News

PCIM 2019 Conference Kicks Off in Nuremberg, Spotlighting Europe’s Power Industry

May 07, 2019 by Gary Elinoff

PCIM 2019 began today in Nuremberg, Germany, highlighting trends and advancements across the power industry.

PCIM 2019 began today in Nuremberg, Germany, highlighting trends and advancements across the power industry.

PCIM, the world's leading exhibition and conference for power electronics, intelligent motion, renewable energy, and energy management, runs from May 7 to May 9, with a major focus on wide-bandgap semiconductors.

What Is PCIM?

PCIM stands for Power Conversion, Intelligent Motion. Unlike The Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exhibition (APEC), PCIM is not totally product-oriented. However, it is still aimed directly at a highly technical audience of industrial and academic professionals.

This year's exhibition showcases the megatrends currently defining the practice of power electronics, including:

  • Wide bandgap (WGB) semiconductors
  • Reliability/robustness validation
  • Electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles (EV/HEV)
  • Energy efficiency
  • Renewable energies
  • Future smart power grids

Exhibitors

There are over 500 exhibitors at this year’s PCIM, including strong showings from US-based companies, Europe-based companies (particularly German), and Chinese companies. You can peruse a complete listing here.

The exhibition is divided into 13 product groups:

  • Power semiconductors, power components and power modules
  • Integrated circuits
  • Passive components
  • Magnetic materials and coil materials
  • Thermal management
  • Sensors
  • Assemblies and subsystems
  • Power converters
  • Power quality and energy storage
  • Test equipment and measurement equipment
  • Development tools and test tools
  • Information and services

Industry Forums

There are 23 Industry Forums scheduled, with the complete listing available here.

An important forum is entitled "SiC and GaN Impact on Traditional Si Power Electronics Industry" and will discuss the challenges to traditional silicon power electronics posed by WGB technologies such as gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC).

E-Mobility Forum

The E-Mobility Forum features half-hour presentations that cover the entire gamut of challenges and opportunities presented to the power electronics community by the birth of the electric vehicle.

While power engineers are already engrossed in the issues inherent to the vehicles themselves, this forum will also delve into the gigantic issue of designing and building the huge infrastructure that will be necessary to keep the hundreds of millions of EVs that will eventually roam streets and highways worldwide.

Programs and Speakers

Seven seminars, ten tutorials, and over 300 presentations have been scheduled over the next two days. The long listing is provided here.

Seminars will take place before the regular show on Sunday, May 5. Topics include:

  • Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) of Power Electronics
  • Power Inverter Technology for Industrial Induction Heating
  • Functional Safety – an Introduction based on Requirements for Automation Drive
  • High Power Medium Frequency Transformer Design Optimisation

The tutorials will take place on Monday. Among those scheduled are:

  • Latest Developments in Soft Switching Technologies
  • WBG Devices, Circuits and Measurement
  • Advanced System Design with Ultra-Fast Si / SiC / GaN Power Semiconductor Devices
  • Reliability Engineering in Power Electronics System
  • Design Methods and Tools for Power Electronics

Keynote Addresses will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday:

  • Next Generation Power Supplies.
  • The Age of Optimization in Power Electronics. This talk is about power grid tied converters.
  • GaN and Industry 4.0 – A Small Change that is Revolutionizing the Industry

Conferences

There are far too many conferences available to give even a partial list. However, an often-overlooked fact about EVs is that, before they can become truly mainstream, the electric grid will need to be vastly expanded to provide the needed power for all those millions of EV batteries.

For that reason, one conference stands out: “DC Grid Technology – Advances in Efficient Power Conversion, Multi-Node Control, and Medium Voltage DC Grid Design and Requirements for Planning and Operation.”

This conference will be presented on Tuesday, May 7, at 11:50 AM (ECT). A complete listing for the conferences can be found here.

Important Product Announcements

Tektronix is showcasing its SiC MOSFET and GaN FET Switching Power Converter Analysis Kit at Stand 407 of Hall 7. SiC MOSFETs and GaN semiconductors are among the stars of this show, and, as Tectronix points out, they are difficult to optimize. The company’s offerings include “patented probe technology to accurately characterize all the critical parameters for optimizing power electronics topologies that use SiC and GaN.”

Rohm Semiconductor will be showcasing its automotive Grade SiC Mosfets. Dubbed the SCTxxxxHR series, these AEC-Q101 qualified devices will, in the words of the company, “provide the high reliability necessary for automotive onboard chargers and DC/DC converters.” Rohm will be quite active at PCIM. Their booth is at Stand 312, Hall 9.