IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - September 2021 - 56

plenary speakers, technical sessions
presenting peer-reviewed papers,
industry sessions offering current topics
in power electronics from industry
sources, three RAP sessions, and 16
professional education seminars.
Plenary Session
Chaired by Dr. Stephanie Watts Butler,
innovation architect at Texas Instruments
(TI), with Dr. Pradeep Shenoy,
manager in Power Design Services at
TI, as cochair, the plenary session
invited seven professionals to share
their knowledge on six topics, which
Traditionally, plenary
talks are given on the
same day. This year, the
plenary presentations
were spread across
three days, Monday to
Wednesday with two on
each day.
included electric vehicles, wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors,
WBG standardization, energy storage and power
electronics, magnetics and power passives, and quantum
computing. Traditionally, plenary talks are given on the
same day. This year, the plenary presentations were
spread across three days, Monday to Wednesday with two
on each day.
Welcoming the participants, the conference program
chair Dr. Omer C. Onar of Oak Ridge National Laboratory
kicked off the plenary session on Monday 14 June 2021 by
inviting the first speaker Prof. Annette Muetze of Graz University
of Technology, Graz, Austria to talk on " Auxiliary
Automotive Drives Revolutionized by Power Electronics. "
In this talk, the keynote speaker discussed how these
seemingly unnoticed small drives have been completely
revolutionized by power electronics, where the beauty
and power often emerge in rediscovering simplicity itself.
Some examples explored in this talk include meeting the
required EMI standards at reduced component counts,
a simple drive redesign that can be considered during
manufacturing that reduces the generated
noise, as well as increasing
drive efficiency by reducing the control
to its essence.
Greeting all those attending, Prof.
Muetze said that the millions of auxiliary
drives used in automotive application
have continued to remain one
of the industry's best kept secrets
hidden under the hood. Her presentation
showed that with more than 100
of such auxiliary drives in typical
mid-size and large executive cars (Figure
1), their role in enabling today's
modern car's performances is of
exceptional importance. " Given the additional design
freedom and performance spaces opened up by the use
of power electronics, the number of such small electric
drives in automotive applications has at least doubled
over the course of the past two decades, " stated Prof.
Muetze. Designed for performance, safety, and comfort,
the focus today is on improving energy conversion efficiency,
size, and cost, as well as meeting the electromagnetic
emission, noise, and fault tolerance standards
in these drives, noted the speaker. Because there is
increasing interest in reducing noise in motors, the cogging
torque has been reduced by nearly 70%, stated
Prof. Muetze.
The second speaker of the session was Dr. Edoardo
Merli, power transistor macro-division general manager
and group vice president of STMicroelectronics'
automotive and discrete group. Speaking on the topic
" Wide Bandgap Technologies: Enabling a Broader
Power Application Domain, " he said physical limits prevent
current silicon technology from achieving the
Trunk Opener/Closer
Central Locking
Mirror Adjustment
Window Lifter
Headlight Washer
Fuel Pump
Starter Generator
Steering Assist
Adaptive Headlights
Sun Roof
Seat Adjustment
Windshield Wiper
Air Conditioning
Oil and Waterpumps
FIG 1 Modern high performance vehicles incorporate more than 100 auxiliary motor drives. Source: D klein
56 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE z September 2021

IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - September 2021

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