Lutz Stobbe

Quality assured disassembly of electronic components for reuse

Nowadays, some producers consider the reuse of electronic components which were rejected from production processes. These components can be recycled and used as spare parts or as substitution parts in new products. Up to now, there has been no commercially applicable method and technology available for the automated reverse manufacturing process and the quality control of recovered components. This paper describes technological solutions for an economical recovery of electronic components as a basis for reuse. The main tasks in this respect are the development of an automated desoldering system consisting of commercially available standard components of automation engineering (hardware) as well as industrial image processing (software), the optimization of a desoldering process to guarantee the quality of the regained components and the quality testing of the extracted parts by analysis of their geometric parameters. As a result, an automated process was developed, which includes modules like pre-recognition and selection, quality assured desoldering, handling and visual quality inspection of form and measurement criteria.

Energy efficiency meets ecodesign — technology impacts of the European EuP directive

The framework directive for ecodesign of energy using products (EuP) has been in force in Europe since 2005 already, but only now the process for setting eco-requirements for specific products is becoming clear. The paper explains the results of the so-called preparatory studies, which prepare the definition of eco-requirements, and the current state of the policy process. From the current planning it is possible that in the second half of 2008 there will be implementing measures for the first product groups with a grace period of one product design cycle. Hence, the first compliance deadlines might be due for 2009 already. Although this timeline seems to be comfortable for the manufacturers, it is highly recommended to start early with preparatory activities as this directive will ban certain products and even technologies as such - by setting e.g. strict energy thresholds. The paper outlines these technological consequences for some exemplary product groups: external power supplies, TV sets, imaging equipment, and standby and off-mode losses as a horizontal aspect.

Global responsibility: sustainable development in information and communication technology

Companies in the field of electronics and in particular the information and communication technology (ICT) are facing great challenges and opportunities with regards to sustainable development and the ongoing trend towards a global information society. The paper gives a short outlook on future tasks with respect to sustainable development, followed by two examples (EEE Directive and NIK-Roadmap-Project) on how the European and German government plan to promote and imply sustainability aspects into business activities of the ICT industry.

Energy saving potential of information and communication technology

Information and communication technology (ICT) strongly contributed to the rising global electricity demand in past years. On the other hand, technology dynamics produces a large potential for energy saving which is being discussed under the heading ‘green IT’. In this paper, we use a bottom-up stock modelling approach to determine the net impact of these opposite trends on the future development of electricity consumption in Germany. We show that there is a high technological improvement potential to reduce electricity consumption for ICT equipment, which can at least slow down the consumption increase or even stabilise consumption until 2020. However, whether these saving potentials will be exploited, also depends on the policies which countries introduce to stimulate the uptake of very efficient products and network solutions.

Energy saving potential of converged ICT and CE

This paper presents the energy saving potential of converged ICT and CE based on a case study for Germany. A specific focus is on the issue of networked standby.