U.S. TAG Team Meets in Troy, MI
by Karen Hall
Vice President, Technical Operations of the
National Hydrogen Association

US Experts involved in the development of codes and standards for hydrogen and fuel cell systems met in Troy, Michigan at the SAE Automotive Headquarters on December 6 & 7. This was the third US TAG TEAM meeting, an opportunity for National Standards Development Organizations and the US Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs) for ISO and IEC Technical Committees to discuss issues of common interest. The meetings are supported jointly by the US Fuel Cell Council and the National Hydrogen Association.

These US TAG TEAM Meetings provide an opportunity to discuss issues impacting US interests in the ISO and IEC standards-development working groups, as well as UN activities on regulations for hydrogen energy systems. By discussing issues our TAGs face individually, we can discover where these issues impact other areas and try to build US consensus in a broader context.

The National Hydrogen Association supports the development of international standards so that industry can commercialize technologies internationally, without trade barriers. We also support US efforts to develop the broadest US consensus possible. Issues faced by the US TAGs include technical issues, political issues, issues of timing of the need for a standard, and scope of new work items; as well as compatibility with existing and developing US model codes, standards, and regulations.

Over the two day meeting, participants discussed the status of standards activities in the US, Europe, and the international forums.

The participants were provided the viewpoint of OEMs on codes and standards for fuel cell vehicles. OEMs need codes and standards ready for wide-scale commercialization. Prior to that time, informational resources, such as recommended practices, technical reports and technical specifications can capture lessons learned and enable validation of requirements in demonstrations. OEMs emphasized the importance of maintaining flexibility in the standards development process to avoid stifling rapid introduction of new technologies. Performance-based specifications at the system level protect the future for engineering simplicity. It is also important to assure compatibility of standards, such as those published by SAE and ISO, so the OEMs can look at global economies of scale.

It was also noted that systems are likely to be over-designed in the demonstration phase to assure safety. As experience is gained, alternative approaches to assure safety may be developed. One example is the use of multiple sensors, such as hydrogen sensors onboard the vehicle during the evaluation phase to verify that the systems do not leak. Once leak-free performance is verified, many sensors can be eliminated just as gasoline sensors are not required on conventional vehicles. The system-level performance requirement is to assure systems do not leak. Safety, rather than any specific safety device, should be required. It is simply too early to lock into any prescriptive requirements.

Industry supports the evolution toward robust standards through Recommended Practices, Technical Specifications or Technical Reports that are expected to change with added experience. These may be more appropriate than standards when technologies are changing faster than the standards-development or regulatory process can proceed. Further, industry particularly needs a performance-based approach to standards to accommodate technologies that are changing so fast.

This discussion had all participants consider whether there is a need to make sure the standards they are involved in developing are truly performance-based.

Status reports were also provided on the following activities:

* CGA Hydrogen Activities
* CSA/NGV2/HGV2/PRD1/HGV4 Series Standards
* Global Technical Regulations
* Hydrogen Purity
* Hydrogen Sensors
* IEC TC 105 on Fuel Cells
* ISO TC 11 on Pressure Vessels
* ISO TC 197 on Hydrogen
* ISO TC 22 SC 21 on Electric Road Vehicles
* ISO TC 220 on Cryogenic Vessels
* ISO TC 58 on Gas Cylinders
* NFPA 52
* NHTSA Regulations
* Sandia hydrogen leakage and flammability work