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APEC®
'98 Brings Its Magic to Disneyland
by Larry Gilbert, APEC Publicity Chair
The thirteenth annual Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition. APEC '98, will be held Feb. 15-19, 1998 at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California, USA. An expanded program has been formulated to provide practical information on the latest components and circuits, design-oriented analysis techniques, and current trends in the design and manufacture of power electronic products and systems.
A record number of abstracts (343) were received from 34 different nations. Processing and scoring these abstracts was a difficult task and the 1998 technical program will include a record 179 technical papers. The Program Committee decided to expand this year's technical sessions from four to five parallel tracks in order to present these exceptional papers. It is interesting to point out that papers from twenty-four nations were selected and the authors are equally divided between industry and academe.
APEC abstracts are sent to multiple reviewers whose task is to score these digests on the basis of their potential contribution to advancing any aspect of applied power electronics. The digests must be void of any commercials, technically sound, supported by test data, and include practical, thought-provoking examples of the subject matter. Every one of the APEC reviewers is knowledgeable on the topics being proposed by the author whose name does not appear on the digest.
Unless you experience it first hand, you will never be able to appreciate the amount of effort and dedication it takes in organizing the APEC Conference every year. It doesn't matter who you are, who you work for, what your title may be, or if you represent industry or academe. A total of 214 volunteers participated in reviewing the 343 digests and forty of these same volunteers rolled up their sleeves the weekend of September 13-14 to participate in deciding on the final cut and in organizing the final program. These Program Committee representatives traveled from almost every area of North America to support the Conference, Program, and Rap Session Chairs. Without the contribution of these volunteers, the APEC Conference would not have achieved the global recognition as the place to be when it comes to practical power conversion information. On behalf of the entire Conference Committee I wish to express our sincere thanks for your contributions to the APEC Program.
APEC '98 will include twenty-five technical sessions, fifteen outstanding professional education seminars, four audience participation rap sessions, twelve vendor application seminars, the 12th annual Micromouse competition, and a sold-out Exhibition Hall with a record 112 vendor exhibition booths.
The Professional Education Seminars will start on Sunday morning and will include in-depth information on: Understanding Basics of Adjustable Speed and Vector-Controlled Induction and Synchronous Motor Drives; Servo Systems and Control of AC Motors; Electrical Environments: Converter and Motor Drive Quality and Long Life Enhanced by Designing for Transients, MHD, Radiation, ESD, Corona, Lightning and Faults; Switchmode Design and Layout Techniques; Reducing Line Harmonics for Regulatory Compliance; Introduction to Magnetics I and II; Integrated Magnetics; Advanced Design Topics; Rapid Product Development using Design for Improved Manufacturing Techniques; Results-Focused Exhibiting How to use trade shows to increase sales, reduce selling costs and build market share fast; Hybrid Packaging of Power Electronics; Analysis of Transient Processes and Dynamic Behavior of Converters; Linear and Nonlinear Current Programming; and Guidelines for Selection of On-Board Power Modules.
The plenary session will include six papers covering issues critical to the industry. They are: Power Technology Roadmap; A Framework for Developing Power Electronics Packaging; A Checklist of What Can Zap Your Power Electronics; Vienna Rectifier II--A Novel Single-State High-Frequency Isolated Three-Phase PWM Rectifier System; High- Power-Density Electric Drive for a Hybrid Electric Vehicle; and Intellectual Property: Rich By-product of Intellectual Capital.
The expanded audience participation Rap Sessions will focus on How do we learn power electronics; Automotive power electronics; NRE-who is going to pay for it; and On-shore versus off-shore manufacturing. The vendor booths will display the latest product offerings from power electronics components to power supplies and DC/DC converters.
The Conference social events will include a reception with the exhibitors with wine, beer, soft drinks and hors d'oeuvres Monday evening and light refreshments in the exhibit hall on Tuesday evening. The highlight of our social program will be an "Enchanted Evening" at Disneyland's Theme Park. The Adventureland Theme area of the park will be open on Wednesday evening for the sole use of the APEC Conference. Among the activities that evening will be unlimited use of the Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones Adventure, Enchanted Tiki Room and the Swiss Family Treehouse attractions. Disney will provide live entertainment and some of their characters as we enjoy our buffet dinner in the park.
For additional conference or exhibition information please contact APEC '98 at: TEL: +1-202-973-8664 or FAX +1-202-331-0111or visit the APEC '98 home page at http://www.APEC-conf.org/. See you in Anaheim. You will not want to miss this outstanding power conference.
PS: Technical Program attendees will receive the Conference Proceedings in both printed form and on CD-ROM.