February 2003
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Minutes of the Teleconference Meeting of the DOE Hydrogen Codes and Standards Coordinating Committee (HC&SCC)
Russ Hewett, NREL

DATE: January 8, 2003
TIME: 1:00 – 3:30 PM (MST)

PARTICIPANTS

  • Al Vasys (Consultant to DOE and NREL)
  • Brian Weeks (Chevron Texaco Technology Ventures)
  • Bruce Kinzey (Pacific Northwest Laboratory)
  • Carl Rivkin (National Fire Protection Association)
  • George Thomas (Sandia National Laboratories)
  • Hank Seiff (Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition)
  • Jim Ohi (NREL)
  • John Donahue (UTC Fuel Cells)
  • Karen Miller (National Hydrogen Association)
  • Kelvin Hecht (UTC Fuel Cells)
  • Neil Rossmeissl (DOE/HQ, Technical Manager, Hydrogen Subprogram)
  • Prentiss Searles (American Petroleum Institute)
  • Robert Mauro (Consultant to the National Hydrogen Association)
  • Robert Weichert (US Fuel Cell Council)
  • Russ Hewett (NREL)
  • Tony Androsky (SAE International)

AGENDA AND SUMMARY OF DISCUSSIONS

(1) Changes Getting Ready to Take Place in Karen Miller’s Life
Karen Miller, Vice President of the National Hydrogen Association (NHA) and an active participant in hydrogen codes and standards-related activities at NHA, will be moving to Great Britain in April 2003 and getting married there in June 2003. Karen will continue her technical activities with NHA, especially her involvement in codes and standards-related activities.

(2) Efforts Being Conducted by Kelvin Hecht to Catalog Codes and Standards Relating to Fuel Cells and Possibilities for Integrating His efforts with Those of the HC&SCC
Kelvin Hecht of UTC Fuel Cells reported on the data base and “information exchange” capability that he is in the process of creating relating to all fuel cell-related codes and standards activities – the data base to be accessible via the web. Kelvin serves in the following capacities: (i) chairman of the US Technical Advisory Group to IEC TC105; (ii) chairman of ANSI Z21.83; and (iii) vice-chairman of ASME PTC 50. The web site is located at www.fuelcellstandards.com. The site is dedicated to assisting the worldwide community working to develop and interpret codes and standards for fuel cells. The HC&SCC, working on behalf of DOE/HQ to coordinate and facilitate the timely development of hydrogen-related codes and standards (including those specifically for fuel cells), will work with Kelvin in his efforts. The goal is coordinating and integrating Kelvin’s efforts with the development and maintaining of the DOE Hydrogen Codes and Standards Matrix and Data Base. The action item is for Kelvin and Russ Hewett to continue their discussions regarding to how to work collaboratively and come up with definitive ways to do so.

(3) Coordination with NFPA and Their Newly-Created Hydrogen Coordinating Group
Carl Rivkin (Senior Chemical Engineer at NFPA and responsible for managing many of the NFPA efforts relating to development of hydrogen-related standards) reported on NFPA’s newly-created Hydrogen Coordinating Group (HCG).

The Group held its first meeting (by teleconferencing) on Tuesday, January 7, 2003. One important outcomes of the first meeting was the identification of those codes and standards needs deemed by the participants to be of the highest, near-term priority.

The HCG will have its first in-person meeting on January 28th at NFPA’s facility in Quincy, MA.

(4) Coordination with the US Fuel Cell Council (USFCC)
Robert Weichert of the US Fuel Cell Council reported on the activities of the USFCC Codes and Standards Codes & Standards Working Group and the results of their teleconference meeting held on Thursday, January 2, 2003. The Working Group is reviewing the following standards:

  • NFPAPA 853
  • ANSI Z21.83 Updates
  • ASME PTC 50
  • IEEE SCC 21
  • IEEE P1547
  • IEEE SCC 36
  • NEC / NFPA 70 Article 691 (692) 
  • New York Interconnection Standards
  • Texas Interconnection Standards
  • California Interconnection Standards
  • SAE Fuel Cell Vehicle Standards
  • IATA Fuel Transportation Regulations
  • UL Standards Development
  • UL 1741
  • IEC TC 105 Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Group
  • Unified Interconnection Standards
  • California Alliance for Distributed Energy Resources (CADER)

In addition, Mr. Weichert provided Russ Hewett with additional codes and standards activities that should be included in the DOE Hydrogen Codes and Standards Matrix and Data Base.

(5) Coordination with ASME
John Donahue (UTC Fuel Cells) and Robert Weichert (US Fuel Cell Council) reported on ASME’s proposed efforts to establish and operate a Hydrogen Codes and Standards Coordinating activity. If they were to do so, theirs would be the fourth such coordinating committee -- in addition to the following ones:

  • DOE Hydrogen Codes and Standards Coordinating Committee
  • US Fuel Cell Council Codes and Standards Working Group
  • NFPA Hydrogen Coordinating Group

ASME will address the issue in a meeting to be conducted in Washington, DC o n Monday, January 13, 2003. Mr. Weichert and Mr. Donahue will participate in the meeting. Their objective will be to encourage ASME to establish a hydrogen-related codes and standards activity that focuses on getting hydrogen (and fuel cells) addressed in ASME-specific codes and standards, rather than ASME’s attempting to coordinate the development of hydrogen-related codes and standards “globally.”

(6) Process and Procedures for Providing Information for Updating and Maintaining the DOE Hydrogen Codes and Standards Matrix and Data Base and Point-of-Contact
NREL has been focusing on creating the DOE Hydrogen Codes and Standards Matrix and Data Base – which catalogs and provides status information on existing hydrogen-related codes and standards and work-in-progress to develop them. The Matrix and Data Base addresses the following: (a) stationary applications; (b) transportation applications; (c) portable applications; (d) the infrastructure; and (e) governmental and quasi-governmental regulations. Fuel cells are an integral part of all applications. However, there are still the issues of: (a) “systematic” process and procedures for collecting information for updating and maintaining the Matrix and Data Base; and (b) making the it accessible from the web. Neil Rossmeissl said that he had made the commitment to having the National Hydrogen Association serve as the focus for performing updating and maintenance and possibly serving as the focus for making the Matrix and Data Base available to the worldwide community. There was a clear consensus that, for reporting information for update and maintenance, NREL should work with a specific person from each specific codes and standards generating organizations. NREL, DOE/HQ and NHA will come together to work out the arrangements for theses efforts.

Are you working on Codes and Standards?

If you represent and organization that is involved in the development of codes and standards and are interested in participating in the DOE Hydrogen Codes & Standards Coordinating Committee (HCSCC), please contact Karen Miller at the National Hydrogen Association at 202.223.5547 or kmilller@ttcorp.com.