Jan 22 2008
Starting the 22nd January 2008, you can visit the Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network to view and download Strategic Briefings on proposed EcoDesign requirements for Standby & Off-mode Losses, and Battery Chargers & External Power Supplies. The briefings are free to UK companies. They contain vital information for product design teams to minimise costs by taking early actions to comply with forthcoming regulations.
The EuP Directive
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. 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.
Strategic Briefings
Four of the first product groups which will be affected are Standby & Off-mode Losses, Battery Chargers & External Power Supplies, Personal Computers & 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
- 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.
Standby & Off-mode Losses
A draft Implementing Measure 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.
Battery Chargers & External Power Supplies
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 Life Cycle Cost for the industry to implement, the preparatory study indicated that the following measures should be considered: replacing linear power supplies by 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.