NHA Presents Short Course to Address Materials Handling Applications
Karen Hall, National Hydrogen Association

The National Hydrogen Association, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy, arranged and conducted a Short Course on November 16th in conjunction with the 2009 Fuel Cell Seminar in Palm Springs, California. This very successful event focused on the growing market opportunities for hydrogen fuel cells in materials handling applications. Presentations from industry experts were featured on the market opportunities, applicable codes, standards and recommended practices [and planned revisions!], and case studies relating to fuel cell forklifts and the related refuelling operations.

Presenters and Presentations

Supplemental Information

New SAE Work Item on the Use of Hydrogen in Industrial Trucks
Mike Steele, Chair, SAE Fuel Cell Standards Committee

Work has been initiated through the Safety Working Group of the SAE Fuel Cell Standards Committee on an information report for the use of hydrogen in industrial trucks.

The document, TIR J2919, Technical Information Report for Hydrogen Systems in Industrial Trucks, was assigned in mid-November and a first working draft is currently being assembled.  This new document draws heavily on SAE TIR J2579, Technical Information Report for Fuel Systems in Fuel Cell and Other Hydrogen Vehicles, and is intended to provide the industrial truck industry design guidance for the use of hydrogen systems for their application.  System design recommendations using experience gained from work done for light-duty vehicles are provided.  The new document will comprehend the differences in cycle times and in-service conditions between applications.

From the Scope and Applicability sections of the draft:

The purpose of this document is to define design, construction, production, operational, and maintenance requirements for hydrogen systems in industrial trucks and equipment.  The standard defines requirements for compressed hydrogen storage systems and hydrogen processing systems as used by fuel cell power plants. 

This SAE Technical Information Report specifies design qualification (performance verification) tests and criteria for hydrogen storage and handling systems.

It is intended that this document be referenced by and be used in conjunction with other application-specific documents, such as UL2267, Fuel Cell Power Systems for Installation in Industrial Electric Trucks, NFPA 505, Fire Safety Standard for Powered Industrial Trucks Including Type Designations, Areas of Use, Conversions, Maintenance, and Operations, as well as other standards being developed both nationally and internationally.

The technical working group is being formed within the SAE Safety Working Group, which is the owner of J2579.  Participants in this working group would be responsible for reviewing the document drafts and gaining consensus on the technical content of J2919. Interested parties should contact Pat Ebejer at SAE Headquarters via email at pebejer@sae.org.

 

NHA Codes and Standards Priorities for 2010
Geoffrey Bromaghim, National Hydrogen Association

The National Hydrogen Association has set their 2010 priorities for the Hydrogen Safety, Codes and Standards Program. These may evolve as industry needs may develop over the course of the year. Current priorities for the 2010 Program year are as follows:

  • Gain NHA members insight into the NHA’s Codes and Standards structure, with the aim of increasing member participation in key codes and standards technical activities.

  • Hold successful codes and standards sessions in conjunction with the 2010 NHA Conference. This involves structuring breakout sessions to deal with timely technical issues and allow for broad stakeholder discussion with defined outcomes and recommendations.

  • Coordinate NHA member perspectives on outstanding issues for deployment of fueling stations, especially indoor refueling requirements and other indoor operations, confined spaces, vehicles, parking, tunnels, etc., and separation distance for gaseous and liquid hydrogen storage. This will be accomplished through Hydrogen Industry Panel On Codes (HIPOC) as well as direct involvement in relevant NFPA and ISO technical committees and task groups.

  • Increase appeal of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Safety Report as measured by web tracking.

  • Continue support for HIPOC and encourage the Department of Energy to continue funding support for HIPOC.

  • Ensure continued Codes and Standards Program funding is in place beyond June 2010.

NFPA 2 Report on Proposals Draft Now Available
Geoff Bromaghim, National Hydrogen Association

The Report on Proposals (ROP) draft of NFPA 2, Hydrogen Technologies Code, is now available for public review from NFPA’s website, athttp://www.nfpa.org/AboutTheCodes/AboutTheCodes.asp?DocNum=2.

By NFPA procedure, the ROP contains all the public proposals, technical committees' action on each proposal, as well as all committee-generated proposals. The public comment period is now open. The deadline for submittal of public comments on this document is March 5, 2010. Links to comment forms and the online submission system are also now available athttp://www.nfpa.org/AboutTheCodes/
AboutTheCodes.asp?DocNum=2.

NFPA 2 is primarily an extract document, meaning that most NFPA 2 text is extracted from other NFPA documents. The intent is to create a single document for fire prevention matters related to hydrogen for use by designers, permitting authorities and regulators.

General information on the NFPA development process is available here: http://www.nfpa.org/categoryList.asp?categoryID=161&
URL=Codes%20&%20Standards/Code%20development%20process

CORRECTION: ICC Hearing Results
Karen Hall, National Hydrogen Association

Last month, we published an article on the Hydrogen Industry Panel on Codes (HIPOC) code change proposals for the International Fire Code.

Since this article was originally published, we've learned that the ICC Final Action Hearings schedule is not as we thought.

Hearings scheduled for May 14-23, 2010 in Dallas, Texas. Public Comments are due February 8, 2010.

Here is a revised ICC schedule, provided by the Chair of the IFC Committee:

We regret any inconvenience this error may have caused.