CSA Group Publishes Three Standards for Compressed Natural Gas Vehicle Fueling

CSA Group has published three standards that aim to advance the safety of natural gas vehicle fueling.  CSA NGV 4.3 – Guideline for Temperature Compensation for Compressed Natural Gas Vehicle (CNG) Fueling is the first-ever standard published to address fueling at extreme temperatures and provides guidance on proper temperature compensation. The bi-national standard addresses the minimum requirements for temperature compensation control used to prevent CNG dispensing systems currently installed in the field from exceeding a safe fill level of vehicle fuel storage containers. This development creates the opportunity for CNG vehicle and station operators, as well as dispenser manufacturers, to demonstrate that existing dispensing equipment complies with a published standard.

“This standard represents an advancement for the industry to now have guidance for verifying the performance of temperature compensation controls used in dispensing systems to prevent exceeding a safe fill level into compressed natural gas vehicle storage containers,” said Tony Lindsay, Director of Research and Development for Gas Technology Institute and Chair of CSA Group’s NGV 4.3 Task Force. “The standard is the result of contributions from a broad representation of the NGV industry and much hard work from CSA Committee members.”

CSA/ANSI NGV 4.1 – Compressed Natural Gas Vehicle (NGV) Dispensing Systems has been updated to include new CNG fueling technology used to dispense fuel directly into the vehicle’s on-board fuel storage container.

“Alternative energy sources like compressed natural gas allow a long-term future in energy production,” said says Dev Patel, Director of Business Development at Kraus Global Ltd., and Chair of the NGV 4.1 and 4.3 Technical Subcommittees. The publication of these standards will help ensure safe natural gas fueling. We would like to thank our dedicated team members for their continued hard work in creating thorough documents that will greatly benefit the safety of our industry.”

Lastly, CSA/ANSI NGV 5.2 – Vehicle Fueling Appliances (VFA) includes requirements for non-residential fueling appliances that incorporate compression and dispensing into a self-contained appliance, dispense directly into onboard vehicle storage, or deliver to external natural gas storage systems. A VFA is intended for private use in private commercial settings, such as fleet operations. The general public does not have access to VFAs. An NGV 4.1 dispenser is a device or system dedicated to dispensing fuel into vehicles and can be accessed by the general public.

The first edition of CSA/ANSI NGV 5.2 (re-designated as from CSA 12.6) contains updated coverage to remove overlapping or conflicting requirements with ANSI/CSA NGV 5.1 – Residential Fueling Appliances.

These standards complement CSA Group’s existing natural gas vehicle fueling series of standards. CSA Group and its members will remain active in the area of natural gas fueling infrastructure, including working to have the above standards referenced in the appropriate U.S. and Canadian codes, such as NFPA 52 and CSA B108.

Visit CSA group’s online store to purchase a copy of CSA/ANSI NGV 5.2-2017, CSA/ANSI NGV 4.1-2018, and CSA NGV 4.3-2018.

For information regarding participation on CSA Group’s standards development activities for natural gas vehicles, please contact Julie Cairns, julie.cairns@csagroup.org. For testing and certification questions related to compressed natural gas dispensers and components, please contact Trevor Perera, trevor.perera@csagroup.org.