Overview
IEC TR 63044-2:2022 is a Technical Report that defines the environmental conditions applicable to Home and Building Electronic Systems (HBES) and Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS). It describes how manufacturers may declare environmental classes for devices and provides guidance on the climatic, chemical, mechanical and biological conditions these devices should withstand. This document supports manufacturer declarations and customer–manufacturer agreements and complements any applicable product standard (it does not replace product-specific requirements).
Key topics and requirements
- Scope and purpose: Environmental conditions for HBES/BACS devices when declared in product documentation; applies in addition to relevant product standards.
- Environmental categories: Uses environment classes as defined in Clause 6 and aligned with the IEC 60721-3 series (e.g., storage, transport, weather-protected controlled/uncontrolled, non-weather-protected, ship, portable/non‑stationary).
- Test standards: Test methods are those from the IEC 60068 basic series; specific climatic/chemical/mechanical/biological tests are referenced in the report.
- General test conditions:
- Devices are normally operational during tests (except for storage/transport tests).
- Tests are executed in the least favourable operating mode and as single tests in sequence.
- The most onerous functional modes are selected where not all functions can be tested.
- Performance criteria:
- Manufacturer defines functional descriptions and pass/fail criteria in test reports.
- No unintended change of state, loss of stored data, unintended functions or blocking of communication media is permitted.
- If a device becomes unsafe or dangerous as a result of testing, it is considered to have failed.
- Informative guidance: Annex A outlines common sets of environmental class combinations for practical application.
Applications and users
IEC TR 63044-2 is valuable for:
- Manufacturers preparing product documentation and declaring environmental suitability.
- Test laboratories implementing environmental test programs based on IEC 60068 methods.
- Product designers and reliability engineers selecting components and designing for expected environments.
- System integrators, specifiers and procurement teams defining contractual and installation requirements for HBES/BACS projects.
- Certification bodies and compliance teams as a reference when assessing environmental claims.
Practical uses include defining test scopes, choosing devices for specific locations (e.g., weather-protected controlled vs. non‑weather‑protected), and creating procurement specifications that reference declared environment classes.
Related standards
- IEC 63044 series (HBES/BACS family)
- IEC 60068 series (environmental testing methods)
- IEC 60721-3 series (classification of environment classes for storage, transport and use)
Keywords: IEC TR 63044-2, HBES, BACS, environmental conditions, climatic tests, chemical tests, mechanical tests, biological tests, IEC 60068, IEC 60721.