I don’t think many of us will be sad to see the back of the year, and hopefully 2021 is a much better year for everyone. It looks like several effective vaccines for COVID-19 will be available fairly soon and life can at least return to some kind of normality.
2021 certainly has some potential. Wide bandgap technology is improving all the time as new techniques and materials are introduced that make devices perform better and more efficiently, as well as become more rugged and operate at higher frequencies and voltage. That technology will continue to make its way into numerous new applications throughout the industry. That’s not to say that all innovation is going to come from wide bandgap materials. This year as also shown us that there is still some room for innovation in existing materials such as silicon and SiGe technology which can provide outstanding performance at lower cost. Overall the industry would have been in a really good trajectory if it hadn’t been for the pandemic. 2021 should offer us a huge opportunity to pick things back up and run with it. No matter which areas, technologies or materials that are used, PSD will be there to bring you the latest news. In fact, we’ll be there more often as we’ve decided we need more issues to cover events. Next year we are going to expand the number of issues published from ten to twelve.
One of the areas that could potentially offer the greatest opportunity for innovation and growth for the power industry is electric vehicles. The industry is under huge pressure from governments around the world to become cleaner, which normally means more electrification. Designers have made an amazing job of making electric vehicles more efficient so far, but more is needed. This has led to manufacturers looking to other technologies to try make more gains. For example, Tesla has replaced induction motors in the drivetrain with permanent magnet motors. These new motors offer higher levels of efficiency. Our first special report this month is from Parker Hannifin, who look at the benefits of permanent magnet motors and how they can be integrated.
Although the electrical drivetrain offers the largest opportunity for power manufacturers, there are other areas in vehicle design that also offer potential uses for power components. In our second special report this month, EPC looks at how it tested the company’s eGaN devices in a vehicle Lidar application and details the results.
Thank you very much for your continued support of the magazine throughout the year. On behalf of everyone here at PSD, we wish you and your loved ones a happy and prosperous 2021.
Best Regards,
Ally Winning
European Editor, PSD
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