Standards are set up to ensure processes run smoothly and to limit the possibilities of potential hazards or failures. Especially important are industry standards for electrical enclosures, since working with electricity in large industrial capacities requires certain limits and restraining so that every situation is kept under control at all times. Standards are important for another reason too; product performance and quality must meet a certain level in all countries around the world. Of course, standards aren’t a necessity, some countries have them imposed and some don’t, since imposing industry standards influences price a lot. On the other hand, focusing solely on low price inevitably results in low initial cost but also in low quality and situations such as high maintenance expenses, component failures and even safety issues.
There are three important and globally recognized standards for electrical enclosures one should know and implement in their working capacity:
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standard 60529
The IEC is commonly known as electrotechnology and is the leading world organization that prepares all International Standards for electrical, electronic and other related industries. This particular 60529 standard is a list of codes simply called Characteristic Numerals, which are designed to identify ingress protection levels. This means that following these standards, the electrical enclosures in any industrial organization should be designed in a manner so that access to electrified parts by people, tools and other conditions such as moisture, dust or dirt, will be denied completely.
National Electrical Manufacturer’s Association (NEMA) Standard 250
NEMA is concentrated on promoting the competitiveness of US electrical enclosures and other electrical products. This association develops standards, advocates for them in federal and state legislatures and other executive agencies and collects data from various analysis. The NEMA standard also addresses ingress protection, it’s just a little more detailed: it specifies minimum construction details, performance and criteria, corrosion resistance and a lot more. The organization was born in the US but it works to become a global advocate of electrical standards.
Underwriter Laboratories (UL) 50, 50E
This is a quite old organization that has been writing safety procedures and conducting testing on various safety measures for more than a century. It’s labeled as an independent product safety certification organization that evaluates more than 19000 types of products, components, materials and systems on annual basis.UL 50, 50E’s main point is to address many of the points the NEMA standard does. The difference is that NEMA indicates the design intent without mandating compliance via third party testing and on-site testing, which means a product meet all NEMA standards in its design, but its performance compliance will stay at the discretion of the manufacturer. The UL certificate indicates that both required design and performance are met after proper analysis and testing have been completed.