What is' intrinsic safety '?

Protection methods used in potentially explosive air environments. The design purpose of the IS certification tool is to prevent the release of energy sufficient to ignite flammable materials. The IS standard applies to all equipment that can cause one or more defined potential sources of explosion.

• electric spark
• electric arc
• flame
• Hot surface
• static electricity
• electromagnetic radiation
• chemical reaction
• mechanical shock
• Mechanical friction
• Compression ignition
• Sound wave energy
• ionizing radiation

For which industries are essential safety products designed?

• petrify
• Oil platforms and refineries
• medicine
• pipeline
• Any environment where explosive gases or vapors may exist

The three key elements of combustion include:

• Flammable substances (gases, particles/dust)
• Oxygen/Air
• Ignition source

This type of combustion is very common in industries such as chemistry, petrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals. For example, the quantity of flammable materials required for ignition listed below indicates that only a small amount of flammable materials is needed to pose a danger to workers.

What are the norms and guidelines?

ATEX (Europe)

This directive is mandatory for electrical and electronic equipment sold in Europe on July 1, 2003 and used in environments affected by explosive hazards.

The ATEX directive is now adopted in *.

NEC (USA)

Certification bodies, examples

Factory Mutual

Canadian Standards Association (CSA)

ZELM

KEMA

Understand the product grade system

After evaluation, each approved intrinsic safety device should meet ATEX and NEC or Factory Manual standards. Through the corresponding rating system, you can understand which areas, protection types, gas groups, and temperature levels the instrument has been approved for.

For example, Fluke 707ex complies with ATEX's II 2 G Ex ia IIC T4

	The ATEX examination mark. This sign is required on all devices for use in European hazardous areas.
II 2 G	Regional classification. 'II' indicates that the tool has been approved for use in all non mining areas. '2' represents the category of the device, in this example, the device is evaluated and used in the second category of the most dangerous area. G "indicates the environment, which in this case is a gas, steam, and mist environment.
Ex	Explosion protection is based on European Ex regulations.
ia	Explosion protection type, in this case, the energy in the device or connector has been reduced to a safe value.
IIC	Gas group. The applicability of the "IIC" level indication to the most hazardous gas group.
T4	The temperature category refers to the maximum temperature that may exist on the surface.
	Factory Mutual classification example: Fluke 707ex is classified as N.I.Class 1, Div 2, Groups A-D, T4 by FM.
	The Factory Mutual approves the identification.
N.I.	Non flammable instruments have limited internal energy, so they will not ignite the environment during use.
Class I	Can be used with gases, vapors, and liquids (excluding dust, fibers, or filings).
Div 2	Certified for use in "Region 2", explosive gas environments that typically do not exist may exist for a short period of time in rare cases.
Groups A-D	After evaluation, it can be used together with explosive gases defined in groups A-D, including acetylene, hydrogen, acetylene, and propane.