ASME DRIVN 2027

The conference focuses on innovative technologies, research and design advances, and solutions for renewable and sustainable energy, including utility-level systems integration. Selected papers may be considered for publication in an ASME journal. Tracks cover AI for energy systems; heat pump, refrigeration and cryogenic technology; sustainable and resilient buildings; energy storage; hybrid systems and microgrids; solar optics, thermal applications, chemistry and fuels; photovoltaic and electrochemical technologies, including batteries and fuel cells; waste heat recovery, thermal desalination and water harvesting; alternative energy conversion, including geothermal, nuclear, wind, hydro, ocean and wave energy; hydrogen, bioenergy, biofuels and sustainable fuels; combustion, cogeneration and carbon capture, storage and utilization; advanced energy materials and manufacturing; space energy systems and in situ resource utilization; critical mineral recovery and supply chains; data center energy-water and cooling; and sustainability, safety, durability and recyclability of electrochemical storage. The program also includes lightning talks and poster presentations.

The program brings together energy, industrial transformation, and advanced manufacturing, with cross-cutting themes of workforce development, standards, finance, AI and digital transformation, policy, and resilience planning. Roundtables, workshops, and demos are designed to address tradeoffs involving affordability, risk, standardization, and deployment speed. Program tracks include Powering Growth, with sample sessions on data-center power and cooling, new nuclear deployment, solar cost reduction, and scaling geothermal; Industry Reimagined, covering industrial heat electrification, next-generation steel, and EPC project-delivery costs and risks; Next-Gen Manufacturing, addressing hardware investment and bankability, additive manufacturing, and sustainability tradeoffs in product design; and Future Workforce, on nuclear workforce readiness, apprenticeships, and aligning training programs with real projects. Additional sessions are in development in areas including energy storage, fusion, industrial efficiency, critical minerals, and sustainability tradeoffs. The listed sessions are samples and subject to change.

The program includes plenary sessions with invited speakers, oral and poster technical sessions presenting original work, tutorials, and exhibits. The conference focuses on advances in the design, operation, analysis, and applications of electric machines and drives. Topics include rotating electric machines; electric drives and advanced motor controls; special machines, electromagnetic actuators, and sensors; thermal, materials, and efficiency issues; design optimization, modeling, and simulation; condition monitoring, fault diagnosis, and prognosis; transportation applications; energy and grid-connected applications; reduced- or critical-magnet-free machines; and AI/ML applications in machine design and optimization. Tutorial topics also include automation and robotics, medium-voltage machines and drives, and artificial intelligence in electric drives. Special-session proposals emphasize AI-based motor and drive design optimization, digital twins, predictive maintenance and IoT, and actuators and drives for emerging applications. Accepted and presented papers are to be published in the conference proceedings and submitted to IEEE Xplore. Papers may also be submitted to specified IEEE journals under each journal’s rules.

The technical program solicits new, significant work relevant to the nuclear industry, with summaries and abstracts presented orally. Topics include advanced reactors and power systems; energy storage integration with nuclear plants; fusion; nuclear fuel recycling, waste forms, transmutation and disposal; AI applications in nuclear safety and materials research; nuclear nonproliferation; advanced and additive manufacturing; and thermal hydraulics. Embedded topics include Decommissioning Environmental Sciences and Remote Technology, covering robotics and remote systems, decommissioning, environmental remediation, nuclear cleanup, used-fuel management, and related AI, digital-twin and regulatory topics. Accelerator Applications covers accelerator facilities and design, nuclear data, materials science, medical and industrial applications, security and forensics, and environmental studies. Accepted and presented summaries are slated for publication in ANS Transactions.

The program addresses transportation decarbonization, clean transportation, fleet modernization, and sustainable mobility. Themes include zero-emission vehicles, charging infrastructure, energy storage, renewable fuels, fleet management technology, and AI-enabled fleet optimization. Listed sessions include “AI, Data Centers & Transportation: Competing for the Same Megawatts,” on electricity demand, grid constraints, transmission planning, utility readiness, and community considerations, and “Autonomous Transit in the Real World: The SporTran EVOLVE Story,” on electrification, automation, connected infrastructure, accessibility, and transit reliability.

The published 2027 track framework covers electronic design across chip, board, package, and system levels. Topics include signal and power integrity for die, chiplets, interposers, and packaging; chip I/O and power modeling; photonics and wireless integration; PCB, module, and package materials and processing; and memory/HBM, chiplet, multi-die, and 3DIC/SiP interfaces. Other tracks address system co-design and modeling; high-speed links; jitter, noise, and error-ratio measurement and simulation; signal processing, modulation, equalization, and forward error correction; power delivery; EMC/EMI; test and measurement; and interconnect modeling and optimization. The machine-learning and AI track includes electronics design automation, behavioral models, system analytics, and performance optimization. Advanced automotive electronics topics include EV and autonomous systems, sensing, in-vehicle communications, charging, battery technology, and automotive testing. The conference format includes technical sessions, panels, tutorials, and boot camps.

The technical program covers conventional and emerging power systems, including steam power systems (HRSGs, boilers, and steam turbines), gas turbines, concentrating solar power, geothermal energy, small modular reactors and advanced nuclear technologies, sCO₂ power cycles, advanced ultra-supercritical steam, and hydrogen and bulk thermal energy storage technologies. Topics include additive manufacturing, powder metallurgy hot isostatic pressing, advanced welding, cladding, fabrication processes, design approaches, material and welding qualification, standards development, and regulatory challenges. Component-specific issues include castings, forgings, blades, rotors, and valves. Materials and performance topics include creep, creep-fatigue, stress relaxation cracking, oxidation, corrosion, wear, erosion, high-temperature alloys and steels, failure analysis, life management, and fitness-for-service methodologies. Repair topics include weld repair, rejuvenation heat treatment, surface engineering, and refurbishment solutions. The conference program includes plenary sessions and breakout topical tracks. Accepted papers undergo peer review and are assigned DOIs. EPRI and ASM International jointly organize the conference.

The program includes symposia on AI, machine learning, and data science across electrochemical systems; energy storage and battery materials; and the translation of battery materials into manufacturable electrodes and cells. Battery topics include fast charging, electrolyte and interphase engineering in lithium- and sodium-ion batteries, solid-state battery benchmarking, and beyond-lithium-ion chemistries such as lithium-sulfur, lithium-air, sodium-ion, magnesium and multivalent-ion, and redox-flow batteries. Manufacturing themes include scalable synthesis, coating and drying, in-line metrology, quality assurance, pilot-line scale-up, cost models, reliability testing, and raw-material processing. Other symposia address industrial electrochemistry and process intensification, including reactor scale-up, techno-economic analysis, life-cycle analysis, commercialization, and hybrid process systems; water electrolysis, hydrogen, renewable fuels, and fuel cells; and carbon nanostructures for energy conversion and storage. Additional listed topics include corrosion, semiconductor materials and processing, and electrochemical systems for energy conversion.

The technical program includes a joint AeroMat symposium on advanced coatings for aerospace and industrial gas turbines, including thermal and environmental barrier coatings, turbine clearance control, load-bearing and tribological coatings, component repair, and cold spray for aerospace applications. Research and development topics include AI and machine learning for materials and process informatics; modeling and simulation; carbon neutrality, environmental impacts, and life-cycle analysis; characterization methods; cold-spray fundamentals and particle impact; aerosol deposition; novel coatings and feedstock materials; and hybrid, laser, and additive manufacturing processes. Application areas include automotive and medical uses; battery and sustainable-energy applications; electronics and semiconductor manufacturing equipment; thermal-spray additive manufacturing; equipment, powders, consumables, and economics; circular-economy repair and remanufacturing; and wear and corrosion protection across energy, oil and gas, marine, manufacturing, construction, and food processing. The conference also includes oral and poster presentations, panel discussions, keynote presentations, and an industrial forum. The co-located exposition features thermal-spray equipment, advanced surface solutions, additive manufacturing technologies, consumables, and applied research.