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PRESS RELEASE |
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2010/03/30 |
CIPS 2010 - a real success!
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Eckhard Wolfgang / ECPE |
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230 power electronics experts attended the CIPS 2010, the 6th International Conference on Integrated Power Electronics Systems. The conference topic was on power electronics systems, high and medium power modules and reliability. The program included 71 technical papers: Two keynotes, 11 invited, 42 oral and 16 posters. The authorship was well balanced: 26 from industry, 28 from academia, 7 from both, and 13 from research institutes. |
 complete Press Release
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2010/03/02 |
ECPE received the Award Competence Network 2010
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Thomas Harder / ECPE |
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On March 02, 2010 ECPE received from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology the award Competence Network 2010. The competition „Strategy-making and strategic Communication“ was targeting at more than 100 innovative and powerful Networks in Germany. ECPE was highest awarded for the contribution „Power Electronics – Key Technology for efficient and sustainable Energy Use“.
pictures of the Awards Ceremony |
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complete Press Release
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2009/12/16 |
CIPS 2010 Programme Finalised
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Eckhard Wolfgang / ECPE |
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CIPS stands for the 6th International Conference on Power Electronics Systems Integration. It will be held from March 16 to 18, 2010, at Nuremberg’s Maritim Hotel which is located close to the main railway station. It will be co-organized by VDE ETG and ECPE and technically co-sponsored by IEEE PELS as well as by ZVEI.
The three main topics of CIPS are: Power electronics systems, high-power modules, and reliability of power electronics systems. For all three topics system integration will help to increase power density (and reduce costs), to increase performance (and reduce EMI), and improve reliability by a more efficient thermal management (and better cooling).
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complete Press Release
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2009/10/05 |
3rd SiC User Forum
Potential of SiC and other Wide Bandgap Semiconductors in Power Electronic Applications
—Report of Conclusions—
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Jürgen Bublitz / ECPE |
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After the Silicon Carbide (SiC) User Forums organised by ECPE in 2006 and 2007, time had come to continue the exchange between experts involved in converter and device development: The third User Forum for the first time also considered other wide bandgap devices, in particular Gallium Nitride (GaN) as its subtitle expresses. Again it has focused on typical power electronic systems the use of wide bandgap is highly promising for --- i. e., electric drives, converters in transportation and power supplies; additionally an insight in recent material and device technology --- which is the base for future system development --- has been given. Renowned experts from all over the world have been invited to give an overview in keynotes, to in depth explain their research and development work in technical presentations and to share their knowledge in discussion forums as an indispensable part of the event. The SiC User Forum this way established a platform to share experience and ideas, to discuss and find out which power electronic systems are predestinated for usage of SiC or GaN and how to appropriately design-in those novel, almost ideal but also challenging components. It aimed at finding and pointing out approaches to exploit the high potential of SiC and to support its beneficial introduction in power electronic systems. User Forum 2009 took place right after EPE conference in Barcelona. Prof. Andreas Lindemann (Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Germany) took the chair together with Prof. José Millán (Centro Nacional de Microelectrónica --- CNM Barcelona, Spain) and Mr. Thomas Harder (ECPE). The major findings of the event are summarised in the following: |
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Report of Conclusions
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2008/03/19 |
Summary of the 5th International Conference on Integrated Power Electronics Systems CIPS 2008
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Jürgen Bublitz / ECPE |
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The 5th International Conference on Integrated Power Electronics Systems CIPS 2008 took place in Nuremberg/Germany from March 11 to 13, 2008. 232 attendees from industry, research institutes and universities came together at the Georg-Simon-Ohm University where they enjoyed an exciting and diversified programme. The conference was organized by ETG, the Power Engineering Society within VDE, and co-organized by ECPE, the European Center for Power Electronics.
The technical chairmen Prof. Wolfgang and Prof. Silber summarised the 3 days conference in the following Press Release:
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conference summary
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2007/09/14 |
Report of Conclusions -2nd SiC User Forum
'Potential of SiC in Power Electronic Applications'
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Jürgen Bublitz / ECPE |
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The SiC User Forum became a platform to share experience and ideas, to discuss and find out which power electronic systems are predestinated for usage of SiC and how to appropriately design-in those novel, almost ideal but also challenging components. It aimed at finding and pointing out approaches to exploit the high potential of SiC and to support its beneficial introduction in power electronic systems.
The SiC User Forum 2007 —attended by some 120 international participants— took place right after the EPE conference 2007 in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Prof. Andreas Lindemann (Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Germany) took the chair together with Dr. Hiromichi Ohashi (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan) and Mr. Thomas Harder (ECPE).
The major findings of the event are summarised in the following "Report of Conclusions".
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Report of Conclusions
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2007/04/05 |
Position Paper on
´Energy Efficiency – the Role of Power Electronics´
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Jürgen Bublitz / ECPE |
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In the frame of our initiative on Energy Efficiency ECPE e.V. has organised, in cooperation with EPE Association, a workshop in Brussels in February this year with leading European power electronics experts from academia and industry. With 125 participants from 20 European countries, this workshop was very successful. The importance of power electronics for energy saving and improved energy efficiency could be shown in an impressive demonstration.
Based on the results of the Brussels Workshop, the expert team has formulated a Position Paper on ´Energy Efficiency – the Role of Power Electronics´.
Power electronics is the key technology to control the flow of electrical energy from the source to the load precisely according the requirements of the load. It is responsible for the reliability and stability of the whole power supply infrastructure in Europe from the sources, the energy transmission and distribution up to the huge variety of applications in industry, transportation systems and the home & office appliances.
But in spite of the tremendous importance of power electronics, there is a lack of awareness for the role of power electronics in the modern industrial society, even in the well informed general public.
The ECPE position paper highlights the contribution of power electronics to reduce energy consumption, and the technologies which will be needed to develop to elevate Europe in the future to a leading position in terms of
- saving electrical energy,
- ensuring a reliable power supply infrastructure,
- employment through a competitive power electronics industry.
The presentations from the Brussels Workshop are available on the ECPE web site for download as well:
Download presentations (16MB)
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18 pages Position Paper
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2007/03/30 |
Results of the ECPE Research Programme
“System Integrated Drive for Hybrid Traction in Automotive”
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Jürgen Bublitz / ECPE |
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ECPE European Center for Power Electronics is driving precompetitive research in power electronics jointly financed from an industrial research fund. Three Demonstrator Programmes have been started in 2003/2004 involving leading Competence Centers in Europe.
Experts from the Fraunhofer Institute of Integrated Systems and Device Technology (IISB) will present the Integrated Hybrid Traction Demonstrator during the PCIM Europe 2007 exhibition. Presentations will take place at the ECPE Joint Stand 12-466 just vis-à-vis the PCIM Forum.
The integration of the power electronic inverter with an electrical machine in the automotive powertrain is in the focus of the automotive Demonstrator Programme where the existing cooling circuit from the internal combustion engine is used also for the direct liquid cooling of the power electronics. The mechatronic integration of motor and power electronics leads to an ultra-high power density of 75 kVA/l for the inverter. The high temperature of the cooling medium of up to 115°C in combination with this high power density poses a unique challenge.
An optimised thermal design is necessary to master this thermal challenge. All temperature-sensitive components, passives and semiconductors, have to be thermally connected to the cooling system which provides a sufficient cooling capacity although working on a very high temperature level.
On the module level, the optimized thermal design has to provide a homogeneous distribution of the chip temperature of the power semiconductors.
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Technical Article
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2007/03/30 |
Results of the ECPE Research Programme
“Industrial Drives – System Integration”
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Jürgen Bublitz / ECPE |
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ECPE European Center for Power Electronics is driving precompetitive research in power electronics jointly financed from an industrial research fund. Three Demonstrator Programmes have been started in 2003/2004 involving leading Competence Centers in Europe.
Experts from the Electrical Power Processing research group (EPP) at the Delft University of Technology will present the Industrial Drives Demonstrator during the PCIM Europe 2007 exhibition. Presentations will take place at the ECPE Joint Stand 12-466 just vis-à-vis the PCIM Forum.
The main objective of this Demonstrator Programme is to significantly reduce the size of the converter of a 2.2 kW industrial drive for an asynchronous machine, compared to current commercial units. Thereby, the development of the key technologies is focused on compact design, manufacturability and costs.
The main focus is the development and application of integration technologies that will lead to the above miniaturization goal. We envisage that the project objectives can be met by pursuing two concepts – integration and advanced thermal management. Integration of components is a means to achieve a compact design, reduce the number of construction parts and thus decrease the cost. Advanced cooling is crucial for ensuring that, given a relatively small volume, the dissipated heat is removed efficiently so that the components operate in their allowed temperature range. We propose a hybrid integration concept where the inverter is partitioned into three sub-circuits depending on the power level and heat density. Each sub-circuit is manufactured in a suitable integration technology. These system components are referred to as Integrated Power Electronic Modules (IPEMs).
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Technical Article
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2007/03/30 |
Results of the ECPE Research Programme
“Power Supplies with Ultra-High Power Density”
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Jürgen Bublitz / ECPE |
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ECPE European Center for Power Electronics is driving precompetitive research in power electronics jointly financed from an industrial research fund. Three Demonstrator Programmes have been started in 2003/2004 involving leading Competence Centers in Europe.
Experts from the Power Electronic Systems Laboratory (PES) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich will present the Power Supplies Demonstrator with Ultra-High Power Density during the PCIM Europe 2007 exhibition. Presentations will take place at the ECPE Joint Stand 12-466 just vis-à-vis the PCIM Forum.
This Demonstrator Programme aims at the development of an ultra compact isolated DC power supply with three-phase PWM rectifier front end for applications e.g. in variable speed drives, IT systems and process technology. The focus is put on the application of advanced power semiconductors, integration and cooling technologies. Apart from the improved performance (efficiency, power density, size), reliability, EMI standards and cost reduction are considered.
In the first step, a 500 kHz unity power factor, three-phase AC/DC converter has been developed with the objective to realise in hardware a 10 kW/l three-phase PWM rectifier power circuit. The next step has the further objective of implementing a 10 kW/l isolated DC/DC converter.
To achieve the high power density goal, new control techniques and power electronics technology were developed. These developments include a dedicated power module with SiC diodes, an innovative water cooler, high speed gate drivers and current sensors, a low profile ´zero-ripple´ EMI filter, and high-speed digital control. The 10 kW/l rectifier has been experimentally implemented and exhibits excellent performance, and achieves a low THD current with unity power factor over a wide operating output power range.
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Technical Article
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2007/03/08 |
Results of the ECPE Research Programmes will be presented during the PCIM Europe 2007 Exhibition from May 22 to 24. |
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Jürgen Bublitz / ECPE |
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ECPE European Center for Power Electronics -The Industrial and Research Network for Power Electronics in Europe- presents results of its Research Programmes:
1) “System Integrated Drive for Hybrid Traction in Automotive”
2) “Power Supplies with Ultra-High Power Density”
3) “Industrial Drives – System Integration”
Experts from leading Competence Centers will highlight technical details of the three shown Demonstrators. Presentations will take place at the ECPE Stand 12-466 just vis-à-vis the PCIM Forum.
ECPE Member Companies and Competence Centers as well as the Bavarian Cluster Power Electronics are partners at this Joint Stand.
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2005/07/08 |
The 5th ECPE e.V. General Meeting elected its new Board of Directors |
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Jürgen Bublitz / ECPE |
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Nuremberg, 09. June 2005
In the course of the last General Meeting, just after the recent PCIM exhibition in Nuremberg, the members of ECPE European Center for Power Electronics e.V. re-elected all Board Members for the next 2 years. Prof. Dr. Leo Lorenz (Infineon Technologies) is the former and new President of ECPE e.V.. Dr. Heinrich Heilbronner (Semikron International) and Dr. Richard Veith (EPCOS) are elected again as Vice President for the next period. Dr. Albert Wick (Siemens) as Treasurer, Dr. Bernhard Rauscher (STMicroelectronics) as Secretary and Michel Arpilliere (Schneider Toshiba Inverter Europe) as a new Board Member complete the new Board of Directors of the registered association. Major achievements during the past period were the successful installation of the European Power Electronics Network and the start of key research projects. The main targets for the next 2 years are the further broadening of the network throughout Europe and the definition of a medium and long-term technology roadmap for Power Electronics.
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complete Press Release
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2005/03/31 |
ECPE now officially EUROPEAN Center for Power Electronics |
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Thomas Harder, General Manager of ECPE e.V. |
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The ECPE association founded in April 2003 as "ECPE Engineering Center for Power Electronics e.V." changed its name to "ECPE European Center for Power Electronics e.V.". After the decision of the General Meeting, the amendment of the statute of ECPE e.V. became legally effective with the entry in the register of associations on 9 February 2005.
By changing the name into European Center for Power Electronics, ECPE continues on the way to establish a European Research Network for Power Electronics. For the ECPE Board as well as for the General Manager, this is stimulus and motivation to intensify and expand the contacts to industries and to leading university institutes and research centers in Europe.
To become more attractive for smaller companies as well, ECPE introduced a special membership status for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with a reduced membership fee and weighted voting rights in the General Meeting of ECPE e.V. The SME criteria are defined according to the valid definition from the European Commission: no. of employees < 250, and annual turnover / balance sheet total < 50 mio. Euro / 43 mio. Euro, and independence (max. 25% under control of non-SME).
Furthermore, a membership status for associations has been introduced with a reduced membership fee but without voting rights in the General Meeting of the association.
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read more...
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2004/03/01 |
ECPE office operational |
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Thomas Harder, General Manager of ECPE e.V. |
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Leading power electronics industries have founded the Engineering Center for Power Electronics (ECPE) last year in order to promote research, education and technology transfer in this field.
As a key and enabling technology, power electronics has severe impact on the overall infrastructure of energy distribution, the industrial area of motion control and drives, the industry automation and on the traffic technics. Furthermore, power electronics is a technology driver for future intelligent systems with communication capabilities, and holds an enormeous energy saving potential in home & office.
The importance of power electronics shall be demonstrated to the public, to increase acceptance of political decision-makers and students to look for a career in this area. With strong support of the member companies, ECPE will be established as an industrial and research network for power electronics in Europe.
With ECPE it could be managed for the very first time, to jointly formulate research topics in an European industrial consortium of main players in power electronics, and to push high-risk pre-competitive research with own resources.
Apart from the registered association ECPE e.V., a limited company (GmbH) has been founded, which develops research roadmaps in cooperation with the involved industry and university partners, prioritises research topics and conducts research contracts with leading European Competence Centers - university institutes and research centers. The budget arises from a research fund, coming from the ECPE partner companies.
In 2003 major milestones of ECPE build-up could be passed successfully. Apart from the foundation of the legal bodies for e.V. and GmbH and the related contract work, the ECPE office has been established in Nuremberg. In October 2003, Mr. Thomas Harder has taken up the function of the general manager of ECPE e.V. as well as of ECPE GmbH. Thomas Harder has several years of experience in different fields of power electronics as well as in the initiation and management of large European and national research projects.
In the meantime, first research projects financed by the ECPE partner companies have been launched.
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2003/05/21 |
The first center for power electronics in Europe is founded
The "Engineering Center for Power Electronics"(ECPE) sets itself ambitious targets for promoting power electronics
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Prof. Dr. Leo Lorenz |
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Nuremberg, 21st May 2003 – ECPE e.V. (Engineering Center for Power Electronics) will be unveiling its organisation, aims and future co-operation with research institutes and universities at the PCIM 2003 trade fair (Nuremberg, 20th – 22nd May 2003). The ECPE is Europe’s only organisation of its type. In the field of power electronics, the association has set itself the target of promoting the exchange of experience be-tween industry and science, intensifying research and providing particularly strong support for training and further training. The aim is to boost Europe’s innovative strength and its leading role in future key areas such as energy production, energy distribution, the use of energy and – covering all of these – energy conservation, thereby extending Europe’s competitiveness with respect to North America and Asia. Membership of the association is open to all European companies.
The ECPE will therefore initiate and control various basic research projects and tar-geted preliminary developments from its own funds and in close co-operation be-tween industry and scientific institutes and higher education centers. The first pro-jects are to be defined and started by the autumn of 2003. The ECPE is paying par-ticular attention here to traffic, drive, and power supply technology. For these areas of technology, the ECPE will allocate main areas of competence to individual insti-tutes and higher education centers and in so doing will help them become centers of competence of international standing in their respective specialist areas.
From this sustained building-up and extension of the research landscape, combined with the dedication of leading industrial participants in the field of power electronics, the ECPE also promises to increase the attractiveness of power electronics for newly qualified engineers. As a flanking measure, it also plans to offer new training and fur-ther training programs for students and engineers, and in so doing take account of the changing demands of future technologies.
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