Alberto Salcines from Celestia TST and Monika C. Balk from Dassault Systèmes explain in the 6R Heroes series how to design a smart device with repair in mind from the very beginning.
Celestia TST features in the fifth episode of 6R Heroes, the series of EECONE Project that shows, case by case, how to design more sustainable electronics. In this chapter, recorded at the Dassault Systèmes headquarters in Paris, the video protagonists start from an idea that changes the usual order of things: thinking about repair from the design stage, not when the device has already failed.
They explain this using a specific case, a soil probe for agriculture with modular architecture. Its main components can be replaced and reused, starting with the communications module, and the device can even operate without a battery, allowing farmers to collect data wirelessly and generate less electronic waste.
The project behind the series
6R Heroes is part of EECONE (European ECOsystem for greeN Electronics), a European project that brings together 48 entities from 16 countries with a common goal: to reduce electronic waste, in line with the European Green Deal. The approach is organised around the framework of the 6Rs (reduce, reuse, repair, recycle), bringing end-of-life management to the design stage.
Within the project, Celestia TST contributes its part from the hardware: tools to select batteries with environmental criteria and estimate their lifespan in IoT devices, and the design of the agricultural probe with a modular board on organic substrates and easily recyclable batteries.
Designing for repair is a way of understanding hardware that we at Celestia TST identify with. Since 2007 we have manufactured our own product, and a device that is repaired and updated lasts longer and leaves less waste.