3WS(Cape Town/Secretariat)1

For IEC use only

2005-10-04

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION

Technical Committee No. 3: Information structures, documentation and

graphical symbols

Occurrence-related marking of conductors

1 Introduction
The following proposal is the result of now and then upcoming questions of marking of conductors.

The document is intended for a short discussion at the TC3 workshop in the context of the revision
of IEC 61346. Depending on the reactions the proposal could be the subject of a NWIP.

2 IEC 391 Marking of insulated conductors

The publication IEC 391 Marking of insulated conductors, was issued 1972, under the responsibility
of IEC TC16.

The English version of the content of the publication is attached as Annex B.

The publication deals with the marking of conductors/cables in their role as constituents of an
equipment or installation, and is thus closely related to the application of the reference designation
system in accordance with IEC 61346.

The methods dealt with are:

a) Dependant marking
– Dependant local-end marking
– Dependant remote-end marking
– Dependant both-end marking
b) Independent marking
c) Composite marking
This is a quite different marking issue compared to those covered in e.g. IEC 60446 Identification of
conductors by colours or numerals or IEC 60227 Polyvinyl chloride insulated cables of rated voltages up
to and including 450/750 V – Part 1: General requirements

One use case for the standard is control equipment and cubicles in which there are many single
core conductors that need to be identified in both ends, another one is the identification of cables in
large installations.

Minor building installations are not typical use cases, as the identification of conductors by colours
and the identification of cable cores by colours or numerals is normally sufficient in this case.

The standard specified and a number of methods for marking by appropriate descriptions and
illustrations, but did not specify which of them to use and under which circumstances. From this
perspective it was not a very “strong” standard, but it limited anyway the number of applicable
methods and provided a means for clear identification of them.

The publication was withdrawn 1995 as a result of a systematic review. The result of this is documented in
16/353/RVS: There were three votes for maintaining it, 1 for revising it and 5 for withdrawal.

This result of the voting and the comments are summarized in Annex A.

3 The need
At larger industrial installations it is often considered necessary to apply a clear marking, especially
for cables and cable cores, but also for conductors in control cubicles and switchgear. A basic rule
is that if you cannot visually follow a conductor from one end to the other it has to be marked.

Two main methods are used practically:

• addition of a marking at the conductor or cable ends; or

• use of multi-coloured coded conductors (conductors with stripes).

IEC 60204-1 and IEC 60694 are examples of standards containing requirements for these kinds of
marking:

IEC 60204-1 Safety of machinery – Electrical equipment of machines –

Part 1: General requirements

14.2 Identification of conductors

14.2.1 General requirements
Conductors shall be identifiable at each termination in accordance with the technical
documentation (see clause 18). Annex B question 31 may be used for agreement between
supplier and user regarding a preferred method of identification.
Where colour-coding is used for identification of conductors, the following colours may be
used: BLACK, BROWN, RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE (including LIGHT BLUE),
VIOLET, GREY, WHITE, PINK, TURQUOISE.

NOTE - This list of colours is derived from IEC 60757.

It is recommended that, where colour is used for identification, the colour be used throughout
the length of the conductor either by the colour of the insulation or by colour markers. An
acceptable alternative may consist of additional identification at selected locations.

For safety reasons, the colour GREEN or the colour YELLOW should not be used where there
is a possibility of confusion with the bicolour combination GREEN-AND-YELLOW (see 14.2.2).
Colour identification using combinations of those colours listed above may be used provided
there can be no confusion and that GREEN or YELLOW is not used except in the bicolour
combination GREEN-AND-YELLOW.

…………

14.2.4 Identification of other conductors

Identification of other conductors shall be by colour (either solid or with one or more stripes),
number, alphanumeric, or a combination of colour and numbers or alphanumeric. When
numbers are used, they shall be Arabic; letters shall be Roman (either upper or lower case).
It is recommended that insulated conductors be colour-coded as follows:
– BLACK: a.c. and d.c. power circuits;
– RED: a.c. control circuits;
– BLUE: d.c. control circuits;
– ORANGE: interlock control circuits supplied from an external power source.

…………..

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 Annex B Question 31:

31. Do you need a specific method of conductor identification to be used for the conductors
referred to in 14.2.1? YES __ NO__Type___?___

IEC 60694 Common specifications for high-voltage switchgear and controlgear

standards
5.4.4.5 Requirements for auxiliary and control circuit components
5.4.4.5.1 Cables and wiring

……….

The method and extent of identification of conductors, for example by numbers, colours or
symbols, is the responsibility of the manufacturer. Identification of conductors shall be in
agreement with the wiring diagrams and drawings, and the specification of the user, if
applicable. This identification may be limited to the ends of the conductors. Where
appropriate, identification of wiring according to IEC 60445 may be applied.

From the examples can be seen that

– identification of the conductors is required;

– both the main methods are referred to in standards;

– both examples emphasize the relation to the documentation.

However, details of the marking are not specified anywhere and the means to specify “Type” in the
questionnaire in IEC 60204 is missing.

It is recognized that when the number of conductors/cables meeting in the same place in an
equipment or installation is low the use of only a few colours for single core conductors or the
colour coding or numbering of the cores in a cable might be sufficient, but this is not always the
situation.

Furthermore, from some comments contained in 16/353/RVS, it can be suspected that some
negative votes did not really consider the need of this standard by equipment and plant
manufacturers but only the needs by cable manufacturers.

4 Proposal
The subject of marking of conductors should be covered by an IEC standard.

A new standard should be clear with regard to the principles documented in the earlier IEC 391, but
also that the marking of a conductor could refer:

1. to the documentation;

2. to the terminals that it connects; or

3. to the function or signal it is intended for.

In the cases 1 and 2 the reference designations shall be used; for the conductor in case 1 and for
the terminals in case 2. The cases 2 and 3 illustrate a kind of “on site documentation” and should
possibly be restricted to become a supplementary marking.

Since the subject is closely related to the application of IEC 61346, it is suggested that it is
considered as part of the revision of IEC 61346, either to be integrated in an existing part or as a
new part on how reference designations are applied to objects, including conductors.

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An extension of IEC 61666, (presently dealing with Identification of terminals within a system), to
include both terminals and conductors could also be considered in connection with the forthcoming
maintenance of this publication.

An intermediate solution might be to “revive” the old IEC 391 or parts of it, and after minimum
editing for adaptation to the present IEC 61346, publish it as an IEC/PAS 60391.

Any concrete action should of course be carried out with appropriate involvement of IEC TC16.

5 Possible extension
A similar need for marking exists for pipes in pneumatic equipment. (Such pipes might be flexible
and in many ways possible to handle physically like electrical conductors.) Presently, no ISO
standard for marking exists in this area. It might be an advantage if similar principles for the
marking could be applied, and coordination with ISO might therefore be useful.

______________________

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 Annex A
Summary of 16/353/RVS

Comments to 16/353/RVS
Germany This IEC Recommendation is not used in practice.
Spain The standard is obsolete.
Finland The Publication IEC 391 should be revised in co-operation with TC3 taking into account the present
development of documentation.
United Standard not currently used. CENELEC and national standards used. (…) cable manufacturers use HD
Kingdom 364.
Norway Obsolete. Not in use anymore.
U.S.A We know of no standards that would use IEC 391.

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 Annex B
IEC 391: 1975 Marking of insulated conductors
This annex contains a scanned copy of the (odd numbered) English pages of IEC 391.

It consists of 14 pages.

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