FEATURE TEST & CERTIFICATION
CERTIFICATION FOR NON- ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT IN HAZARDOUS LOCATIONS
E
quipment used in hazardous locations, such as mines, petro-
chemical, pharmaceutical and food processing industries, should be safe and must not create unintentional sparks. Until recently, non-electrical
equipment was certified under the European EN 13463 series of standards and was therefore only applicable for areas of the world that would accept ATEX documentation. International versions, identical to the EN standards, have now been introduced, suitable for use within the world-wide IECEx certification scheme. Non-electrical equipment describes
any equipment that might have an ignition source that is not primarily of electrical origin. Equipment could, independently, create unintentional sparks or hot surfaces, primarily due to accidental frictional contact, and therefore could be a hazard. Two international standards for non-
electrical equipment have recently been introduced – ISO 80079-36 and ISO 80079-37. The IECEx scheme aims to create a globally-recognised safety certificate for all products that are used in hazardous areas. To avoid a conflict between the requirements for electrical and non-electrical equipment, ISO and IEC agreed that these standards should be developed under an ISO sub-committee of the IEC lead committee. Therefore, these standards are dual badged, being both ISO and IEC but having an ISO number. The ISO sub-committee work has created an assessment and testing standard, harmonised with the related electrical standards, to enable global certification of all products used in hazardous locations.
Non-electrical equipment is subject
to different types of testing, depending on the part of the standard to which the piece is being certified. ISO 80079- 36 covers the basic methods and requirements, and when certified a product is marked with the ‘Ex’ marking code ‘h’. ISO 80079-37 extends the technical
requirements to include three different protection types: constructional safety (c), control of ignition sources (b) and liquid immersion (k). The marking on the equipment that utilises any of these protection types remains ‘Ex h’. Electrical protection concepts, which
rely on the enclosure (flameproof ‘Ex d’, purged and pressurised ‘Ex p’ and dust exclusion ‘Ex t’) within the IEC 60079 series may also be utilised for non- electrical equipment. SGS, a certification specialist for
equipment intended for use in explosive atmospheres, has laboratories in the United Kingdom and the United States, staffed by a dedicated, highly-qualified team of engineers who can support you in the development and certification of all products used in hazardous locations. In addition to the recently added non-electrical products, SGS can provide testing to the following protection concepts for electrical equipment: Non-sparking (n); Flameproof (d); Powder filled (q); Intrinsic safety (i); Purge and pressurised (p); Dust exclusion (t); Oil immersion (o); Increased Safety (e); Encapsulation (m); and Optical radiation (op).
SGS
www.sgs.co.uk
Dust certification for panel lamps
BA390 intrinsically safe panel lamps from BEKA associates now have IECEx and ATEX dust certification in addition to their original gas approval. Permitting installation in all dust Zones, this additional certification further extends the applications for this extensive range of panel mounting LED lamps. Available in five different well defined colours, all the
lamps incorporate a 20mA current regulator which maintains a constant lamp brightness independent of supply voltage variations. Mounted in an industry standard 22.5mm diameter hole, the front of the lamp has IP66 protection making it suitable for installation in areas which will be washed with a hose. The lamps terminals have IP20 protection, which can be increased to IP66 by an optional BA599 rear sealing kit which includes a gland to seal and support the connecting cable. Also included in this range of panel lamps are very low
current intrinsically safe BA390S models which have been optimised to provide guaranteed performance at 4mA, but will continue to function at lower currents. These do not incorporate a current regulator and their high efficiency allows them to be powered by almost any intrinsically safe voltage source such as a logic signal, or an output from a multiple I/O fieldbus module. In addition to IECEx and ATEX certification, all
intrinsically safe models have FM approval for use in hazardous gas atmospheres. Uncertified BA590 models are available for applications
in non-hazardous areas. BEKA associates
20 WINTER 2018 | INDUSTRIAL COMPLIANCE
www.beka.co.uk / INDUSTRIALCOMPLIANCE
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