What is ISO 20854 - Safety requirements for the thermal container about?
ISO 20854 is an international standard that focuses on the safety of thermal containers for refrigerating systems using flammable refrigerants. ISO 20854 describes the design of the mechanical refrigeration unit (MRU) and operation of container refrigerating systems in all anticipated operational modes and locations. ISO 20854 describes the industry's best practices for the safe operation of flammable refrigerants in refrigerating systems used in thermal freight containers operated onboard ships, in terminals, on-road, on rail and land.
ISO 20854 also specifies requirements for the validation and consideration of possible safety concepts and protective devices within the OMRA process, including charge release tests, simulation, and function tests of the associated protective equipment. It defines test requirements for shock, impact, and vibration. A validation procedure is given to demonstrate that risks from hazardous events are investigated and their severity and frequency are meaningfully reduced, to achieve tolerable risk values.
Who is ISO 20854 - Safety requirements for the thermal container for?
ISO 20854 on the safety of thermal containers for refrigerating systems using flammable refrigerants is useful for:
- Refrigerating system manufacturers
- Refrigerated box manufacturers
- Shipping/transportation companies
- Equipment owners
- Industry experts
Why should you use ISO 20854 - Safety requirements for the thermal container?
The background for initiating the development of ISO 20854 was the foreseeable impact of global and national regulations on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) currently used in thermal containers. Hydrofluorocarbons are listed in the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol from 2016 due to the high global warming potential (GWP) of HFCs and a phase-down in the use and availability of R134a, R404A and, for low temperature, R23, is expected in intermodal transport refrigeration.
ISO 20854 also describes an operational mode risk assessment (OMRA) which uses methods such as HAZOP (Hazard and operability analysis), FMEA (Failure mode and effects analysis), or FTA (Fault tree analysis) or a combination of methods.
ISO 20854 has been developed to enable the use of flammable refrigerants in refrigerated thermal containers. ISO 20854 enables container owners and operators to understand and validate the risks associated with operating refrigerating equipment using previously non-acceptable flammable refrigerants.
The goal of ISO 20854 is to achieve an acceptable level of safety for container refrigerating systems using flammable refrigerants as for container refrigerating systems using non-flammable refrigerants.
Finally, ISO 20854 describes the requirements of service and maintenance when working with flammable refrigerants
