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August 2005 Minutes of the National Hydrogen and Fuel
Cells Codes & Standards Coordinating Committee
Russell Hewett, NREL
MINUTES OF THE TELECONFERENCE MEETING OF THE NATIONAL HYDROGEN
AND FUEL CELLS CODES AND STANDARDS COORDINATING COMMITTEE
(HC&SCC)
(17 Aug 05)
MEETING DATE: August 3, 2005
TIME: 1:00 - 2:30 PM (MST)
1.0 PARTICIPANTS
The list of participants in the teleconference meeting is
provided in Attachment
A, below.
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
Spence Grieco (CSA-America) stated that there were some miss-statements
in the Minutes and that he would get in touch with Russ Hewett
regarding corrections. Andre Tchouvelev pointed out some proposed
corrections to two of the presentations and handouts:
- Presentation by Bob Mauro regarding ISO/TC 197 activities
- Template generated by Jim Ohi depicting the lead organizations
with respect to international standards and global technical
regulations development.
Russ Hewett will prepare and disseminate Corrected Minutes.
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 first on the highlights in the
recently released report by the National Research Council
regarding their review of the Freedom Car/Fuel Cell Partnership
Program. There was little in the report, specifically about
codes and standards but it did make comments regarding safety.
One major recommendation was that DOE and DOT establish a
cross-cutting Safety Team. In addition, it stated that Congressionally-directed
projects (i.e., earmarks) are having a negative impact on
the programs.
The Council made the following safety recommendations:
- NHTSA should establish an R&D program focusing on
hydrogen releases
- DOT, USCAR and NHTSA should create and maintain a database
of hydrogen papers
- The Hydrogen Program Roadmap should be updated.
Pat reported that DOE is responding to the recommendations.
Pat then gave a synopsis of the hydrogen and fuel cell-related
portions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (signed by President
Bush on August 8th). Most of the provisions relating to hydrogen
and fuel cells are articulated in TITLE VIII (HYDROGEN) and
TITLE IX (RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT), but there are other provisions
throughout the Act.
Synopsis of the Act that Pat quoted from during the meeting
(132Kb PDF)
The complete Act contains 1724 pages and can be located at the
following website:
http://www.house.gov/rules/hr6_textconfrept.pdf
5.0 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).
While the proposal was discussed in detail at the combined July
2005 National Coordinating Committee/US TAG Team meeting in
Troy, MI, it was discussed further in the August teleconference
meeting. The objective was to provide additional input to the
members of the US TAG for ISO/TC197 for use in determining whether
to vote for or against the proposal.
There are two existing relevant standards:
- UL 2075 (Standard for Gas and Vapor Detectors and Sensors)
- IEC 61779 (Electrical Apparatus for the Detection and
Measurement of Flammable Gases)
For example, while IEC 61779 is an IEC, rather than ISO standard,
the proposal did not make the case that the proposed work could
not be done by modifying IEC 61779 and/or UL 2075.
Jon Miller (Detector Electronics Corporation and convener of
IEC TC31 MT60079-29 (Electrical Apparatus for the Detection
and Measurement of Flammable Gases)) was invited to participate
in the meeting to address the relevance of IEC 61779 to the
proposal.
Jon stated that the IEC has been addressing sensors for flammable
gases for years, including hydrogen. The IEC 61779 series of
standards is currently being revised for technical reasons,
not necessarily because of hydrogen. He stated that standards
exist and are available for fuel cell vehicles - standards that
focus on detection but not necessarily on locations for detectors.
In his opinion, the current standards might be too stringent
for fuel cell vehicles. There should be a more detailed study
of what is necessary for protecting FC vehicles. The issue is
what is the purpose of sensors for FC vehicles - is it to address
both performance and location? Gas sensors available on the
market today are evaluated both for performance and with respect
to location. When detecting hydrogen, there is the potential
for gas to be in an explosive mixture and an explosion triggered
by the detecting device.
While the Japanese proposal was submitted to ISO, the question
was asked if there were a Japanese representative on IEC TC
31 MT60079-29? It was determined that there is no such representation.
The issue was raised regarding if it were possible for the Japanese
proposal to be referred to IEC TC 31 MT60079-29, since it covers
detection devices and also since its documents are in the revision
process. However, the proposal is out for an ISO vote - for
or against.
6.0 DE-BRIEFING: COMBINED NATIONAL COORDINATING
COMMITTEE/US TAG TEAM MEETING AND ADDITIONAL
DISCUSSION REGARDING "COORDINATION"
The Minutes of the July 18-19 In-Person combined National Coordinating
Committee/US TAG Team meeting documented the highlights. The
objective of this part of the agenda was to provide an opportunity
for any of the participants at the combined meeting to give
feedback regarding the usefulness of the meeting and/or how
future ones should be conducted. There was no additional discussion.
The issue of "Coordination" was discussed in
detail at the combined meeting and the discussion documented
in the Minutes.
The objective of this part of the agenda was to provide the
opportunity for persons who did not participate in the July
meeting to give their perspectives regarding: (1) what is codes
& standards coordination; and (2) the usefulness of coordination
meetings - especially National Coordinating Committee/US TAG
Team coordination meetings.
The discussion centered around using coordination meetings to:
- Get input from experts relating to technical issues associated
with codes and standards development
- Facilitate Federal agency involvement (one of the problems,
as pointed out in the discussions) with respect to the US
TAG Teams doing their work is lack of systematic participant
of the cognizant Federal agencies)
One specific concern raised was how to get systematic NHSTA
involvement. While it was recognized that NHTSA's responsibilities
include much more than hydrogen-related safety issues, the recommended
solution was to target specific individuals in NHTSA to be available
to address specific issues at the beginning of meetings.
With respect to US participation in Global Technical Regulations
efforts, Martin Koubek (NHTSA) is no longer the US representative.
The new representative is Mr. Ezana Wondimeh (head of NHTSA's
International Division).
The discussion were concluded with Jim Ohi's stating that he
and Russ Hewett will take the action item to formulate a plan
for working on National Coordinating Committee and US TAG Team
coordination of their efforts. The plan will be presented at
the September teleconference meeting.
7.0 NFPA PROPOSAL TO CONSOLIDATE THE HYDROGEN-
RELATED SAFETY REQUIREMENTS INTO A SINGLE
DOCUMENT
The NFPA Standards Council had 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:
- Increase ease of use
- 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. The proposal is for consolidating hydrogen
safety requirements in NFPA 52, NFPA 55, NFPA 853, NFPA 30A,
and NFPA 70 into a single document that would be entitled NFPA
2 (Hydrogen Technology).
Carl Rivkin reported on the results of the Council's acting
on the proposal at its meeting on July 25th. The Council approved
the recommendation and proposed creation of a Hydrogen Technology
Correlating Committee to implement it.
The NFPA Announcement
regarding the decision to consolidate (65Kb PDF)
In addition to the proposed consolidation activity, Carl reported
that the Standards Council has completed work on NFPA 52 (Vehicular
Fuel Systems 2005 Edition). The requirement for odorants for
hydrogen systems was deleted. The document should be available
for purchase in four-to-six weeks.
8.0 SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING EVENTS
Kelvin Hecht gave a report covering: (1) codes and standards
meetings held in July; (2) codes and standards meeting scheduled
for August; and (3) standards open for public comments.
Kelvin Hecht's report (104Kb PDF)
9.0 CODES AND STANDARDS DOCUMENTS OPEN FOR
"COMMENTS"
Kelvin Hecht's report on documents open for comments is available
in Section 8.0 above.
10.0 REPORTS FROM CDOS AND SDOS
10.1 Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE)
Ron Sims provided a report on SAE standards activities as of
August 2005 as follows:
- J2617 - Performance Testing of Fuel Cell Stacks. The WG
has begun the necessary rework of the document in order
to address the four "disapprove" votes tendered
during the recent ballot.
- J2572 - Hydrogen FCV Fuel Economy Measurement. The document
has been submitted to SAE staff for balloting later this
month.
- J2719- SAE Technical Information Report: Hydrogen Compositional
Guideline. The Guideline was brought to the SAE FCSC Meeting
on July 21st, but in the absence of a qualifying quorum
of voting members at the meeting, J2719 has to be submitted
for 14-day electronic ballot. At present, part way through
the ballot, 26 votes have been submitted, i.e. 25 approve,
and 1 waive, with a closing date of August 8th. Hence, there
is every expectation that J2719 will be submitted shortly
for publication by SAE.
- J2600 - Vehicle Refueling Coupling Device (published 2003).
This document is presently being updated and harmonized
by the Interface WG to ISO 17268. The WG is presently reviewing
coupling designs appropriate for 700 bar refueling.
- J2601 - Refueling Interface Communication Protocol. The
Interface WG continued its drafting of this document during
its last meeting on July 19th.
10.2 CSA-America
Jennifer Henderson reported on CSA-America activities.
Hydrogen Gas Vehicle standards development work is starting
again with the following meetings:
- RD-1/HPRD-1 (Pressure Relief Devices)
- Teleconference meeting scheduled for August 10, 2:30-4:30
p.m. EDST
- NGV4/HGV4 (Dispensing Systems)
- Teleconference meeting scheduled for August 16, 2:30-4:30
p.m. EDST
- NGV 3.1 (Components)
- Teleconference scheduled for August 23 to discuss hydrogen
components,
1:00-3:00 pm EDST.
- NGV2/HGV2 (Cylinders)
- Teleconference meeting scheduled for August 30,2:30-4:30
p.m. EDST
HCNG standards development will be moving forward, starting
with the nozzle.
CSA-America and SAE's Fuel Cell Committee have agreed to an
informal cooperative agreement in which they will work collaboratively
on the development of fuel cell-related, onboard-vehicle standards.
Copy of the agreement
(78Kb PDF)
10.3 NFPA
In Section 7.0 above, Carl Rivkin reported on: (1) the proposal
for NFPA to consolidate its hydrogen-related safety requirements
into a single document; and (2) the status of NFPA 52.
Ken Krastins (Plug Power) reported on the revision cycle for
NFPA 70 (National Electric Code). The National Electrical Code
(NEC) is revised under a three-year code cycle. The deadline
for proposed changes to the 2008 Edition are required to be
submitted to NFPA by 5:00 PM EST on Friday, November 4, 2005.
Any proposals submitted after this deadline will be returned
without further action. Manufacturers and non-manufacturers
are encouraged to submit proposed changes to Article 692 or
any other part of the NEC affecting fuel cell installations,
where the need for a revision to the Code is felt to exist.
Proposals may be submitted directly to the NFPA or sent to Kenneth
Krastins, the principle US Fuel Cell Council Representative
on NEC Code-Making Panel (CMP) 13, for inclusion in an overall
set of proposals to be submitted on behalf of the fuel cell
industry. Kenneth is also available for advice and further information
on proposals.
Any proposed changes being submitted to Kenneth Krastins, instead
of directly to the NFPA, should be sent no later than a week
in advance of the NFPA deadline, and, preferably, sooner.
And finally, the NFPA Hydrogen Coordinating group is scheduled
to have a teleconference meeting on August 23th. For additional
information, contact Carl Rivkin.
11.0 NEXT COORDINATING COMMITTEE MEETING
The next meeting of the Coordinating Committee is scheduled
to be a teleconference meeting as follows:
- DATE: September 7th (First Wednesday)
- TIME: 3:00 - 4:30 pm EDT
It was recognized that some members may be participating in
the First International Conference on Hydrogen Safety that will
be held in Pisa, Italy during the period September 8 - 10, 2005.
For the past several months, we have been using the USFCC "standard"
teleconference phone number for the meetings. However, the number
is being changed. The new Call-In number will be provided when
the announcement regarding the September meeting is disseminated.
Respectfully submitted,
Russ Hewett
ATTACHMENT A
TELECONFERENCE MEETING PARTICIPANTS
| NAME |
ORGANIZATION |
PRESENT
At Meeting?
(Yes/No) |
| Adam Gromis |
California Fuel Cell Partnership |
Y |
| Algis Vasys |
Vista Consulting Group |
N |
| Andrei Tchouvelev |
A. V. Tchouvelev & Associates,
Inc. |
Y |
| Antonio Ruiz |
USDOE/Hydrogen, Fuel Cell and Infrastructure
Technologies Program |
Y |
| Bill Chernicoff |
USDOT/Research and Innovative Technologies
Administration(RITA)/Washington |
Y |
| Bill Collins |
UTC Fuel Cells |
N |
| Bob Mauro |
Consultant to NREL |
Y |
| Brad Smith |
Shell Hydrogen |
N |
| Brian Walsh |
US Fuel Cell Council |
N |
| Bruce Kinzey |
Pacific Northwest Laboratory |
N |
| Carl Rivkin |
National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA) |
Y |
| Cathy Gregoire-Padro |
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) |
N |
| Christina Zhang-Tillman |
California Fuel Cell Partnership |
Y |
| Christopher Moen |
Sandia National Laboratories/Livermore |
N |
| Dan Casey |
Chevron |
N |
| Darren Meyers |
International Code Council (ICC) |
Y |
| Debbie Angerman |
Compressed Gas Association (CGA) |
N |
| Doug Horne |
DBHORNE
Technology Management
|
N |
| Gary Howard |
Stuart Energy Systems |
N |
| George Earle |
Plug Power |
N |
| George Kervitsky |
SENTECH |
N |
| George Thomas |
Consultant to Sandia
National Laboratories
|
N |
| Gerry Myers |
SPRINT |
N |
| Greg Milewski |
Shell Oil Products |
N |
| Hank Seiff |
Clean Vehicle Education Foundation |
Y |
| Harry Jones |
Underwriter Laboratories |
Y |
| Holly Thomas |
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) |
Y |
| Jeff Grant |
Ballard Generation Systems |
Y |
| Jennifer Henderson |
CSA America |
Y |
| Jesse Schneider |
DaimlerChrysler |
Y |
| Jim McGetrick |
BP |
N |
| John Koehr |
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME) |
N |
Juana Williams
|
NIST
|
N |
| Karen Hall |
National Hydrogen Association (NHA) |
Y |
| Julie Willets |
SPRINT
|
N |
| Keith Hardy |
Argonne National Laboratory |
N |
| Kelvin Hecht |
ANSI, IEC and Consultant to NREL |
Y |
| Ken Krastins |
Plug Power |
Y |
| Larry Johnson |
SPRINT |
N |
Laurie Florence
|
Underwriters Laboratories |
Y |
| Mark Richards |
Gas Technology Institute |
N |
| Michael Steele |
General Motors Advanced Technology
Vehicles |
Y |
| Patrick Serfass |
National Hydrogen Association (NHA) |
Y |
| Pat Davis |
USDOE/Hydrogen, Fuel Cell and Infrastructure
Technologies Program |
Y |
| Prentiss Searles |
American Petroleum Institute (API) |
Y |
| Robert Wichert |
US Fuel Cell Council (USFCC) |
Y |
| Roger Smith |
Compressed Gas Association (CGA) |
Attending CGA Meeting |
| Ron Sims |
Society of Automobile Engineers (SAE)
and Consultant to NREL |
Y |
| Sondra Ullman |
Plug Power |
N |
| Spencer Grieco |
CSA America |
Y |
| Steve Turner |
C&S Consultant |
N |
| Susan Townsend |
General Electric
Global Research Center |
N |
| Ted Williams |
American Gas Association (AGA) |
N |
| Terry Conrad |
Concurrent Technologies Corp. |
Attending IEEE P1547.2 WG Meeting |
| Tom Joseph |
Air Products and Chemicals |
N |
| Tony Androsky |
US Fuel Cell Council (USFCC) |
N |
| Jim Ohi |
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) |
Y |
| Russ Hewett |
National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) |
Y |
OTHER PARTICIPANTS:
(1) Jon Miller (Detector Technologies and Convener of IEC TC31
MT60079-29)
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