Invited Speakers
Alex Gruzen (CEO of WiTricity)
Alex Gruzen is the CEO of WiTricity, the industry pioneer in wireless power transfer. WiTricity wireless EV charging technology is being adopted by top global automakers and their Tier 1 suppliers for a future that is electrified, shared and autonomous. Before WiTricity, Gruzen co-founded Texas-based Corsa Ventures, where he focused on building leading technology companies via early-stage investments. Prior to Corsa, he was the Senior Vice President of the Consumer and Small Medium Business Product Group at Dell, and previously led the company’s global notebook computer business. His experience spans product development, global sales and marketing, operations and growth through mergers and acquisitions, having also held leadership roles at Hewlett Packard, Compaq, and Sony. Gruzen holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a S.M. and S.B. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Talk: Wireless Charging: Driving EV Adoption and the Autonomous Future
The future of transportation is electric and wireless charging serves as a catalyst for the increased adoption of electric vehicles. Wireless charging is as efficient and as fast as conventional plug-in charging, much more convenient, and essential for the autonomous vehicles of the near future. With the explosive growth taking shape in mobility-as-a-service, WiTricity is poised to capitalize on a future that is shared and autonomous.
Alexander Gerfer (CEO/CTO of Würth Elektronik)
Alexander Gerfer is Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer of Würth Elektronik eiSos group, one of Europe's largest manufacturers of electronic and electromechanical components, with it´s base in Waldenburg, Munich, Berlin and Barcelona, and also with R&D locations in Silicon Valley, Dallas and Shenzhen.
Already at the age of 15 he repaired and built electronic devices. As a result, he completed an apprenticeship as a radio/television technician and gained extensive professional experience in R&D and production of precision measuring devices.
He graduated from the engineering school of communications engineering at the Rheinische Akademie Köln and studied electrical engineer (FH) at the Rheinische Fachhochschule.
He also gained years of professional experience in sales at the company RS Components and in product management at the distributor Schukat Elektronik. Alexander Gerfer has been part of the Würth Elektronik eiSos group since 1997; since 2000 he has been responsible for product management, quality, research and development.
He shares his knowledge in countless specialist seminars on inductors and EMC components, EMC and circuit technology. He is the author of many professional contributions and publications in the field of consumer electronics, application notes and the book "Trilogy of inductors", as well as co-author of various books such as the "Trilogy of Connectors". Numerous patents bear his name. Alexander Gerfer also travels internationally as a sought-after key speaker and as a promoter of innovative startups.
As the responsible for product design he is continuously exploring fields of Innovation as e.g, 3D Printing, Integrated Passive Components, LED-Horticulture- focusing on customer oriented solutions.
Talk:
Wireless Power Transfer is becoming more and more popular in charging smart phones. But the technology is beneficial for other areas as well. What are the success factors and challenges for a global acceptance? Is a global standard available? The different power levels require different technical solutions. The wireless power transfer market is currently dominated by consumer applications. What are the requirements of other industries to make the technology a success as well? How will the market evolve in the near and midterm future? What are the health aspects ?
Burak Ozpineci (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Burak Ozpineci received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA, in 1998 and 2002, respectively. He joined the Post-Masters Program with the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Knoxville, TN, USA, in 2001 and became a Full-Time Research and Development Staff Member in 2002 and Group Leader of the Power and Energy Systems Group in 2008. He is currently leading the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Group and managing the Electric Drive Technologies Program at ORNL. He also serves as a Joint Faculty Associate Professor with The Bredesen Center at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Talk: Progress Towards Extreme Fast Wireless Static and Dynamic Charging
The wireless charging of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) has developed significantly due to the inherent benefits such as safety, convenience, flexibility, and high efficiency. Wireless power transfer can displace today’s plug-in chargers due to the convenience since there are no cables to trip over, no heavy duty plugs or connectors to handle, no concerns about inadvertent disconnection, and no fear of forgetting to plug-in. With the recent demands for faster charging, the interest in higher power wireless charging is growing. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) recently demonstrated a 120kW static wireless charging system using a single power conversion system and a single transmitter/receiver coil pair. Now the focus switches to more than 300kW wireless charging and dynamic wireless charging. This presentation will talk about ORNL’s recent work on wireless charging and the future plans.
Charles Greene (COO & CTO of Powercast)
Charles Greene is the Chief Operating and Technical Officer at Powercast Corporation, the leading provider of RF-based wireless power technologies that work in the far-field to provide power-over-distance, eliminate or reduce the need for batteries, and power or charge devices without wires and connectors at distances of up to 24 meters. He received a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2001, 2002, and 2006, respectively. He is a leading expert in far-field wireless power transfer, antenna design, and RFID with over twenty-five issued U.S. patents and numerous other foreign patents and pending applications in the wireless power and RFID fields. He has led innovation with Powercast Corporation since its inception in 2003.
Talk: Far-Field RF Wireless Power Deployments and the Problems They Solve
This session will cover existing and new deployments of far-field RF wireless power and RF energy harvesting in sensor networks, RFID devices, illuminated packaging, and more, across various industries along with the emerging applications in consumer electronics. Real-world deployments will be examined along with the problems “power over distance” has solved, including remote battery recharging and enablement of battery-free designs.
Grzegorz Ombach (VP of Engineering and General Manager Halo China at Qualcomm)
Grzegorz Ombach is Vice President of Engineering and General Manager Halo China at Qualcomm. In this role he is responsible for technology and innovation portfolio development in close collaboration with strategic partners and universities. One of his main interest area is managing breakthrough innovation in cross functional teams.
He joined Qualcomm in 2012 from Brose Fahrzeugteile, where he managed the design of new automotive systems and intellectual property portfolio as Director of Advanced Development. Prior to Brose Fahrzeugteile, Grzegorz was Principal Expert at Siemens VDO Automotive AG where his responsibilities included management of a panel of experts in charge of electric/electronic systems for automotive at the company.
Grzegorz holds Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Silesian University of Technology, Poland. Grzegorz has authored and coauthored over 80+ papers and holds more than 30 patents (awarded and pending). He has been awarded Guest Professorship at the Zhejiang University in China.
Talk: Wireless Technologies for Autonomous and Electric Mobility
Future mobility is transforming towards autonomous, connected and electric. Can you imagine an electric car parking and charging autonomously without automatic charging e.g. wireless charging? Can dynamic wireless charging substitute high power chargers? How simple can be be wireless charging? What other technologies are required to support wireless charging? These and other questions are going to be discussed during presentation.
Jurgen Meins (University of Braunschweig)
The bio will be added soon.
Talk: Wireless Power Transfer for Long Stator Maglev Trains
The synchronous long stator maglev concept requires on board power to supply levitation and guidance magnets and auxiliary power consumption in the range of about 150 kW per 25m long vehicle section length. The propulsion power in the speed depending range of some MW is fed to the guide way side synchronous long stator motor. The presentation describes wireless already existing and novel concepts of transferring the vehicle side required electric on board power. The wireless linear generator concept is proved at the Transrapid maglev in Shanghai and characterised by a minimum vehicle speed to cover the required vehicle power. During stand still inside stations no electric power can be applied to the vehicle. The separate wireless power transfer consisting of an on ground primary inductive loop and a vehicle side receiving coil is also proven and tested, but requires cost intensive installation along the guide way. The presented innovative idea is the cost saving combination and use of the maglev components for wireless transferring of the required vehicle side electric power.
Richard O’Brien (Innovation Director – Medtronic CRHF Systems Technology & Integration Medtronic Technical Fellow)
Richard O’Brien has been with Medtronic for 24 years working in the areas of Cardiac Surgery and Cardiac Rhythm Management. His current role is planning and integrating new technologies into the Cardiac Rhythm and Heart Failure business of Medtronic. The technology portfolio encompasses materials, power sources, communication systems, microelectronics, and others.
He holds both an MS Mechanical Engineering and an MS in the Management of Technology.
Talk: Advances in Wireless Power Transfer Technology & Implanted Medical Devices
The power architecture of electrically active implantable medical devices today falls into three categories: primary cell, secondary (rechargeable cell), and externally powered. The applications of such systems range from life-sustaining therapy, palliative therapy, and monitoring systems. Each system has very good reasons for the architecture that has been chosen. The question is how do the recent advances in wireless power transfer technology affect architectural choices for implanted devices?
Zoya Popovic (University of Colorado)
Zoya Popovic is a Distinguished Professor and the Lockheed Martin Endowed Chair of Electrical Engineering at the University of Colorado. She obtained her Dipl.Ing. degree at the University of Belgrade, Serbia, and her Ph.D. at Caltech. She has graduated over 60 PhD students. Here research interests are in various applications of high-frequency electronics and microwave engineering. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and the recipient of two IEEE MTT Microwave Prizes for best journal papers, the White House NSF Presidential Faculty Fellow award, the URSI Issac Koga Gold Medal, the ASEE/HP Terman Medal and was named IEEE MTT Distinguished Educator in 2013. She received the Humboldt Stiftung Research Award and was a visiting professor at the Technical University in Munich in 2001 and 2003. In 2014, she was a visiting professor at ISAE, Toulouse, France, and is a Chair of Excellence at Carlos III University in Madrid, Spain, in 2018/2019. She has a husband physicist and three daughters who can all solder.
Talk: WPT: from uW/cm2 harvesting to kW capacitive powering This talk will overview wireless power transfer for power levels from uW to kW in four distinct modalities: (1) harvesting; (2) near-field capacitive powering; (3) beaming and (4) multi-mode shielded powering. The ultra-low power density application is in far-field harvesting at GHz frequencies for unattended wireless sensors, where efficiency and power management are challenging, as well as miniaturization and energy storage. Several examples will be shown, including harvesting sidelobes from a 4.3GHz altimeter radar antenna on a Boeing 737 aircraft for powering health-monitoring aircraft sensors. At the high power levels, near-field capacitive power transfer in the 6 MHz range is used for transferring kW of power with 85% efficiency for powering stationary vehicles and vehicles in motion while meeting safety standards in the vicinity of the vehicle through a near-field phased array approach. A beaming system study for powering lunar stations on the dark side of the moon in the S- to X-band range will also be discussed, and the experimental results for an over-moded cavity for shielded simultaneous watt-level powering of multiple devices will be presented.
