IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2023 - 16

PSMA Corner
by Renee Yawger
PSMA Committees Work With
Regulatory Agencies to
Encourage Innovation
he Power Sources Manufacturers
Association (PSMA)
(www.psma.com) represents
more than 100 companies that manufacture
power supplies, battery chargers,
external power adapters, and
the key semiconductors, passive
components, and batteries at the
heart of all power conversion processes
in consumer, automotive, and
industrial equipment. It is the responsibility
of PSMA to maintain worldclass
expertise on all aspects of
power electronics and to interface
on behalf of its members with regulatory
agencies to advance the interest
of the member organizations. This
work falls on the individual committees
of PSMA to interface with the
regulatory standards and initiatives
that will most impact them.
T
the members have a uniquely objective
and credible knowledge position
on the costs, lead times, and manufacturing
challenges associated with
meeting tighter energy efficiency
requirements. The Energy Management
Committee, whose mission is to
provide education, support, and recommendations
in matters regarding
the energy efficiency of power supplies
and system power architectures,
took the lead on crafting a
response reiterating that it is generally
beneficial for government agencies
to establish stringent but fair levels of
energy efficiency standardization.
The primary goal of the Energy Management
Committee is the establishment
of a consistent global standard
for energy efficiency.
Energy efficiency standards that
Energy Management Committee
and the Department of Energy
PSMA's Energy Management Committee
was involved in this type of effort
with the U.S. Department of Energy
(DoE) in early 2022. The DoE was
soliciting public comment on energy
conservation standards for external
power supplies in Docket Number
EERE-2020-BT-STD-006. This is clearly
a topic that impacts several member
organizations within PSMA, and
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2023.3234748
Date of publication: 3 March 2023
drive the development of new and
better products counteract the forces
of commoditization and drive
innovation from member companies.
Standards, moreover, reduce
uncertainty about future market
demand for efficient components
and encourage long-term investment
in emerging technologies such as
silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium
nitride (GaN) power devices. Further,
innovation to meet standards
encourages superior circuit design
which leverages the talents of engineers
in our membership. The goal
is to urge the DoE to publish a clear,
16 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE z March 2023
long- term roadmap with more
aggressive tiers of energy efficiency
targets toward which our industry
can work over the next 3-5 years.
In the comment letter, the Energy
Management Committee encouraged
the DoE to update its assumptions
because state-of-the-art technologies
and products such as
GaN-based power suppl ies can
already deliver performance better
than those dictated in the proposed
standard. The committee encouraged
the DoE to raise required efficiency
standards given the steady
advancements in both power conversion
topologies and power device
technologies. PSMA strongly suppor
ts innovat ion and clearly
defined, aggressive energy efficiency
targets provide a roadmap that
member companies can use to drive
investment and focus on development
efforts.
On the DoE's test procedure for
external power supplies (Figure 1),
the final rule became effective on
September 19, 2022. The final rule
changes will be mandatory for product
testing starting February 15,
2023. Beyond clarifying the scope
and better delineating requirements,
the test procedure consolidates
those requirements to conform to
the industry-based Universal Serial
Bus (USB) power delivery specifications.
On the energy conservation

http://www.psma.com https://www.psma.com/technical-forums/energy-management https://www.psma.com/technical-forums/energy-management https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EERE-2020-BT-STD-0006/unified-agenda https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EERE-2020-BT-STD-0006/unified-agenda

IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2023