A General Overview of Global Electrical Standards

Thanks for the detail information for iec &jic symbol and more.

Many does not know what are the IEC, JIC standards using in AutoCAD Electrical all about. The following passage tries to bring out the essential information regarding this. If you appreciate this post, please post your comments and suggestions as a reply to this post.

This is a general overview of various electrical design standards currently in use in the United States of America and other parts of the world. In the U.S. ANSI-Y32.2 and IEEE-315 address the schematic symbols used for electrical design, while NFPA-79 and UL-508A deal with the safety requirements for industrial machinery. UL-508A deals directly with Industrial Control Panels while NFPA-79 addresses the entire machine.

The Joint Industrial Council (JIC) dissolved in the 1980s so the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) was invited to take over. The NFPA released NFPA-79 which incorporated the JIC standards with some updates. Your design must meet the safety requirements of NFPA-79 and UL-508A in order to obtain UL approval, just the same as CE approval will require adherence to IEC-60617, IEC-61346, and IEC-60204. IEC-60617, IEC-61346, and IEC-60204 cover industrial machinery design in Europe and other regions that now enforce IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standards.

ANSI-Y32.2 and IEEE-315 are similar to IEC-60617, dealing with the graphical look of the schematic symbols, however they also cover the class designations for component tagging. IEC-61346 governs the class designations for schematic symbols in IEC documents. ANSY Y32.2 and IEEE-315 have been slowly migrating toward a closer synchronization with IEC-61346 for class designations. However traditional ladder diagram schematics lean more toward the JIC and NFPA-79 class designations. I think a complete adoption of ANSI/IEEE class designations in North America would lead to confusion for those who have a history with ladder diagrams. The JIC/NFPA-79 standard is still very dominant in ladder diagrams and ladder diagrams are still the norm for control schematics in North America.

NFPA-79 and UL-508A are similar to IEC-60204 with respect to the safety aspect of machine and control panel design. Additionally NFPA-79, along with its subsequent updates, includes a list of class designations, which happen to be very similar to those used in the JIC standard that preceded it.

The electrical CAD software isn't the designer! We are responsible for designing to meet the required safety standards where the machinery will be installed. Compare AutoCAD Electrical� to a carpenter's hammer. The carpenter must know where and how to nail, but without the hammer the job would be more difficult and would take longer. Programs like AutoCAD Electrical� will support our design by offering appropriate symbols for either the U.S. or International markets. The JIC library in AutoCAD Electrical� is an appropriate symbol set to use for ladder diagrams, the dominant control schematic method in North America, while the included IEC library would have more International appeal.