What is UL508A Industrial Control Panel Certification?
It is a UL certification of an assembled industrial control panel that satisfies the requirements of UL508a standards, the panel must first be designed to meet those standards. Here are some of the requirements you must meet to achieve UL508a certification on your panel:
- Components: Critical components used in the panel design must be from UL “listed” or “recognized” sources that are certified.
- Circuit protection: The design must have built into it the required circuit protection to prevent the possibility of electrical shock danger to the user or the panel.
- Labeling and identification: Conductors and components must be labeled according to the standard for easy identification.
- Spacing: The panel must be designed with specified electrical spacing for safety purposes.
- Regional electrical codes: The panel must be designed with full compliance to these codes.
Once the panel design has been confirmed to be UL508a compliant, it is then up to the certified panel shop to build the product according to the design specifications. Many local building inspectors will require an industrial control panel to have a UL508A label or they will not allow it to be activated.
What’s involved with providing UL508A Certification?
To be certified, a contract manufacturer must be trained in the UL standard and maintain that certification annually. With a UL508a certification, the contract manufacturer will be able to build industrial control panel equipment that will include the enclosures and sub-panels of the system. It also includes different types of control circuits, such as overload relays, circuit breakers, selector switches, indicator lights, and push-buttons. Along with that, of course, are all of the associated terminals and wiring that must be connected within the product.
Having a UL mark on your product is a valuable thing. First of all, it shows that you’ve designed your panel according to exacting UL standards. That mark will help to build the confidence of your customers by demonstrating that your product has a robust design.
Second, the UL mark will show that the panel has been built according to the same tough standards. Your customers will know that the layout of the wires in the panel as well as how they are cut and connected is done according to a controlled cabling method.
ASG is a UL508A certified panel shop. Our team offers complete design and build services for a variety of industrial control panels (ICP) for the manufacturing industry. The UL Mark is one of the most recognized, accepted and trusted symbols in the world. It means that a not-for-profit, independent laboratory has tested samples of our products to safety requirements. It’s your assurance of conformity to a recognized standard to provide quality panels.
- UL 508A certification provides the inspection authority and the customer evidence that control panels comply with nationally recognized safety standards. These standards ensure safety, and provide assurances that the electrical control panel is compliant with national and local electrical codes.
- UL 508A certifications are subject to periodic unannounced inspections of facilities by UL personnel. Through periodic audits, UL can insure that processes continue to meet the UL requirements for 508A certification.
- For a control panel to carry the UL 508A listing mark, the panel must contain only UL recognized and listed components. The UL mark on a component means that UL has evaluated and tested samples of this component and has concluded that they meet the UL requirements. This protects the quality and integrity of the enclosure and provides evidence of safe performance.
- The third edition of UL508A ICP certification which goes into effect July 1, 2020 requires each panel shop to have an MTR (Manufacturing Technical Representative) on site who must take a 4 hour test and pass in order to maintain the panel shop UL508A certification status.
- Issuing of the UL508A name tag can only be applied to the ICP at the panel shop site and all the assembly work must be done by the UL508A certified assembly shop. This is a serialized label and every shop must maintain logs of all label that have been issued. If UL508A certification is required after a panel is built and is at a customer site to can be done by UL at an added cost.
We are a certified UL508A panel and integration shop with a team that brings extensive experience and quality to our panel projects. Our engineering expertise enables us to build highly sophisticated, fully-integrated PLC/HMI-based systems for a variety of applications. UL508A certification means that UL inspectors conduct periodic checks of our facilities to ensure that you receive the highest quality products.
