First UL Bi-National Lighting Standard Is for OLED Panels
UL (Underwriters Laboratories) published the First Edition of the Standard for Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) Panels, ANSI/UL 8752 – CAN/ULC-S8752, this summer. The bi-national standard was co-published by UL and ULC Standards. The standard received ANSI and SCC approval, making it the national standard for both the United States and Canada.
A joint UL/ULC Technical Committee for Solid State Lighting (TCSSL) formed by UL and ULC Standards served as the consensus body in the standards development process for the document. A first for the lighting industry, the concurrent development harmonized Canadian and US requirements and significantly reduced the time to publication.
“For a number of years, SDOs [standards development organizations] and the respective Standards Bodies in Canada and the USA have discussed how they can work together to develop and harmonize standards more efficiently,” said G. Rae Dulmage, Director, ULC Standards and Chair of the Standards Council of Canada Standards Development Organization Advisory Committee. “Various means tried in the past could never achieve this. Often SDOs committees could not agree with industry and SDOs shying away from what was often a clumsy and heavy process.”
OLED technology has been in the market for a number of years and is primarily used in video screens and displays on portable consumer electronics. More recently, it has been employed in decorative lighting applications and now general illumination. OLED is expected to join LED technology in revolutionizing general illumination – in particular, enabling light sources to move “out of the box.”
For this rapidly changing lighting technology, a streamlined standards development and bi-national harmonization process was deemed critical.
ULC Standards and UL did a comparison of each other’s accredited procedures and set up a team to begin an innovative approach. One committee working jointly, proved successful. The keys to success included good technical input, an open and transparent process, and a collaborative team. By working toward the common goal and meeting both countries’ requirements, national standards for both Canada and the US for a new technology were achieved.
A number of basic electric and material safety principles are shared between the screen/display and illumination applications. However, lighting technologies are intended to have much longer lifespans than consumer electronics, are typically serviced using industry standardized parts, are installed on or integrated within building materials, and may need to be operated continuously for long periods of time. For these reasons, general illumination lighting products are covered by safety standards and installation codes that specifically anticipate the intended application.
For these reasons, the Standard for Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) Panels, ANSI/UL 8752 – CAN/ULC-S8752 was developed and published. This new standard is not intended to apply to OLED panels used within consumer product displays (TVs, smart phones, etc.), which are covered by their own existing safety standards (such as UL/IEC 60065 or UL/IEC 62368).
For more information about standards development in this innovative technology, contact UL at OLEDtesting@ul.com
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Source: www.UL.com