The international chapter meeting tookplace in conjunction with a workshopand a seminar program at EcolePolytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne,i. e. Swiss French speaking technicaluniversity. Many international guestsattended the workshop and technicalseminar on June 2nd, 2005, with lec-tures about the IEEE Future EnergyChallenge 2005, the PSIM simulationenvironment, hybrid fuel cells for trans-portation and stationary power genera-tion, and the opportunities and marketneeds for power electronics and powersystems.The social meeting took place at therestaurant de Dorigny of EPFL with aview on the beautiful scenery of lakeLeman up to Mont Blanc massif. Localorganizer Prof. Rufer of EPFL openedthe banquet. Interesting discussionsabout technical and other issues devel-oped. Society presidents of IAS(Landis Floyd), PELS (Rik DeDoncker), IES (Charles Einolf) andalso past IAS 2000 president (Caio A.Ferreira) were present at the banquet.The organizers' gratitude for support ofthe meeting was expressed during anawards ceremony. On June 3rd, 2005, more than 60 par-ticipants listened to the different lec-tures at EPFL. First Prof. PaulSunderland gave an overview aboutthe school of engineering of the EPFL.The school of engineering has anannual budget of about 90 million US$.Research topics besides are reflectedin different trans-disciplinary centers,namely space, brain&mind, Bernoulli,biological engineering and energy.EPFL in sum has 6400 students (2004)and 3120 employees. Faculty mem-bers come up to 50% fromSwitzerland, up to 25% from USA andup to 20% from all over Europe, whereit has been ranked within the top 10universities. The second lecture given by Dr.Francois Marechal introduced the insti-tute of energy sciences. Dr. Marechalexplained the different research topics,

being related to each other, i. e. sys-tems analysis, electromagnetic, fluidmechanics, heat and mass transferand thermodynamics. In the following Prof. Jean-JacquesSimond, head of the laboratory forelectrical machines, presented insightsabout the modern design of high powergenerators. His special approach tosolve the design of a 6-phase synchro-nous machine for a 20 MW gas com-pressor turbine is a machine with solidiron rotor with excitation and damperwindings. Within the stator a double

winding scheme is used, where thefirst three phases are translatedagainst the second three phases by anangle of 30° to eliminate the 5th and7th harmonics of the flux linkage. Withthis translated double stator structure itis possible to suppress the 6th har-monic of the produced torque. The next lecture given by GeneralChairman and host Prof. Alfred Ruferdescribed an example of multi-discipli-nary research in the field of a hybridenergy storage system. His approachuses compressed air and super-capac-itors. Prof. Rufer explained the thermo-dynamics of pneumatic energy storagewith some examples for the adiabatic,the isochoric and the isobaric statetransitions needed to understand thehybrid energy storage system, and pre-sented a novel UPS with compressedair and super-capacitors which uses amaximum efficiency point tracking con-trol. The efficiency of the pneumatic

motor is less than 20%, leading to thesuggestion to replace it by a hydraulicmotor. This system and further setupsfor research and education- such as a model railway or an electricscooter - have been demonstrated dur-ing a subsequent lab tour. In the following Dr. Eric Carroll of ABBSwitzerland gave an overview abouthigh power semiconductor develop-ment and manufacturing. After a com-parison of the safe operating areas(SOA) of IGBTs and IGCTs insights inthe most advanced development ofhigh SOA IGBTs with special switchingself-clamping mode (SSCM) havebeen given. The presentation of the-leading Swiss Power Semiconductorcompany concluded with an introduc-tion to new diode developments, opti-mizing especially critical snap offbehavior. The digest of Swiss and EuropeanHigh Tech research and developmentwas complemented by the presenta-tion of Prof. Johann Kolar, ETH Zürich.After an introduction to ECPE, theEuropean Center for Power Electronics- aiming at the promotion of research,innovation, education, publicity andtechnology transfer in the area ofpower electronics in Europe - hedescribed particular research work car-ried out in cooperation with ECPE athis Power Electronic SystemsLaboratory: This comprised topics likehybrid EMI filtering and matrix convert-ers - especially sparse matrix convert-ers including all-SiC versions to beoperated at 150 kHz switching frequen-cy. By successful integration, a powerdensity of 25 kW/l has already beenachieved, being a basis to work on thechallenging number of 50 kW/l for thefuture. An unforgettable highlight of the chap-ter meeting was the visit of EuropeanResearch Center CERN in Geneva. Dr.Frederic Bordry of CERN power elec-tronics group introduced the history ofCERN, which has been founded in1954; . . .continues on page 9

Charles Einolf, President-Elect of IES with Rik DeDoncker, President of PELS

The Joint IAS/PELS/IES German Chaptermeets at EPFL, Lausanne, and CERN,

Geneva, Switzerland, on June 2-3, 2005

Industrial Electronics Society Newsletter 7

The first meeting of the IEEEIAS/PELS/IES German Chapter in2005 was organized by the ElectricalMachines and Drives Laboratory atWuppertal University (Prof. Dr.-Ing.Ralph Kennel) and started in the after-noon of April 7th at the railway stationof Solingen, which is located close toWuppertal. From there the chaptermembers were transferred to the work-shop of the "Solinger Stadtwerke"(public transport company of Solingen)by a special transport system - the O-Bus (trolley bus).This bus uses dcvoltage of 600 Vand is one of onlytwo trolley bus sys-tems in Germany.The O-bus trans-ports nearly 50% ofall passengerswithin Solingen city- 60 000 daily. Thechapter membershad the opportunityto watch the mod-ern drive technolo-gy of the O-Bus.Two engineersfrom the companyKiepe Elektrik answered all questionsconcerning technical details of theused power electronics componentswithin the trolley buses. One of the newest trolley buses trans-ported the visitors to the next highlight- the unique and world-famousSchwebebahn (suspension railway) ofWuppertal. This system is more than100 years old - the trains are hanging"the wrong way around" under rails,which are built mostly above the riverWupper or over the streets ofWuppertal. The workshop of theSchwebebahn was visited. Within theworkshop all replacement parts areproduced, because the Schwebebahnis unique in the world.Afterwards the visitors took a ride onthe "Kaiserwagen" (emperor's coach),

a train used by the German emperorWilhelm II and his wife 100 years ago.The "Schwebebahn" is supplied by analuminium rail with a voltage of 600 Vand operates on a track with 13.3 kmlength. Each train needs 30 minutes tocover the distance. The maximumspeed is 60 km/h. After returning to theworkshop of the "Schwebebahn" themembers of the chapter had the oppor-tunity to watch a movie about this spe-cial transport system, which carriesaround 70 000 people each day and is

still the safest public transport systemworldwide. The day closed with a nicedinner in the guest house of theWuppertal University. The second day the faculty of electricalengineering, information and mediatechnology was presented by Prof.Bernd Tibken. One topic was theimplementation of bachelors and mas-ters degrees at german universities,while leaving the "Dipl.-Ing." degree inthe future. Furthermore Prof. BerndTibken presented the institute of auto-matic control. Actual research activitiesare in the field of arithmetic intervaltheory, image processing in the loop,intelligent control systems andLyapunov based control of dynamicalsystems. Next Prof. Joachim Holtz,emeritus of the institute of electrical

machines and drives, presented sometopics about the investigations done inthe field of sensorless speed and posi-tion control of electrical machines,namely the asynchronous machineand the permanent magnet synchro-nous machine.In the sequel Prof. Detlef Krahé, headof the institute of digital signal process-ing and electroacoustics, gave anoverview about the research activitiesand the results in the field of activenoise control and its' applications.

The last lecturewas given by Dr.Wolfgang Fischer,chair for powere l e c t r o n i c s ,M a g d e b u r gUniversity, abouthis investigations inusing simulationtools.The lectures werefollowed by thechapter awardsceremony: Prof.Werner Leonhard,Life Fellow,received theChapter Award with

an induction motor trophy for his scien-tific contributions about "NachhaltigeEnergieversorgung aus regenerativeQuellen", i. e. sustainable energy sup-ply using regenerative sources, and hiscontinuous support of the chapter.

Old and new technology: on the left the"Kaiserwagen" (emperor's coach), a train used by the German emperorWilhelm II and his wife 100 years ago; on the right the O-Bus (trolley bus), working with a dc voltage of 600 V, one

of only two trolley bus systems in Germany

Detail of the O-Bus (trolley bus)

From the Emperor’s coach to the O-Bus !

Dr. Ingo Hahn and Manuel Kennel report on the IEEE IAS/PELS/IES German Chapter Meeting at Wuppertal University

Industrial Electronics Society Newsletter8