NEMA: Electro Industry October 2010 - 24

Code Actions/Standardization trends
process impede the development of the standards of rapidly evolving technologies like Smart Grid and energy efficiency. Secondly, IEC must remain committed to the concept of global relevance. In order for IEC standards to be truly global and facilitate global trade, they must recognize and incorporate regional considerations. GE remains committed to the IEC and believes that successful participation must be a cornerstone of any international business strategy. ei Philip Piqueira serves on several NEMA technical committees, including Codes & Standards Committee.

ŰŰMaximizingŰHarmonizationŰthroughŰIEC
NEMA Industrial Automation and Control Systems Section continues its quest of technical harmonization by effectively steering its standards development efforts through national, regional, and international involvement. The working group (WG) of the International Electrotechnical Commission / Underwriters Laboratories (IEC/UL) 17B WG2 Task Force has been reviewing country-specific deviations in the CANENA-developed adoptions of UL 60947-1 Low-Voltage Switchgear and Controlgear—Part 1: General Rules and UL 60947-4-1, Low-Voltage Switchgear and Controlgear—Part 4-1: Contactors and Motor-Starters—Electromechanical Contactors and Motor-Starters. Published in January 2006, UL 60947-1 and 60947-4-1 are being prepared for their first revisions. When work is completed, they are expected to contain far fewer North American deviations and will contain the latest in IEC content. CANENA (Council for Harmonization of Electrotechnical Standards of the Nations of the Americas) Technical Harmonization Subcommittee and IEC WG have shared the identical comparison worksheet that identifies the latest in IEC standard amendments and existing North American deviations in their endeavor towards total harmonization. Since many of the same NEMA, CANENA, and IEC technical experts participate in national, regional, and international development processes, the industry has achieved significant progress. Through parallel efforts, the usual redundancies of labors have been avoided. Jim Wright of Siemens is U.S. SC17B technical advisor and NEMA delegate to IEC SC17B WG1, WG2. He said: The IEC SC17B/WG2 UL-IEC Task Force has proven to be a very beneficial group in the activities to harmonize the IEC 60947 standards with the North American 60947 standards. Much of the success is due to the fact that the U.S. and Canadian members of the Task Force are also active members of the CANENA committees, which are also involved in the harmonization from the North American side. This has enabled fast and accurate transfer of information, and direct communication between the North American and IEC committees, so that confusion or misinterpretation of proposals is minimized. The spirit of cooperation between the IEC and CANENA groups has been greatly enhanced by the existence of this Task Force, resulting in numerous changes for harmonization in both the IEC standards and the North American standards. Additional development efforts within the 1IS section include the IEC-based 609475 (pilot control devices) and 60947-7 (terminal block) series of standards. IEC SC17B WG2 and the IEC/UL SC17B WG2 Task Force will be among the more than 400 committees meeting during the U.S. IEC meetings October 6–14. UL will host the IEC 17B WG2 in 2011. NEMA 1IS, through its proactive participation in U.S., CANENA, and IEC standards development work, continues to lead by example. ei Bill Buckson, Program Manager | bil_buckson@nema.org

ŰŰ2010ŰIESŰAnnualŰConference
The CIE/USA, the U.S. National Committee of the International Commission on Illumination, is offering a day series of seminars on the photometry, colorimetry, and application of solid state lighting in Toronto on November 10. Invited experts will present basic concepts, advanced techniques, and state of the art research on the characterization and measurement of light and lighting, along with discussions of international lighting recommendations for roadway lighting and issues of vision and health. Scheduled speakers include experts from NIST, VTTI, IDA, and others. Further details are available at www.cie-usnc.org.

NEMA electroindustry

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October 2010

NEMA: Electro Industry October 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NEMA: Electro Industry October 2010