IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference

IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference
Name	IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference
Abbreviation	APEC
Discipline	Power electronics
Publisher	IEEE
Country	United States
First	1986
Frequency	Annual

IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference is an annual technical conference focused on applied power electronics and power conversion technologies. The conference brings together researchers, engineers, manufacturers, and policymakers to present peer-reviewed papers, tutorials, and exhibitions on power semiconductor devices, converter topologies, and system integration. Attendees include representatives from academic institutions, industrial laboratories, standards organizations, and government research centers.

History

The conference traces its origins to professional gatherings in the 1970s and 1980s that concentrated on power conversion and switching devices, drawing communities linked to International Electrotechnical Commission, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, National Science Foundation, Bell Laboratories, and MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Early participation featured contributors from General Electric, Motorola, Texas Instruments, and Fairchild Semiconductor, reflecting the rise of silicon power devices and later the adoption of wide bandgap materials promoted by researchers at North Carolina State University and University of California, Berkeley. Over time the event expanded alongside milestones associated with MOSFET, IGBT, Silicon Carbide, and Gallium Nitride technologies, attracting delegations from U.S. Department of Energy, European Commission, and industry consortia such as SEMI.

Conference Scope and Topics

APEC's technical scope covers applied power conversion topics including power semiconductor devices, converter control, electromagnetic compatibility, thermal management, passive components, and system-level design. Papers and sessions often intersect with work from National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and university programs at Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Georgia Institute of Technology. The conference routinely features tutorials and panels involving representatives from Schneider Electric, ABB, Siemens, Infineon Technologies, and NXP Semiconductors. Emerging themes parallel research presented at venues such as IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition, International Conference on Power Electronics and Drive Systems, and European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications.

Organization and Sponsorship

The conference is organized under the auspices of the IEEE Power Electronics Society and supported by sponsoring organizations including corporate partners, university technical committees, and standards bodies. Host city selection has included collaborations with local institutions like University of California, San Diego, Pittsburg State University, and municipal partners in San Antonio, Texas, Orlando, Florida, and Chicago, Illinois. Financial and organizational support has come from companies such as Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, ON Semiconductor, and trade groups including SEMICON West affiliates. Program committees are typically composed of editors and officers from IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, representatives of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers regions, and technical leaders from research labs like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Proceedings and Publications

Proceedings are published with peer-reviewed papers, keynote transcripts, tutorial materials, and poster abstracts, frequently indexed in databases maintained by IEEE Xplore, Scopus, and Web of Science. Keynote addresses and invited talks have been given by leaders associated with DARPA, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, and industrial research centers at General Motors Research Laboratories. Special sessions sometimes compile invited papers that later appear in issues of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics and IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics. Archived proceedings provide citations for advances in topics covered at allied conferences such as International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices.

Awards and Recognitions

The conference confers awards recognizing technical paper excellence, industry innovation, and young professional contributions, often coordinated with honors from the IEEE Power Electronics Society and corporate-sponsored prizes from Analog Devices and Rohm Semiconductor. Notable recognitions mirror accolades given by institutions like National Academy of Engineering and awards tied to breakthroughs in device reliability and converter efficiency acknowledged by Society of Automotive Engineers and Electric Power Research Institute. Student paper awards and best poster recognitions have supported early-career researchers from institutions such as University of Cambridge, Tsinghua University, and KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Notable Presentations and Contributions

The conference has hosted milestone presentations on the commercialization of IGBT modules, the introduction of SiC MOSFET prototypes, and demonstrations of high-efficiency converters for electric vehicles presented by teams from Tesla, Inc., Nissan Research Center, and university consortia including Clemson University and University of Michigan. Seminal papers on resonant converters, digital control techniques, and loss-minimization strategies have influenced standards development at Underwriters Laboratories and International Electrotechnical Commission technical committees. Collaborative demonstrations involving NASA technology transfer, renewable integration studies from Brookhaven National Laboratory, and industrial showcases by Schneider Electric and Siemens have contributed to the conference’s reputation as a venue where prototype systems and applied research translate into commercial deployments.

Category:IEEE conferences