IEC Lord Kelvin Awards to be presented at the 2009 General Meeting

The Lord Kelvin Award
is the highest recognition
of the IEC

The April 2009 e-tech published a short article calling for nominations for the Lord Kelvin Award. This prestigious award acknowledges outstanding contributions to IEC electrotechnical work in International Standardization, Conformity Assessment and related activities. Although the award is not necessarily made each year, when granted, it may be bestowed on a maximum of three luminaries in any one year.

The IEC CB (Council Board) recently announced the names of three laureates from the seven nominees originally retained. The three personalities who are to receive the prestigious IEC Lord Kelvin Award from the IEC President Jacques Régis during the General Meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel are:

• Thomas A. Hanson of the United States of America
• Uwe Klausmeyer of Germany
• Koichi Mori of Japan

Thomas A. Hanson – expert in fibre optics and a strong proponent of consensus

Tom Hanson was nominated in recognition of the substantial contributions he has made in the telecommunications sector for optical communications. His efforts, directly and indirectly, have contributed to a large part of work in one of the IEC’s most prolific committees, IEC TC (Technical Committee) 86: Fibre optics.

Hanson has been active in IEC work for over 25 years and a key contributor, author, project leader and convenor for groups dealing with optical fibre and cable as well as optical systems. He has also ably served as a key liaison between IEC and corresponding work in the ITU-T sister organization, ensuring smooth alignment and complementary efforts at the international level.

Hanson is recognized as one of the world’s experts in fibre optics for strength and fatigue (reliability) and PMD (Polarization Mode Dispersion), which limits the amount of information an optical fibre can carry. His maths and statistical skills led to the development of much needed models and algorithms incorporated into IEC Standards which addressed issues faced by industry.

He has authored or been a key contributor to most of the optical communications-related IEC International Standards, test methods, Specifications and Technical Reports in IEC TC 86 and IEC TC 86/SC (Subcommittee) 86A, Fibre and cables, including the IEC 60793 series of Standards on optical fibres, as well as many of the IEC 60794 series on optical fibre cables.

As Convenor of IEC SC 86C/WG (Working Group) 1: Fibre optic communications systems and sub-systems, Tom has helped bridge the interface between the IEC community of manufacturers and the external groups of users. He has also been exemplary in ensuring that all his committee work is truly representative of all stakeholders. Thanks to his diligence he has ensured that all voices are heard and consensus reached in all the standardization work in which he is involved.

Uwe Klausmeyer of Germany – authority on explosive atmospheres and creator of unanimity

Uwe Klausmeyer has for the past six years been Chairman of IECEx, the IEC System for Certification to Standards Relating to Equipment for Use in Explosive Atmospheres, environments that include the fields of oil, gas and coal mining, dusts and grain handling. His efforts in the area of Conformity Assessment have resulted in the system moving from its initial stages of a budding idea to the successful single global compliance structure it is today for the many specialized industries that are involved in the Ex field.

During his two 3-year terms as Chairman – the maximum permitted by IECEx rules – Klausmeyer has used his technical knowledge and his ability to bring together Ex experts from many different countries, cultures, interests and diverging views to forge a single global network of worldwide Ex authorities that has become the solid foundation on which IECEx now resides. It is to be noted too that during his terms of office voting has rarely had to take place in a meeting forum and there have been no appeals lodged. Klausmeyer prefers to work on a basis of consensus, exposing opposing views in order to reach a satisfactory solution without having to take a majority vote.

In terms of numbers this translates as a total of 7 500 IECEx Certificates and Reports issued since 2003, the first year of his Chairmanship and the year when the System was initiated. In 2007 he was responsible for introducing the IECEx Service Facility Scheme which covers Ex repair and overhaul facilities on the basis of IEC 60079-19, Explosive atmospheres - Part 19: Equipment repair, overhaul and reclamation and then, in 2008, for the new IECEx Certified Persons Scheme. The year of 2008 saw a record five new countries join the IECEx System.

Koichi Mori of Japan – world authority on environmental issues and promoter of International Standardization

Koichi Mori was elected Chairman of IEC TC 111: Environmental standardization for electrical and electronic products and systems right from its outset in 2005 and remained in position until his recent retirement. He has also been the Japanese delegate to the IEC SMB (Standardization Management Board) where he has been an invaluable contributor to environmental standardization matters.

Under Mori's leadership, TC 111 has produced two International Standards: IEC 62321 and IEC 62430, which have the status of horizontal standards, those reference documents that serve a number of other TCs in drawing up their own publications. One deals with the determination of the levels of certain elements contained in inorganic and organic compounds and that of flame retardants in electrotechnical products, the other on integrating environmental aspects into the design and development processes of electrical and electronic products.

IEC 62321 provides useful standardized testing tools for markets dealing with hazardous substances and having to comply with directives such as those of the European Union RoHS. When introduced at FDIS (Final Draft International Standard) stage in October 2008, IEC 62321, Determination of levels of six regulated substances, was approved with no negative vote before being published as an International Standard in December 2008.

IEC 62430, Environmentally conscious design, provides product designers with an imperative concept. It too was approved by no negative votes, rising from a CDV (Committee Draft for Vote) stage in October 2008 directly to that of International Standard in February 2009.

Mori's interests are not restricted to those of his TC environmental work. He has been a fervent promoter of International Standardization at a number of seminars in his native Japan and throughout Asia when he never ceases to emphasize the importance of IEC International Standards for industry in relation to environmental and regulatory matters.