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ELECTRONIC WASTE: OPTIMISING THE DESIGN of A DOMESTIC MICROWAVE OVEN

INTRODUCTION

The global waste disposal is increasing exponentially in the world and consequently this will lead to climate change. The growing of the population and their demand increases the disposal in the environment. Certain countries such as UK, Swiss had implemented a program of awareness to promote recycling and this requires a long process before achieving a new product. The e-waste has been classified as all the electronic waste such as computers, televisions and microwave ovens etc. Following a statistic conducted by a report product by the United Nation that the electronic waste will increase rapidly. They are expect in the year of 2020 the world will produce a quantity of 12.3 Million tons of e-waste (1) .following a statistic India is the first country which the electronic waste grow dramatically. It will be more efficient and economically better if all the electronic waste can be reused by repairing and maintaining, therefore it has to be technically safe to repair and economically cheap to replace instead of buying a new product. In my personal experience, three years ago I had to throw away a new faulty microwave oven. It became a mystery for me, a device that you don t have the ability to fix or find technical support to repair the minor break down of this electrical appliance. I have realised that every user had similar experience. Most of the people prefer the option of spending more money into a new appliance instead of fixing the old one. This contributes to continuously increasing rate of the waste on the landfill. In this project an optimal research will be undertaken to find a suitable solution to minimise the electronic waste, to reduce the landfill waste and to lower the consumer expenses. This project will focus on the domestic microwave oven. The objective is to redesign and optimise the appliance such as it can be reused.

2) METHODOLOGY
Researching the technical background of the microwave oven through a literature review would be the first step to understand the issue of the microwave oven.

Analysing the technical background of the oven will allow a better understanding of its functionality and related problems. Then an optimised solution can be brought to overcome the problems. The steps of the project can be summarised as follows:     Research on the microwave background and its functionality Analysis of the materials, electrical circuit and mechanical design Identification of faulty parts and poor design (for repair) Optimising the design and part selection for repairability

In this research different technical approaches will be considered and methods of making the microwave oven reusable without recycling or disposing it. Understanding how the different parts of the oven have been assembled by using different models can lead to a deep technical exploration of the device. Taking a variety of electric measurements at different stages of the device will make easily understandable which part mostly break down. Redesigning the microwave in a way that the consumer can easily recognise which part of the microwave need to be replaced is a priority. The cost effectiveness of the redesign is a crucial point to assess the validity of the solution brought to the problem. The solution to the problem may cost much more than buying a new product as it is the case nowadays. The cost of some components of the device such as the magnetron is similar to the price of a new microwave oven.

3) PROJECT PROGRESS 3.1 Review of the electronic waste in the global world
According to the Basel convention, a treaty that came into force in 1992, international movements of hazardous waste, including e-waste, are illegal [2, United Nations Environment Programme, p 15]. The Basel Convention defines wastes as substances or objects, which are disposed of or are intended to be disposed of or required to be disposed of by provisions of national law. A stockpile of a material could be considered a waste if it is intended for disposal or is required to be disposed of. The e-waste is mainly produced in the West and they are exported in the form of second hand trades in developing countries to escape this convention.

Waste management [4]

PROCESS OF RECYCLING
COLLECTION SORTING Dismantling Sorting Regrouping by similarity

New product

Processing

The process of collecting the waste for recycling demanded certain levels of criteria should be fulfil to achieve the reproduce of a new product(see bloc diagram below) .The efficiency of the recycling will dependant the quality of process of each step such as the time, cost, management, and the efficiency of the quantity of collection.

The electronic discard and the effect on human health

Non-Hazardous Waste

The non-hazardous waste is classified as the waste which is not dangerous to human health therefore they do not require certain measures during the process of recycling. The collections of non-hazardous waste are mainly used in the local residents in the form of coloured identification bins. The brown bins are used to collect all the glass and plastics, the

blue bins are used to collect all the papers and cardboards, the green bins are used to recycle the garden waste. This process of recycling will not cause any major effects. However, if there is a need to recycle hazardous materials such as car parts and household electrical equipment, you would have to take a different approach. Hazardous waste The electronic waste or any other substances which are highly dangerous for human health and the environment are hazardous waste. Certain components are toxic without adding any others different substances or it can be form following a mix of different substances (see tableau below). Substances names Beryllium Cadmium Chromium Lead Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) Fig: toxic technic Greenpeace [5] Major used computer Contacts, switches, laptop Corrosion protection Electronics product insulation Human risk Lungs, kidneys, Kidneys, heart disease Allergic skin Allergic skin Toxic

BERYLLIUM
ADVANTAGE It is a metal very light and strength; it is a very good in term of conductivity and transfer of heating. In general the beryllium is used along with other element because of is atomic structure. It is used mostly in electronic appliance in form of copper-beryllium alloys this will increase is strength six times when it has been add approximately 2% of beryllium . It has also a very low density comparing with the water for this reason it is used in the aircraft. (Density of thewater1000; beryllium 1850). [6] Health risks In 1930 the European scientist discovered that the beryllium was a dangerous element for human health. Being expose to beryllium in processing factory leads to lung infection.

3.3 The microwave oven

The microwave oven is used in daily life in our homes or in the offices. It heats the food by using electromagnetic waves with high frequency. Recently a new function has been incorporated into the microwave oven to cook the food. The microwave oven has been
invented by Dr Percy Spencer during the second war world. He was doing a research with radar

5 related. He was conducting multiple experiments by using the magnetron which it is use nowadays in the microwave oven. In the middle of his experiments by accident he discovered that the candy bar in his pocket had melted. He carry on testing with different others object before he come up his finals conclusion. It was in 1967 the microwave oven become one of new appliance in the public view which they can start using in their home. [7]

Health and safety issues The safety of the microwave oven toward the user is an important issue. It is the only appliance used in domestic or environment which required more precaution. The Food and Drug and Administration are responsible to control the level of the safety functionality of the microwave oven. They have to check if the leakage of the radiation is below the maximum requirement. The limit of the microwave leakage has to be below 5mw of his end life with a radiation distance of 5cm from the surface of the appliance in UK. The leakage measurement is inversely proportional of the distance away from the energy generate by the microwave oven [8]. It has been design with different level of protection .The microwave will not function if the main door is open or partially close. Its radiations have been classified as non-ionizing although there are some searches against to promote for a health issue. Following a search conducted in Switzerland by Dr Hertel and Pro Bernard Blanc relating if it is healthy to use the microwave oven proved they came in conclusion that using the microwave oven is no health to cook the food. They conducted the experiment by study eight voluntary people. The experiment was consisting to control and monitoring their blood circulation how it will react when the people eating the food cooked with the microwave oven or without. Following in long search conducted by the Institute of Radio Technology since 1957 in Russia, the government decided to ban completely in the public to use the microwave oven in 1976. [9] Advantage of using the microwave ovens
The customer are satisfied using the microwave oven because it is very simple to use, quick reheating the food will save their time.it can be also used for certain microwave ovens to cook the food . Following a statistic conducted in America, they realised that 90 % [10] of the population in America own this appliance. This appliance is actually present every household and become necessity to use our delay life.

Frequency of the device

A electromagnetic waves is used to heat the food in the microwave ovens in form of dielectric heating. The frequency which the waves ocsillated is 2.450Ghz . The periode of the wavelenght mesured about 12.25 cm [11]. Enhance the waves repead by itself 2450 millions times by second because the frequency is inversely

6 proportional with the periode of the signal( see below freqency sprectrumes in the different sources). This range of frequency is used to heat the food. The food absorbed the microwave wave directely and than this will create into a atomic montion. Certain materiel dont absorbe in this range of frequency such as cireamic and glass but other completely reflect such as the metal. (http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/microwaves/index.html)

Fig: the electromagnetic spectrum

ELECTRICAL PARTS OF THE MICROWAVE OVENS

Technically the microwave oven consists of two principal sections which are the control system and the high voltage part (see block diagram below). The functionality of each electrical component will be analysed.

Interlock

Control system

Electronic/M echanical timer

Capacitor

High voltage system

Magnetron tube Protection devices

Rectifier

Waveguide

External view of the microwave oven [4]

Food heating process

Electromagnetic wave The magnetron send a high frequency wavelength through the

Food The food is exposed in unclose electromagnetic wave of high frequency

Motion The molecule of the food by absorbing this wave experience a motion

Food Ready The level of heat will be proportional of the time the food is expose in the waves

Heat The food become hot because of the friction of the molecules

Friction A constant motion will create friction between the

Circuit design of the microwave ovens

Further work
To have an overview of the project the following points need to be covered:  Review of different basic designs of microwave ovens  Mechanical Test: Dismantle microwave ovens to review design techniques  Materials used: review of hazardous and non-hazardous materials used  Electrical Test: low voltage and high voltage measurements  Identify common failure modes/components  Electric, mechanical and material design optimisation of the microwave ovens

References
1. 2008 Review of Directive 2002/96 on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) 2. 3. http://www.google.tt/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2ACAW_en&q=microwave+oven+d esign&aq=f&oq 4. 5. www.scribd.com/doc/46496688/Waste-Management http://www.greenpeace.org http://www.pops.int/documents/guidance/NIPsFinal/i06e.pdf

6. Beryllium chemistry and processing By Kenneth A. Walsh, ASM International,2009 7. http://www.gallawa.com/microtech/how_work.html

8. Health Physics Society http://www.hps.org/hpspublications/articles/microwaveoven.html 9. ( http://www.cam.net.uk/home/aaa315/healing/microwaves.htm(By Kashish Gupta, Ecologist - November 2003). 10. 11. 12. 13. http://www.health-science.com/microwave_hazards.html Microwave ovens , edited by J. Platts, 1991 Website: http://us.lgservice.com http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Microwave-Oven.html

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14. http://www.bing.com/search?q=microwave+oven+operations&form=QBRE&qs =n 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven http://www.gallawa.com/microtech/history.html (http://www.ti.com/solution/microwave_oven http://home.howstuffworks.com/microwave.htm (important video) http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/microwaves/index.html http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/weird/microexp.html

21. http://www.fda.gov/RadiationEmittingProducts/ResourcesforYouRadiationEmittingProducts/Consumers/ucm1426 16.htm 22. 23. http://www.health-science.com/microwave_hazards.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavity_magnetron