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On April 23, 2007, Dr. Mike Briere, the executive vice president for research & development at International Rectifier Corporation (IR), El Segundo, CA, USA has visited the ECET Department to dedicate a new lab. The lab is known as International Rectifier Power Electronics Development & Application Lab (IR-PEDAL). IR donated $100,000 initially to start the lab and continues to support ongoing activitties.

At the dedication, from left, Mr. Eric Persson, the director of technical education at IR, Dr. Michael Briere, the executive VP for research & development at IR, Dr. Dennis Depew, dean of College of Technology at Purdue, Dr. Athula Kulatunga, coordinator of the IR-PEDAL and associate professor, Dr. Robert Herrick, chair, the department of electrical and computer engineering technology at Purdue.

Mission

The mission of IR-PEDAL in the Purdue ECET Department is to promote integrated, high efficiency, electronics solutions to all possible applications among industry, manufacturers, students, and educators.

Goals

To fulfill this mission, the following action items are formulated:

• Build, test, and disseminate the findings of novel power electronics based solutions to existing application problems by students and faculty.
• Develop instructional material that develops hands-on-learning related to power electronics fundamentals, and application specific electrical and mechanical engineering principles.
• Conduct seminars and short courses related power electronic applications to interested parties such as industry and faculty.
• Display working models of current products to students and other interested parties. These models will be on loan from IR and will be used to generate interest among the constituents.
• Promote discovery through applied research relevant to the field of power electronics and energy management.

Focus Areas

Initially activities are developed around three focus areas with the understanding that more areas will be included as the lab matures. Initial areas of focus are:

• Motion control
• Power conversion
• Audio

The lab is located in MGL1230

For more information, contact

Dr. Athula Kulatunga, CEM, Coordinator IR-PEDAL, nkulatun@purdue.edu