The jubilee of technical standardization in the House of Technology Ostrava

The event took place on 10 and 11 May 2022 within the Technical Standardization Commission at the Silesian Moravian Association of Scientific and Technical Companies and Branches z.s. in Ostrava in connection with the 100th anniversary of technical standardization in the Czech lands. The lecture part was opened by the manager of DT Ostrava and then by the chairman of the ČSTN association, who introduced the participants to the difficulties in their organizations during the pandemic and to the successful overcoming of this period.

The main block of lectures generally related to the history of technical standardization in the world and its development from the beginnings here in the Czech lands to the present day. The mentioned lecture by Ing. Tomáš Mlčák, Ph.D from VŠB-TU FEI, very concisely describing the chronological development of this field, is listed on the website of our association (www.cstn.cz). For information, I would like to inform you that in this jubilee year, the members of ČSTN have created quiz questions to popularize this sometimes neglected field, which can also be found on our website and test your own knowledge of the history and present of technical standardization.

We were once again visited by a representative from the Center for Energy and Environmental Technologies and at the same time the Energy Research Center at VŠB-TU Ostrava - Ing. Jan Skřínský, Ph.D, who gave an engaging presentation on the issue of the planned use of hydrogen in transport at MSK with a number of explanations of the terms green, blue, gray hydrogen, its purification during production, including already established technical standards in this field. The issue of preparing steel production from green hydrogen in Sweden was also discussed, where in 2030 the ironworks in Norrbotten is to produce 5 million tons per year with this technology!

In order to lighten up the professional topics from our field, Mgr. Petr Michník from Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech was invited, who devoted himself to an overview of the production of HYUNDAI vehicles in Nošovice and around the world with an emphasis on electromobility and also the issue of hydrogen vehicle development (the Hyundai Nexo is currently being produced, which is not yet sold in the Czech Republic due to the lack of a hydrogen filling station). In this context, it was announced that the first hydrogen filling station in the Czech Republic will be opened in May 2022 in the DOV Vítkovice area. The representative of HMMC further informed about the "Green deal" issue that the installation of photovoltaic cells on almost 80% of the roofs of production halls is currently being prepared in Nošovice. Surplus electricity will be used for the production of green hydrogen.

There was also a lecture on railway transport, delivered by Ing. Jan Čihák from the Railway Administration organization (formerly SŽDC). In many cases, it was graphically documented where technical standards are implemented, and the emphasis was placed on linking the activities of the standardization commissions CEN and ISO, without which railway cooperation in ensuring the operation of railway networks cannot do. We were also introduced to the planned corridors in the Czech Republic and there was also a discussion about the Italian railway network Frecciarossa, TGV and others.

The conclusion of the event traditionally, as in the past, belonged to the representative of the Steel Union Prague - Ing. Tatiana Ujházy, who gave us a report on how the steel industry performed during the pandemic and now during the military conflict in Ukraine. The interesting thing was the data about the drop in consumption in the EU during the pandemic (50%), about the current prices for emission allowances (80 EUR/t), the total production of steel in the world (1.95 billion t), of which 57% is China, Europe makes up 15%. We were introduced to the revised technical standards in the field of iron metallurgy and the work of the CTN (Centre of Technical Standardization), which is covered by the Steel Union Prague.

The discussion included interesting information from the organization ČAS (Czech Agency for Standardization) that starting from September 1, 2022, the ČSN technical standards fund will be made available free of charge to students of secondary schools and training institutions (similarly to how it already works for universities). From the Moravian-Silesian region, Frýdek-Místek SOŠ and SŠPU Opava are primarily interested in this news. Representatives of SSTN Bratislava also shared information about similar educational plans. We were also informed by the management of NORMSERVIS Hamry nad Sázavou that in the near future the ČAS organization will provide individual ČSN standards in electronic form (pdf). The representative of the company TEMA-IHS Praha informed us about packages of foreign technical standards for company online access, especially for pressure vessels, ferrous and non-ferrous materials, defectoscopy and others. It was also reminded that one of our members of the ČSTN association is participating in the preparations for the "Engineering Olympiad" organized by ČSVTS Prague (WEC 2023 - 7th Word Engineers Convention) on October 11-13, 2023 in Prague at the Palace of Culture.

When it was the jubilee, the accompanying program in Ostrava was chosen this time so that we would remember the celebrations. I chose the blast furnace circuit in DOV (Lower Vítkovice region), which excited everyone, and next year the coal circuit (Hlubina mine and coke plant) will certainly be on the program in this original multifunctional museum in Ostrava from the workshop of architect Josef Pleskot.

The conclusion belonged to the food giant in the Czech Republic, namely an excursion to the company MARLENKA, where we ended this jubilee event with a cup of coffee and treats from this company.

Note:

On 13/10/2022, ÚNMZ Prague is organizing the official celebrations of the 100th anniversary of technical standardization in the Czech lands, and our association ČSTN is preparing this year's final event on 30/11/2022 in Prague at the headquarters of ČSVTS Prague on Novotného lávka. The event program will be decided at the ČSTN general meeting and seminar in Čejkovice on September 12-13, 2022.

Ing. Gustav Chwistek

chairman of ČSTN

8.8.2022