EU Commission working towards higher fire prevention levels of electric and electronic appliances: T

1
EU Commission working towards higher fire
prevention levels of electric and electronic
appliances The Low Voltage Directive

• Jan Willem Weijland

2
(No Transcript)
3
The Low Voltage Directive

• Regulates the safety of electrical products which
  operate within a defined voltage range
• Safety requirements in general terms
  fundamental safety requirements
• Refers to harmonized standards for specific
  technical requirements
• The LVD establishes the system of regulation
  according to the New Approach and later the
  Global Approach.

4
Safety requirements LVD

• General Conditions
• Markings warnings and instructions
• To ensure that it can be assembled and connected
  safely
• Protection against hazards
• Protection against hazards
• Against hazards caused by electrical contact
• Hazards from temperatures, radiation and arcs may
  not be produced
• Hazards arising from non electrical dangers
  caused by the equipment
• Insulations must be suitable for foreseeable
  conditions

5
Safety requirements LVD (2)

• Protection against hazards caused by external
  influences
• Mechanically sound
• Resistant to non-mechanical influences in
  expected environmental conditions
• No hazard arising from overload

6
Harmonized standards

• Specific requirements for electric products under
  the LVD in
• Harmonized standards
• Drawn up by standardization bodies
  CENELEC/national standardization institutes
• Harmonized when published in the Official Journal
  of the European Union
• Presumption of conformity with the safety
  requirements of the LVD

7
Harmonized standards under the LVD

• EN 60335 Safety of Household and Similar
  Appliances
• Tumble dryers, cookers, coffee makers, etc, etc
• EN 60598 Luminaires
• EN 60065 Audio, video and similar electronic
  apparatus Safety requirements
• EN 60950 Information technology equipment -
  Safety
• Not under the LVD
• Requirements for electrical installations in
  homes and buildings, etc, plugs and sockets, etc.
  Electrical installations in buildings and plugs
  etc are national responsibility.
• Harmonization by HD 60364, which is the base of
  the installation standards for many of the member
  states.

8
Typical requirements in standards relevant to
fire safety

• Requirement that no excessive temperature is
  attained in normal use
• Requirements on the materials used (contacts,
  switches, casing, etc)
• Maximum temperatures (knobs, motor windings,
  surroundings, etc)
• Behaviour under abnormal operation (explicitly
  mentioning the risk of fire)
• Overload protection requirements
• Thermal cut-out
• Resistance ton heat, fore and tracking (ball
  pressure test glow wire test)

9
Statistical backgroundNibra 2000 domestic fires
(n405)
10
Statistical background

• Nibra 2000 domestic fires (n405)
• Behavioural causes in of total product related
  fires (44.5 )

11
Statistical background
Nibra 2000 house fires (n405) Caused by failing
equipment (total 15 )
12
Statistical background
Nibra 2003 causes of house fires with casualties
(35 dometic fires 40 casualties)
13
Statistical background
Nibra 2003 house fires with casualties Object of
ignition (n35)
14
Statistical background
15
Summarizing

• Behaviour is an important determinant
• It appears that electrical fires relatively less
  frequent cause of fires with casualties
• Fires related to cooking appliances are
  relatively frequent
• Electrical fires most frequently involve electric
  cookers, TV-sets, tumble dryers and washing
  machines

16
Additional observations

• Involvement of a product does not automatically
  mean that a defect leads to the ignition
• Lowering the probability that electrical
  equipment functions as ignition source of
  domestic fires by design measures will be
  increasingly difficult
• Design measures will not take effect immediately

17
Conclusions

• Food and Product Safety Authority
• Fire prevention remains important, but
• Shift attention to other consumer products
• Clothing
• Furniture
• Bed clothing
• Decoration
• Role of products in the spread of fire deserves
  more attention
• Both standardization and market surveillance of
  these items will get attention
• Electrical products shift to standard
  requirements that are relevant to fire safety

18
Christmas decoration
19
Working towards higher fire prevention levels of
electric and electronic appliances

• Update LVD
• Specific fundamental requirement on fire safety
  of electrical products under discussion.
• The update of the LVD is presently subjected
  to an impact assessment

20
Working towards higher fire prevention levels of
electric and electronic appliances

• Improving the standards
• Cooking ranges
• tumble dryers
• Toasters
• In discussion luminaires

21
Cooking ranges

• Sweden notified shortcoming in EN 60335-2-6
• Standard does not take into account the safe use
  of cooking ranges by infirm and handicapped
  people.
• Suggests technical measures to improve the safety
  
• CECED initiated a study by the university of Bonn
  to study the possibilities to improve te safety
  of cooking ranges

22
Cooking ranges

• CECED Study
• Statistics (How big is the problem)
• Sociological study
• Who is most at risk?
• Study of technical possibilities
• Effectiveness
• Are the solutions practical?
• Are the solutiona economical
• Other interventions

23
Fires from cooking ranges
24
Clustering according to ageconsidering
Scandinavia as example
25
Cooking ranges

• Integrated devices and features
• pre-ignition detection and control system (CPSC,
  measuring the cookware temperature)
• Thermo sensors to limit hob temperature
• Cookware detection
• External devices
• Smoke detector
• Exhaust gas detector
• Heat sensor
• Flame detector

26
Tumble dryers

• US and Dutch investigations
• Dust accumulation contributes to fire hazard
• Lack of maintainance
• Design measures to counteract dust accumulation
• Detection of excessively high temperatures

27
Fire safety of toasters

• EN 60335-2-9 Toasters
• Clause 19.101Abnormal use release mechanism
  blocked.

28
Trends

• Demographical changes
• CRT televisions substituted by LCD / plasma
  screens
• External housing of (kitchen) appliances
  (refrigerators) increasingly uses plastics
• Domotics

29
Finally

• The European Commission and the MS works towards
  improved fire safety of electrical products

30
Dilemmas

• How far stretches the responsibility of the
  consumer for his own safety? How far should
  regulation go?
• How to weigh economical and safety aspects?
• How to weigh the advantages and disadvantage of
  technologies Flame retardants