Welcome to the first entry in the new NFPA Standards Roundup article series! Once a month, we will be releasing an article providing a high-level recap of the monthly activities, as well as a brief preview for activities to come.
For those who may not be aware, the NFPA serves in the Secretariat role for ISO (International Organization for Standardization) Technical Committee (TC) 131 on Fluid Power Systems, as well as the administrator for all corresponding United States Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs). While this role requires a lot, it ultimately boils down to acting as chief administrator for all active and inactive International Standards, both at the International and Domestic levels.
Though the International Standard Development process can seem abstract, it is a massively influential component of our industry and carries major implications for businesses at every level, from OEMs to component manufacturers. It is always important to stay on top of updates in this realm, and to be involved whenever possible. More information on this will be provided at the end of this article.
From this point on, these articles will be more jargon-heavy and, in some cases, technical. If you have any questions about what these things mean, or interest in participating in this important task, please contact Ben Brown at bbrown@nfpa.com
October was an extremely busy month, featuring a week of In-Person Meetings. Hosted in Paris, France, over a dozen successful meetings took place, from the Working Group to Technical Committee level. We had great turnout as well, with over 65 members representing 9 countries registered to engage in this work.
While there is not enough room in this article to go through the activities of every meeting, highlights from some of the more active groups are below (note, all groups/projects are part of ISO Technical Committee 131 on Fluid Power Systems):
Technical Committee 131:
- Working Group 1: M. Michele Martino has been named Convenor, Aude Lassagne has been named Secretary.
- Ban of Hybrid Meetings: There was lengthy conversation about the viability of In-Person, Hybrid, and Virtual meetings, with significant engagement from every national delegation. To create certainty moving forward, TC 131 voted to pass a resolution banning Hybrid meetings, favoring either purely In-Person or purely Virtual, to be reviewed by leadership annually.
Subcommittee 6/Working Group 2 (Hydraulic filter evaluation, cleanliness methods, and contamination analysis):
- There was significant conversation revolving around multiple standards to determine their developmental direction and ensure that all needs are met in a way that industry understands and can comply with. Further conversation will be held during a follow-up meeting this November 17th and is likely to have significant implications for industry. A list of the standards affected is below:
- ISO 11171, Hydraulic fluid power – calibration of automatic particle counters for liquids.
- ISO 11943-1, Hydraulic fluid power – Online automatic particle-counting systems for liquids – Part 1: Methods of validating the hydraulic circuits
- ISO 11943-2, Hydraulic fluid power – Online automatic particle-counting systems for liquids – Part 2: Methods of performing calibration
- ISO 21018-2, Hydraulic fluid power – Monitoring the level of particulate contamination in the fluid – Part 2: General Verification of Fluid Monitoring Systems
- ISO 21018-4, Hydraulic fluid power – Monitoring the level of particulate contamination in the fluid – Part 4: Use of the light extinction technique
- ISO 21018-5, Hydraulic fluid power – Monitoring the level of particulate contamination in the fluid – Part 5: Digital Imaging Analysis of contaminants
- ISO 16889, Hydraulic Fluid Power – Filters – Multi-pass method for evaluating filtration performance of a filter element
- ISO 23369, Hydraulic Fluid Power – Multipass method of evaluating filtration performance of a filter element under cyclic flow conditions
- New Work Item (reference number to be determined), Calibration Method for Dynamic Imaging Analysis
Opened Projects:
- ISO 6194-6, Rotary-shaft lip-type seals incorporating elastomeric sealing elements – Specification of materials.
Systematic Review Results:
- ISO 10770-3:2020, Hydraulic fluid power – Electrically modulated hydraulic control valves – Part 3: Test methods for pressure control valves: Re-confirmed
- ISO 10766:2014, Hydraulic fluid power – Cylinders – Housing dimensions for rectangular-section-cut bearing rings for pistons and rods: Re-confirmed
- ISO 6194-2:2009, Rotary shaft lip-type seals incorporating elastomeric sealing elements – Part 2: Vocabulary: Re-confirmed
- ISO 6194-3:2009, Rotary shaft lip-type seals incorporating elastomeric sealing elements – Part 3: Storage, handling and installation: Re-confirmed
- ISO 9110-1:2020, Hydraulic fluid power – Measurement techniques – Part 1: General measurement principles: Re-confirmed
On top of these updates, work is continuing across our 71 active projects as usual. If you are interested in participating in Standard Development, either at the TAG or ISO level, please contact Ben Brown at bbrown@nfpa.com