Advanced Energy in the Windy City – An Update from SVC TechCon 2024

Every year the Society of Vacuum Coaters (SVC) – a non-profit, international, professional organization primarily devoted to coating and surface finishing using vacuum processes – brings together industry professionals, researchers and academics for SVC TechCon, the world’s largest technical expo for vacuum coating. Now in its 67th year, SVC TechCon 2024 took place May 6 to 9 in Chicago. Visitors to the event in the ‘Windy City’ saw exhibits, demonstrations and technical and educational presentations that showcased the very latest developments in this fast-moving sector.  

As a leading provider of power conversion, measurement and control technologies that are essential to vacuum coating processes, Advanced Energy (AE) is a regular attendee at SVC TechCon and an active contributor to the speaker program. This year, Advanced Energy’s subject matter experts delivered ten technical papers and hosted a booth where AE demonstrated its latest plasma and industrial products. The over-arching theme in the booth was ‘Raising the Potential’, a nod to the fact that Advanced Energy is helping customers implement increasingly complex processes that require ever-more precise, higher-power performance.

Among the highlights of the show was the formal unveiling of Advanced Energy’s Ascent® Arc Management System (AMS) II, a new water-cooled, wide-input 60 kW addition to the Ascent® AMS family of DC generators for precise control of plasma power. 

Delivering accurate, stable and repeatable power, AMS II supports new materials and cathode designs for process innovation. It also enables customers to maximize productivity and reduce cost as thin film deposition areas grow. Its fully water-cooled design optimizes reliability as it keeps external debris from industrial processes out of the power supply enclosure. 

 

In addition to wanting to learn more about the water-cooled design and the benefits of its dynamic reverse pulsing (DRP) capabilities when combined with the Ascent DMS, SVC TechCon visitors were particularly interested in how the expanded operating range would help increase their process capability. AE representatives also had a number of in-depth conversations around how the embedded PowerInsight by Advanced Energy® IoT technology could be used to obtain actionable intelligence that supports process optimization for improved throughput and yield, as well as the reduction of unplanned equipment downtime. 

 

Notably, during the four-day event, while the coatings market is demanding ever more complex processes and ever higher yields, there remains uncertainty as to what technology will be needed and when it should be deployed. This is particularly true in the automotive sector where coating requirements differ considerably between electric vehicles (EVs) and traditional ICE (internal combustion engine) automobiles. AE was able to provide guidance in these areas through technical presentation topics ranging from arc management and the impact of power pulse shape on coating processes to reducing the operational costs of coating processes and innovative techniques for non-contact temperature measurement.

 

SVC TechCon once again proved to be an important forum to connect with individuals at the leading edge of vacuum coating and related industries and the perfect opportunity to share insights into how to address the complex demands of today’s coating processes. Advanced Energy looks forward to seeing how the industry continues its rapid evolution at the 68th SVC TechCon next year at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. 

 

To find out more about SVC TechCon 2024 visit https://svctechcon.com/