OUTREACH
Nit Europea de la Recerca 2023. Micro-talks
Nit de la Recerca 2023. Presentations at high schools
Dr. Xavier Perpinyà, from the PDS group, delivered a series of presentations in high schools as part of the Research Mornings initiative (matins de la recerca), a sub-activity of Research Nights (nits de la recerca). His talks, entitled “People Have the Power,” provided an insightful overview of how power electronics offers solutions to contemporary societal challenges, particularly in the context of sustainability and climate action.
During these presentations, Dr. Perpinyà not only explored the essential physics behind power devices but also delved into the technological advancements aimed at enhancing the durability of these components. Additionally, he highlighted the key outcomes achieved in projects supported by various organizations, including AEI (contracts PID2021-126334OB-I00, GRIDCELLS, and PCI2020-112028, iRel40), H2020-ECSEL (iRel40, H2020-662133), AGAUR Funds (grants 2017-SGR-1384 and 2021-SGR-00496), and IMB-CNM (Trigger-195).
Specifically, these talks took place at Liceu Politècnic in Sant Cugat in September,2023 as well as at INS Gorgs and IES Banús in Cerdanyola del Vallès in October 2023.
Microelectronics in space: BepiColombo mission 2023
Miquel Vellvehi from PDS Group gave a divulgative talk in the framework of Objectes de la Recerca initiative at CSIC Delegation in Barcelona, which includes a mini-exhibition, a talk, a video and a contest. Vellvehi talked about the BepiColombo space mission, a joint ESA and JAXA mission, and diodes Schottky, developed at the IMB-CNM. These diodes are capable of withstanding the extreme conditions that will be found on the trip, with a temperature range of -160ºC to 300ºC.
The 10alamenos9 Festival 2022
The 10alamenos9 Festival is an initiative for the dissemination of nanoscience and nanotechnology that is celebrated in many places. In its edition of Bellaterra, the Faculty of Sciences of the UAB is the main coordinator together with the research centers ICMAB, ICN2 and IMB-CNM. On May 31, there were several visits to the different centers and a round table with predoctoral researchers talking about their career in nanoscience. The Campus welcomed almost 200 students altogether.
Emma Solà from PDS Group participated in a round table and she was in charge of giving a short talk about her thesis research, which is carried out on materials for packaging and power electronics, and her career in the world of research.
15th Festa de la Ciència 2022
More than 12,000 people have participated in the 15th Festa de la Ciència on the Rambla del Raval and more than 100 people have participated in the activities coordinated by the Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona.
David Sánchez from PDS Group participated in the Workshop “Trip into the fascinating world of microelectronics!” at the Festa de la Ciència 2022.
Pint of Science. Sant Cugat del Vallès 2019
Many researchers from the CSIC centers in Catalonia participate in the “Pint of Science” initiative, an international event that introduces science to bars. It is celebrated in 73 Spanish cities between May 20 and 22. Barcelona is the city with the most affluence, although there will be appointments in many other areas of Catalonia. 2019 is the fifth anniversary of the festival in the state geography, where it has been gaining presence and collaborations year after year. The objective of the festival is to bring science closer to citizens in a playful way and in a relaxed space, outside of educational settings. Many scientists involved in outreach take it as an opportunity to reach new audiences.
Sant Cugat del Vallès – Ca’l Temerari – 20th May, 2019, 19:30
“People have the power,” a story about another cinderella: power electronics by Xavier Perpiñà (Speaker)
Power electronics allow us to enjoy many of today’s comforts: it warms us up, accompanies us to work and ultimately defines the world in which we live. Through energy management, it has allowed us to make countless advances that will allow us to combat some of the major problems of the 21st century, such as “electronic waste” or pollution from fossil fuels. This technology is what has made it possible to carry out electric transport, renewable energies, all of them with a high level of reliability.
From Bellaterra to Mercury Conferences 2018
Within the framework of the BepiColombo and Solar Orbiter missions of the European Space Agency (ESA), various conferences have been given in different astronomical associations in Catalonia about the missions and the protection devices designed and manufactured at IMB-CNM facilities. Those conferences were led by Prof. Philippe Godignon and Dr. Xavier Jordà from the Power Devices and Systems (PDS) Group.
Conference summary:
De Bellaterra a Mercuri. Desenvolupament de components electrònics específics per missions d’exploració espacial.
In October 2018, two European Space Agency (ESA) exploration missions are planned, one to the planet Mercury (Bepi-Colombo) and the other to the Sun (Solar Orbiter). Both will share a common component: the protection diodes of the solar panels, which have been designed and manufactured by the Group of Power Devices and Systems (PDS) of the Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona of the Centro Nacional de Microelectrónica (IMB-CNM, CSIC) located in Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès). This talk will explain the complex process behind the development of components for space applications such as these. It will be led by Philippe Godignon, who is an electronic engineer and received his doctorate from the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) in Lyon, France, in 1993, and Xavier Jordà, who is a physicist and received his doctorate from the National Institute of Science. Applied (INSA) in Lyon, France, in 1995. Both are part of the Power Devices and Systems Group of the IMB-CNM that belong to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC).
Tuesday, May 9th, 2018 – Associació Astronòmica de Sabadell – Sabadell
Tuesday, November 13th, 2018 – Associació Astronòmica d’Osona AAO – Vic – This conference is part of the activities of Science Week’18
Thursday, December 13th, 2018 – Agrupació Astronòmica de Barcelona ASTER – Barcelona
BEPICOLOMBO Pre-launch day
October 19th, 2018
The event took place at the “Pepe Millán” conference hall located at the IMB-CNM with more than 100 attendants and it served to analyze the technological challenges faced by the mission. It included conferences by Dr. Arturo Fernández, Head of the Power Control Section, and Prof. Philippe Godignon and Dr. Xavier Jordà, members of the Power Devices and Systems Group of the IMB-CNM. The meeting also connected live with José Aroca, engineer of the BepiColombo power system at the mission’s control center in Darmstadt (Germany).
The IMB-CNM developed and manufactured one of the most critical electronic components found in the two probes transporting the mission, the protection diodes of the solar panels’ photovoltaic cells, ranging up to almost 700 units which must be placed next to the solar panels to protect them in case one of the cells fail. Researcher Philippe Godignon developed the diodes using Silicon Carbide (SiC), a new semiconductor which is replacing silicon in many power electronics applications (such as in electric cars).
BepiColombo is Europe’s first mission to Mercury and has been jointly prepared by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The mission aims to study Mercury in depth and is planning to introduce two exploration probes into the planet’s orbit within seven years. Its launch is set to take place on Saturday 20 October at 1:45 UTC from the Kourou spaceport in the French Guiana, aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
ENIAC-CSSL Workshop Organization
September 28th, 2012
One of the activities in dissemination of ENIAC-CSSL project to industry and academic institutionshas been the workshop named CSSL Workshop on LED based Lighting Systems. This workshop was organized by IMB-CNM and Leitat Technological Center in September 2012, with more than 60 attendees coming from the industry and academia. Theworkshop was organized into plenary talks about the hottest issues in LED lamp design, covering all related fields associated with this technology: LED manufacturing, packaging, driver design, dimmering and design for reliability of these systems. In addition, all demonstrators produced during CSSL execution were presented to show the project research and development achievements.
