National Fluid Power Association (NFPA)

The National Fluid Power Association (NFPA) authors standards for manufacturers and suppliers in the fluid power industry. The organization’s goal is developing international standards for the global marketplace, especially in the areas of design for interchangeability, testing, rating methods, safety, communications and calibration.

The NFPA categorizes its standards into three areas:

Communication standards define terminology, symbols and other communication tools that are used in the fluid power industry. These standards provide glossaries, graphic symbols, metric units and dimension codes.

Design standards outline dimensions, tolerances or other physical characteristics of products. They ensure that fluid power products meet dimensional requirements, enabling interfacing and interchangeability.

Performance standards determine voluntary methods of product ratings. These include pressure ratings, particle counting methods used in contamination analysis and methods of testing for strength and volume.

NFPA standards apply to many aspects of fluid power, including the following:

• Accumulators 
• Cylinders
• Hydraulic valves
• Pneumatic valves and conditioning (including pneumatic systems)
• Ports
• Pressure rating
• Testing (including reliability)

The NFPA offers more than 85 standards documents that establish communication, design and performance standards.