ELIMA dissemination seminar

Citation

Geraghty, K. (2005), "ELIMA dissemination seminar", Circuit World, Vol. 31 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/cw.2005.21731dac.001

ELIMA dissemination seminar

ELIMA dissemination seminar

Keywords: Seminars, Electronics industry, Environmental management

Vienna, 23 February 2005

A consortium comprising OEMs, universities, technology providers and product recyclers has developed a innovative new system to measure the environmental impacts of electronic products throughout their lifecycles. The breakthrough technology developed by the EU funded environmental life cycle information (ELIMA) project is based on the use of sensors mounted on PCBs or within the products themselves, which can collect data during the product's lifetime. The information, which is stored in radio transmitters, can be read during normal servicing or at end- of-life and can range from a simple bill of materials to details on the presence of valuable and hazardous components, to instructions for disassembly. The dynamic data collected during the product's service can also provide valuable information to producers on patterns of use, energy consumption and offers other fringe benefits such as the ability to determine whether defective equipment is the result of negligent logistics, consumer behaviour or faulty manufacturing.

The 4 year project which concluded in February recently held a dissemination event at the Multi Life Cycle in Vienna, Austria. The seminar was opened by Mr Simon of Sheffield Hallam University with an introduction to the partners which include Sony, Indesit Company, Motorola, Cybernétix, SAT, Reuse and De Monfort University. Mr Simon went on to outline the legislative drivers for the project such as the WEEE, RoHS and EUP Directives which are forcing producers to integrate environmental considerations into their products. He also highlighted that there was a lack of available data on product use which was a fundamental requirement for cost effective management of product life cycles. He emphasised that the ELIMA technology supported the requirements of these directives by enabling producers to track the use of undesirable and proscribed substances, and to implement eco-design improvements from evaluating feedback gained from recyclers and data on consumer behaviour. The technology also offered a number of environmental and economic benefits such as waste reduction and resource savings via maintenance, upgrades and component reuse and a greater control of product returns and warranty issues. Following on, Professor Moore and Dr Chong based at the Mechatronics Research Centre at De Monfort University, Leicester gave a joint demonstration of the software tools supporting the technology and which had been used to manage the data collected from field trials of a consumer entertainment product and a range of refrigeration products. The ELIMA software developed by the researchers at De Monfort enables specific data to be selected and analysed to support the decision making process for a range of different users with different data requirements.

Karl Bodenhofer of Sony presented the findings of the Play Station II field trails. Sony distributed two hundred prototypes to its employees across four countries for testing over a 13 months period. The prototype held static data fixed at the time of manufacture relating to the bill of materials and information on hazardous substances and their locations in the product. Dynamic data collected during the field trails was via seven sensors that were designed so they would not interfere with the console hardware. Humidity, ambient temperature and position sensors, as well as a micro-controller and real time clock were mounted on the PCB. In addition, a shock sensor, RF antenna and a coil for spike detection of primary voltage were also included in the prototype. The unit was also equipped with its own battery pack in order to enable the sensors to monitor the various parameters whilst in transit. The hardware costs of the prototype were e85, a figure which did not include the development costs. Dr Bodenhofer attributed this rather excessive amount to the high purchase price of the humidity sensor but he believed this figure could be expected to drop to as little as a couple of Euro in the future, as the sensors become more commercially available. The data was obtained via an RF reader with a reading distance of 1mm and could be achieved even if the product was defective or had reached end-of-life. The data transfer was successful for all of the 200 units trialled. The information collected provided valuable information on warranty issues and supported decisions on whether to repair or scrap a console based on an evaluation of the “event history”. Sony also gained a useful insight on the acceptance and uptake of a design feature that enabled the console to be operated in both the vertical and horizontal positions. The study also revealed that approximately 16 per cent of the players in the trial switched off the console immediately after use.

Graham Sands of Indesit Company then presented the findings of his organisation's field trial using 622 products from across eight different refrigerator and fridge freezer models. The sensors for monitoring the dynamic data were mounted on the PCBs. To overcome any data protection issues and, in common with the Sony trial, the study had been conducted using Indesit's employees and comprised three levels of data collection. The first level comprised use of standard questionnaires and evaluation of static data fixed at the time of manufacture. The second level comprised statistical, dynamic data and the third level involved the use of models equipped with GSM with data logging capabilities. The questionnaire and static data were collected for all the models and made available on the ELIMA management system. The second level, statistical data was collated from 89 appliances and the data transferred from the appliance's PCB to a lap top and then uploaded onto the ELIMA management system for analysis and evaluation. All the households participating in this part of the trial were awarded incentives for the inconvenience. The parameters monitored included door openings, appliance location, as well as the use of features and user interactions on energy consumption. Finally, the third level of the trial involved eight appliances that had been fitted with data transmission hardware, one appliance using a phone line, the remainder using GSM. Data was collected from all the units at one second intervals and sent to the management system every few hours. However, Indesit were unable to get continuous data from any one unit. Mr Sands concluded that the level 2 data enabled an assessment of the relative energy consumption by each electrical load in the appliance and that door openings had a significant effect.

Mr Lee Allman of Sheffield Hallam University gave a presentation on the impact of the project on sustainable development and the attitudes of consumers on the data collection aspects of the field trials. In terms of environmental benefits, the producers gained a greater insight into the life cycle of the products, the ELIMA technology offered improved disassembly and reuse of components, as well as the transmission of useful environmental data both up and down the supply chain. As a business model the technology enabled producers to improve designs based on a better of understanding of how consumers used their products and supported better logistics, maintenance and could support new value added services offered to consumers. From a societal perspective consumer behaviour could be changed due to increased feedback from products and important information on consumer attitudes to “intelligent products” had been gained from the field trials. Participants in the trial were quite open minded about allowing the data to be collected, particularly if they thought the information was being used to improve products or would result in societal and environmental benefits. However, they would be less willing to have this technology in their computer and mobile phones due to concerns over data protection, data security and how the data may be used. Despite obvious concerns over the protection of privacy and data protection issues Mr Allman concluded that, as long as consumers were aware of what data the products collected, when and how the data was collected and the information used, consumers did not feel there was an invasion of privacy when purchasing a product with data collection capabilities.

Markus Shultz of Motorola reiterated the legislative drivers and compliance attributes of the system and stated that the management and acquisition of environmentally related life cycle information would get top ranking for future product developments. New, intelligent and networked products opened up opportunities to reduce the effort for life cycle management.

Attendees of the workshop were given a guided tour of SAT's facilities and an opportunity to view a demonstration of the automated conveyorised system and computer software that enabled the identification and location of hazardous substances in end-of-life products.

For further information on the ELIMA project please go to the official ELIMA website at http://www.elima.org.

Kate GeraghtyApril 2005