ISO TC 197 Plenary Meeting Results

by Karen Quackenbush, FCHEA

ISO/TC 197, the technical committee responsible for developing international standards on hydrogen energy technologies, held its annual plenary meeting on December 6-7, 2018 in Vancouver, BC.

Chairman Andrei Tchouvelev welcomed everyone and thanked the CSA Group for hosting the meeting. Jim Ferrero was thanked for his efforts as secretary of ISO TC 197, and the new TC 197 Secretary, Jonathan Lafontaine, was introduced. Andrei noted that due to term limits for Chairmanship, he is entering his last term on January 1, 2019.

Eleven Primary (voting) member nations were represented: Canada (5), China (8), Czech Republic (1), France (4), Germany (3), Japan (13), Netherlands (2), Norway (1), South Korea (1), UK (2), USA (13), plus the convenor and secretary from Canada, and a representative of HySafe (also from Germany).

The Plenary meeting provides an opportunity to review changes to ISO procedures, review progress on the program of work, discuss future planning for the Technical Committee, and other issues. 

ISO/TC 197 agreed to extend the work of Working Group (WG) 5, which is responsible for maintaining ISO 17268: Gaseous hydrogen land vehicle refuelling connection devices, to work toward the next revision and agrees to limit the focus to H70 high flow. Coordination with SAE will continue. A formal call for additional members will take place in order to have this task started in 2019.

ISO/TC 197 agreed to extend the work of WG 18, responsible for ISO 19881: Gaseous hydrogen — Land vehicle fuel containers and ISO 19882: Gaseous hydrogen — Thermally activated pressure relief devices for compressed hydrogen vehicle fuel containers, to focus work on technical comments which were put on hold, and incorporate Type 3 designs, and to work on harmonization with UN GTR 13 Phase II. A formal call for additional members will take place in order to have this task started in 2019.

WG 19 activities had been put on hold during development of ISO 19880-1 by WG 24. Now that ISO 19880-1 has reached the FDIS stage, WG19 will continue to work to address the comments on ISO 19880-2, and prepare a document for a Committee Internal Ballot (CIB) within ISO TC 197. An in-person meeting to be held in spring/summer 2019 has been proposed by the convenor. A teleconference to discuss the scope of the document (regarding the range of types of dispensers that can be imagined) has also been proposed to develop a better understanding prior to the in-person meeting. A call for new members will be issued shortly.

ISO 19880-3: Gaseous hydrogen — Fuelling stations —Part 3: Valves was published in June 2018. As a result, ISO/TC 197 took a resolution to disband Working Group 20. Members of this WG may receive a notice that they have been removed from the roster – a procedural step of disbanding a WG.

Working Group 22, responsible for the development of ISO 19880-5: Gaseous Hydrogen — Fuelling stations — Part 5: Dispenser Hoses and hose assemblies, provided an update. The document is nearly ready for FDIS, as there is a single clarification she is working to address, after which the FDIS will be sent to TC/197. ISO/TC 197 agreed to extend the work of WG 22 following publication of the initial standard, to focus on the technical comments which were put on hold for a future revision, and to work on harmonization with the ISO 19880 family of documents. A formal call for additional members will take place in order to have this task started in 2019.

WG 23, responsible for ISO 19880-6: Gaseous hydrogen -- Fuelling stations -- Part 6: Fittings, is officially on hold until a Committee Draft is submitted. Efforts to harmonize format and flow with ISO 19880-3 (Valves) are underway.

WG 24, responsible for ISO 19880-1: Gaseous hydrogen — Fuelling stations — Part 1: General requirements, held its last formal meeting on December 3-4, 2018. The document is now at Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) stage – with circulation anticipated in early 2019. Future plans are to remove annexes and turn them into stand-alone documents through New Work Item Proposals. However this would not necessarily be through the existing WG 24. ISO/TC 197 agreed the work of WG 24 ends on submission of the FDIS from TC/197 to ISO and asked the convenor to organize a teleconference to discuss remaining issues of configuration.

WG 15, responsible for ISO 19884: Gaseous hydrogen — Cylinders and tubes for stationary storage, is moving to FDIS stage, although there remains sustained opposition expressed by the US and Japan. DIS 19884 was narrowly approved. 11 voting members approved and 5 voting members disapproved. ISO 19884 is ready to submit to ISO. Launch of Ballot is imminent. DIS ballot comments have been treated by the convenor, with no working group meeting held. Japan and the US expressed significant technical concern over the document. Japan noted that disbanding WG 15 may make it difficult to progress in the topic’s discussions. However, as the ISO FDIS 19884 has been submitted, the WG 15 is therefore to be disbanded.

The WG 21 update noted that a meeting was held December 4, 2018. A Committee Draft (CD) is planned but will require time. Although there will be regular teleconferences and up to two in-person meetings in 2019, a CD may not be available until 2020 – primarily due to the need for more active participation from a variety of compressor manufacturers and users. Now that WG 24 is wrapping up, the WG is optimistic that we can get the needed experts to make progress. The project is officially on hold until a CD is submitted to ISO/TC 197. Once the CD is submitted, there will be 24 months to publication of an International Standard.

The update for WG 25 noted that ISO 16111: Transportable gas storage devices — Hydrogen absorbed in reversible metal hydride has been approved and published in 2018. The separate Technical Report (TR) ISO TR 16113, that had been proposed previously has suffered from a lack of expert interest, and therefore has not progressed past the N document in WG25. The convenor has requested the NWI for this document to therefore be withdrawn due to lack of interest.

WG 26, responsible for ISO 22734: Hydrogen generators using water electrolysis process — Industrial, Commercial, and Residential applications, addressed all DIS comments and submitted the FDIS in November 2018.To tidy up the document title, TC 197 agreed to the removal of the word “process” in the document title - approved by Resolution. WG 26 will be disbanded upon submission of the FDIS to ISO.

WG 27, responsible for ISO 14687, Hydrogen fuel quality — Product specification, has prepared a document nearly ready for FDIS. In 2022, WG 27 plans to start an ISO 14687 revision with a NWIP. In the meantime, WG 27 completed its work.

WG 28, responsible for ISO 19880-8: Gaseous hydrogen — Fuelling stations — Part 8 - Fuel Quality Control, has a document nearly ready to be registered as FDIS. WG 28 expects to modify the document based on a new version of ISO 14687. They plan to start right away.

ISO/TC 158/JWG 7 has resolved all DIS comments. ISO FDIS 21087 has been sent to WG members for review. The FDIS is scheduled to be sent to ISO/TC 197 in January and published July 2019.

ISO/TC 197 approved the initiation of a Preliminary Work Item (PWI) on Safe Use of LH2 in Non-Industrial Settings, with Thomas Jordan, KIT, PRESLHY, serving as Project Leader.

ISO/TC 197 approved the initiation of a PWI on Hydrogen in Energy Systems - Vocabulary, with Nick Hart, ITM Power, serving as Project Leader, with CEN-CLC/JTC 6, as a reverse Vienna Agreement project on terms and definitions, conditional on CIB approval of non-CEN members of ISO/TC 197.

Dr. Tchouvelev presented Professor Mao with a plaque to thank him for his service as TC 197 Vice-President representing developing countries.

ISO/TC 197 resolved to set a Twinning arrangement between SCC Canada and SAC China to enable a new Vice Chair.  While Andrei Tchouvelev continues his term as Chair, TC 197 proposes Zheng Jinyang to serve as the vice chair until December 31, 2021, under an updated Twinning agreement, once the arrangement is approved by the Technical Management Board.

Liaisons to TC/197 provided reports. The list of active liaisons is available at https://www.iso.org/committee/54560.html.

A Mini-Roundtable took place on the following topics:

Evelien Korbee, from the Netherlands Standardization Institute (NEN), presented on the FCH 2 JU project: Qualygrids, looking at the requirements for electrolysers for grid services. Findings so far from the initial parts of the project are available on the project website: http://www.qualygrids.eu/.

Additionally Nick Hart, ITM Power, gave an indication of the type of performance testing that has been required by customers for recent power-to-gas applications in Germany. ITM have not identified any need to prepare standardized performance tests to date, but await the findings of Qualygrids, and any requests from customers that may lead to recommended standardized tests.

A status report on key activities in China, the U.S., Japan, and Norway were presented. Presentations have been posted to the ISO/TC 197 website.

ISO/TC 197 confirmed the following members to its’ Permanent Editing Committee: Karen Quackenbush (USA), Jim Ferrero (Canada), and Jonathan Lafontaine (TC 197 Secretary).

The next meeting will take place in France in December 2019, with details to be confirmed.

ISO Strategic Planning Meeting Results Posted

by Sara Marxen, CSA Group

For your convenience, the agenda and presentations from the ISO Strategic Planning Meeting, held in Vancouver, BC on December 5, 2018, have been posted to the CSA Group Communities of Interest.  Please click the link below to access the meeting agenda and presentations.  The presentations have been combined into one pdf, with a navigation bookmark down the left side.  Please note that you may need to create a free account to register before accessing the link. 

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE SPM MATERIAL:  https://community.csagroup.org/groups/2018-isotc-197-plenary-strategic-planning-meeting-presentations.

Did You Know?

by Karen Quackenbush, FCHEA

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board approved changes to the SASB provisional standards and has launched a complete set of 77 industry-specific sustainability accounting standards!

The objective of the SASB standards is to enable companies around the world to identify, manage and communicate financially-material sustainability information to their investors.

The standards are the culmination of six years of research and input from the market. The standards can now be downloaded (at no cost) on the SASB website.

SAE Sensors Document Published

by Karen Quackenbush, FCHEA

SAE J3089_201810 - Characterization of On-Board Vehicular Hydrogen Sensors, has been published.

This SAE Technical Information Report (TIR) provides test methods for evaluating hydrogen sensors when the hydrogen system integrator and/or vehicle manufacturer elect to use such devices on board their hydrogen vehicles, including hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV).

Visit https://www.sae.org/standards/content/j3089_201810/ to learn more or to purchase this document.

ISO Containers Document Published

by Karen Quackenbush

The 1st edition of ISO 19881:2018, Gaseous hydrogen — Land vehicle fuel containers has been published.

The scope of the document is as follows:

This document contains requirements for the material, design, manufacture, marking and testing of serially produced, refillable containers intended only for the storage of compressed hydrogen gas for land vehicle operation. These containers

a) are permanently attached to the vehicle,

b) have a capacity of up to 1 000 l water capacity, and

c) have a nominal working pressure that does not exceed 70 MPa.

The scope of this document is limited to fuel containers containing fuel cell grade hydrogen according to ISO 14687 for fuel cell land vehicles and Grade A or better hydrogen as per ISO 14687 for internal combustion engine land vehicles. This document also contains requirements for hydrogen fuel containers acceptable for use on-board light duty vehicles, heavy duty vehicles and industrial powered trucks such as forklifts and other material handling vehicles.

It can be purchased from ISO at https://www.iso.org/standard/65029.html; or through your national standards organization.

The Fuel Cell Seminar & Energy Exposition is back in 2019!

November 5 - 7 | Long Beach Convention Center | Long Beach, California

Don't Miss the Premier Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Conference and Trade Show in the U.S.

Call for Abstracts, Sponsorship Details, Attendee and Exhibitor Registration coming soon, so stay tuned.  If you can't wait and want to discuss locking in your spot on in the Exhibit Hall, contact fuelcellseminar@fchea.org.

For more information, check out www.fuelcellseminar.com.

ICHS 2019

HySafe and the South Australian Government invite you to the unique ICHS - International Conference on Hydrogen Safety.

The 8th International Conference on Hydrogen Safety (ICHS 2019) will be held in Adelaide, Australia on 24-26 September 2019 under the auspices of the International Association for Hydrogen Safety (HySafe). The first seven conferences in 2005 to 2017, succeeded in attracting the most relevant experts from all over the world, by providing an open platform for the presentation and discussion of new findings, information and data on hydrogen safety - from basic research to applied development and from good practice to standardization and regulatory issues.

South Australia has a natural endowment of sunshine and prevailing winds that have attracted substantial investment in renewable energy with over 50% of energy now provided by this segment. Hydrogen is beginning to play a greater role in the transition to clean, safe and sustainable energy systems for energy storage and transport regionally and globally.

The full invitation is available here.

For more information, contact: Edit Mucsi email: ichs@hysafe.org. Conference website: www.ichs2019.com.