BS / EN Standard

[Unregistered]

Does any one know of a BS or EN standard relating to building of electrical control panels?

 

[Kidblue]

As of January 1, 1997 low voltage industrial control equipment intended for use in Europe will be required to bear a CE mark to show conformity to the relevant European Directives. The predominant ones are: the Low Voltage Directive, the Machinery Directive and, the EMC Directive.

The Machinery Directive which is NOW in effect compels manufacturers of industrial machinery, such as machine tools or power presses, to conform to CENELEC standard EN60204-1. An industrial control panel that controls the machinery would also be required to comply with EN60204-1. The parallel standard in the USA to EN60204-1 is NFPA-79.

The "EN" in EN60204-1 indicates it is a European norm. The "60" indicates that the norm or standard deals with low voltage. The "204-1 " is a reference to IEC standard 204-1 on which EN60204-1 is based. Klockner-Moeller Corporation USA has many years experience building industrial control panels that have complied with IEC 204-1 and now comply with EN60204-1. A written certificate of compliance can be provided to ensure that industrial machinery may bear the CE mark.

Hope this helps!

 

[Unregistered]

Thanks for this information,

one more question:

Is there a minimum conductor size that is required within a cabinet. Somebody has quoted to me that nothing less than 1mm should be used??

 

[Paulus]

As far as I'm aware, there is no specific minimum cable size, (with the proviso that the cable is correctly rated for the environment - ie current capacity, insulation rating etc).

It would be pretty hard to solder 1mm cable to some of the MIL connectors that are used for PLC I/O for example.
Having said that, I once had (many moons ago) a customer who actually specified 2.5mm cable as a minimum size for all control cables - what a pain!!!

However, it has been a quite a while since I've actually been involved with the building of panels, so things may have changed. Therefore don't quote me.