December 2017
It is my pleasure to issue the fourth-quarter IEEE TEC eNewsletter for 2017. In this issue, we have a variety of articles that address different transportation needs. An article from OTIS focuses on human vertical transportation technologies; while we tend to think of transportation systems as standard vehicles, escalators and elevators are similar to trains, trams, and similar traditional transportation systems: people step into a shared room which stops at different destinations to load or unload. In fact, most of the high-rise buildings and other very large buildings would not be suitable for human occupation or use without elevators and escalators, especially to those of us who have limited mobility.
Deepa Vincent, Student Member, IEEE, Phuoc Huynh Sang, Student Member, IEEE, Lalit Patnaik, Member, IEEE, David Capano, Student Member, IEEE, and Sheldon S. Williamson, Senior Member, IEEE
Vehicular emissions across the globe are rising rapidly and account for a significant portion of global warming and climate change. Electric vehicles (EVs) provide a cleaner alternative to conventional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles even when the electrical grid is predominantly powered by fossil fuels. The move towards clean and renewable energy further strengthens the case for EVs, and the EV revolution is happening faster than previous market predictions. In Dec. 2016, a major EV manufacturer, Nissan, reported that Leaf® owners worldwide achieved the milestone of 3 billion kilometers, saving nearly 500 million kilograms of CO2 emissions [1]. There is an impending reduction in the production of ICE vehicles in the world market owing to adoption of EVs. The shift towards transportation electrification needs to be hassle free for the public such that it is more convincible, affordable, and quick. However, the major hurdles to the broad acceptance of EVs are high battery cost, limited driving range, and need for a faster charge time.
Anand R, M. Mahesh
Introduction
The universe and the world that we survive in now will almost certainly be impractical had it not stood for innovations in transportation. The Ward-Leonard drive system for DC Motors was invented in 1893 and 100 years later the Variable Voltage and Variable Frequency drives (VVFDs) for AC Motors came to existence for vertical transportation. During the past 30 years, the use of AC variable voltage and variable-frequency drives has grown, and for many they have become the preferred way of controlling vertical transportation traction machines. The advantages are well documented and include increased system efficiency, simplified commissioning and improved ride quality. Increasingly, the issue of power quality on the electric system is becoming a point of concern when selecting and sizing elevator systems.
Power Magnetics @ High Frequency
Eliminating the Smoke and Mirrors
Date: Saturday March 3, 2018
San Antonio, Texas
IEEE PELS and the PSMA Magnetics Committee will hold the third “Power Magnetics @ High Frequency – Eliminating the Smoke and Mirrors” workshop on Saturday, March 3, 2017 - the day before and in the same venue as APEC 2018 at the Henry Gonzales Convention Center.
About the Newsletter
Editors-in-Chief
Jin-Woo Ahn
Co-Editor-in-Chief
Sheldon Williamson
Co-Editor-in-Chief
TEC Call for Articles 2023 - Advances in Charging Systems
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