Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ON
GREEN ELECTRONICS
Submitted by
J.DIVAKAR
Week 1:
J.Divakar
07331A0445
ABSTRACT
.
INTRODUCTION
Electronics made life easy for us. It has its wings in every
field of science. With the advent development in the wireless and IT industry the demand for the
electronic devices is so high .But electronic devices are a complex mixture of several hundred
materials, many of which can contain hazardous chemicals such as heavy metals- highly toxic
compounds of lead, mercury or cadmium– hexavalent chromium, beryllium, brominated flame
retardants (BFRs) or the chlorinated plastic, polyvinyl chloride (PVC),which has adverse effect
on the environment. The world’s booming consumption of electronic and electrical goods has
created a corresponding explosion in electronic scrap, much containing toxic and persistent.
Recycling of electronics devices is one way of reducing environmental
hazards associated with early production stages. However, recycling in this case is not the whole
solution; because of hazardous chemicals currently being used in the manufacture of electronics
products, recycling can bring its own problems. so the need for the GREEN ELECTRONICS
arises.
“Green refers to the development that meets the needs of present
generation without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs”
according to the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Developement .Green
Electronics focuses on elimination of harmful chemicals, elements and components, and
recycling of electronic products at the end of life.
When looking at the environmental aspects of electronics, there are four main areas
of interest:
• Use of Raw Materials
• Use of Energy
• Waste deposit/incineration
• Chemical Substances
Environmental aspect Environmental impact
Use of Materials Pollution and energy use from mining and refining of raw materials,
use of non-renewable resources, destroying beautiful scenery etc.
Use of Energy Pollution from power plants (acid rain, NOx-gases, radioactive and
other waste etc.), use of nonrenewable fossil fuels
Chemical Substances Potentially toxic to humans and eco-systems. Emissions can occur
during the whole life-cycle(mining and refining of raw materials,
production, in the use- and end-of-life phases)
Waste deposit/ Pollution of soil and ground water by leakage from waste deposits or
incineration ashes and slag, removal of non-renewable resources from circulation
Legislation needed to green the industry:
“Extended Producer Responsibility” means that
the cost of waste management is incorporated into the product price, thereby enacting the
‘polluter pays’ principle. Producers either absorb the additional costs (evaluated at 0.1% of the
price of a PC and 0.01% of a mobile phone), or increase the product price to take account of
these costs. In a competitive market this will motivate producers to design more environmentally
friendly products in order to lower the end-of-life costs. To be effective, such a programme
should be aligned as close as possible to “Individual Producer Responsibility”, meaning that each
company pays for its own-branded discarded products.
WEEE :
The WEEE Directive covers the design and production of electrical and
electronic equipment to aid repair, possible upgrading, re-use, disassembly and
recycling at end-of-life.
The Directive covers a wide range of equipment falling into ten broad product
categories with a voltage of up to 1,000 AC and 1,500 DC.
From August 2005, it makes producers of such equipment responsible for
financing at least the collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment
from central points, specialist treatment, and meeting the targets for re-use,
recycling and recovery
RoHS :
The RoHS Regulations ban the placing on the EU market of new Electrical and
Electronic Equipment (EEE) containing more than the set levels of lead,
cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium and both polybrominated biphenyl
(PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants from1 July
2006. There are a number of exempted applications for these substances.
EuP - directive for ”energy using products”:
Eco-design of energy using products
This initiative aims at improving the environmental performance of products
throughout their life-cycle by systematic integration of environmental aspects at
the earliest stage of their design.
The Directive will deliver long-lasting and increasing energy savings beneficial
to consumers that will also contribute to a reinforced security of energy supply
for the Community
Three North American Eco-labels for Electronics:
ENERGY STAR: ENERGY STAR is a U.S. government backed program
dedicated to helping individuals protect the environment through superior
energy efficiency
EcoLogo : A Private, for profit eco-label organization Under a
Partnership with Environment Canada
– Develops standards
– Certifies products
– Helps market certified products
• Standards developed through open, public process
– Approved by Environment Canada
– TerraChoice issues/promotes the standards
• Third-party certification of products by Terrachoice with onsite audit
• License agreement with manufacturer to use label
EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool):
--Flexible displays
2. Specify materials with established recycling systems (steel, aluminium, pure
thermoplastics etc.)
3. Specify the use of recycled materials (primarily polymers)
4. Consider alternatives to materials listed as limited resources
5. Minimise material waste during production
Reduce energy use:
1. Design with automatic power-down and stand-by functions.
2. Switch off parts of the circuit, which are not in use all the time
3. Change clock-frequencies dependant on the need for speed.
4. Consider power consumption when choosing components and component-families
5. Priorities high efficiency in power supplies
Chemicals:
1. Phase-out or minimise use of substances/chemicals, which are mentioned in lists
of banned or restricted substances (including lists from customers)
2. Map and evaluate the use of substances/chemicals, including their influence on
occupational health and safety, when choosing manufacturing processes(cleaning,
soldering, gluing, welding, etc.), also when applied at supplier
Components which are mainly used in production of present day electronics which has effect
effect on environment are
- Pb(lead)
- BFR(brominated flame retardance )
- PVC(polyvinyl chloride)
Week 5:
LEAD:
Lead is mainly used in
Solders
The current lead based solders will have to be replaced by lead-free systems.
Solders e.g. based on silver are available - however, they require a processing temperature which
is about 30 °C higher than lead based solders. Therefore, the resin formulations of halogen free
wiring boards and components have to be adapted to withstand these higher temperatures.
Challenges-General Pb-free Electronics:
The most probable cause is tin depletion at the interface as tin from the HASL coating migrates
toward the pad and forms intermetallics with copper, creating a weaker localized Pb rich region
in the coating.
Action Items for Pb-free Implementation:
1. Determine an approach to regularly monitor the release/revisions of legislative/regulative
requirements (worldwide) and required implementation deadlines
2. Determine materials/components in final product, which may contain RoHS restricted
substances. For instance, Pb in tinned cables, plastic additives, PVC wiring. Brominated flame
retardants in the polymers for plastics housing, connectors and switches.
3. Obtain necessary information from component suppliers and assembly facilities (e.g., material
selection, allowable reflow temperature, and Moisture Sensitivity Level). Identify the finishes of
components (in case of every package type) and PCBs.
4. Determine a list of Pb-free materials/components, based on availability and design
requirements
5. Determine a timeline for your product release with consideration of material/component
availability and qualification schedule
6. Determine if you want to place any restrictions on components, based on their finishes.
Determine additional processes for component finishes, if necessary, e.g., re-plate, solder-dip,
and heat treatment. Also determine any modifications necessary for assembly equipments due to
changes in materials/process. For example, removal of dross built-up in the solder pot may be
required more often than the case of Sn-Pb solders
7. Determine the licensing agreements of your Pb-free solder suppliers
8. Identify the end-of-life of Sn-Pb materials/components offerings, which may be required in
some applications
9. Identify new/revised standards applicable to Pb-free assembly process/test/inspection. For
example, current automated optical inspection might not work due to differences in surface and
wetting characteristics
10. Determine qualification and reliability tests
11. Determine an approach for Pb-free rework/repair of components and identify any
modifications needed on existing tools for rework/repair
Week 6:
BFR(brominated flame retardance ):