As part of its mission to accelerate the growth of the US power electronics industry, the Power Electronics Industry Collaborative (PEIC) recently completed a comprehensive technology roadmap designed to provide a path for US manufacturers to develop a robust domestic power electronics ecosystem.
As a national, industry-focused, member-based consortium consisting of industry, academic and government stakeholders in power electronics, PEIC undertook the roadmap project to provide an in-depth analysis of the domestic supply chain to identify its strengths and weaknesses and to apply that analysis towards advancing power electronics technology development in the USA. The two-year study ‘Strengthening the Domestic Power Electronics Ecosystem’ was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Standards & Technology’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia (NIST AMTech).
“Recent advances in power semiconductor technology, particularly in wide-bandgap materials, have opened up significant new opportunities for the US power electronics industry, along with corresponding challenges,” says PEIC president Keith Evans (president & CEO of Kyma Technologies Inc). “The goal of PEIC’s participation in creating the report was to identify those technology and manufacturing challenges, and to present key strategic recommendations for the US to develop effective solutions to meet the growing demands for efficient power electronics,” he adds.
Roadmap presented at PEIC annual meeting
The completed technology roadmap/supply chain report ‘US Power Electronics Technology and Manufacturing Roadmap’ was presented to members at PEIC’s 2016 annual meeting last November at PowerAmerica (a private-public partnership between the US Department of Energy, industry and academia) on North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus. The full text of the report is available to PEIC member companies, but is also available for purchase by non-members – an executive summary and pricing details are available by e-mailing PEIC
With a record number of member companies, academic institutions and government laboratories and agencies in attendance, the PEIC annual meeting, which was co-sponsored by PEIC members Infineon Technologies, Quora Technology and PowerAmerica, also featured a tour of the Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery & Management (FREEDM) Center facilities at NCSU, as well as a panel discussion led by representatives of several federal research laboratories engaged in next-generation power electronics research. In addition, the program included presentations by both member companies and invited guests.
PEIC to focus on power electronics workforce development in 2017
As an integral part of its mission to advance the US power electronics industry’s competitiveness in the global economy, PEIC says that it is engaging in discussions with member organizations and other industry, academic institutions and government labs to develop workforce development programs specific to power electronics engineers during the coming year.
