The Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI) (English: Association of German Engineers) is an organization of 139,000 engineers and natural scientists. Established in 1856, the VDI is today the largest engineering association in Western Europe.

The association promotes the advancement of technology and represents the interests of engineers and of engineering businesses in Germany VDI guidelines and their significance.

Approximately 190 guidelines based on the latest technical developments are produced by the VDI’s technical divisions per year. That way the VDI has systematically built up set of technical regulations, which today contains more than 1.800 valid VDI Guidelines extensively covering the broad field of technology. Today’s topics range from securing loads on road vehicles to testing of optical fibres up to biomimetics and monitoring of the consequences of genetically modified organisms.

VDI Guidelines play a very important role as pioneers for international standardization: Accessible for all market participants, they allow savings by reducing information and control costs as well as costs for adjustment and trading. Technical knowledge can spread faster. Standards thereby facilitate contractual arrangements, commercial transactions, and serve to reduce technical trade barriers. With the VDI Guidelines the VDI fulfils its primary function: the transfer of technical knowledge as a service to engineers and students.

Several new guidelines were published in June and July.

• VDI 2083/3.1 “Cleanroom technology; Metrology in cleanroom air; Monitoring”
• VDI 3807/5  “Characteristic energy-consumption of buildings; Partial characteristics for thermal energy” (Draft Guideline)
• VDI 3810/6 “Provision Operating and maintenance of building services; Lifts” (Draft Guideline)
• VDI 4707/2 “Lifts; Energy efficiency; Components” (Draft Guideline)
• VDI 6028/1.1 “Assessment criteria for Building Services; Technical quality for sustainable buildings” (Draft Guideline)
• VDI/GVSS 6202/1 “Decontamination of contaminated buildings and installations” (Draft Guideline)
• VDI 4708/1 “Pressure maintenance, venting, deaeration; Pressure maintenance”
• VDI 6036 “Fasteners of radiators; Requirements for planning and design”

For more information on each guideline, please visit www.vdi.eu.