1998 Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC '98) RAP SESSIONS: Tuesday, February 17, 6:30pm - 8:00pm Rap Session #1 North Ballroom A Custom Power Supplies -- Who Pays for the NRE? Moderator: Chuck Mullett, Condor DC Power Supplies Custom power supplies occupy a significant share of today's market. What happens between the supplier and the big (or small) customer? Do they share the cost? Do they share the design tasks? Who owns the result, and what happens when things go wrong? Both sides will participate in this panel and hope you'll bring your roses, brickbats and war stories to this controversial rap session. Rap Session #2 North Ballroom B How Do You Put the Power in a Power Engineer? Moderator: Steve Freeland, Boeing North America What makes a successful power electronics engineer? What are the necessary skills and tools, and how does one learn them? In its early days, power electronics was a field often entered by "accident," and learning the discipline required on-the-job (and often on-the-spot!) training and perhaps some eclectic self-study. Now we're a recognized discipline, formally taught in many universities. But while there's agreement on the importance of our discipline, opinions differ on how it should be taught or learned. This rap session is your opportunity to share your experiences and opinions regarding how to "engineer" top-notch power electronics engineers. Engineering managers: come lobby for changes in college curriculum and extension courses. College professors: come lobby for industry partnerships and on-the-job training. Engineers: come share how you got into this field, and what experience has taught you is most important. Rap Session #3 South Ballroom A Is US Power Electronics Manufacturing Coming Back On-Shore? Moderator: Don Staffiere, Staffiere Consulting Services In the past there has been a strong trend towards off-shore manufacturing for US power electronics products. Have recent changes in manufacturing technology changed this trend? Is it really less expensive to manufacture product off-shore or is this a perception based on lower labor costs? Has the technology advanced to the point where labor cost is no longer a major part of the equation? This rap session will raise some interesting points with hot debate expected. Rap Session #4 South Ballroom B Automotive Power Electronics in the 21st Century: Luxury Option or Standard Equipment? Moderator: Tom Jahns, Massachusetts Institute of Technology According to its boosters, power electronics is poised to play a critical role in automobiles during coming years, regardless of the predominant vehicle power drivetrain-pure electric, hybrid, or internal combustion engine. But is power electronics technology really up to the challenge? Will today's unacceptably high converter costs respond to the special laws of automotive industry mass production and magically drop by an order of magnitude, as true believers insist as an article of faith? And can power electronics meet automakers' escalating reliability requirements regardless of whether the vehicles are spending their summers in the Sahara and winters in International Falls? Come join our panel of experts as they gaze into their crystal balls to debate whether power electronics really has what it takes to survive and prosper in one of the world's most lucrative yet cutthroat businesses-automotive electronics. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Site Designed and Maintained by: j.foutz@ieee.org URL: http://www.apec-conf.org/98/rap.htm Original: 18 November 1997, Modified: 04 December 1997