Current through November 30, 2024
Section 1060.235 - What testing requirements apply for certification?This section describes the emission testing you must perform to show compliance with the emission standards in subpart B of this part.
(a) Select an emission-data unit from each emission family for testing. If you are certifying with a family emission limit, you must test at least three emission-data units. In general, you must test a preproduction product that will represent actual production. However, for fuel tank permeation, you may test a tank with standardized geometry provided that it is made of the same material(s) and appropriate wall thickness. In general, the test procedures specify that components or systems be tested rather than complete equipment. For example, to certify your family of Small SI equipment, you would need to test a sample of fuel line for permeation emissions and a fuel tank for permeation emissions. Note that paragraph (e) of this section and § 1060.240 allow you in certain circumstances to certify without testing an emission-data unit from the emission family. Select test components that are most likely to exceed (or have emissions nearer to) the applicable emission standards as follows: (1) For fuel tanks, consider the following factors associated with higher emission levels: (i) Smallest average wall thickness (or barrier thickness, as appropriate).(ii) Greatest extent of pinch welds for tanks using barrier technologies.(iii) Greatest relative area of gasket material, especially if gaskets are made of high-permeation materials.(2) For fuel lines, consider the following factors associated with higher emission levels: (i) Smallest average wall thickness (or barrier thickness, as appropriate).(ii) Smallest inner diameter.(b) Test your products using the procedures and equipment specified in subpart F of this part.(c) You may not do maintenance on emission-data units.(d) We may perform confirmatory testing by measuring emissions from any of your products from the emission family, as follows:(1) You must supply your products to us if we choose to perform confirmatory testing. We may require you to deliver your test articles to a facility we designate for our testing.(2) If we measure emissions on one of your products, the results of that testing become the official emission results for the emission family. Unless we later invalidate these data, we may decide not to consider your data in determining if your emission family meets applicable requirements in this part.(e) You may ask to use carryover emission data from a previous production period instead of doing new tests, but only if all the following are true:(1) The emission family from the previous production period differs from the current emission family only with respect to production period, items identified in § 1060.225(a) , or other characteristics unrelated to emissions. We may waive the criterion in this paragraph (e)(1) for differences we determine not to be relevant.(2) The emission-data unit from the previous production period remains the appropriate emission-data unit under paragraph (b) of this section. For example, you may not carryover emission data for your family of nylon fuel tanks if you have added a thinner-walled fuel tank than was tested previously.(3) The data show that the emission-data unit would meet all the requirements that apply to the emission family covered by the application for certification.(f) We may require you to test another unit of the same or different configuration in addition to the unit(s) tested under paragraph (b) of this section.(g) If you use an alternate test procedure under § 1060.505 , and later testing shows that such testing does not produce results that are equivalent to the procedures specified in this part, we may reject data you generated using the alternate procedure. 73 FR 59298 , Oct. 8, 2008, as amended at 86 FR 34529 , June 29, 2021