The IEC Technical Committee 31 conference, which started on 25th March 2019, attracted around 200 experts in explosion protection from all over the world to Waldenburg. The company, which has been heavily involved in the IEC for the last decades, and which has sent eight of its own participants to this conference, was responsible for organising the event at its own headquarters. The TC 31 of the International Electrotechnical Commission is tasked with drawing up and updating international standards in explosion protection. To this end, experts from around 30 nations came together and met in 24 different working committees for two weeks.
A number of the decisions made are beneficial for the longevity of advanced technical solutions, which are welcomed by many plant operators as well as machinery and equipment manufacturers. The experts made decisions on several important standards for technology which continues to be state of the art – this resulted in their stability dates, or the validities of the current versions, being officially extended. This concerns the following standards: 60079-18 "Encapsulation", 60079-19 "Repair" and 60079-28 "Optical radiation". In other cases, practical further developments are imminent. This includes converting the Technical Specification "Hazardous areas – Part 43: Devices under unfavourable operating conditions" into a standard. This is targeted both at extreme cold and extreme heat and other exceptionally demanding conditions.
The committee work is expected to continue at the next meeting end of October in China. Both the participants and the host were delighted with the productivity of the conference and the favourable conditions in Waldenburg. All parties were positive to hold the conference again at the same location in the future.
Press contact:
R. STAHL
Kerstin Wolf
Am Bahnhof 30
74638 Waldenburg
T +49 7942 943 4300
F +49 7942 943 404300
E [email protected]