ISO TC 161: Global standards for combustion control systems
The technical committee ISO/TC 161 „Controls and protective devices for gas and/or oil" was founded in 1974 within the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). The scope of ISO/TC 161 covers controls for burners and fuel appliances for gaseous or liquid fuels in the field of application from small domestic appliances to large industrial burners and thermal processing equipment.
The standardisation work of ISO/TC 161 is significantly influenced by figawa, VHB and grzi, as well as by the European associations Afecor and Farecogaz.
These associations bring together the manufacturers of products for thermal engineering systems (combustion controls) in households, trade and industry, for the use of gaseous and liquid fuels, fossil and regenerative.
Internationalisation of standardisation
Since 1999, the Chair and Secretariat have been provided by the German Institute for Standardisation (DIN). There, the Standards Committee Heating and Ventilation Technology and their Safety (NHRS) is entrusted with the Secretariat. This was aimed at by national industry associations with the aim of transferring to the international level the high level of requirements set in Europe for the safety, construction and function of control devices for gas burners and gas appliances and their testing.
After approx. 25 years of largely stagnating standardisation work, since the constituent meeting in 2000 the approach has been pursued emphatically to develop common international standards which essentially take up the European test methods, but at the same time take account of test methods and requirements from Asia and North America and integrate them as far as possible.
European standards as the basis of ISO work in TC 161
The European Standards developed by the Technical Committee CEN/TC 58 „Safety and control devices for burners and appliances burning gaseous or liquid fuels" form an essential basis for a free movement of goods in the EU. This established a uniform level of European safety. By a resolution of the mirror committee in DIN-NHRS, these DIN EN standards could be incorporated into ISO work.
To date, ISO/TC 161 has published approx. 14 international standards and 11 standardisation projects are in progress.
ISO/TC 161 also deals with appliances suitable for gas supply and distribution applications. For this reason, the regulations of the technical committee CEN/TC 235 „Gas
Gas pressure regulators and associated safety devices for use in gas transmission and distribution" are internationalised in ISO/TC 161.
The technical committees ISO/TC 109 „Oil and gas burners“ and ISO/TC 244 „Industrial furnaces and associated processing equipment“ are based on the work of ISO/TC 161 and define applications for the products described in ISO/TC 161 through their standardisation work.
The successful work of ISO/TC 161 has continued since 2019 under the chairmanship of Dr. Martin Bergemann (Siemens AG), Chairman of the Technical Committee of VHB e.V.. Dr. Bergemann has successfully guided the work of ISO/TC 161 as an expert and head of the German delegation and as president of the European Controls Association Afecor since DIN took over the secretariat.