://www.apec-conf.org for current in-formation.

PEMD 2004, the 2nd InternationalConference on Power Electronics,Machines, and Drives, is scheduled for31 March 2 April 2004 in Edinburgh,UK. PELS is a technical co-sponsor.Visit http://conferences.iee.org/PEMD/for additional details.

The First IEEE Hydrogen EconomyConference will be held 19 20 April2004 at the JW Marriott in Washington,DC. Sponsored by four IEEE Societies(Power Electronics, Industry Applica-tions, Power Engineering, and SocialImplications of Technology), the confer-ence will invite key speakers and explorethe impact of a hydrogen economy ontechnology. Contact the ConferenceChair, Saifur Rahman <[email protected]>for further information.

NORPIE 2004, the Nordic Work-shop on Power and Industrial Electron-ics, takes place 14 16 June 2004 inTrondheim, Norway. The IEEE PowerElectronics Society is a technical co-sponsor. Digests are due 12 January2004. For additional information visithttp://www.elkraft.ntnu.no/norpie/ .

PESC® 2004, the 35th Annual IEEEPower Electronics Specialists Confer-ence, will be held 20 25 June 2004 inAachen, Germany. PESC is sponsoredby the IEEE Power Electronics Society.The deadline for abstracts/digests hasbeen extended to 30 November. Visithttp://www/pesc04.org/ for the latestinformation.

COMPEL® 2004, the 9th IEEEWorkshop on Computers in PowerElectronics, sponsored by the IEEEPower Electronics Society and by the

Make your plans nowto attend

APEC® 2004Disneyland Hotel

Anaheim, California USAFebruary 22 26, 2004

IEEE Power Electronics Society NEWSLETTER, Fourth Quarter 2003

Periodicals PostagePaid at New York, NY

and at AdditionalMailing Offices

Grainger Lecture Series at the Univer-sity of Illinois, will be held 15 18 Au-gust 2004 at the University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign, USA. See http://energy.ece.uiuc.edu/COMPEL for fur-ther information.

EPE-PEMC 2004, the 11th Interna-tional Power Electronics and MotionControl Conference, will be held 2 4September 2004 in Riga, Latvia. TheIEEE Power Electronics Society and theIEE Japan are technical co-sponsors.Synopses and abstracts of proposed pa-pers are due 30 November 2003. Visithttp://www.rtu.lv/epe-pemc2004 for ad-ditional details.

INTELEC® 2004, the 26th Interna-tional Telecommunications EnergyConference, will be September 19 23in Chicago, Illinois USA. PELS is thesole sponsor in even years, and is a tech-nical co-sponsor in odd years. See thecall for papers in this Newsletter, andvisit http://www.intelec.org for more in-formation.

CIEP 2004, the 9th IEEE Interna-tional Power Electronics Congress,will be held 17 20 October 2004 inCelaya, Mexico. The IEEE Power Elec-tronics Society is a co-sponsor. Ab-stracts are due 16 January 2004. For ad-ditional information visit http://www.itc.mx/ciep/ciep2004.htm .

Documents

Power Electronics Society NEWSLETTER4 IEEE Power Electronics Society NEWSLETTER, Fourth Quarter 2003 IEEE Power Electronics Society Officers Dean Patterson, President Ron Harley, V