Just Released – the New BS EN 61010-1:2010 Safety requirements for electrical equipment for measurement, control, and laboratory use. General requirements

The new 2010 Edition of BS EN 61010 Part 1 was just published this month (November 2010).  The new document replaces the previous 2001 Edition for this item.  It is in stock and available for purchase from Document Center Inc.  on our website www.document-center.com.

This revised edition provides a presumption of conformity with the Low Voltage Directive (LVD) and is also essential for compliance with Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in the United Kingdom.

With presumption of conformity with the LVD 2006/95/, BS EN 61010-1 will enable manufacturers to fit CE marking in respect to the safety requirements contained within the LVD and the corresponding national laws.

BS EN 61010-1 also covers a large number of products that are outside the scope of the LVD [50-1000 V], but are covered by either the General Product Safety Directive or the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act: as such, compliance with BS EN 61010-1 is an indicator of compliance with good engineering practice.

This standard aims to ensure the safety of anyone that uses this type of electrical equipment for measurement, control, and laboratory use.

Who is this standard for?

BS EN 61010 Part 1 is intended for use by anyone in the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) industry who sells or manufactures or supplies measurement, control and laboratory equipment or related components and assemblies.

BS EN 61010-1 describes the general safety requirements for electrical equipment used in laboratories. It provides the general requirements and identifies the risks users and operator could face, and the manufacturer’s design requirements and tests needed to reduce these risks.

This part of BSEN61010 specifies the general safety requirements that professional and non-professional operators should follow when using electrical equipment in industrial processes, laboratories and educational settings, and includes:

  • Electrical test and measurement equipment
    This is equipment which by electrical means tests, measures, indicates or records one or more electrical or physical quantities, also non-measuring equipment such as signal generators, measurement standards, voltage sources, transducers, transmitters, etc.

This includes bench-top power supplies intended to aid a testing or measuring operation on another piece of equipment. Power supplies intended to power equipment are within the scope of the BS EN 61558 series.

  • Electrical industrial process-control equipment
    This is equipment which controls one or more output quantities to specific values, with each value determined by manual setting, by local or remote programming, or by one or more input variables
  • Electrical laboratory equipment
    This is equipment which measures, indicates, monitors or analyses substances, or is used to prepare materials, and includes in vitro diagnostic (IVD) equipment

This equipment may also be used in areas other than laboratories, for example self-test IVD equipment may be used in the home and inspection equipment to be used to check people or materials during transportation.

What’s been changed for the new edition?

Significant changes to BS EN 61010-1 include:

BS EN 61010-1 applies to the equipment and their accessories wherever they are used, not just for professional use as previously. There is also clarification that equipment used to check people or materials during transportation is within scope.

Foreseeable misuse and ergonomic aspects have been included and a new clause has been added to address risk assessment for hazards not covered in the standard.

A further major change is the removal of test and measurement circuits to a new BS EN 61010-2-030. Any equipment containing these circuits will have to comply with this Part 2 as well as Part 1.

Electrical requirements have been added for solid insulation and thin-film insulation. Insulation requirements for mains circuits of overvoltage category II up to 300 V, and for secondary circuits are also covered.

It now contains additional requirements for protection against mechanical hazards and environments not covered by the standard. A section on dealing with risk assessment is also included.

  • Surface temperature limits have been modified to conform to the limits of EN 563
  • Radiation requirements have been modified, and take into account a distinction between intended emission and unintended emission.
  • Requirements for reasonably foreseeable misuse and ergonomic aspects.
  • Methods of reducing the pollution degree of a microenvironment.
  • Requirements for the qualification of coatings for protection against pollution
  • Explanation of how to determine the working voltage of a mains circuit.

Contents of BS EN 61010-1 contain:

  • Scope and object
  • Environmental conditions
  • Normal environmental conditions
  • Extended environmental conditions
  • Normative references
  • Terms and definitions
  • Equipment and states of equipment
  • Parts and accessories
  • Quantities
  • Tests
  • Safety terms
  • Insulation
  • Tests
  • Sequence of tests
  • Reference test conditions
  • State of equipment
  • Testing in single fault condition
  • Application of fault conditions
  • Duration of tests
  • Conformity after application of fault conditions
  • Marking and documentation
  • Marking
  • Identification
  • Mains supply
  • Fuses
  • Terminals, connections and operating devices
  • Switches and circuit-breakers
  • Equipment protected by double insulation or reinforced insulation
  • Field-wiring terminal boxes
  • Warning markings
  • Durability of markings
  • Documentation
  • Equipment ratings
  • Equipment installation
  • Equipment operation
  • Equipment maintenance and service
  • Integration into systems or effects resulting from special conditions
  • Protection against electric shock
  • Requirements
  • Exceptions
  • Determination of accessible parts
  • Examination
  • Openings above parts that are hazardous live
  • Openings for pre-set controls
  • Limit values for accessible parts
  • Levels in normal condition
  • Levels in single fault condition
  • Primary means of protection
  • Enclosures and protective barriers
  • Basic insulation
  • Impedance
  • Additional means of protection in case of single fault conditions
  • Protective bonding
  • Supplementary insulation and reinforced insulation
  • Protective impedance
  • Automatic disconnection of the supply
  • Current- or voltage-limiting device
  • Connections to external circuits
  • Terminals for external circuits
  • Circuits with terminals which are hazardous live
  • Terminals for stranded conductors
  • Insulation requirements
  • The nature of insulation
  • Insulation for mains circuits of overvoltage category ii with a nominal supply voltage up to 300 V
  • Insulation for secondary circuits derived from mains circuits of overvoltage category ii up to 300 V
  • Procedure for voltage tests
  • Humidity preconditioning
  • Test procedures
  • Constructional requirements for protection against electric shock
  • Insulating materials
  • Colour coding
  • Connection to the mains supply source and connections between parts of equipment
  • Mains supply cords
  • Fitting of non-detachable mains supply cords
  • Plugs and connectors
  • Disconnection from supply source
  • Requirements according to type of equipment
  • Disconnecting devices
  • Protection against mechanical hazards
  • Sharp edges
  • Moving parts
  • Risk assessment for mechanical hazards to body parts
  • Limitation of force and pressure
  • Gap limitations between moving parts
  • Stability
  • Provisions for lifting and carrying
  • Handles and grips
  • Lifting devices and supporting parts
  • Wall mounting
  • Expelled parts
  • Resistance to mechanical stresses
  • Enclosure rigidity tests
  • Static test
  • Impact test
  • Drop test
  • Equipment other than hand-held equipment and direct plug-in equipment
  • Hand-held equipment and direct plug-in equipment
  • Protection against the spread of fire
  • Eliminating or reducing the sources of ignition within the equipment
  • Containment of fire within the equipment, should it occur
  • Constructional requirements
  • Limited-energy circuit
  • Requirements for equipment containing or using flammable liquids
  • Overcurrent protection
  • Permanently connected equipment
  • Other equipment
  • Equipment temperature limits and resistance to heat
  • Colour coding
  • Connection to the mains supply source and connections between parts of equipment
  • Mains supply cords
  • Fitting of non-detachable mains supply cords
  • Plugs and connectors
  • Disconnection from supply source
  • Requirements according to type of equipment
  • Disconnecting devices
  • Protection against mechanical hazards
  • Risk assessment for mechanical hazards to body parts
  • Limitation of force and pressure
  • Gap limitations between moving parts
  • Stability
  • Provisions for lifting and carrying
  • Enclosure rigidity tests
  • Equipment other than hand-held equipment and direct plug-in
  • Hand-held equipment and direct plug-in equipment
  • Protection against the spread of fire
  • Eliminating or reducing the sources of ignition within the equipmen
  • Containment of fire within the equipment, should it occur
  • Constructional requirements
  • Limited-energy circuit
  • Requirements for equipment containing or using flammable liquids
  • Overcurrent protection
  • Permanently connected equipment
  • Equipment temperature limits and resistance to heat
  • Surface temperature limits for protection against burns
  • Temperatures of windings
  • Temperature measurement of heating equipment
  • Equipment intended for installation in a cabinet or a wall
  • Resistance to heat
  • Integrity of clearances and creepage distances
  • Non-metallic enclosures
  • Insulating material
  • Protection against radiation, including laser sources, and against sonic and ultrasonic pressure
  • Protection against liberated gases and substances, explosion and implosion
  • Components and subassemblies
  • Protection by interlocks
  • Hazards resulting from application
  • Reasonably foreseeable misuse
  • Ergonomic aspects
  • Risk assessment
  • Measuring circuits for touch current
  • Standard test fingers
  • Measurement of clearances and creepage distances
  • Parts between which insulation requirements are specified
  • Guideline for reduction of pollution degrees
  • Routine tests
  • Leakage and rupture from fluids under pressure
  • Qualification of conformal coatings for protection against pollution
  • Line-to-neutral voltages for common mains supply systems
  • Risk assessment
  • Index of defined terms
  • Bibliography
  • Measurements through openings in enclosures
  • Maximum duration of short-term accessible voltages in single fault condition
  • Capacitance level versus voltage in normal condition and single fault condition
  • Acceptable arrangement of protective means against electric shock
  • Examples of binding screw assemblies
  • Distance between conductors on an interface between two layers
  • Distance between adjacent conductors along an interface of two inner layers
  • Distance between adjacent conductors located between the same two layers
  • Detachable mains supply cords and connections
  • Impact test using a sphere
  • Flow chart to explain the requirements for protection
  • Against the spread of fire
  • Baffle
  • Area of the bottom of an enclosure to be constructed as specified in ball-pressure test apparatus
  • Flow chart for conformity options
  • Measuring circuit for a.c. with frequencies up to 1 MHz and for d.c.
  • Measuring circuits for sinusoidal a.c. with frequencies up to 100 Hz and
    for d.c
  • Current measuring circuit for electrical burns
  • Current measuring circuit for wet contact
  • Rigid test finger
  • Jointed test finger
  • Examples of methods of measuring clearances and creepage distances
  • Protection between hazardous live circuits and accessible parts
    Protection between hazardous live circuits and circuits which
  • Accessible external terminals
  • Protection between a hazardous live internal circuit and
  • An accessible part which is not bonded to other accessible parts
  • Protection between a hazardous live primary circuit and
  • Protection of external accessible terminals of two hazardous live circuits
  • Conformity verification process
  • Test sequence and conformity
  • Iterative process of risk assessment and risk reduction
  • Risk reduction
  • Distance between conductors on an interface between two layers
  • Distance between adjacent conductors along an interface of an inner layer
  • Distance between adjacent conductors located between the same two layers
  • Example of recurring peak voltage
  • Symbols
  • Tightening torque for binding screw assemblies
  • Multiplication factors for clearances of equipment rated for operation at altitudes up to 5 000 m
  • Clearances and creepage distances for mains circuits of overvoltage category II up to 300 V
  • Test voltages for solid insulation in mains circuits of overvoltage category II up to 300 V
  • Clearances and test voltages for secondary circuits derived from MAINS
  • Circuits of overvoltage category II up to 300 V
  • Creepage distances for secondary circuits
  • Minimum values for distance or thickness
  • Distances between terminals and foil
  • Correction factors according to test site altitude for test voltages for clearances
  • Values for physical tests on cord anchorages