For software, upgrades are common practice, but it requires that the hardware is compatible with the new code. This dead end has happened to the author when trying to upgrade a PC to the latest operating system, but alas, the hardware was dated and could not handle it.
Repair, maintenance, and refurbishment are all very similar terms that address extending the life of nonfunctional equipment. Repair implies some action that’s needed to restore the equipment in working order, while refurbishment describes rebuilding larger parts of the equipment for the same purpose to extend product life. The option to use brand new or used components may exist as well. Automobile owners will experience one or more of these activities at some point with tires, batteries, fluids, etc.
The key to all of this involves some smaller part of the end equipment being fixed so that the entire equipment doesn’t become end-of-life, but it remains in service.
As with reliability prediction, standard methods of maintainability prediction exist, too, for example, MIL-HDBK-472, MILITARY STANDARDIZATION HANDBOOK: MAINTAINABILITY PREDICTION. This standard begins with a certain amount of “philosophy” (that exact term is actually used several times) followed by guidance to perform analysis and develop a maintainability plan suitable for the equipment under consideration.
Other formal methods, often grouped together as Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety (RAMS) analysis can be applied to those aspects of circularity for a comprehensive approach. Software tools make RAMS accessible, for example, in this case.
Some precautions for equipment repair at the component level need to be taken during the application of solder heat for moisture sensitive devices to prevent explosive “popcorning.” Refer to the well-established guidance found in IPC J-STD-033D-2018
Handling, Packing, Shipping and Use of Moisture, Reflow, and Process Sensitive Devices.
(d) The presence of substances of concern
Thanks to the reality of several regulations, electronics companies have ready access to lists of such substances:
- EU’s RoHS Directive restricts heavy metals, brominated flame retardants, and phthalate plasticizers.
- EU’s REACH Candidate List controls over 200 Substances of Very High Concern.
- California’s Proposition 65 is yet another list of chemicals, based on risk of exposure.
These substance-related obligations have been detailed elsewhere right here in Electronic Design, so they will not be elaborated again here. Bottom line: Be aware of these substances and design them out of your products. This is sometimes easier said than done, but clearly the intent of this item is to keep hazardous substances from being spread around the world in electronic products.
(e) Energy and resource efficiency
These two aspects may often seem to be unrelated, since the former applies to energy use during manufacturing and transport of the product followed by energy required during the use phase and treatment at end-of-life. While energy may also be considered as a resource, the intent of it is more commonly focused on the material resources used in the component or product.
A clear definition of resource efficiency doesn’t appear to be widely accepted, but it may include such things as:
- The availability of the element or material.
- Ability to be recycled and returned to the stream of commerce.
- Recycled content (see next section).
Manufacturing resource efficiency may be enhanced by:
- Using captive regrind of thermoplastics.
- Reducing part volume and weight.
- Reducing or eliminating factory waste.
- Recycling what little unused assembly materials remain.
Some of these approaches may be applicable to components, especially the trend toward miniaturization that inherently reduces the use of materials.
Component energy efficiency examples include low contact resistance and low energy modes of power-supply ICs and other active components. Product energy efficiency may involve approaches like low standby modes enabled by smart circuits. Overall design strategies to use less energy could result in recognition of, e.g., the ratings promoted for consumer appliances by Energy Star and EPEAT for other electronic products.
(f) Recycled content
Using recycled engineering grade thermoplastics for component applications is unfortunately very rare at this time. Packaging for shipment using recycled consumer plastic or paper content is a positive exception.
Recycled content in many metals, on the other hand, is easily achievable. That’s because copper and its alloys, once collected from end-of-life products, can be refined in metal smelters and continually help reduce the environmental burden of freshly mined ore. Steel is another very common example. Recycled metal specifications for electronics goods, such as ISRI, include very relevant recycling streams for copper and precious metals like circuit boards.
End products are more likely to accommodate larger amounts of recycled plastic, for instance, in housings intentionally sourced from recycling streams. In some products other than large appliances and vehicles, most of the metal content of end products comes from its components and circuit boards.
(g) Remanufacturing and recycling
Remanufacturing applies mainly to products, such as replacing defective components and reassembling the product like it was manufactured in the first place.
Recycling can be optimized for products if some of the larger mechanical parts, like housings made of separable, single materials, are sent for recycling and the product is remanufactured with new housings.
It’s somewhat more difficult to say how most of the components listed above could practically and economically be remanufactured. A basic requirement of a component is that it be an entity with functionality all by itself, almost always requiring some electrical conductor (metal or filled, conductive material) or semiconductor (silicon, gallium arsenide, etc.) and insulator (resin or ceramic).
The state of the art today for component recycling generally involves size reduction and shredding to recover the metals and some fillers such as glass that may be recoverable. Creating sustainable components that resolve these basic conflicting requirements should be a challenge for today’s students and applied in tomorrow’s sustainable component industries. We have proposed that more carbon-based components may help solve some of this puzzle.
(h) Carbon and environmental footprints
The output calculations of a Life Cycle Assessment may include one or more environmental footprint metrics. One of the current hot metrics is carbon footprint, which may include the carbon footprint of raw materials and fabrication, including component and/or product manufacturing and transportation, to put on the market. These steps comprise a Cradle to Gate scope.
Adding the use phase and end-of-life recovery phases widens the scope considerably for energy using products like electronics (not to mention those like vehicles again that consume fuel of one kind or another) to a truly circular Cradle to Grave, or better yet, Cradle back to Cradle circular life. Reducing the carbon footprint of components may include:
- Reduced footprint material selection.
- Using locally sourced materials.
- More energy-efficient manufacturing.
- Factories that use renewable energy rather than fossil fuels.
Conclusions
The challenges of eco-design for electronic products lay before us, with many of the “-abilities” yet to be fully realized in most components. Novel approaches to components that were designed in the vacuum tube era and adapted to through-hole then surface-mount assembly are still largely a dream. Only with awareness will change be possible. Let us know how you’re doing.
