Repair First, Replace REsponsibly

Anyone who works in the electronics repair and refurbishment industry will say that having your electronic equipment repaired, is a much lower cost and sustainable alternative to buying new. It's true, and something that I totally stand by.

This example though for us, is probably the best one that I have ever seen for cost savings compared to buying new.

The item being working on is a BAE Systems Propulsion Control System (PCS) used in low carbon transport. Basically, it's the variable speed drive unit for an electric bus. It's a rather wonderful complication. The machined housing is a thing of beauty. Considering this is fitted to the underside of a bus, the outside is expectedly dirty. However, the inside is totally spotless! There are a few high-density PCBs, including one of the largest PCBs I see these days which is the IGBT driver board. It must be 500mm x 400mm. Then there is the power stage housing many IGBTs and the whole thing is water cooled. Quite the construction indeed.

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Like any piece of electronic equipment, it has many parts that can fail and degrade with age. And, like any piece of electronic equipment, it can be repaired and refurbished. Ok, it's a little more complex than a standard industrial variable speed drive. However, the equipment and processes are mainly the same that are used to diagnose the faults.

We've got Adam using our ABI Electronics - Manufacturers of test, repair and reverse engineering systems Boardmaster going through the initial diagnostic check. He's carrying out some 'power-off' tests, comparing V/I traces with known good traces to spot faults. Phoebe is then replacing some of the known faulty devices with new ones.

We'll then carry out 'power-up' testing to check correct signals and function of the PCBs. I've purposely not shown this as it's our commercial advantage. Once we've replaced the faulty parts, we'll replace all components that we know degrade with use and age. Those being electrolytic capacitors, opto-isolators, relays, fans. All solder joints and connections will be checked. The unit ran up again testing the device outputs. After all that, the many dozen fixing screws will be refitted and the unit sent back to the depot to be fitted to an electric bus.

Now, back to the cost savings by repairing this as opposed to replacing it. The cost of new of one these is believed to be over £100k. let's say the savings to repair it is in the many tens of thousands of pounds! Certainly, the best example I've seen in this industry. I'd love to figure out the carbon savings too of the repair compared to replacement. That may take some calculation and assumptions. I do know though that by weight, over 99% of this unit has been reused. Only around 150g of discrete components have entered the waste stream.