PowerAmerica CTO Named IEEE Fellow

PowerAmerica CTO Dr. Victor Veliadis was recently honored with the elevation to IEEE Fellow in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the development of SiC power devices. Read more here.

Tune in for This Month’s PowerAmerica Technical Webinar with Dr. Fred Wang

Dr. Fred Wang of the University of Tennessee – Knoxville will speak about the potential benefits of high voltage SiC devices based converters in asynchronous microgrids applications during PowerAmerica’s monthly technical webinar series from noon to 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Jan. 10. Wang’s presentation is titled, Medium Voltage SiC-Based Asynchronous Microgrid Power Conditioning System.”

Biography

Dr. Fred Wang is a professor and Condra Chair of Excellence in Power Electronics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and holds a joint position in Oak Ridge National Lab. Previously, he was a faculty member and technical director at the Center for Power Electronics at Virginia Tech and an engineer and R&D manager for General Electric. His current research interests include WBG device applications, power electronics for transportation and grid applications.

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995 405 004

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919-513-9329 (WolfMeeting)

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Join Us for PowerAmerica’s Monthly Technical Webinar Series Dec. 6

Dr. Yilmaz Sozer of the University of Akron will speak about his work using SiC devices to design a high bandwidth power converter during PowerAmerica’s monthly technical webinar series from noon to 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Dec. 6. Shozer’s presentation is titled, High Bandwidth SiC Inverter for Motor Drive Applications.

Biography

Dr. Sozer is currently a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Akron, engaged in teaching and research. Prior to joining UA he worked 9 years in industry developing power converters and electric drives for automotive and industrial markets. Read his full biography here.

WhenWednesday, Dec. 6, from noon to 1 p.m. EDT

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PowerAmerica Issues Call for Projects

PowerAmerica’s 2017 Call for Projects has been issued. The concept paper due date is Nov. 10, 2017, with a full submission deadline of Dec. 22, 2017.

This Call for Projects is primarily focused on the manufacturing of SiC and GaN power semiconductor devices, wide bandgap power electronics architectures and assemblies, and packaging and manufacturing processes with the potential to improve performance, lower cost, and create U.S. manufacturing jobs. Demonstration of WBG devices in high volume commercially viable power electronic applications is desired.

Teaming between companies, and between companies/national laboratories/universities is strongly encouraged.

More details are available on the Call for Projects website.

Join Us for PowerAmerica’s Monthly Technical Webinar Series Nov. 1

Dr. Yanjun Shi of Florida State University will speak about his work to design a control system for a filter-less grid-connected SiC inverter during PowerAmerica’s monthly technical webinar series from noon to 1 p.m. EDTWednesday, Nov. 1. Shi’s presentation is titled, Stability Analysis and Grid Disturbance Rejection for a 60kW SiC-based Filter-less Grid-connected PV Inverter.
Biography
Dr. Yanjun Shi received his Ph.D. degree in power electronics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China in 2012. He has been a research faculty member at the Center for Advanced Power Systems at Florida State University since 2014. Before joining CAPS, he also worked with GE global research center as an onsite contract researcher. He is the co-PI of FSU’s PowerAmerica project. His research interests include grid-connected power electronics converters, high power density PV inverters, high-penetration PV integration, wide bandgap device applications and modeling, and control of power electronics converters.
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Dr. Jon Zhang Joins PowerAmerica Team

Dr. Jon Zhang has joined PowerAmerica as Director of Power Device Technology. Zhang received his PhD in 2001 from the University of South Carolina, and has spent the last 16 years innovating in SiC power devices. Zhang is a world-renowned engineer with an extensive record of achievement, including a book chapter on SiC devices; coauthor of more than 75 technical papers and conference presentations; and the first inventor on 64 U.S. and numerous international patents with more applications pending.

Career milestones also include demonstrating the industry first reported trench MOSFET with dual buffer layers on SiC (2005), first reported 12 kV IGBT on SiC (2007), first reported trench Schottky diode on SiC (2009), first reported BJT with high current gain of >100 on SiC (2010), first reported 12 kV Gate turn-off Thyristor on SiC (2011), and first reported 12 kV optically triggered Gate turn-off Thyristor on SiC (2012).

“We are extremely fortunate to have someone of Dr. Zhang’s caliber join PowerAmerica,” said Deputy Executive Director and CTO Dr. Victor Veliadis. “He has an outstanding track record of accomplishment in power semiconductor devices and will play a key role in supporting the PowerAmerica goal of creating US manufacturing jobs through accelerated adoption of SiC and GaN power electronics.”

PowerAmerica Releases Annual Report

PowerAmerica has released an annual report detailing its successes in its second full year of operation, which ended June 30, 2017.

The report provides an overview of the institute as well as detailed write-ups of almost 40 member projects in the areas of foundry and device development, module development and manufacturing, commercialization applications and education and workforce development.

View and download the report here.

PowerAmerica Celebrates National Manufacturing Day

From L to R, John Nicholson (NCDEQ), Jason Massey (industrial.io), Dr. Raoul Farer (Freudenberg Performance Materials), Dr. Dave Grider (Wolfspeed).

PowerAmerica and the Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster (RTCC) joined together Thursday, Oct. 5 to host a National Manufacturing Day “Smart Speaker Series” at the PowerAmerica offices in Raleigh.

The panel featured John Nicholson, Chief Deputy Secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ); as well as industry representatives Jason Massey of industrial.io, Raoul Farer of Freudenberg Performance Materials, and Dave Grider from Wolfspeed – a Cree Company.  They spoke to a crowd of about 50 people.  Moderating the panel was Nick Justice, Executive Director of PowerAmerica.

The combination of state government and representation from the advanced manufacturing industry made for an interesting and varied discussion. Collaboration was a key topic, as NCDEQ expressed a desire to forge stronger relationships with regional cleantech startups and the State Energy Office.

Another topic of discussion centered around the fact that many advanced manufacturing technologies (such as electric vehicles) are at a tipping point of being adopted on a wider scale. Dave Grider of Wolfspeed gave the example of silicon carbide being on the verge of rapidly replacing silicon in power electronics products.

All in all, it was a fantastic National Manufacturing Day event highlighting exciting industry advances, particularly those surrounding the theme of energy efficiency.

Panel presentations can be accessed here.

Join Us for PowerAmerica’s Monthly Technical Webinar Series Oct. 4

Qiang Li, Research Asst Prof, Power Electronic Systems

Dr. Qiang Li of Virginia Tech will speak about his work on a high frequency modular medium voltage AC to low voltage DC (400 VDC) system that is scalable for micro-grids during PowerAmerica’s monthly technical webinar series from noon to 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 4. Li’s presentation is titled High Frequency Modular Power Conversion from Medium Voltage AC to Low Voltage DC

Biography

Dr. Qiang Li received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Power Electronics from Zhejiang University, China and a Ph.D. degree from Virginia Tech in 2011. He is currently an assistant professor in the Center for Power Electronics Systems at Virginia Tech. His research interests include distributed power systems, high-frequency power conversion, and high-density electronics packaging and integration.

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997 902 597

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PowerAmerica Partners with RTCC to Host National Manufacturing Day Breakfast Event Oct. 5

On Thursday, Oct. 5, PowerAmerica and the Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster will hold a National Manufacturing Day event as part of RTCC’s SMART Series entitled, “Innovating the Next Wave of Manufacturing.” The free event will be from 8 to 10 a.m. at the PowerAmerica Offices on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus, and will feature speakers from some of the region’s most innovative manufacturers. Breakfast will be provided.

To learn more about this event and register, visit the event website. We hope to see you there!