Engineering Students Invited To Participate
in "Green" Power Supply Design Contest -- Apply by April 15
Event Sponsored by EPA, California Energy Commission - ON
Semiconductor to provide technical assistance, complimentary semiconductor
device kits and prize money
by Lee Goldberg
Engineering students across the globe are invited to participate in "Efficiency Challenge 2004," in which the aspiring designers will compete to create the ultimate high-efficiency "green" power supply. The contest, sponsored by the US EPA and the California Energy Commission, is endorsed by the Power Sources Manufacturers' Association (PSMA) and is aimed at fostering the development and market success of energy efficient power supply designs. Corporate sponsor ON Semiconductor will be supplying participating teams with technical assistance and complimentary semiconductor device kits. Additionally, ON will award monetary prizes to the top three finishers among the assisted universities in the entire competition.
Two major design categories are being featured, according to an announcement released by the EPA and the Energy Commission. The first category will cover internal and external "market-ready" designs that can cost-effectively save energy in particular types of consumer electronics. The second is an "open" category intended to showcase the most effective power supply designs from industry and academia without cost constraints.
Why Green Supplies?
The EPA's focus on these advanced supplies is because of the significant economic and environmental benefits that they can provide. It is estimated that between 1% and 2% of all the electricity currently used in the US could be saved by efficiency improvements to power supply devices that convert ac power from wall outlets into low voltage dc power. This applies to the power conversion circuitry within electronic products such as cordless phones, computers, television sets, stereo equipment, cell phone chargers, and PDA docking stations.
Research funded by the EPA's ENERGY STAR program and the Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program has identified ac-dc power supplies as a major opportunity for reducing global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Today there are more than 3.1 billion power supplies in use in the U.S. and about 10 billion globally. Many of the power supply designs used in today's consumer electronics are only 30% to 60% efficient -- though technologies exist to achieve operating efficiencies of 90%.
While the international design competition will showcase highly-efficient technologies, it is also focused on highlighting the benefits of advanced power supplies to electronics buyers. Opportunities to improve power efficiency and conserve electricity are available to companies that manufacture power supplies as well as much larger companies that purchase power supplies for use in computers, televisions, printers, monitors and more.
Efficiency Challenge 2004 will run throughout the 2004 calendar year, with the winners announced at APEC 2005. For more information, visit http://www.efficientpowersupplies.org
University Participation
ON Semiconductor will assist up to a total of 10 universities, domestically and internationally, that apply to participate in this competition. Applications for this assistance must be submitted by April 15, 2004. ON Semiconductor's assistance will consist of the following:
For application information, visit http://www.onsemi.com/power or contact Dhaval Dalal
at +1 (602) 244-3759.