Product category:
Recruitment, Reports and Resources
News Release from: Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 21 January 2008
Briefings explain EuP Directive
requirements
The Electronics KTN commissioned international environmental consultancy Environ to write strategic briefings for each of the product groups covered by the EuP Directive.
Visitors to the Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network website can now view and download strategic briefings on proposed ecodesign requirements for standby and off-mode losses, and battery chargers and external power supplies The briefings are free to UK companies
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 8 Nov 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Engineers and technicians must be trained
Leading UK engineering and technology firms, with a combined multi-million pound spend on training and development, will assemble at the IEE 'Investing in Technical Teams' forum on 4 November 2004.
Workshop gives complete picture on CE.NET 5.0
A UK-based workshop will give embedded software development engineers hands-on experience in running the new 5.0 release of Windows CE.NET on next generation processors.
They contain vital information for product design teams to minimise costs by taking early actions to comply with forthcoming regulations.
The EcoDesign Requirements for Energy Using Products (EuP) Directive became law in EU Member States in August 2007.
It provides a framework for setting ecodesign requirements for any group of products which use energy, with the exception of vehicles for transport.
Further reading
DSP seminars focus on video applications
Abacus Polar is hosting two DSP seminars with Texas Instruments.
Latest Verilog standard released
IEEE 1364-2001, the Verilog hardware description language (HDL) standard, also known as Verilog-2001, was approved by the IEEE as a revised standard in March of this year.
SDF gains IEEE approval
Accellera's Standard Delay Format (SDF) has been approved as IEEE Standard 1497-2001, and is now available from the IEEE.
These requirements will become mandatory under the CE marking regime.
Failure to comply can result in products being banned from sale in EU Member States.
Four of the first product groups which will be affected are standby and off-mode losses, battery chargers and external power supplies, personal computers and computer monitors, and imaging equipment.
The Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network commissioned international environmental consultancy Environ to write strategic briefings for each of these product groups to: explain the proposed ecodesign requirements and the status of implementing measures; and provide advice on design options that product designers should consider to comply with the requirements.
Briefings on the first two of these product groups are now available for download.
Briefings on the other two groups will be available soon.
A draft implementing measure covering standby and off-mode losses was published in october 2007 and DEFRA has indicated that the final measures are likely to be approved as an EC Regulation in July 2008 with a view to adoption in 2009.
It sets progressively stricter limits for standby and off-mode power consumption of all household and office electrical equipment which will be phased in over a three year period.
In addition it requires equipment to have a power management function that automatically transitions to a lower power standby or off-modes.
The strategic briefing discusses a range of ecodesign options for designers to consider, including hard-off switching, primary power supply efficiency at low load, secondary or autarkic power supplies, and lower power consumption circuitry for standby functions.
The European Commission is currently preparing a working document on how battery chargers and external power supplies will be regulated under the EuP Directive.
This will be reviewed in early 2008 and is likely to be approved at the end of this year.
Based on an analysis of least lifecycle cost for the industry to implement, the preparatory study indicated that the following measures should be considered: replacing linear power supplies with more efficient switched-mode power supplies; and improving the efficiency and power factor correction for switched-mode power supplies.
Design options discussed in the strategic briefing include reducing rectification losses by using Schottky diodes or synchronous rectification, reducing switching losses by using resonant technology, reducing circuit and component losses, and using passive or active power factor correction.
• Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Electronicstalk email newsletter
• Electronicstalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
