EBV Elektronik recently launched its ‘ECOmise it’ campaign, a programme targeting environmental protection through energy efficiency.
Spending more and more time in the limelight nowadays, energy efficiency not only promotes ‘green’ technologies and lower operating costs, but EBV also believes that its pervasive energy efficient corporate philosophy provides a competitive advantage in today’s eco-conscious world.
In order to make energy efficient design and product selection simpler for its customers, EBV has developed the Best Accessible Technology (BAT) system. The company’s technical specialists award the BAT certificate to all of a manufacturer’s products that achieve a particularly advanced level of development with respect to energy efficiency. BAT focuses chiefly on products that operate with particularly low power consumption, as well as products which directly ensure that a system’s power consumption is low.
BAT in practice
EBV provides its customers with a continuously updated set of tools which fulfil the strict criteria of the product specialists in EBV’s technical marketing department. For example, analog products receive the BAT certificate if they display quiescent current below 500 μA, while LED drive units receive the certificate if their efficiency is greater than 85% in boost operation, greater than 90% in buck operation and greater than 80% in buck-boost operation.
The expert team only awards the BAT certificate to switch regulators/controllers if their degree of efficiency is greater than 85% (where VIN/VOUT > 7) or 90% (where VIN/VOUT > 2 and an operating frequency greater than 2 MHz) or even greater than 95% (where VIN/VOUT > 2). EBV publishes precise details of the BAT selection criteria on the Internet at www.ebv.com/bat.
Low-power design is ever more important
With low-power design, developers are setting the right trends for long-term products. On the one hand, products with lower power requirements sell better because a low power requirement is currently in vogue, while the energy costs within the application are lower.
On the other hand, lower power consumption ensures that power loss is also lower, so that less heat needs to be dissipated. This makes for smaller, more compact and stronger device structures – a further sales argument that can be used in negotiations with potential buyers.
If the end product is to be sold within the European Union, it must be certified in accordance with CE. However, CE certification is to be linked in future to certain basic conditions with regards to the degree of efficiency. The EU has issued a special EuP directive, with which new products must comply.
The term EuP stands for 'Energy using Products', ie, products that consume energy. EBV’s team of experts also supports its customers with respect to these topics via individual consultation in order to ensure that the design is also sustainable in the future.
Nevertheless, EBV insists that its interest has less to do with meeting legal specifications, but is rather more focused on actively advancing the subject of ‘green engineering’ rather than simply reacting passively to legal regulations.
Standby – an enormous source of potential savings
In the consumer sector, many purchasers are already very much aware of the need for low energy consumption in standby mode. In the industrial segment, however, even developers of ultra-modern designs still have a long way to go before exhausting all measures for keeping standby power at an absolute minimum.
In many cases, power solutions that have been long established within a company are used in new designs. Although these solutions may function perfectly in technical terms and fulfil EMC specifications, they often fail to reflect state-of-the-art ‘eco-technology’. This procedure is thoroughly understandable as the developers put all their energies into ensuring that the hardware and software design regarding their core areas of expertise reflects the state of the art while power design is regarded as a kind of commodity or standard element. Thanks to the BAT certificate, developers can also be up-to-date at all times in the matter of low power.
The distributor’s FAEs are also proactively involved in implementing energy-saving designs. On the basis of the input and output parameters specified by the developer, the FAEs provide concrete recommendations, which reflect the BAT philosophy.
Efficient drives
In addition to power supplies, which should convert as little energy as possible into useless heat during operation and in standby mode, efficient motor control units also provide particularly high energy saving potential. For example, most home owners are not aware of the fact that a new, electronically controlled heating pump will have paid for itself within approximately two to three years due to the pump’s energy saving alone.
Motor systems could also be much more efficient in the industrial environment. With the system solutions available from EBV, developers are presented with the whole spectrum of highly efficient motion control: from the individual elements of a flexible, discrete solution including sensors to an extremely compact IPM (intelligent power module).
In order to shorten the time-to-market for using electronic motor control units for brushless motors, and in order to facilitate a developer’s work, EBV developed the FalconEye reference platform. FalconEye includes all electronics required for activating a brushless motor. Developers can use FalconEye as part of their development process and also obtain design documentation if required, in order to integrate the board directly into their design.
LED lighting
The most prominent example of significant energy saving in private and business environments is LED lighting, something that is becoming more and more familiar worldwide. For years now, mountaineers, cyclists and other hobby sportspeople have been fans of the bright light provided by LEDs, combined with a long battery life. However, LED lighting is now starting to play a role in all of our lives. As 19% of worldwide electrical energy consumption is after all used solely for lighting purposes, LEDs alone have the potential to reduce global demand for electrical energy by 10% in practice.
EBV has been actively involved with the subject of LED lighting for many years now. For example, the company developed a demo suitcase dealing with LED lighting technology several years ago in order to help its customers reach decisions regarding the use of LEDs in lighting applications. EBV took this suitcase to its relevant customers, as well as a number of lighting manufacturers and even interior designers who had previously only worked with filament lamps and fluorescent lights.
‘ECOmise it’
Of course, green engineering is a good idea, but only if the green philosophy is implemented within companies on a long-term basis. For this reason, EBV has created internal ‘ECOmise-it’ environmental guidelines that apply across the company. In addition to saving resources and recycling, these guidelines also concern climate neutrality, control and partnership as well as selected project sponsoring.
For example, EBV offsets the CO2 emitted by its employees during business trips with suitable environmental projects. The company takes this initiative seriously, as demonstrated by the fact that once a year, it provides information on the implementation of its self-imposed environmental targets in its ‘ECOmise it Report’ and publishes its targets for the following year.
Putting customers in the picture
EBV commissioned Ökopol (Institute for Environmental Strategies) to carry out an extensive study regarding the EU’s EuP Directive. The distributor presents the findings of this study and the practical effects for EBV’s customers at seminars and in discussions with customers. With this customer-specific pre-filtering of the EuP Directives, EBV aims to save its customers time and money.
Thanks to the rigorous internal implementation of the environmental directives and the transparent external reporting, customers also put their trust in EBV in questions of ecological design, since EBV not only provides strategic expertise but also acts as a partner and consultant to its customers.
For more information contact EBV Electrolink, +27 (0)21 402 1940, [email protected], www.ebv.com
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