IEC 61386.

Overview

IEC 61386 is the international series of standards for conduit systems — the tubes and fittings that protect and route electrical cables through walls, floors, machinery and outdoor installations. It sets the requirements a conduit system must meet to keep the cables inside it safe and serviceable.

A conduit has to protect cables from crushing, impact, heat, moisture and fire while remaining easy to install, so the standard classifies each system by how it performs against these stresses rather than by a single pass or fail. This classification lets a designer choose a conduit matched to where it will be used.

Scope & Applicability

The series applies to conduit systems for cable management in electrical installations, with a general part setting common requirements and further parts covering rigid, pliable, flexible and buried conduit types. A system is described by its declared classification — for compression, impact, temperature, bending and other characteristics — so products can be compared on a like-for-like basis.

Test Methods

Conformity is shown by classifying the conduit against a set of mechanical and fire characteristics:

• Compression and impact — the conduit is loaded and struck to confirm it protects the cables inside under the forces of its installation class.
• Flame propagation — a vertical flame is applied to confirm that the conduit does not spread fire beyond a defined length once the ignition source is removed.

The loads, impact energies, flame conditions and acceptance limits for each class are defined by the standard, so the test apparatus is configured to the conduit type and the class it is declared to.

Related Standards

IEC 61386 covers the conduit system as a product, while the wiring rules that decide where and how conduit is used belong to installation standards. The conduit's declared classification under IEC 61386 is what those installation rules refer to when specifying suitable cable protection for a given location.

Testing with ULMEKA

ULMEKA Mechatronics designs and manufactures compression, impact and flame-propagation test apparatus for conduit systems to IEC 61386, configured to the conduit type and classification the standard defines. The equipment below covers these checks; for a specific testing need, the requirements are confirmed at the proposal stage.