CE MARKING

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fifty60

fifty60

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Does anyone know the minimum IP rating for enclosures in order to obtain a CE marking? I know motors must at lest be IP23, but I am not sure about the rest of the industrial machine enclosure that has air vents and other openings.
 
fifty60 said:
Does anyone know the minimum IP rating for enclosures in order to obtain a CE marking? I know motors must at lest be IP23, but I am not sure about the rest of the industrial machine enclosure that has air vents and other openings.
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You cannot "obtain" a CE marking.

The CE mark means that you are certifying that the thing meets ALL applicable standards that are required for that particular piece of equipment.

You would start by determining what IP rating is needed based on the environmental conditions where it will be located.

As a practical matter, I think the answer is IP21.

I don't know that motors have to be IP23. It is quite possible that they are just made that way for the manufacturer's convenience and you can't get them in IP21.
 
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You are correct. CE marking is self declared. Do know if the chamber is indoors this removed some of the water ingress requirements? For example, do motors have to be in an IP23 enclosure if the motor is located only indoors?
 
petersonra said:
As a practical matter, I think the answer is IP21.
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Pretty much how it is. Here, most electrical components are IP2X. You can't stick your fingers into live terminals.
As far as I'm aware, I don't think there is any mandatory requirement to comply with that. It seems to be an industry adopted standard.
Most of our customers specify IP43 or better with the panel closed and a minimum of IP2x with them open. This despite the spec requiring door interlocked isolators so that you can't get inside anyway if it is live.
 
Thanks, I agree that an IP21 minimum is extremely good practice. Does anyone know where in the directives I can find the rules for manual translations? Does every single manual related to the machine have to be translated into the EU destination country language? I have read...somewhere... that they only need to be translated in an EU country language to be CE marked, but I am not sure about this.
 
fifty60 said:
You are correct. CE marking is self declared.
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No.
[h=2]
Third Party Certification/Notified Body
In this case, a Notified Body must make the test.[/h]
  • The Notified Body will make the test report and declaration.
  • The CE Mark will carry a number linking to the Notified Body.
[h=3][/h]
 
Is there anything in the Low Voltage or Machine directive that discusses butt-splices and wire nuts?
 
Still not able to find a definitive answer on the butt-splices. I believe that as long as any splicing is crimped and not a screw terminal it will be fine. Please let me know if anyone knows anything to the contrary. Thanks.
 
fifty60 said:
Still not able to find a definitive answer on the butt-splices. I believe that as long as any splicing is crimped and not a screw terminal it will be fine. Please let me know if anyone knows anything to the contrary. Thanks.
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This sort of thing?



The colour coding is to show what conductor size it's designed for.

We don't use them - most of our customer specifications do not permit their use. They like to be able to see all the conductor terminations and joints and such a connector could be hidden in trunking.
They are UL and CSA listed.

Certificate of Conformity:

"This certificate confirms that the product detailed below complies with the specifications currently published by RS Components and has been subject to the quality conditions of our registration to the BS EN ISO9001:2008 management standard. Furthermore, where applicable, it provides assurance that all electrostatic discharge sensitive devices have been handled and packed under conditions that meet the administrative and technical requirements of the ANSI/ESD S20.20:2007 and the BS EN 61340-5-1:2007 electrostatic control standards."

They are not CE marked - I don't think they have to be and it would be a bit impractical anyway. BS7671, The Wiring Regulations don't specifically address their use but the wording about "Every electrical joint and connection shall be of proper construction.....etc" doesn't exclude their use.

On the wire nuts - I don't know. We don't use them.
 
For an IP2X rating I have found a test that states the opening must be less than 12mm wide. Or it can be more than 12mm but less than 25mm wide, as long as there are no hazardous locations within 18mm of the opening. Does anyone know what the distance to a hazardous location has to be if the opening is more than 25mm wide? I have an opening at the bottom of my machine that is about 80mm wide. A person could theoretically lay on the floor and stick there arm inside of the gap and touch a very hot surface. Any suggestions on how to approach evaluating this?
 
fifty60 said:
For an IP2X rating I have found a test that states the opening must be less than 12mm wide. Or it can be more than 12mm but less than 25mm wide, as long as there are no hazardous locations within 18mm of the opening. Does anyone know what the distance to a hazardous location has to be if the opening is more than 25mm wide? I have an opening at the bottom of my machine that is about 80mm wide. A person could theoretically lay on the floor and stick there arm inside of the gap and touch a very hot surface. Any suggestions on how to approach evaluating this?
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best answer is probably to get rid of the opening. maybe some kind of screening.
 
fifty60 said:
For an IP2X rating I have found a test that states the opening must be less than 12mm wide. Or it can be more than 12mm but less than 25mm wide, as long as there are no hazardous locations within 18mm of the opening. Does anyone know what the distance to a hazardous location has to be if the opening is more than 25mm wide? I have an opening at the bottom of my machine that is about 80mm wide. A person could theoretically lay on the floor and stick there arm inside of the gap and touch a very hot surface. Any suggestions on how to approach evaluating this?
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Fit a mesh.
 
CE Marking A Product Line

CE Marking A Product Line

Thanks for all of the great advice/recommendations. We manufacture a product, we'll call it a widget, and this widget has several different sizes and powers. For example, one widget could be equipped with 10KW of heat, the other widget 5KW of heat. One widget may have a 10HP motor, the other a 2HP motor. Since we have so many variations of "widgets", how many of these widgets do we need to have SEPERATE technical files for? Do we have to have EMC testing done on each type of widget? Can we do EMC testing on the biggest, most powerful widget we manufacture and use that as a "worse case" example of our product line? Does anyone have any advice/recommendations for how to proceed with CE Marking a specific product line that has several iterations within that product line? Thank you.
 
Found the answer to the last question on this thread and it can be summed up as "The Product Line approach to CE MARKING."
 
Besoeker said:
We don't use them - most of our customer specifications do not permit their use. They like to be able to see all the conductor terminations and joints and such a connector could be hidden in trunking.
On the wire nuts - I don't know. We don't use them.
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Among other things, use of either a butt splice or a wire nut will allow a wire to change color and size between one termination point and the next.
This causes problems when trying to trace wiring.
It happens sometimes in automotive wiring harnesses. When it does, you will see a callout at each end of the wire identifying its color at that termination. And the two colors will be different! At first glance it is confusing. At second glance too. :)

At least the wire nut is big enough to call attention to itself.
 
fifty60 said:
Does anyone know the minimum IP rating for enclosures in order to obtain a CE marking? I know motors must at lest be IP23, but I am not sure about the rest of the industrial machine enclosure that has air vents and other openings.
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The CE mark is a european union mark has no relavence to a listing that NTRL's (nationally reconized testing lab) label in electrical equipment.

https://www.osha.gov/dts/otpca/nrtl/index.html
 
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