ISO 10441-2007 specifies the requirements for couplings for the transmission of power between the rotating shafts of two machines in special-purpose applications in the petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries. Such applications are typically in large and/or high speed machines, in services that can be required to operate continuously for extended periods, are often unspared and are critical to the continued operation of the installation. By agreement, it can be used for other applications or services.

Couplings covered by ISO 10441-2007 are designed to accommodate parallel (or lateral) offset, angular misalignment and axial displacement of the shafts without imposing unacceptable mechanical loading on the coupled machines. It is applicable to gear, metallic flexible element, quill shaft and torsionally resilient type couplings.

ISO 10441-2007 covers the design, materials of construction, manufacturing quality, inspection and testing of special-purpose couplings.

ISO 10441-2007 does not define criteria for the selection of coupling types for specific applications.

ISO 10441-2007 is not applicable to other types of couplings, such as clutch, hydraulic, eddy-current, rigid, radial spline, chain and bellows types.