• • • HAZARDOUS AREA EQUIPMENT • • •
Close to the wire: How smart heat- tracing solutions are optimising hazardous area operations
By Robert Kuipers, product manager industrial heat tracing controls, EMEAI at nVent O
ver the past five years, the hazardous area equipment market has grown exponentially, from USD 6.24 billion in 2016, to a
predicted USD 8.82 billion by the end of 2022. This ongoing expansion has boosted sales across all product segments, but the category that has witnessed the largest growth by far is cabling solutions. From oil and gas production to chemical
processing, heat tracing cable systems are a critical component of virtually every process- orientated industry. As demand for electric vehicles, alternative fuels and drone technologies continues to rise, so too will the need for hazardous area cabling equipment that allows manufacturers to capitalise on growth opportunities, safely. Though safety remains paramount, manufacturers should also look for products that can boost ROI and optimise their operations long-term. Let’s take a closer look at the current and
emerging challenges facing industrial manufacturers, and how nVent’s portfolio is evolving to provide smart solutions.
Ensuring safety and reliability The most pressing issue hazardous area manufacturers must contend with is, well – hazards. According to the leading explosive zone safety standards – ATEX and IECEx – an explosive atmosphere is any location where a dangerous gas, vapour or dust reaches a high enough concentration in the air to cause an explosion, if ignited. Under EU directives, these areas can be further divided into zones numbered 0-2, with zone
0 representing the highest likelihood and duration of an explosive atmosphere. Ensuring all equipment is fully ATEX/IECEx-compliant is not just a matter of health and safety, it is also a legal requirement, especially in regions like the EU. As a potential ignition source, electrical components, such as heat tracing control terminals, present their own unique hazards, making it critical for organizations to choose solutions that are tested and certified for use in specific applications. Leading equipment manufacturers are helping
producers navigate these safety requirements with advanced solutions, such as the nVent RAYCHEM Hazardous Area Panels. From cable glands to power terminals and user interfaces, each component inside these heat-tracing panels is designed, manufactured and tested for use in Zone 2 applications by nVent at its UL-certified production facility. A rigorous quality assurance process like this is vital for ensuring compliance with ATEX/IECEx standards for electrical components, and should feature highly in producers’ priority lists when choosing an equipment supplier.
Space, cost and
cabling concerns Every square-inch of facility space counts in industrial manufacturing, not only to maximise efficiency and profitability, but also reduce total installed costs (TIC). Heat tracing systems, though vital for the maintenance of most industrial processes, have traditionally been a major drain on space within plants. Complex cold and signal cabling is often needed to connect heat tracing
cables back to control panels, which themselves must feed into a central control room housing a large main control terminal. This cable infrastructure can be costly and difficult to install, raising TIC while taking up valuable space within control rooms. With a more space-efficient internal layout and
the opportunity to install in-field close to the heat- tracing circuits themselves, solutions like the nVent RAYCHEM Hazardous Area Panels offer significant space savings in control rooms and substations. Local installation eliminates the need for extensive cold or signalling cables, while the option to install wireless or internet-enabled control units further reduces TIC, resulting in a streamlined and cost-effective cabling infrastructure. Meanwhile, because the panels are designed and manufactured in-house by nVent, this also affords greater flexibility and options for customisation – even late into the production phase, nVent is able to make tweaks to the panel to better suit a project’s needs or budget.
Future-proofing and
instant improvements Industrial manufacturers are always on the lookout for ways to improve operational efficiencies; whether that’s via enabling accurate, real-time temperature monitoring, identifying faults quickly before they can impact safety or production uptime, or simply reducing energy usage for greener operations. Beyond the here and now however, businesses are increasingly thinking ahead to how their facilities could grow and develop to meet future market conditions, letting this guide their purchasing decisions when it comes to new equipment. In response, equipment manufacturers are
developing solutions that offer tangible improvements today, along with the long-term reliability and scalability to ensure the system continues to pay dividends for years to come. RAYCHEM Hazardous Area Panels exemplify this design methodology – providing immediate efficiency optimisation through continuous real- time system monitoring, smart pre-set alarms and easier in-field monitoring through a touch screen user-interface. With the option to incorporate wireless communication controllers, the panels make it quick and easy to incorporate new cabling systems as a plant expands. The panels can also be equipped with smart heat tracing controllers which offer the data driven-insights producers need to make the incremental improvements that add up to big wins in the future.
nVent 16 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • OCTOBER 2021
www.nVent.com/RAYCHEM
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
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