Power Electronics in Orlando and a Motorized May

­What a show! What an APEC!

While I cover 2023’s Applied Power and Electronics Conference in more detail in my “Final Thought” this month, I just wanted to wanted to give a huge shoutout to the Orange County Convention Center, the city of Orlando, and all the companies, PR reps, press, and analysts that made this year’s APEC such a wild success!

For me, this was my first time travelling, period, since before thew pandemic, and for everyone else, this was merely the second in-person APEC since COVID-19, and by all accounts, the show is definitively back to normal…which couldn’t make me prouder of our fair industry.

It’s beyond heartwarming to celebrate the return to normalcy with the friends, colleagues, and everyone else that I’ve gotten to know over the last decade and a half. If anything serves as a fitting rejoinder to a worldwide catastrophe, it’s business-as-usual. Bravo, dear reader!

And with APEC behind us, we turn our attention towards the May issue and “Motor Drives, Robotics, and Controls.”

One of this month’s contributors covers arguably the biggest application from APEC (and every other show) – the automotive side.

Obviously, motors are fairly ubiquitous, but I’d wager the most immediate association for most people is with vehicles (specifically, electric vehicles) and the increased demands engendered by the move towards electrification.

And current sensing can play a big role in augmenting the motors of the future.

As Teoman Ustun from ACEINNA points out, “One of the best ways to address motor-control circuit optimization is with advanced current-sensing solutions.”

More recently, Anisotropic Magneto-Resistive (AMR) sensor technology has boosted the accuracy and reliability of current sensing, vital for high-performance motor-control systems.

Of course, we can’t discuss motors without bringing up the brushless DC (BLDC) sort, which Shoa Zhang from Qorvo covers in “Field Oriented Control of Brushless DC Motors.”

Shoa notes that brushless DC (BLDC) motors have become ubiquitous for their excellent efficiency, high performance, long life, and low electrical and audible noise, but to realize all those perks, designers have often turned to field-oriented control (FOC).

“Field oriented control of brushless DC motors is an optimum solution for highest electrical and mechanical performance. With the cost-effective, miniature, integrated controllers now available, this technique can be considered for all applications,” Shoa says.

And speaking of BLDCs, gallium nitride (GaN) transistors have the high-power density needed to meet the needs of BLDC inverters, as Efficient Power Conversion’s Marco Palma explains.

“GaN transistors and ICs allow the design of motor drives that operate smoother, while reducing size and weight,” he says.

Best Regards,

Jason Lomberg

North American Editor, PSD