From 24 to 29 September 2016, Varna hosted an international conference on Power Electronics and Motion Control (PEMC2016 – http://www.ieee-pemc2016.org). PEMC is among the oldest European conferences in the field of power electronics and has been held in different European countries since 1970. This year’s edition was organised by the Industrial Electronics Society (IES) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and was dedicated to the memory of its creator – Professor Istvan Nagy, establishing the Professor Nagy award in recognition of valuable scientific and organisational achievements in the area of power electronics. The main aim of the event was to stimulate and coordinate the exchange and promulgation of technical, academic and economic information in the sphere of power electronics and motion control. Participants from 43 countries joined in the work of the conference and presented more than 200 papers on topics including results from research and the application of power electronics in transport, energy output systems, robotics and mechatronics, wireless charging systems, applicable both in electric cars and in medicine, as well as the latest photovoltaic technology. The papers will be published in IEEE Xplore to be accessible to the widest professional audience.
Nikola Vaptsarov naval Academy was among the organisers of this year’s conference. The Rector of the Academy, Commodore Prof. DSc Boyan Mednikarov, was included in the managing board, and Ass. Prof. Dr Eng. M. Tsvetkov and Dr Eng. Z. Nikolov were among the members of the local organising committee. A team of students from the Academy participated as volunteers in the work of the conference, rendering invaluable assistance to the organisers of the authoritative scientific forum.
The conference included tutorials, which were conducted on 24 September in the lecture halls of the Naval Academy. In the morning session, three lectures were delivered by leading researchers in the field of power electronics – Prof. Johann Kolar from Switzerland, Prof. Slobodan Mirchevski from the University of Skopje, and Prof. Mohamed Sayed from Egypt. The agenda of the afternoon session offered lectures by Alex Ruderman from Kazakhstan, Prof. Alex Ruderman from Kazakhstan, Prof. Tomislav Dragicevic from Denmark, and Prof. Luis Brito Palma from Portugal. The tutorials were attended by more than 40 people and spilled over into the late afternoon with lively discussions on the topics of the presentations. At the same time, in the Boardroom of the Naval Academy, there was a meeting of the Council of PEMC. The meeting was chaired by the PEMC Council statutory representatives, Prof. Pavol Bauer from the Netherlands and the Dr Peter Korondi from Hungary. Another 17 members of the Council joined in its meeting, including Prof. Ivan Yachev, president of the Federation of the Scientific Technical Unions in Bulgaria. Subjects of the discussions were issues related to the course of the conference and for awarding the Professor Nagy award, as well as strategic matters connected to the future development of the organisation.
The cultural programme offered a trip to the Palace in Balchik, the Botanical Garden and Aladzha Manastir. The conference was closed with a technical tour, including a visit to the wind farm and the fortress on Cape Kaliakra, combining the ancient history of our country with the application of cutting edge technology in the area of power electronics and motion control.
