Conferences

Graduate students Francesca Giardine, Kelly Fernandez (PhD, Fall 2023), along with Dr. Robert Pilawa-Podgurski have won Best Paper Award at IEEE Energy Conversion Conference and Expo – Europe.

They presented A Two-Stage Non-Isolated Hybrid Switched-Capacitor Microinverter Utilizing a Fixed-Ratio Resonant DC-DC Stage with Startup Functionality and Flying Capacitor Multilevel DC-AC Stage. Their work demonstrated a 500W two-stage microinverter solution for residential scale solar that uses exclusively hybrid switched-capacitor converter topologies to convert a 35V DC voltage to a 240V AC voltage. The hardware prototype achieved a competitive power density and efficiency, meeting the growing need for compact solutions for residential-scale renewables.

The paper was presented at ECCE – Europe in Darmstadt, Germany. ECCE brings together academics and industry professionals from around the world to exchange ideas about the energy transition. The best papers were chosen based on the quality of the technical results, paper, and presentation.

Submitted by Sarah Douglas on September 5, 2024

https://bpec.berkeley.edu/pilawa-group-graduate-students-win-best-paper-award-at-ecce-europe/

Rahul K. Iyer, S. Tahmid Mahbub, and Robert C.N. Pilawa-Podgurski have won the Best Student Paper Award at the 2024 IEEE International Communications Energy Conference (INTELEC) for their paper “Quasi- Two-Level Switching for Active Balancing of Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converters Under Light-Load Conditions” (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10678933/)

Recent work in the Pilawa group has highlighted the design of “active-balancing” controllers to ensure the safe operation of high-performance Flying Capacitor Multilevel (FCML) converters during system transients. This work builds on broader efforts to study the converter dynamics and design stable high-bandwidth controllers. In particular, this work highlights techniques to ensure stable converter operation when the load current is small. Compared to prior work relying on Phase-Shifted Pulse-Width Modulation, the proposed switching scheme enables active balancing at average load currents approaching and equal to zero. The conference paper and oral presentation given at IEEE INTELEC 2024 highlight the proposed switching and control methods and showcase the practical implementation of the controller on industry-standard digital signal processor hardware.

They are continuing to work on additional characterization of the balancing controller at different operating conditions, and aim to apply the proposed technique to demonstrate safe startup of the converter at light-load conditions.

Submitted by Sarah Douglas on October 20, 2024

https://bpec.berkeley.edu/rahul-iyer-and-tahmid-mahbub-win-best-paper-award-at-ieee-intelec-2024/

EE grad student Logan Horowitz and post-doc Nathan Miles Ellis, advised by Professor Robert Pilawa-Podgurski, have received awards for outstanding technical presentations at the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC)–the flagship conference in power electronics. 

Logan received a Best Presentation award for his work on a 14-level  Flying-Capacitor-Multilevel inverter for electric vehicles, and Nathan for his work on a 48V-to-1V point-of-load (PoL) converter for aerospace telecommunications and computing applications. Both works demonstrated performance greatly exceeding state-of-the-art capabilities in energy conversion.

The APEC Best Presentation Awards are scored using several criteria, including quality of slides, presentation, and how well the presenter responds to questions. The award is considered a significant professional achievement. APEC 2024 hit record attendance this year, which took place in Long Beach, CA.

Submitted by Gloria Tao on March 25, 2024
https://eecs.berkeley.edu/news/berkeley-eecs-wins-best-presentation-awards-at-ieee-apec/



EECS graduate students Yicheng Zhu and Jiarui Zou, and post-docs Ting Ge and Nathan Ellis have won the 2023 IEEE Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL) Best Paper Award. Their paper, “A 48-V-to-1-V Switching Bus Converter for Ultra-High-Current Applications,” demonstrated a new dc-dc power converter topology and control technique for data center power delivery applications, capable of sourcing 1200 A of current at 1 V supply voltage. The hardware prototype used to validate the concept achieved the highest power density and efficiency combination of any prior work, academic or industrial. Next, the researchers are working with industry partners to transition this record-breaking concept to next-generation GPU/CPU computing platforms for AI and machine learning applications. IEEE COMPEL is the premier control and modeling conference for power electronics, having brought together world experts in the field for the last 24 years. Three best papers were selected this year from the total accepted 84 papers, based on originality, contribution to the field, and quality of presentation at the conference. 

Submitted by Matthew Santillan on September 26, 2023 – 11:34am

https://eecs.berkeley.edu/news/2023/09/eecs-grads-win-another-ieee-compel-best-paper-award

Two Berkeley EECS graduate students, Haifah Sambo and Logan Horowitz, received separate Technical Session Best Presentation Awards at the 2023 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC), after a rigorous review process that highlights the conference’s most innovative technical solutions. Sambo received a Technical Lecture Award, for her oral presentation of her paper, “Autotuning of Resonant Switched-Capacitor Converters for Zero Current Switching and Terminal Capacitance Reduction,” while Horowitz received a Technical Dialogue Award, for his poster presentation paper of his paper “Decoupling Device for Small Commutation Loop and Improved Switching Performance with Large Power Transistors.” APEC focuses on the practical and applied aspects of the power electronics business and is the premier conference in the field. The technical program includes peer-reviewed papers that cover all areas of technical interest for practicing power electronics professionals. Both Sambo and Horowitz are advised by Professor Robert Pilawa-Podgurski. 

Submitted by Bennett Agnew on June 12, 2023 – 3:33pm
Two graduate students receive technical awards at IEEE APEC | EECS at UC Berkeley



Graduate students Nathan Brooks, Samantha Coday, Maggie Blackwell, Rose Abramson, and post-doc Nathan Ellis have won the IEEE COMPEL Best Paper Award for their paper, “Operation of Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converters At and Above Resonance.” The paper was presented at the 23rd IEEE Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL), which took place in Tel Aviv, Israel. COMPEL is the premier conference on the latest advances in modeling, simulation, analysis, and control of power electronics devices, circuits and systems. The criteria for the award are based on the quality of the technical results, write-up, and presentation. The paper describes a new method for operating flying capacitor multilevel converters at and above resonance, which has proven to be more efficient and with better performance than existing methods. In addition to the best paper award, the group, advised by Professor Robert Pilawa-Podgurski, organized and presented a tutorial at the IEEE 7th Southern Power Electronics Conference (SPEC) in December 2022.

Submitted by Matthew Santillan on March 24, 2023 – 4:11pm


EECS Grads win IEEE COMPEL Best Paper Award | EECS at UC Berkeley



Four EECS students in Robert Pilawa-Podgurski’s lab have won best presentation awards for papers they presented at the 2022 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) in March.  Three Technical Lecture Awards were won by:  undergraduate EECS student Amanda Jackson for “A Capacitively-Isolated Dual Extended LC-Tank Converter with 50% Two-Phase Operation at Even Conversion Ratios;” graduate student Samantha Coday for “Design and Implementation of a (Flying) Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converter;” and graduate student Kelly Fernandez for “A Charge Injection Loss Compensation Method for a Series-Stacked Buffer to Reduce Current and Voltage Ripple in Single-Phase Systems.”  Graduate student Rose Abramson won a Technical Dialogue Award for “Core Size Scaling Law of Two-Phase Coupled Inductors — Demonstration in a 48-to-1.8 V MLB-Pol Converter.”   The Technical Sessions showcased the best, peer-reviewed papers that described “new design ideas” and “innovative solutions” in “all areas of technical interest for the practicing power electronics professional.” The dialogue sessions concentrated on papers “with a more specialized focus.”  APEC is the premier conference in the field of power electronics.

Submitted by Magdalene L. Crowley on April 26, 2022 – 2:12pm

Amanda Jackson, Samantha Coday, Kelly Fernandez, and Rose Abramson win IEEE APEC best presentation awards | EECS at UC Berkeley