ExPIC 2012 Presenter's Biodata

6th ExPIC, Kuala Lumpur 2012

Dr. Frank Lienesch, PTB, Germany
Dr. Frank Lienesch is head of the Working Group "Explosion Protected Electrical Drive Systems" in the Physikalisch-Technischen Bundesanstalt, a notified body in Europe for testing and certification of electrical and non-electrical equipment for hazardous areas. Dr. Lienesch is involved in the IEC standards committee for the types of protection "e" and "n". He is the chairman of the CLC TC 31 WG10 "Converter Drives" and the national coordinator for explosion protected electrical drive systems.

Gerhard Schwarz, Cooper Crouse Hinds GmbH, Germany
Gerhard Schwarz is responsible for R & D Explosion protected light and switchgear in Cooper Crouse Hinds GmbH and also responsible for the worldwide certification of hazardous area products. Mr. Schwarz is also involved in numerous IEC standards committees for electrical products used in hazardous areas. He is Chairman of the German committee (Electrical apparatus for use in hazardous areas). Convener of the IEC Maintenance Team on Encapsulation m, Head of the German delegation in IEC TC 31 General requirements, and also member of IEC committees dealing with the different types of protection such as flameproof, increased safety and intrinsic safety.

Dr. Michael Wittler, exam, BBG Pruf- und Zertifizier GmbH, Germany
Born in 1960, studied electrical engineering in Dortmund, joined DMT (ancestor of EXAM) in 1992. Since 2002 head of the Expert Body for Safety of Electrical Equipment - BVS of EXAM, Notified Body in Europe and member in the IECEx scheme.

Ir. Mohamad Faudzi b Mohd. Yasir, Petronas, Malaysia
Ir. Mohamad Faudzi is currently PETRONAS Electrical Group Skill Advisor and Custodian (Electrical), attached with Group Technology Solutions, R&T Division since 2006. Graduate in 1986 and posses a Degree in Electrical Engineering (Power) from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Start his career as Electrical Engineers in few organisations such as Shell Refinery, and Sime Darby Engineering before he joined PETRONAS in 1998 as Staff Engineer.

In his current position, he is the technical authority and leads PETRONAS Group Electrical fraternity setting groupwide standards practices, coaching of junior engineers for capability development and drives technology strategic development of Electrical engineering. He has published several technical papers in local and international journal especially in the area of new technology applications and operation reliability and integrity.

He is current the Chairman of National Ex Management Committee, Chairman of Technical Committee of Electrical Rotating Machinery TC31, member of ISCE 2 (Industrial Standard Committee - Electrical) and Chairman of Joint Industry Study for Lightning Protection System.

Part of his social obligation, he is adjunct lecturer to few universities including UTP, and UTM, focus on Electrical Engineering and Professional etique.

Field of work: assessment and testing electrical equipment for use in explosive gas and dust atmospheres. Member of German and European committee for explosion protected apparatus and involved in IEC standardization groups for general requirements, flameproof enclosures and dust ignition protected apparatus.

Peter Thurnherr, thuba Ltd., Switzerland
Born in 1950, studied mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and business administration in Basel, B.Sc. diploma. The company, which was founded in 1932, has been manufacturing explosionproof electrical apparatus since 1955. In full charge of the company since 1977.

Field of work: design and production of electrical apparatus for gas and dust explosive atmospheres in all types of protection. Chairman of Technical Committee TC 31 in Switzerland, Member of International TC 31 Working Groups and Maintenance Teams: General Requirements ICE 60079-0, Increased Safety ICE 60079-7, Non-Sparking IEC 60079-15, Risk of Ignition of Optical Radiation IEC 60079-28, Trace Heating IEC 62086-1 and IEC 62086-2. Convenor of Electrical Installations in Hazardous Areas IEC 60079-14.

V R Harindran, Petronas, Malaysia
Mr.V.R.Harindran graduated with a B.Sc. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from U.K. in 1984. He is a registered Professional Engineer with the Board of Engineers, Malaysia. He is also a Chairman of Malaysian Standards Committee on Working Group for IEC 61508 / 61511 standards and a member of the Malaysian Standards Technical Committee on the use of electrical apparatus in hazardous environment.

Mr. Harindran is currently Custodian Engineer, Instrumentation & Control, with the Research & Technology Division, PETRONAS, providing consultancy and technical advisory services to the PETRONAS Group. He is also the instrumentation Skill Group Advisor for PETRONAS.

Prior to joining the Research & Technology Division, PETRONAS, Mr. Harindran was the Senior Manager, heading the instrumentation and managing asset maintenance at the PETRONAS LNG Complex at Bintulu, Sarawak, the world’s largest LNG complex in a single location.

Wal Robson, IECEx Secretariat, Australia
Wal joined the IECEx Secretariat during 2005 following a lengthy and distinguished career with Standards Australia.

Wal's career with Standards Australia included, among many the following key roles:

Projects Manager for Committee EL/1 - AS 3000 Wiring Rules (1991 and 2000 editions)

Australia's Head Delegate to the first two meetings to establish the IECEx Certificate of Conformity Scheme.

Secretary IEC Technical Committee TC/99 - High voltage installations.

In his early career Wal was involved with major marine, industrial and commercial electrical installation. He supplemented his electrical experience with a Master of Business Administration.

Wal is a member of the IECEx Executive Secretariat team with a primary role of management of the on-line IECEx Certificate of Conformity website.