Minutes of the Teleconference Meeting of the DOE Hydrogen Codes and Standards Coordinating Committee (HC&SCC)
Russell Hewett, NREL

MEETING DATE: June 1, 2005
TIME: 1:00 - 2:30 PM (MST)

1.0 PARTICIPANTS
The list of participants in the teleconference meeting is available here (211Kb PDF).

2.0 REVIEW OF ANTI-TRUST POLICY
USFCC Codes and Standards Working Group meetings begin with the reminder to review and follow the anti-trust guidelines at the following web sites:

http://www.usfcc.com/members/ANTITRUST_GUIDELINES_REV.pdf

and

http://www.usfcc.com/members/Memo_on_Antitrust_Guidelines.pdf

3.0 CORRECTIONS TO MINUTES OF MARCH/APRIL MEETING
No corrections to the Minutes of the May meeting were offered.

4.0 OPPORTUNITY FOR DOE/HQ SUBPROGRAM MANAGER TO
REPORT ON WHAT'S GOING ON AT DOE/HQ
Pat Davis (DOE/HQ Technology Development Manager for Safety, Codes and Standards) reported that the Program Review for the Hydrogen, Fuel Cell and Infrastructure Technologies Program went very well - with over 900 attendees. The Review was held in Washington, DC during the period May 23 - 27. Pat reported also that the Safety, Codes and Standards session was well attended.

He further reported that Sandia/Livermore has recently begun to publish reports from their materials R&D documenting the compatibility of various materials with hydrogen. The reports are chapters in a materials guide entitled Technical Reference for Hydrogen Compatibility of Materials. The guide is intended to be a resource for developing codes and standards relating to hydrogen vehicles, fueling stations, etc.

The Technical Reference is accessible at the following web site:

http://www.ca.sandia.gov/matlsTechRef


5.0 SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING EVENTS
Kelvin Hecht gave a report covering: (1) codes and standards meetings held in May; (2) codes and standards meeting scheduled for June; and (3) standards open for public comments. His report is available here (89Kb PDF).

Andrei Tchouvelev briefed the Committee on the First International Conference on Hydrogen Safety that will be held in Pisa, Italy during the period September 8 - 10, 2005.

Information regarding the Conference can be found at the following web site:

http://conference.ing.unipi.it/ichs

According to the web site, the sessions will be as follows:

1st Session: Hydrogen Hazard and Risk
1.1: Hydrogen release, mixing, and distribution
1.2 : Ignition properties, thermal, pressure, and missile effects from H2 fires and H2-air explosions
1.3: Mitigation techniques
1.4: Risk evaluation, both specific and in comparison with today's fossil fuels

2nd Session: Hydrogen Production and Handling
2.1: Production
2.2: Storage
2.3: Transport and distribution - refueling stations

3rd Session: Hydrogen Applications
3.1: Vehicles powered with H2
3.2: Tunnels, parking and garages
3.3: Portable and stationary H2 applications

4th Session: Standardization and Legal Requirements
4.1: Standards
4.2: Regulations

Within the 4th Session, Pat Davis will chair the subsession on "Standards." Andrei reported that the conference will feature 58 papers.

John Koehr (ASME) briefed the Committee on the Materials and Components for the Hydrogen Economy Codes and Standards Workshop that will be held August 29 - 30, 2005 in Augusta, GA.The workshop will be conducted jointly by ASME and the DOE Savannah River National Laboratory. While the Workshop will be limited to 65 participants, Committee members were invited to participate. The announcement regarding the workshop is available here (57Kb PDF).


6.0 CODES AND STANDARDS DOCUMENTS OPEN FOR "COMMENTS"
Kelvin Hecht's report on documents open for comments are listed in the Attachment in Section 5.0 above.


7.0 DISCUSSION OF FORMAT/GENERIC AGENDA FOR
CONDUCTING MONTHLY MEETINGS OF THE COMMITTEE
One of the action items from the May meeting was for Russ Hewett to generate a "Generic" agenda that would be used to conduct the monthly teleconference meetings. The agenda was to be constructed using the feedback from the discussion at the May meeting regarding what participants wanted the meetings to be and what they wanted to get out of them. The draft agenda is available here (106Kb PDF).

The participants discussed the draft and proposed that it be used for the next few meetings to see if it will work as desired. However, the following changes were offered:

(1) For the item "News (of Significance - if any) from the CDOs and SDOs relating to Hydrogen and/or Fuel Cells", IEEE should be added to the list for making reports

(2) For the item "What's Going on at Other Organizations of Interest to the Coordinating Committee", the following additional organizations should be given the opportunity to report, as appropriate:
- ANSI (as specific issues arise, such as upcoming votes, and codes
and standards training courses)
- Next Energy (Detroit, MI)

In addition, with respect to "News of Significance from the CDOs and SDOs", it was agreed that the ideal approach would be for the CDOs and SDOs to give brief, summary oral reports and provide a write-up for inclusion in the Minutes.

An unresolved issue is establishing the order for oral reporting by the CDOs and SDOs. The concept is for one group (of six?) to be on the agenda automatically for an oral report one month and the second group the next month - on an alternating basis. Written reports for inclusion in the Minutes would be welcome every month.

Russ Hewett will use the feedback to generate a revised Generic Agenda.


8.0 REVISED DRAFT OF THE DRAFT MISSION STATEMENT
FOR THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE
Another action item from the May meeting was for the Task Force established to develop a draft Mission Statement for the Coordinating Committee to generate a revised rough draft based on feedback from the membership in reviewing the first draft. Susan Townsend (chairperson of the NHA Codes and Standards Committee) is in the process of generating the new draft. It will be disseminated to the membership as soon as it is available.

For reference, the initial rough draft is available here (81Kb PDF).


9.0 DISCUSSION OF THE NFPA PROPOSAL TO CONSOLIDATE
THE HYDROGEN SAFETY REQUIREMENTS INTO A SINGLE
DOCUMENT
Carl Rivkin reported that the NFPA Standards Council has received a proposal to consolidate all of the hydrogen safety requirements in its various codes and standards documents into a single document. The objectives in doing this would be to:

o Increase ease of use
o Facilitate harmonization of the safety requirements

In addition, since the requirements in codes and standards documents are subject to revision and since new requirements will undoubtedly arise, consolidation would facilitate the process for making changes to existing requirements and formulating new ones as the hydrogen and fuel cell technologies evolve and as operating experience is gained.

NFPA documents articulating hydrogen safety requirements include NFPA 52, NFPA 55, NFPA 853, NFPA 30A, and NFPA 70.

Karen Hall reported that NHA took a poll of its membership regarding the issue and that there is strong interest in consolidation, if it results in addressing conflicting requirements in some of the documents. However, in the poll, there was concern that hydrogen might be "singled out," as opposed to being considered as another energy source.

During the meeting, there was "pro" and "con" discussion regarding the advantages and disadvantages of consolidation. Carl invited meeting participants to give their feedback directly to the Standards Council.

The decision to do the consolidation will be made by the Standards Council using input from the NFPA technical committees and other interested parties. Carl suspects that the decision might be made at the Standards Council's meeting in July.

10.0 NEW WORK ITEM PROPOSAL FOR ISO/TC197 SUBMITTED
BY JAPAN: HYDROGEN DETECTORS
Japan has submitted a New Work Item Proposal to ISO/TC 197 entitled Hydrogen Detectors (ISO/TC 197 N310).

The participants discussed the proposal in general and from the perspective of the interests of the United States. The issue was raised as to whether or not a sufficient foundation has been laid for the New Work Proposal. Then too, the rhetorical question was raised as to whether or not UL and other standards are sufficient to address the concerns in the proposal, and if they do not, could they be revised to address the concerns.

The proposal will be addressed at the US TAG Teams meetings scheduled for July 18 and 19 at SAE in Troy, MI. An action for the US TAG Teams will be to have US experts examine the proposal to give them input as part of their efforts to make the decision to support or not support the proposal.


11.0 NIST DRAFT HYDROGEN GAS METERS CODE
Juana Williams of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) gave a briefing on the Draft Hydrogen Gas Meter Code developed by the NIST Weights and Measures Division (WMD). They generated the Draft for use as the basis for a standard to be adopted by US Weights and Measures jurisdictions for regulating hydrogen refueling equipment at commercial service stations and for fleet operations.

The Draft is available here (281Kb PDF).

In February 2005, WMD disseminated the Draft for review to all potential stakeholders, asking for their input by March 28th. However, the response back was sparse. Since WMD wants to make sure that all stakeholders have the opportunity to comment on the Draft, they have extended the deadline to July 18, 2005.

WMD had projected September 2005 as the timeframe for convening a working group to review the Draft and begin the process that would lead to development of a hydrogen refueling equipment standard. However, because of lack of funding, the schedule will slip, probably into FY06. In spite of this, WMD plans to continue gathering input on the technical content via written correspondence and email.

Juana invited meeting participants to review the Draft and submit comments. Also, participants were invited to serve on the working group when it is established.


12.0 PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE HYDROGEN AND FUEL
CELLS CODES AND STANDARDS MATRIX AND DATABASE
Kelvin Hecht has implemented an "upgrade" to the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Codes and Standards Matrix and Database that is designed to improve its user-friendliness. This is a "Quick Reference" feature. The feature permits a user to get quickly to the database of codes and standards for the specific subject of interest (e.g., fuel cells for stationary applications, etc).

The web site for the Matrix and Database is:

www.fuelcellstandards.com

Clicking on the "Quick Reference" line provides access to the new feature.

In addition, Kelvin generated a table that articulates the time cycles that the various CDOs and SDOs use for revising their codes and standards documents. It is available here (10Kb Excel file).


12.0 REPORTS FROM CDOS AND SDOS

12.1 Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE)
Ron Sims provided a written reported on May 2005 SAE standards activities as follows:

1. J2616 - Performance Testing of Fuel Processors is awaiting publication within SAE.

J2617 - Performance Testing of Fuel Cell Stacks has just finished its balloting, and with four "disapprove" votes, it will have to return to the WG in order to address the respective issues.

J1766 - FCV Crashworthiness - Electrical Isolation has just been published.

J2572 - Hydrogen FCV Fuel Economy Measurement has been further refined by its WG to include hybridized power train FCVs and is now awaiting a summer ballot.


2. J2719, SAE Technical Information Report: Hydrogen Compositional Guideline will be brought to the next SAE FCSC Meeting on July 21st for committee approval for publication.

3. J2600 - Vehicle Refueling Coupling Device (published 2003) is presently being harmonized by the Interface WG to ISO 17268.

4. J2601 - Refueling Interface Communication Protocol. Approval has been given by SAE for the Interface WG to resume its drafting of this document following an hiatus due to a possible patent conflict.


12.2 NFPA
Carl Rivkin reported on upcoming NFPA activities.

The NFPA World Safety Conference & Exposition will be held as follows:

o DATES: June 6 - 10, 2005
o CITY: Las Vegas, NV
o SITE: Mandalay Bay Resort and Convention Center

The Conference will feature a Hydrogen Safety Symposium on Monday and Tuesday, June 6 - 7.

In addition, during the Conference, Carl will convene a meeting of NFPA's Hydrogen Coordinating Group as follows:

o DATE: June 6 (Monday)
o TIME: 3:30 - 5:30 pm
o LOCATION: Mandalay Bay South Convention Center, Conference Room Palm G

In addition, during the Conference (June 8 - 10), the proposed changes to the NFPA codes and standards will be brought to the membership for voting. Of particular interest, with respect to hydrogen, is voting on the revised NFPA 52 (Compressed Gas Vehicular Fuel Systems Code).


13.0 OTHER MATERIALS OF INTEREST

13.1 USFCC-Convened US-Japan Meeting on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
Robert Wichert and Jesse Schneider reported on the USFCC-convened "Industry - to - Industry Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Regulations in the US and in Japan" meeting. It was held on May 25th at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, VA. The agenda is available here (99Kb PDF).

Robert and Jesse reported there were very good discussions between the US and Japanese participants. One item of especially good news was the Japanese stating their willingness to share information.

13.2 Presentation on "Transport of Hydrogen and First Responder Safety"
Coordinating Committee member Bill Chernicoff (USDOT/Research and Innovative Technologies Administration) gave a presentation on June 7th as part of the Hydrogen Safety Symposium at the NFPA World Safety Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas, NV. The presentation was entitled "Transport of Hydrogen and First Responder Safety."


JULY MEETING OF THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE
The July meeting of the Coordinating Committee is scheduled to be an In-Person meeting that will be convened in conjunction with the US TAG TEAM meetings scheduled for July 18 and 19 at SAE's headquarters in Troy, MI.

o MEETING DATE: July 18 (Monday)
o TIME: Morning of the 18th (specific time to be determined)
o LOCATION: Conference Room at SAE

In early July, I will disseminate the preliminary agenda for the meeting, as well as information about meeting logistics. Because the meeting will be in conjunction with the US TAG TEAM meetings, the focus will be on international standards and regulations activities.

Respectfully submitted,

Russ Hewett