§ 51.359 - Quality control.

§ 51.359 Quality control.

Quality control measures shall insure that emission testing equipment is calibrated and maintained properly, and that inspection, calibration records, and control charts are accurately created, recorded and maintained (where applicable).

(a) General requirements.

(1) The practices described in this section and in appendix A to this subpart shall be followed for those tests (or portions of tests) which fall into the testing categories identified. Alternatives or exceptions to these procedures or frequencies may be approved by the Administrator based on a demonstration of comparable performance.

(2) Preventive maintenance on all inspection equipment necessary to insure accurate and repeatable operation shall be performed on a periodic basis.

(3) [Reserved]

(b) Requirements for steady-state emissions testing equipment.

(1) Equipment shall be maintained according to demonstrated good engineering practices to assure test accuracy. The calibration and adjustment requirements in appendix A to this subpart shall apply to all steady-state test equipment. States may adjust calibration schedules and other quality control frequencies by using statistical process control to monitor equipment performance on an ongoing basis.

(2) For analyzers that use ambient air as zero air, provision shall be made to draw the air from outside the inspection bay or lane in which the analyzer is situated.

(3) The analyzer housing shall be constructed to protect the analyzer bench and electrical components from ambient temperature and humidity fluctuations that exceed the range of the analyzer's design specifications.

(4) Analyzers shall automatically purge the analytical system after each test.

(c) Requirements for transient exhaust emission test equipment. Equipment shall be maintained according to demonstrated good engineering practices to assure test accuracy. Computer control of quality assurance checks and quality control charts shall be used whenever possible. Exceptions to the procedures and the frequency of the checks described in appendix A of this subpart may be approved by the Administrator based on a demonstration of comparable performance.

(d) Requirements for evaporative system functional test equipment. Equipment shall be maintained according to demonstrated good engineering practices to assure test accuracy. Computer control of quality assurance checks and quality control charts shall be used whenever possible. Exceptions to the procedures and the frequency of the checks described in appendix A of this subpart may be approved by the Administrator based on a demonstration of comparable performance.

(e) Document security. Measures shall be taken to maintain the security of all documents by which compliance with the inspection requirement is established including, but not limited to inspection certificates, waiver certificates, license plates, license tabs, and stickers. This section shall in no way require the use of paper documents but shall apply if they are used by the program for these purposes.

(1) Compliance documents shall be counterfeit resistant. Such measures as the use of special fonts, water marks, ultra-violet inks, encoded magnetic strips, unique bar-coded identifiers, and difficult to acquire materials may be used to accomplish this requirement.

(2) All inspection certificates, waiver certificates, and stickers shall be printed with a unique serial number and an official program seal.

(3) Measures shall be taken to ensure that compliance documents cannot be stolen or removed without being damaged.

(f) SIP requirements. The SIP shall include a description of quality control and record keeping procedures. The SIP shall include the procedure manual, rule, ordinance or law describing and establishing the quality control procedures and requirements.

[57 FR 52987, Nov. 5, 1992, as amended at 58 FR 59367, Nov. 9, 1993; 65 FR 45533, July 24, 2000]