Standardization

Standardization is an activity by which manufacturers, consumers, users, testing laboratories and administration, establish a voluntary agreement that is embodied in a technical document, or Standard, of repetitive or continuous application, which defines the technical characteristics that a material, product, service or system must meet to ensure its safety, fitness for function or compatibility with other products, services or systems.

A standard is a document:

• public (both during its elaboration and during its life time),
• voluntary (the standards are not mandatory, unless they are cited in some Regulations),
• developed with the consensus of all stakeholders and
• based on the results of experience and technological development and approved by a recognised body.

The standards guarantee quality and safety levels that allow any company to better position itself in the market. They are also an important source of information for professionals in any economic activity.

The use of standards and participation in their preparation can provide companies with the following benefits, among others:

• It helps to optimise the management of companies and the provision of services, reducing costs.
• It allows interoperability between products and systems.
• Increases market acceptance of products or services by reference to standardised methods.
• Removes technical barriers in the European Union market and promotes exports to third countries.
• It encourages networking and collaboration with other organisations in the sector.
• Provides information on market trends and developments in the state of the art.
• It serves as a tool for monitoring and technology transfer and provides access to information on the results of innovation.

AFEC AND STANDARDIZATION

AFEC is committed with the activities related to the Normalization since the year 1980, the 7 first years with the disappeared IRANOR (Institute of Rationalization and Normalization), the 30 subsequent ones with Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification and since 2017 with UNE.

On January 1, 2017, the Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification split its activities into two organizations: UNE and AENOR.

UNE's Board of Directors

From the year 2002, AFEC is present in the board of directors of the Spanish Association of Normalization (UNE), which is composed by corporate members (business organizations and associations of consumers of state scope), adhered (businesses and public institutions), individuals (physical persons) and members of honor.

In addition, AFEC participates in the Electrical Engineering Commission, the Construction Commission, the Market Surveillance Observatory (OVM), the General Assembly, the Women in Standardization (MEN) working group, etc.

UNE. Secretariat of the AEN/CTN 100 Committee

AFEC exercises the Secretariat of the CTN 100 since 1985.

This organ is in charge of the standardization of facilities, equipment and components of air conditioning, including heat pumps and ventilation, in its aspects of terminology, definitions, classification, design and calculation (including climatic data, zone of well-being, etc.) In this respect, it also takes into account characteristics, both of fitness for function and of safety and test methods, as well as characteristics required of the control and safety devices used. However, there are some equipment and aspects that are excluded from the field of activity of the CTN 100, such as electric fans for domestic and similar uses; and the safety and reliability requirements of electrical and electronic components.

The structure of the CTN 100 is based on its plenary, on which different working groups depend to carry out specific standardization activity in different areas. In this way, it develops purely national standards and monitors the work of European and international committees of special interest. This committee is made up of representatives from the public administration, sector associations of air conditioning equipment manufacturers, water treatment manufacturers, air conditioning and refrigeration technicians, industrial and commercial refrigeration companies, installers, pipe manufacturers, manufacturers of air conditioning or ventilation and control equipment and systems, or test laboratories, among others.

The CTN 100 monitors the following European and International Committees:

• European Committees:
  • CEN/TC 113: Heat Pumps and Air Conditioning Units
  • CEN/TC 156: Ventilation systems for buildings
  • CEN/TC 182: Refrigeration systems: safety and environmental requirements
  • CEN/TC 195: Air filters for general air cleaning
  • CEN/TC 228: Water-based heating and cooling systems for buildings
  • CEN/TC 243: Cleanroom technology
  • CEN/TC 247: Mechanical building services control devices.
  • CEN/TC 371: Project Committee Energy Performance of Buildings.
  • CEN/TC 413: Test methodologies and requirements for insulated means of transport
• International Committees:
  • ISO/TC 86/SC 6: Refrigeration and air conditioning. Factory-made air-air heat pump and refrigerated air conditioning units.
  • ISO/TC 86/SC 6/WG 1: Refrigeration and air conditioning. Air-air heat pump and refrigerated air conditioning units made in the factory. Air conditioning and compact heat pumps.
  • ISO/TC 117: Industrial fans.
  • ISO/TC 142: Cleaning equipment for air and other gases
  • ISO/TC 144: Air distribution and diffusion (Idle Committee).
  • ISO/TC 205: Indoor environment design.
  • ISO/TC 209: Clean rooms and associated controlled environments.

Based on this, the Committee's Working Groups are divided into two blocks: those that carry out national standards and those that follow up on European and international committees.

The Working Groups (WGs), active in the Committee are:

• WG 2. Fans and Ventilation.
• WG 3. Clean rooms and air filters.
• WG 6. Heat Pumps. Air Conditioners.
• WG 12. Legionella.
• WG 14. Outdoor Air Quality.
• WG 18. Parking Lot Ventilation.
• WG 19. Energy Balance and CO₂ Emissions of Heat Pump Equipment. Part 1: Calculation methodology for obtaining the energy balance and CO₂ emissions in heating mode and DHW production (coordinated by AFEC).

Vocals

AFEC participates like vocal in the following committees:

• CTN-UNE 86. Refrigeration
• CTN-UNE 171. Indoor environmental quality.
  • We promote the creation of the CO₂ measurement WG.
• CTN-UNE 192. Refrigeration Installations.
• CTN-UNE 193. Evaluation of the emission of hazardous substances from construction products.
• CTN-UNE 200 SC 111. Environmental standardization for electrical and electronic products and systems.
• CTN-UNE 213. Household Appliances.
• CTN-UNE 216. Energy efficiency, climate change and renewable energies CTN-UNE 216.
• CTN-UNE 343. Management system for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).