'Ex' Guru wins Lord Kelvin Award
Author : Paul Gay
27 October 2009
Explosive atmospheres authority Uwe Klausmeyer of Germany was one of three joint winners of the 2009 Lord Kelvin Award, presented at a special ceremony in Tel Aviv last week. IECEx chairman, Klausmeyer was nominated for his significant contributions in the field of certification and standards relating to equipment used in hazardous areas. These include oil and gas refineries, gas stations, sugar refineries, grain handling and storage, waste treatment and much more.
Under Klausmeyer’s direction, conformity assessment for equipment in explosive atmospheres (Ex) has become a successful compliance tool for the many specialised industries involved in this area.
Named after the first President of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the Lord Kelvin Award has been granted annually since 1995 in recognition of exceptional work in the field of electrotechnological standardisation. This year’s award also went to Thomas Hanson of the USA for his work in fibre optics and Koichi Mori of Japan for important work in the environmental aspects of electrotechnical standardisation.
The Awards were presented by IEC President Jacques Régis during the IEC's 73rd General Meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel, where hundreds of experts are meeting for a week of technical and management meetings addressing topics including electrical energy efficiency and environmental standardisation.
As Chairman of IECEx – one of the three conformity assessment systems operated by the IEC – Klausmeyer has been able to unite numerous Ex experts from around the world. Together these form today the global network that is the foundation for the work of the IECEx. Under his direction more than 7,500 IECEx Certificates and Reports were issued for products and systems used in explosive atmospheres, dealing with safe and efficient overhaul and repair in hazardous environments.
Millions of products and systems depend on standards to function safely and efficiently. More than 10,000 experts from all over the world, mostly from industry, participate in the work of electrotechnical standardisation. The resulting standards cover anything from the +/- signs on a battery, the efficiency measurements of a PV cell, the safety of medical and household equipment, to the many standards that ensure the efficient use of renewable energy and the Smart Grid.