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Electronic Design Smart Grid presentation April 27, 2010 - extended version (pdf)

A major hurdle in Smart Grid Technology acceptance is integration with legacy systems. Further, the existing utilities have hesitation in accepting new technology because of the liability they maintain in having to forever keep the lights on. When failures occur, businesses usually loose money and they see utilities as financially responsible. Hence, in January 2010 NIST issued the "NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 1.0" (http://www.nist.gov/smartgrid/). Standards are a major and necessary first step in development and deployment of Smart Grid Technologies. This presentation presents a walk through the NIST REPORT highlighting what you should consider reading. The presentation continues with discussion of what is a Smart Grid and then highlights some of the Power Engineering terminology that electronic designers need to understand to work in the PE field. Further topics are included that were not provided in the Electronic Design Webcast. Much of this is excerpted from a Ub course (EE540) on Smart Grid Power Electronics. BY Dr. DCHopkins


Power Electronics in a Smart-Grid Distribution System (pdf)

Power Electronics is an integral part of the Future Smart-Grid Distribution System. However, the fundamentals of power flow and system dynamics are the same from transmission through distribution to end-use. This seminar focuses on how power electronics affects power flow in grid distribution and distributed energy systems, and what power controllers need to do to offer greater benefits to system stability and economic resource. A special and timely (Yr-2010) discussion is included regarding Standards that are developing to assist rapid acceptance of power electronics into the Smart Grid. Topics are introduced from an electronics processing perspective. The reader is expected to be a power electronics designer needing to gain a power systems understanding of alternative power generation, smart-grid distribution and system control. This is an excerpt from a formal university course taught to power utility engineers. BY Dr. DCHopkins


ABC's of POWER ELECTRONICS (pps)
The ABC's of Power Electronics Packaging offers an entry level review of power supply, circuits including zero voltage and resonant topologies, synchronous rectification, generation of requirements and specifications, control, EMI/EMC considerations, testing requirements, designing with parasitics and thermal estimation. BY Drs. DCHopkins and RA Wunderlich

ADVANCED POWER ELECTRONICS PACKAGING SEMINAR (pdf)
This seminar on "Advanced Power Electronics Packaging" was presented as a professional development course at the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference in 2009. The presentation describes leading and next-generation advanced packaging techniques for supplies, drives and derivatives, emphasizing high-current, high-temperature applications. Higher temperatures (above 150C) are possible for a host of active and passive components provided a suitable packaging environment is used. Recent results in electro- and thermo-migration testing will show the impact on reliability, and how new design rules are needed for electrically and thermally dense designs. Attributes, processes and design rules for packaging techniques, such as copper-on-ceramic and AlSiC composites, are presented. Devices, such as SiC diodes and transistors, and passives, are reviewed. Designers will gain necessary information to consider and select alternate packaging techniques that optimally meet their needs for inclusion of higher temperature components. This is an essential course for designers who must look at alternate packaging design approaches to further shrink their electronics. The material is co-presented from electrical, thermal and physical perspectives. By Dr. DCHopkins

OPTIMALLY SELECTING PACKAGING TECHNOLOGIES AND CIRCUIT PARTITIONS (pdf)
OPTIMALLY SELECTING PACKAGING TECHNOLOGIES AND CIRCUIT PARTITIONS BASED ON COST AND PERFORMANCE provides a step-by-step procedure to near-optimally divide a circuit/system into partitions based on packaging technologies. The procedure is followed by a case study of a 2.2kW water-cooled pump drive. By Dr. DCHopkins

A FRAMEWORK FOR WORKING WITH MULTIDISCIPLINARY TOPICS IN PACKAGING (pdf) This FRAMEWORK is a MUST READ primer for those responsible for more than just the electrical design. The framework helps engineers understand how "circuit design" includes design of electrical, thermal, and mechanical circuits, and more. By Dr. DCHopkins

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High Current and Ceramic Systems Polymer-Based Systems