Electrical Installation in Explosion Risk Environments
Nowadays, in many industrial branches, explosive atmospheres such as gas, dust or flammable substance vapour occur during widespread operation. LPG, Natural Gas, Coal Mines, Grain Silos, Chemicals, Sugar Factories, etc., which contain such flammable, flammable and explosive risks. electrical installations are installed in environments resistant to the risk of explosion so as not to cause any spark or arc formation.
Gas environments with explosion risk are grouped according to the explosion hazard at the level of very dangerous Zone0, dangerous zone1 and relatively less dangerous Zone2. In the Zone 0 zone class, explosive substances are found intensively during normal operation, these substances are occasionally encountered at the Zone1 level, and it is stated that these substances will be encountered rarely at the Zone 2 level.
Dust environments with explosion risk are grouped according to the explosion hazard at the level of very dangerous Zone20, dangerous zone21 and relatively less dangerous Zone22. In Zone 20 zone class, explosive dust substances are found intensively during normal operation, these substances are occasionally encountered at Zone 1 level, and it is stated that these substances will be encountered rarely at Zone 2 level.
After determining the zone class for the places with explosion risk, electrical installations are made with explosion-resistant products suitable for these zones. The fact that a product is resistant to explosion is expressed briefly as Exproof with the words Explosion + Proof. It is checked whether the exproof products to be used have ATEX certificate. On the label of the product, which hazard class it is suitable for, whether it is resistant to gas explosion or dust explosion, exproof protection class, equipment category according to the industrial branch to be used, temperature, etc. values are included. After the exproof product selection is made according to this label, the wiring part will be started.
Since cables and pipes, which are the other components of the installation, are not considered as a source of failure, there are no special exproof cables and pipes. Electrical installation cables can be used as armoured/unarmoured. IMC or RSC can be preferred as pipes. During the installation of exproof products, exproof glands suitable for the product are used to prevent any sparks or arcing.
With all these works, the risk of explosion and arc formation is minimised both by product selection and by assembly and wiring. Especially in order to prevent loss of life and property, maximum importance should be given to the electrical installation of exproof areas and the most risk-free options should be preferred.
