Blogs
New Standard for Visors: EN-ISO 16321:2022

At Zweko Optics, we closely monitor changes in regulations and standards, especially those affecting the safety and performance of our products, which officially came into effect on November 11th, 2024.

What does this mean?

EN 166 states the basic properties that all eye protection products must meet. This standard is closely linked to EN 167:2001 and EN 168:2001, which specify optical and non-optical test methods. These norms stay into place. The EN-ISO 16321:2022 is a norm linked to protective eyewear used eye and face protectors. These protectors are intended to provide protection for the eyes and faces of persons against one or more common occupational hazards such as impacts from flying particles and fragments, optical radiation, dusts, splashing liquids, molten metals, heat, flame, hot solids, harmful gases, vapours and aerosols.

What does this mean for Zweko Optics? 

As a manufacturer of semi-finished products, such as visors and lenses integrated into helmets, we do not certify our products ourselves. This is typically done by our customers. However, we conduct extensive testing in our laboratory to ensure product quality and consistency, making this change in standards highly relevant to us.

Key changes between EN166 and EN-ISO 16321:2022

Several technical adjustments have been made in testing procedures, particularly for anti-fog (N-mark) and abrasion resistance (K-mark):

• Anti-fog testing (N-Mark):
  • Previous: Soaking in deionized water for 60-120 minutes at room temperature.
  • New: Soaking for exactly 120 +/- 5 minutes.
  • This change could impact certain products that met EN166 antifog criteria but may no longer comply with EN-ISO 16321:2022.

• Conditioning time after soaking:
  • Previous: Minimum of 12 hours.
  • New: Between 12 and 24 hours (practically, this means leaving it overnight).

• Humidity during conditioning:
  • Previous: 50% relative humidity (RH) at 23 +/- 5°C.
  • New: 30-80% RH, allowing for a broader range.

• Abrasion resistance testing (K-Mark):
  • Previous: Light transmission loss of <5 cd/m2-lx.
  • New: 8% wide-angle scatter measurement.

Our test result

Given the changes in the standard, we re-tested our products for anti-fog performance. Our three anti-fog solutions are ViewTec FRX, ViewTec FRC, and ViewTec FRD. Since ViewTec FRX did not meet EN166 anti-fog requirements, we focused on testing ViewTec FRC and ViewTec FRD.

Conclusion

Our tests confirm that both ViewTec FRC and ViewTec FRD continue to meet the anti-fog requirements of the new EN-ISO 16321:2022 standard. This reaffirms Zweko Optics‘ commitment to quality and innovation!