Vladan Lazarević was born in Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1992. He received the B.Sc. degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia, in 2015, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in power electronics from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain, in 2016 and 2021, respectively.
He joined the Centro de Electrónica Industrial (CEI), UPM, in 2015, as a Researcher, where he was actively taking part in several industrial and publicly funded research projects, focusing on design of high-frequency envelope tracking DC/DC converters for RF power amplifiers and fast industrial amplifiers. His PhD thesis involved design, multi-objective optimization and digital control of fast, highly efficient and compact hybrid and switch-mode GaN-based power amplifiers for industrial applications. In the course of his PhD studies, he was an Academic Guest with the Power Electronic System Laboratory, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He has published 14 scientific publications and has filed 2 patents.
From 2020 to 2022, he was a System Engineer with BRUSA Elektronik AG, Buchs, Switzerland, a pioneer company in the field of E-mobility. His primary role was design and optimization of innovative power conversion systems for automotive applications, such as on-board chargers and DC/DC converters based on GaN and SiC wide bandgap semiconductor technologies, and magnetics design. Since 2022, Dr. Lazarević has been with ABB Corporate Research Centre in Baden, Switzerland, as a Research Scientist, where he has been engaged in various research projects for different ABB business units, aiming for more sustainable, energy-efficient system designs. He is focused on topics such as DC microgrids, with a special attention on interactions and interoperability of power converters, controls and protections in the grid; and potential of modern power electronic technologies, such as advanced power converter topologies and wide bandgap devices for drive applications.

Abstract – Due to the increased penetration of renewable energy sources and numerous advantages of DC power distribution, there is a growing interest in both academic and industry environments towards DC microgrids. Typical application cases involve commercial buildings, industrial plants, datacenters and marine. DC microgrids are entirely based on power electronic converters with rather limited fault current capability, which match different dynamics of the microgrid participants, i.e., the sources and loads. Replacing the conventional AC power distribution systems is, therefore, not a straightforward process. Despite a great deal of scientific publications in the field, fully functional commercial examples are scarce. The main obstacles which impede fast adoption of DC microgrids are lack of standards, challenging protection design, interoperability of different grid components, but also a strong influence of the AC systems legacy. This talk will address the status quo of the DC standardization and will cover recent advances in the technology of power electronic converters and protective devices. The challenges in the interoperability of the grid components will be elaborated and possible solutions discussed.

Dr. Goran Mišković (Senior scientist and Project Manager) IEEE Senior member and nanopackaging TC member. He received his Ph.D. with honors in 2016 from the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), where he dealt with metal oxide-based gas sensors, with an accent on the detection of NOx gasses. From 2012 to 2016, he worked as a lecturer and project assistant on two FP7 projects as well as on several bilateral and industrial projects at TU Wien, where he dealt with sensors and actuators fabricated with multilayer Low-Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) technology. After completion of his doctoral studies, he switched to the industry and joined TDK Electronics, where he worked in the corporate R&D - innovative topic group. His main activities and responsibilities were the evaluation and assessment of new technologies, concepts and ideas. Since 2020, he has joined Silicon Austria Labs, Austria’s reputable R&D and competence center, and since July 2021 he became a certified IPMA Project Manager. He is a member of the Sensor System research division and his main research interests are in the fields of heterogeneous integration & packaging, sensors & actuators, additive manufacturing, material science and technology, MEMS devices, microsystem technologies, flexible and wearable electronics and hybrid systems.

Abstract – Increased demand for high-end electronic equipment has led to an increase in demand for various packaging-related power electronic components. These high-end devices have very miniaturized circuits due to the need of packing more and more transistors in a small space and sustain very high-power densities (voltage and current) which leads to the generation of large amounts of heat. Traditionally heat sinks based on metallic copper or aluminium have been used. Due to the generation of such large amounts of heat, these assemblies are becoming bulkier and have peaked in terms of technological ingenuity. Traditional manufacturing is providing solutions that are bulky, inefficient, not optimal and etc. for the current and next-generation applications. In this talk, Lithography-based Ceramic Manufacturing (LCM) technology will be presented. This is a novel Additive Manufacturing (AM)-technology capable of realizing high-resolution 3D printing with a multi-material approach. The technology not only enables the combination of different ceramics in different layers of the printed component but also the spatially resolved combination within the same layer and hence, paves the way to the realization of complex bi-phasic ceramic components and most importantly, ceramic-metal combinations could be realized with this technology. Multi-material printing allows to combine of thermal highly conductive and electrically isolating materials like ceramics for best cooling with electrical conducting materials for the best power transfer at the same time, enabling much higher power densities than traditional packaging solutions can achieve. Last but not the least, several examples and conceptual use cases will be presented and discussed within this talk.

Darko Vračar received the Dipl.-Ing, Magister, and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia, in 2000, 2007, and 2023, respectively. His major field of study was power converters and drives.
He is also with BRUSA Elektronik (München) GmbH, Munich, Germany. He has 22 years of industrial experience. Areas of expertise are implementation of telecom and datacenter power supplies, and R&D of power electronics’ systems, such as solar inverters, SMPS for industrial, automotive, and telecom applications. He has published several papers related to power converters and drives and holds one patent in power conversion systems. His research interests include simulation, control, and design of power converters. In addition, he was delivering training sessions related to power electronics’ topics or industrial standards.
Mr. Vračar is a member of the following IEEE Societies: Industry Applications, Industrial Electronics, and Power Electronics. He is a Reviewer of journal Electronics.

Abstract – The increased popularity of battery electric-vehicles (BEVs) in last years shifted focus of the research and development activities towards future technologies for the charging infrastructure. The inductive charging of BEVs’ batteries is an emerging charging method that is convenient, robust, safe, and efficient. In this paper two subjects are covered: the inductive charging system (ICS) 11 kVA and the auxiliary power supply (APS) of that system. The paper first provides a brief outlook of trends regarding BEVs, market for wireless inductive charging, and system needs. Then it addresses the ICS 11 kVA. The system efficiency measurement results are provided as well as common challenges. The second part of this paper is about architecture, design and operation, experimental results, and lessons learned during development of the APS of the ground assembly for the ICS. The chosen topology for that was an active-clamped flyback (ACF) dc-dc converter. Moreover, short notes on hardware engineering aspects within automotive environment (i.e. Automotive SPICE®) and relevant standards, needed for the hardware developers, are provided. In addition, a solution is presented on how to obtain the missing data, in IEC 60664-4 standard, which are needed for calculation of the safety distances.

Alex Pacini, Ph.D., is currently employed as Power System Application Engineer at the System Innovation Lab of Infineon, Villach. He received his Ph.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Bologna, Italy, in 2019. His interests are in Resonant Power Converters, Inductive Power Transfer, Electromagnetic Theory, and RF/Microwave Circuit and System Design.

Abstract – With the EV market growing in double digits per year, the pressure to improve the on-board charger (OBC) performance in terms, particularly, of power density, is increasing from currently around 2kW/L to 6kW/L in future generations while still maintaining high efficiency. The challenges of designing on-board chargers relate to the single- and three-phase power processing requirement for worldwide compatibility, and the upcoming trend towards bi-directional power flow capability for V2x application.
In this paper, different concepts for OBCs that are either phase-modular or true 3-phase topologies will be comparatively evaluated and novel single-stage conversion concepts employing monolithic bi-directional GaN switches will be presented.

Renato Procopio (M’03, SM’17) is co-author of the book ‘Microgrids Design and Operation: Towards Smart Energy in Cities”, Artech House, and of more than 150 papers published in international journals or presented at international conferences. He is the editor of the International Journal Energies, Guest Editor of the IEEE Transaction on EMC Special Section “Advances in Lightning Modeling, Computation and Measurement”, and of the EPSR Special Issue “Lightning Protection, Physics, and Effects”. He is the recipient of the Emerald Literati Awards' Outstanding Paper accolade for the best paper published in the Electrical engineering journal COMPEL (2003) for the paper “A full-Maxwell algorithm for the field-to-multiconductor line-coupling problem” and of the HonorableMention Transaction Paper of IEEE Transaction on EMC in 2022 (second best paper) for the paper “On the Fourier Transform of Measured Electric Fields Radiated by a Lightning Return Stroke”.

Abstract – The lecture deals with the theoretical formulation, implementation, and experimental validation of sliding mode-based frequency and voltage controllers for a microgrid composed of a PV unit and a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). Such a controller can combine the advantages of the primary and the secondary traditional controllers, as is purely local (i.e. no signals are exchanged among the controllers) and obtain a null steady state error on both frequency and voltage. The work is the result of fruitful cooperation between the universities of Genoa and Pavia in Italy and the University of Nis in Serbia.

Paolo Mattavelli (Fellow, IEEE) received the M.S. degree (with Hons.) and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Padova, Vicenza, Italy, in 1992 and 1995, respectively. From 1995 to 2001, he was a Researcher with the University of Padova. From 2001 to 2005, he was an Associate Professor with the University of Udine, Udine, Italy, where he led the Power Electronics Laboratory. In 2005, he joined the University of Padova with the same duties. From 2010 to 2012, he was with the Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES) at Virginia Tech. He is currently a Professor with the University of Padova. His research interests include analysis, modeling and analog and digital control of power converters, grid-connected converters for renewable energy systems and micro-grids, high-temperature and high-power density power electronics. In these research fields, he has been leading several industrial and government projects. His current google scholar h-index is 69. From 2003 to 2012, he was an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics. From 2005 to 2010, he was the IPCC (Industrial Power Converter Committee) Technical Review Chair for IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications. For terms 2003 to 2006, 2006 to 2009 and 2013 to 2015 he has been a member-at-large of the IEEE Power Electronics Society's Administrative Committee. He was the recipient of the 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2012 Prize Paper Award in IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics and in 2007 the 2nd Prize Paper Award at the IEEE Industry Application Annual Meeting. He is the Co-Editor in Chief of IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

Abstract – This article addresses multi-sampled digital pulse-width modulation (MS-DPWM), where feedback sampling, control execution, and modulating signal update are performed more than twice per modulation period. This enables very fast dynamic performance, robust stability, and noise suppression in two-level, multi-level, or interleaved power electronics converters. First, small-signal models are presented to show the positive impact of MS-DPWM on delay reduction. Reduced modulation delay allows for an increase of the control loop bandwidth and passivation of the converter's impedance, which is demonstrated with several application examples. Next, the capabilities of MS-DPWM to strongly attenuate white and switching noise, while preserving fast dynamic performance, are revealed. To achieve this, various linear and non-linear feedback filtering methods are discussed. Finally, nonlinear effects that may arise with MS-DPWM due to the switching ripple content in the feedback signal are analyzed and some measures for their suppression are presented. Various experimental validations, performed on different setups with two-level and multi-level converters, are provided to support the analyses.