Symposium ES12-Soft Magnetic Materials for Next-Generation Power Electronics

Increased demand for energy efficiency, dynamic and resilient electrical grids, and more renewable energy is driving a revolution in power electronics. This revolution is being driven in part through the development and adoption of wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors and the implementation of new power electronic topologies that leverage WBG semiconductors’ fast switching speed, high voltage operation, and high temperature operation. Higher operating frequencies (roughly 1 – 100 kHz) decrease inductive requirements in power electronics but demand soft magnetic materials that can minimize electrical losses in this regime. At the present time, losses in transformers account for roughly 3.5% of the world’s total energy consumption. The magnetic materials community is being challenged to drive down energy losses in transformers and inductors and keep up with advanced power electronics systems.

In order to successfully address this challenge, materials scientists, physicists, and electrical engineers from both academia and industry will need to work together to push the limits of current soft magnetic materials. New high performance materials that can both minimize losses to eddy currents and support high magnetic flux densities need to be sought out. Furthermore, any soft magnets will need to gain widespread adoption by power systems designers and therefore manufacturing cost will be an important consideration.

This proposed symposium intends to bring together the broad interdisciplinary mix of materials scientists and engineers necessary to accelerate research, development, and implementation of soft magnetic materials in the next generation of power electronics. Invited abstracts will cover the gamut of researchers and stakeholders in enhanced soft magnetic materials in order to provide all attendees with both in depth knowledge and breadth. This approach will foster collaboration and accelerate the understanding and development of enhanced soft magnetic materials.

• New soft magnetic materials
• Nanocrystalline and amorphous materials
• Soft ferrites
• Atomistic level characterization and study of soft magnets
• Processing and synthesis of soft magnetic materials and devices
• Integration in power electronics systems and systems level characterization

• ES12_Soft Magnetic Materials for Next-Generation Power Electronics _0 (North Carolina State University, USA)
• ES12_Soft Magnetic Materials for Next-Generation Power Electronics _1 (Virginia Commonwealth University, USA)
• ES12_Soft Magnetic Materials for Next-Generation Power Electronics _2 (Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Chile)
• ES12_Soft Magnetic Materials for Next-Generation Power Electronics _3 (GE Global Research, USA)
• ES12_Soft Magnetic Materials for Next-Generation Power Electronics _4 (National Energy Technology Laboratory, USA)
• ES12_Soft Magnetic Materials for Next-Generation Power Electronics _5 (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
• ES12_Soft Magnetic Materials for Next-Generation Power Electronics _6 (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina)
• ES12_Soft Magnetic Materials for Next-Generation Power Electronics _7 (Metglas, Inc., USA)