# Sidley Austin LLP — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation - **operation:** document - **citation:** 18-0105 - **title:** Sidley Austin LLP — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation - **source type:** guidance - **agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration - **status:** guidance - **official:** true - **published on:** 2018-10-15 - **effective on:** Not available - **summary:** 18-0105 response to Sidley Austin LLP concerning 173.185. - **machine formats:** - **json:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-18-0105.json - **markdown:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-18-0105.md - **app url:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-18-0105 - **source url:** https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/docs/standards-rulemaking/hazmat/interpretations/69566/18-0105public.pdf **body:** <<>> U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 OCT 1 5 2018 Judah Prero Counsel Sidley Austin LLP 1501 K Street NW Washington, DC 20005 Reference No. 18-0105 Dear Mr. Prero: This letter is in response to your July 11, 2018, email requesting clarification of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) applicable to the classification of a lithium ion battery contained in a computer server power converter. You describe a power converter that functions to convert externally supplied electricity from an alternating current to direct current for the operation of a computer server. The power converter also contains a 32-volt (V) lithium ion battery to supply emergency power to the computer server in the event of external power failure. You ask whether the power converter with a lithium ion battery installed should be classified as "UN3480, Lithium ion battery" or "UN348 l, Lithium ion battery contained in equipment" when it is shipped to the server assembler. The power converter must be classified as "UN3480, Lithium ion battery" when shipped to the server assembler. For the purposes of lithium batteries, "equipment" is defined in § 173.185 as "the device or apparatus for which the lithium cells or batteries will provide electrical power for its operation." The battery's purpose in the converter is to supply emergency power to the computer server; thus, it must be transported using a proper shipping name that most appropriately describes the battery type housed in the power converter. However, once the power converter is installed into the computer server, the completed device, when transported, would be classified as "UN3481, Lithium ion battery contained in equipment." I hope this information is helpful. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, . t,~ rrk rKin~ _ Chief, Standards Development Branch Standards and Rulemaking Division <<>> Please check in this attachment as a letter of interpretation and assign it to me. Thanks! Eamonn From: Prero, Judah [mailto:jprero@sidley.com] Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2018 11:52 AM To: Patrick, Eamonn (PHMSA) Subject: Request for Interpretation Eamonn - got a better understanding of this equipment - but my client decided it wanted to submit a formal request for an interpretation. Attached, please find that letter. Can you please forward it to the appropriate individuals? Thank you again! Judah JUDAH PRERO Counsel SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP +1 202 736 8451 iprero@sidley.com From: Patrick, Eamonn (PHMSA) Sent: Monday, June 25, 2018 10:58 AM To: Prero, Judah < iprero@sidley.com> Subject: RE: Follow up Judah, I should be available most of the day. Eamonn ********* ********* ********** This e-mail is sent by a law firm and may contain information that is privileged or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete the e-mail and any attachments and notify us immediately. 1 <<>> 0 U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration 1200 New Jersey AVenue, SE Washington. D.C. 20590 NOV 1 1 201! Mr. Kendall Wilcox Data Domain, DRS Division of EMC Corporation 2421 Mission College Blvd. Santa Clara, CA 95054 Ref. No.: 12-0137 Dear Mr. Wilcox: This responds to your June 24, 2012 letter requesting clarification of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) applicable to the requirements for lithium batteries. In your letter, you describe a 7.2V battery pack that consists of two United Nations (UN) Manual of Tests and Criteria (UN 38.3) tested lithium ion cells connected in series. The battery pack itself has been tested under section 38.3 of the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria and incorporates protective circuitry. You install these battery packs in your syslems, which incorporate a charging circuit. You state that there arc between 3 and 6 battery packs on each system, each wilh its own identical charging circuit. The packs are connected in parallel lo provide 7.2V power and are protected via fusing and diodes to prevent reverse currents between packs. ln addition, the packs and chargirtg circuits have been evaluated for compliance with UL2054 battery regulations. You ask if the fin~I connected system, as shown in your attached diagram, must be evaluated to the UN 38.3 transportation test. If so, you ask whether every syste'm needs to be tested or can a single system be used to represent all of them, assuming all of the protection circuitry is identical. It is the opinion of this Office that in your scenario, each bat.tcry assembly, with different numbers of batlery packs, would not require additional testing under UN 38.3. Based on your scenario, the final connected system you describe does not appear to be a ball.cry . assembly as described in UN 38.3(f). Under this section, the battery assembly is not required to undergo tests 3, 4, 5 and, in addition, test 7 in Lhe case of a rechargeable ba11ery assembly. ., .. J (;µ /l-1 ,,,, , t T " "' I hope this satisfies your inquiry. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely, T, Glenn Foster Chief, Regulawry Review and ReinvcrHion Branch Standards and Rulemaking Division I I f <<>> SIDLEY SIDLEY AUSTIN LLP 1501 K STREET, N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20005 +1 202 736 6000 +1 202 736 8711 FAX AMERICA • ASIA PACIFIC • EUROPE JPRERO@SIDLEY.COM +1 202 736 8451 July 11, 2018 Mr. Dirk Der Kinderen Chief, Standards Development Branch Standards and Rulemaking Division Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration United States Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue Washington, DC 20590 Re: Classification of power conversion equipment that contains batteries Dear Mr. Der Kinderen: I write to you on behalf of my client seeking clarification as to the Hazardous Materials Regulations ("HMR") classification of their product as "UN 3481, Lithium Ion Batteries contained in equipment." My client manufactures what is essentially a power converter (the "Equipment") that is used in conjunction with computer servers. The Equipment functions to convert AC electrical charge provided by the electrical utility into a DC charge that is utilized to power the computer server. By itself, the Equipment provides no power; It merely functions to convert the power input to a usable current for the attached computer server. However, in order to address the circumstance where there may be a power failure and to ensure that the server may continue to operate, the Equipment also contains an emergency back-up battery. This battery is also connected to a converter. When the AC current provided by the electrical utility stops flowing due to a power failure, the emergency battery backup in the Equipment will be activated and its power will be converted and power the server until the regular power supply is restored. As mentioned, the Equipment is not intended to be a power source. The enclosed attachment illustrates what the Equipment is and how it functions. In Figure 1, the small metal box in the.rear left corner is the Equipment. The power source is connected to the back of this box. This box, which is approximately 12 in. x 7 in. x 1.5 in., is placed on the rear of a "tray." In the front of the tray is the server, comprised of processors and the printed circuit board. The box, which is the Equipment, is connected to the server. Approximately 30-40 of these server "trays" are placed in a cabinet, and these trays are connected to a computer network from the front of each tray. Figure 2 illustrates how the Equipment functions. An AC electrical charge, as indicated by the solid black arrows, comes in through the rear of the Equipment (black box on lower left), then proceeds Sidley Aultin (DC) UP 11 a Delaware imllod HablNty partnerlhlp doing bUsiness as Sidley Aullin UP and pradidng In affiliation with other Sidley Aullin partnerships. <<>> SIDLEY Mr. Dirk Der Kinderen July 11, 2018 Page 2 through the converter, and then flows out as DC charge via a connector to the server. As discussed, there is also the emergency back-up battery, labelled as "8 Cell 32 V Battery," which is connected to a converter as well, and provides DC charge only when the regular power source is interruptec;I. The Equipment is not a source of power and is not intended to function as a standalone source of power. Accordingly, it appears that, under the HMR, the Equipment could be appropriately classified as "UN 3481, Lithium Ion Batteries Contained in Equipment'' as opposed to "UN 3480, Lithium Ion . Batteries" when being shipped to the server manufacturer. We seek your clarification on this matter of classification. Thank you for your assistance. Please let me know if any additional information is needed. Sincerely, Judah Prero Attachment <<>> NVie SSDs Up to (8) M:2 This smaller metal bo represented In Figure 2 whicha not to scale) DDRA DIMMS Next Gen CPUs king Up to (3) FHHL PiCle x16 Cards <<>> Page4 Figure 2 Server Blade MoUI Box ------------------------·--------------------------------------------------------------- r-p';;;;;;'i;;,,;;:.:.-;;,-;;-----------------------------------------1 I ,, I I I I I I .: . , I I I I I I I I ,, I I I I I I Satte,y M11N1tmenl SY5tem 3ZV DC to 12VOC Converter 8 Ceit 32V Battery Sipoland Pata Connector ; "-·-,---...! I I I - -·-A- - • , OCOutput . p.,_ Co