The final of the IEEE International Future Energy Challenge (IEEE IFEC 2018) was successfully held in Tsinghua University from 19 to 20 July. The IFEC is a global highest level student competition in the field of power electronics sponsored by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It is supported by the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS), the IEEE Industrial Application Society (IAS), the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) and the American Power Supply Manufacturer Association. The competition was initiated jointly by IEEE and the U.S. Department of Energy in 2001, oriented to undergraduates and postgraduates of electrical and electronics specialties in the world. It is designed the challenging questions of power and electron technology to stimulate innovative thinking in the field of power electronics and cultivate future elites of power electronics. In the competition, teams are required not only to propose innovative solutions, but also independently design and develop experimental prototypes. Authoritative experts from academia and industry are invited to evaluate the competition schemes, test the experimental prototypes and finally evaluate the grand prizes and individual prizes.

The IEEE IFEC 2018 was organized by the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University. Its theme is "High Efficiency and High Power Density Isolated DC-DC Converter for Household Energy Storage". Supporting units of the competition include the Beijing Branch of IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS), China Electrotechnical Society, Tsinghua Energy Internet Research Institute, and the State Key Laboratory of Safety Control and Simulation of Power Systems and Large Power Generation Equipment. Chroma Electronics (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. as a diamond partner of the competition provided test platforms for the competition, and sponsored the competition with Mitsubishi Electric Co., Ltd. Prof. Zhao Zhengming of Tsinghua University served as the Chairman of IFEC 2018. Associate Prof. Sun Kai of Tsinghua University and Associate Prof. Li Qiang of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) served as the vice-chairman of the Competition. Prof. Chen Yaoming of National Taiwan University acted as the Chairman of the Competition Steering Committee. Prof. Philip Krein of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)and Member of the American National Academy of Engineering (NAE), Prof. Jih-sheng Lai of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and IEEE Fellow, Prof. Braham Ferreira of Dutch Delft, Member of IEEE and former Chairman of IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS), Toshihisa Shimizu, Professor of Tokyo Metropolitan University (Tokyo) and IEEE Fellow, Dr. Zhang Jinfa of Delta Group and Dr. Gu Dazhong of Unique Technical Services, the United States, formed the judging panel, which was chaired by NAE Member Philip Krein. Ten student teams from six countries and regions, including China, Taiwan, the United States, Germany, Serbia and Singapore, participated in the final.

IFEC Opening Ceremony and Oral Defense Spot

Welcoming Speech by Prof. Kang Chongqing, Secretary of the Party Committee of the DEE, Tsinghua University, on behalf of the organizers

Address by Prof. Philip Krein, Member of National Academy of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)

Address by Prof. Zhao Zhengming, Chairman of IFEC 2018 and Director of the DEE, Tsinghua University

After a fierce competition in oral defense and prototype test, three student teams from Xi'an Jiaotong University, Tsinghua University and Beijing Jiaotong University won three major awards, namely Grand Prize Award, Outstanding Performance Award and Innovation Award, respectively. They also won $10,000, $5,000 and $3,000 respectively. In addition, teams from Belgrade University, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and Ohio State University were awarded the Educational Impact Award, Outstanding Technical Report Award and Outstanding Presentation Award respectively.

Sun Kai, Vice Chairman of IFEC 2018 and Associate Professor of the DEE, Tsinghua University, presided over the oral defense.

Oral Defense by Tsinghua University Team

Oral Defense by Team of Xi'an Jiaotong University

Oral Defense by Team of Ohio State University

Team members of Tsinghua University are experimenting with prototype works

Team members of Beijing Jiaotong University are experimenting with prototype works

Team members of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology are experimenting with prototype works

Tsinghua University team won the "Outstanding Performance Award"

Team of University of Belgrade, Serbia, won the Educational Impact Award

Ohio State University team won the "Outstanding Presentation Award"

The team of Tsinghua University participating in the IFEC is composed of Chen Huan, Yi Zhewei, Chai Ruiying, Tang Yiwei, Li Haoran and Liu Ran, who are undergraduates in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Mr. Wang Kui serves as the instructor. With excellent design and precise control, the DC-DC converter works completed by Tsinghua University's student team successfully passed all the test items of charge and discharge, ripple, over-voltage and under-voltage protection required by the competition, with the highest efficiency exceeding 96%, thus they won the "Excellent Performance Award" of the competition. It is worth mentioning that the Tsinghua University team's work achieves a good balance in cost and performance by adopting modular integrated hardware design and synchronous rectification control strategy. The prototype uses silicon-based power devices with lower cost, and achieves energy conversion efficiency and better reliability comparable to other team's work based on new broadband power devices. This will provide an important reference to the construction of low-cost distributed household energy storage system in remote and impoverished areas.

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Work prototype by Tsinghua University team

The Department of Electrical Engineering (DEE) of Tsinghua University has always attached great importance to the cultivation of students' scientific and technological innovation and practical ability, and actively encouraged and supported the students in the Department to participate in various scientific creation, research projects and competitions at home and abroad. In order to further stimulate students' enthusiasm for innovation and cultivate students' innovative ability, the Department, in cooperation with Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute Tsinghua University, has established the "Tsinghua University Future Energy Interest Team" to match special funds and high-quality resources, focusing on supporting students to carry out extracurricular scientific and technological innovation activities. In this IFEC 2018, many students from Tsinghua University team came from theFuture Energy Interest Team.

The organization of IFEC 2018 has been highly appraised and recognized by the IEEE International Steering Committee, expert judges, participating teams and special guests. NAE Member Philip Krein, Chairman of the Judging Panel, and Prof. Lai Risheng, founder of IFEC, praised the faculty and student volunteers for their "marvelous job organization IFEC-2018".