By Darrell Hyde
Certification requirements for Russia can be confusing to the uninitiated. Fortunately, Minco has the necessary experience and certifications to understand and provide TR CU certification (EAC mark), Metrology (= Pattern Approval) certification, Technical Passports and Poverka part verification certificates. Rarely are all of these required for a single purchase order but often more than one is requested.
TR CU (Technical Regulation of Customs Union) certification was formerly known as GOST. While GOST was required by each country, TR CU is usable by all countries in the Eurasian Economic Union (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia). Obtaining this certification allows products to carry the EAC mark (Eurasian conformity). To obtain TR CU, temperature sensors must first receive IECEx certification. Note that the TR CU certification would then mirror the IECEx certification; if you have IECEx eb, you could then obtain TR CU eb.
Metrology, or Pattern Approval, is also known as Metrology Pattern Approval (MPA) and Pattern Approval Certificate (PAC). This approval shows compliance with the requirements of the Russian Federation standards. Metrology is issued by the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Rosstandart). Metrology needs to be obtained separately for each country in the Customs Union although some of the smaller countries may accept Russian metrology if they are not able to wait the many months that may be required for a new certificate. To obtain Metrology, temperature sensors must first receive TR CU certification.
Technical Passports show the technical aspects of the temperature sensors as well as how to install them. Technical Passports may be tabulated (multiple sensors on a single passport) or supplied individually (one per temperature sensor) based on how and when the sensors will be used. The choice is up to the customer but if sensors could be used separately, the choice is usually individual passports since the passport is expected to be with the sensor during installation and throughout its life. Technical Passports are not a blanket approval, when required, each sensor in a shipment requires a passport and additional shipments require additional passports. For this reason, technical passports costs can be high.
Poverka = Primary verification for Russia. This is a series of tests/verifications to confirm that the measuring instruments are working within their stated accuracy limits. For temperature sensors, this requires the measurement and recording of the sensor’s output at five points equally spaced across the temperature range of the sensor. The measurement data is reviewed, and a certificate is issued. To be clear, every sensor is measured at five temperatures. For this reason, like Technical Passports, Poverka certificates are costly to obtain. To acquire Poverka, the temperature sensors must first have Metrology / Pattern Approval.
Minco has IECEx, TR CU and Metrology in place for miniature embedment RTD and thermocouple temperature sensors as well as for stator winding RTD temperature sensors. This allows immediate processing of any Technical Passport or Poverka needs for these sensor types. Additionally, Minco has IECEx certification for probes, probe assemblies and surface sensors. When temperature sensors require Russian certificates, use Minco’s existing certifications and expertise to save time and simplify your purchase.
To learn more, contact your Minco sales representative with your certification requirements.
