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Mastering environmental impacts

Nokia Mediamaster 110 T digital TV receiver is an example of a cost effective and environmentally friendly product. Minimizing the number of parts saves cost in manufacturing, assembly and transportation. Easy assembly means also easy disassembly in the receivers' end-of-life.

The leading idea behind the Nokia Mediamaster 110 T design was minimizing the number of parts. The digibox consist only of two covers, printed wiring board and four rubber feet pads. No buttons, hatches, screws or a metal rear panel are needed. Even the lens is integrated into one of the covers.

"The design of the digiboxes depends on what is wanted, what is needed for that, and how all the wishes can be balanced", says Group Manager Sami Säilä from Nokia Ventures Organization's Support. "When 110 T was designed everything was bed in easily and the work proceeded smoothly. The co-operation between project management , hardware design, ID and mechanics came off really well."

One of the 110 T covers is made of ABS and another one of polystyrene plastics, both of which can be recycled. The disassembly is easy and fast: Because of the snaps, no tools are needed. The challenges in recycling are only the rubber feet pads and a sticker. The feet pads are needed for keeping the light device in place. Since 110 T has external power source, for instance flame-retardants are not used.

Nokia Mediamaster 110 T is targeted for instance for summer houses, camping vans, or for a secondary television at home. It is a small device. The weight is about one third of some other Mediamaster models, which may provide more connectivity e.g. by using bluetooth or offer video recording capability on internal hard disk. The thickness of 110 T's walls is about half of the more conventional designs. "The thin walls mean a challenge for moulding process. However, when materials are saved also costs savings are achieved, which is always a good trigger. In moulding also energy is saved, since less plastics means less melting and less cooling", says Sami.

The package volume of 110 T is about 40% of the earlier Mediamaster models' volume. This means reduced transportation, and hence decreased costs and emissions. Also transportation to assembly is decreased, as there are only three components per digibox to be transported. The transportation cost can be reduced this way to only one third of what it has been.

Also 110 T's energy consumption is low, only 1 W in standby, compared to more normal level of 5 W in other designs. Nokia set-top-boxes comply with EU's Code of Conduct of Energy Efficiency of Digital TV Service Systems.

"It would be good if we were able to use plain plastics instead of painting and plating our receivers. At the moment, it is often necessary to satisfy the desires of customers by painting or plating the receivers ", says Sami. The paint used in 110 T is designed to be water-dilutable, and does not include hazardous chemicals.

The mechanics concept of 110 T will be applied in the future products as well, when possible. "There is nothing unnecessary in this device", concludes Sami.