Report IEC/TC101 meeting in Kista/Stockholm

This time no explanation about IEC standards, but a brief report of the annual IEC/TC101 meeting in Kista/Stockholm (June 27-July 1, 2022).

IEC/TC101 (Electrostatics)

After all the restrictions due to Covid, the annual IEC/TC101 meeting could now take place again and the working groups could now meet in person again. There were delegates from 20 participating countries.
The Netherlands was represented by the undersigned (On behalf of the EMC-ESD association).

During the week, the working groups linked to specific standards discuss the comments received during the year. The results of this consultation are hammered out/ratified on the last day at the annual general meeting.

The agenda included ten ESD standards that required attention. The work on this may consist of improving and correcting an existing standard and possibly drawing up an amendment or even developing a new revision or drawing up new standards.

A selection of the issues that were discussed:

The IEC 61340-5-1 Ed.2.0 Protection of electronic devices from electrostatic phenomena-General requirements. This edition is from 2016 and is being revised, which will result in a new edition

IEC61340-5-1 Ed.3.0. The comments received have been processed. Major changes are to the compliance verification requirements tables. This will no longer refer to specific standards, but only to the IEC TS 61340-5-4 Protection of electronic devices from electrostatic phenomena-Compliance verification. The next step to achieve the new revision is to submit a so-called CDV (Committee Draft for Vote).

The IEC 61340-5-2 Ed.2.0 Protection of electronic devices from electrostatic phenomena-User guide will be revised and adapted in line with new developments and with other documents that have been amended since the publication of this edition in 2018. This will also include an extensive trouble shoot section. The new edition will be IEC 61340-5-2 Ed.3.0.

IEC TS 61340-5-4 Ed.1.0 Protection of electronic devices from electrostatic phenomena-Compliance verification. This is a Technical Specification and therefore a normative document.

A lot of additions to this document were received and processed. This will also ultimately result in a new revision. Ed.2.0. Due to the large number of changes, a new CD (Committee Draft) will be sent out. The trouble shoot section in this document will only be limited to minor more general problems. As mentioned earlier, there will be an extensive trouble shoot section in document IEC 61340-5-2.

IEC PAS 61340-5-6 Ed.1.0 (Formerly PWI TR101-3) Protection of electronic devices from electrostatic phenomena-process assessment techniques, which was adopted from the American ESD association, has been converted into an IEC document IEC 61340-5-6 in close collaboration after processing the comments with members of WG17 ESDA. Given the number of changes, the next step is a CD.

IEC 61340-6-1 Ed.1.Electrostatic control for healthcare-General requirements for facilities has been published and input is requested for further expansion/improvement of the document.

Project PWI TR 101-4 Electrostatic control in office areas and public places has been approved and is entering the next phase under document number IEC TS 61340-6-2 as CD.

This short description, peppered with jargon, of a number of topics discussed in the TC101 will not be something that everyone will enjoy on a daily basis. I would be happy to provide more information/details about the operation of the TC101.

Bas Grootemaat
Kingsize consultancy