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SEVEN TIPS
If

for specifying sensors in hazardous environments

Its a dangerous world out thereespecially for sensors
youre designing in sensors in a hazardous application, you may want to get some tips from the experts. Weve consolidated tips from several sensor experts for designers encountering hazardous environments for the rst time. There certainly is not a lack of information available to those seeking more information about applying sensors in hazardous areas. However, that does not prevent confusion about hazardous sensor applications. When I talk to someone, I can usually gure out pretty quickly whether they are familiar with it or not, said Renard Klubnik, an applications engineer for Meggitt (Maryland) Inc. (formerly Wilcoxon Research). The questions are just different. Perhaps one of the rst things to understand is the meaning of hazardous environment. Nick Tolley, from FUTEK Advanced Sensor Technology, explains, As it applies in test and measurement, the term hazardous environment is most often used in particular reference to chemical hazards. For example, a hazardous environment is often an area in which a volatile (easily turns to gas) substance that is either corrosive or combustible is being used or processed. Identify the standards and certifying agencies that impact you. In many instances, insurance companies and local government dictate requirements for hazardous locations. They rely on criteria established by testing laboratories, standard institutes and certifying agencies. In North America, organizations that deal with standards and testing of materials used in hazardous areas include: American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Factory Mutual Research Corporation (FM) Instrument Systems and Automation (ISA) National Electric Code (NEC) National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Underwriters Laboratories (UL)

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Randy Frank

Contributing Editor

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SEVEN TIPS
Non-Hazardous Area
A separate safety

Hazardous Area Sensor or Other Simple Apparatus Approved

Safety Barrier

Control Room Equipment

barrier is used in the non-hazardous area to achieve an intrinsically-safe design.

Approved

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Other regions have their own standards and certication requirements. Europe, for example, has ATmosphres Explosives (ATEX), Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), International Trade of Electrical Equipment used in Explosive Atmospheres (IECEx) and GOST R certication for Russia. All of these agencies websites have a wealth of information about their requirements for hazardous areas. Understand the difference between the standards/certications, terminology and acronyms. As shown in Table 1, hazardous environments are classied by classes and divisions for North America and groups and zones in Europe. In North America, the classes are divided into groups. The group terminology is used for rating the explosive potential of the material in the environment, such as Group A ( for example acetylene), Group B (hydrogen), Group C (ethylene), Group D (propane), Group E (metal dust), Group F (coal), an Group G (grain). One of the essential terms for hazardous locations is intrinsically safe (I.S.) equipment that is incapable of releasing sufficient electrical or thermal energy to cause ignition of a hazardous environment mixture. If you look at the terminology out there, intrinsically safe is an indication of a Class 1, Division 1 environment, said Klubnik. A lot of times people say Im looking for an

intrinsically safe for Class 1, Division 2 and those two terminologies are incompatible with one another. Class 1 Division 2 is for less severe environments and is not intrinsically safe but it does involve nonincendive devices, those with insufficient energy to ignite a ammable mixture. Even though a sensor is classied Class 1 Division 1, you can use it in a Class 1 Division 2 environment but you must follow the rules for Class 1 Division 1 when installing it, said Klubnik. If you install one of our sensors in a Class 1 Division 1 environment, it requires the use of a safety barrier. If you put this sensor in a Class 1 Division 2 environment, you still need the safety barrier if you want it to be considered a certied installation. Explosion proof is another key hazardous area term. Also known as ameproof in Europe, these types of devices must contain any type of explosion within the sensors itself. For our sensors, there are three main categories, said Greg Montrose from American Sensor Technologies. (AST). Theres the explosion-proof rating, intrinsically safe and non-incendive or nonsparking. Measurement applications with combustible substances typically use either sealed or intrinsically safe sensors. Sealed is a term more common to force measurement while Intrinsically Safe is more common to pneumatic and hydraulic pressure measurement, said Tolley. Both terms basically amount to isolating the sensors electrical components from the surrounding environment so that electricity owing through the sensor cannot serve as activation energy to an exothermic (gives off lots of energy) reaction.

November 2013

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Classication by Classes and Divisions Explosive mixtures of air with: Class I: gases / vapors Type of Hazard Class II: dusts Class III: bers Division 1: An explosive concentration of the hazardous material may be continuously, intermittently or periodically present under normal operating conditions. Degree of Hazard Division 2: An explosive concentration of the hazardous material is present only under fault conditions and if such a condition occurs, it will exist only for a short period.

Classication by Zones Explosive mixtures of air with ammable gases or vapors. Group I: Mines where methane may be present Group II: Places with potentially explosive atmosphere other than mines susceptible to methane

Zone 0: An explosive air/gas mixture is continuously present or present for long periods. Zone 1: An explosive air/gas mixture is likely to exist under normal operating conditions for short periods.

Zone 2: An explosive air/gas mixture is not likely to occur under normal operating conditions and if such a condition occurs, it will exist only for a short period.

Table 1. The differences in classication by classes and divisions (used in North America) versus groups and zones (used in Europe).

AST manufactures pressure transducers, transmitters, and switches for hazardous locations, including explosion-proof, nonincendive and intrinsically safe areas.

Know the unique aspects of the specic transducer you are working with and the impact of a hazardous environment. Piezoelectric vibration transducers provide an example of a sensor with unique requirements. These sensors convert mechanical energy into electrical energy by stressing a piezoelectric crystal. The electrical energy output is a direct function of the transducer design and the mechanical energy input. Therefore, when a piezoelectric sensor is installed in a hazardous environment, it may need to be protected from shocks exceeding a set limit.

The PC420V-EX, explosion-proof rated, and 786T-IS intrinsically-safe piezoelectric vibration sensors from Meggitt are for hazardous locations.

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Know where the sensor is being installed. A sensor offered for sale in one country may wind up in a hazardous location in other countries. While approval agencies are working to harmonize standards, there are still subtle differences between agencies, countries and continents. In addition, terminology is not always interchangeable and there is no perfect pyramid describing the ow of highest ranking approvals. Also, onshore and offshore approvals can make a big difference in how a product is used. AST recently upgraded from ABS Design approval to ABS Type Approval, said Montrose. This involved a quality audit of our facility and quality management system to ensure that products were made to specications. The new approval helps marine industry customers expedite their documentation and qualication for offshore and ship use. Realize that the hazardous environment involves more than the sensor. In addition to certied sensors, there are certied Class 1 Division 1 cables, where a metal sheath provides the barrier, and Class 1 Division 2 cables as well as connectors for these environments, too. How do the pieces come together? Usually our response to that is that decision is made at the site by the plant engineer, said Klubnik. He is the guy who has to sign off on the installation. Montrose reinforces the concern for cables and connectors. The electrical conguration is probably the most crucial in terms of the UL and CSA certications, in terms of how can I connect to the sensor, he said. For explosion-proof certication, connectors at the sensor are not allowed, so leads that are potted into the housing provide a solution. AST46HA Class I Div 1 explosion-proof pressure transmitters have potted leads and are Single Seal approved. Courtesy of AST Sensors.

Switches are frequently used as threshold sensing devices. Maria Cancino, senior global product marketing manager at Honeywell acknowledges one of the approval problems for switches and other hazardous location products. Due to the complexity of achieving and maintaining worldwide approvals, many manufacturers limited safety approvals to their home region or country, she said. For customers and OEMs that supply end products requiring explosion-proof safety switching components to worldwide customers, meeting all applicable regional approvals could create a major drain of engineering and purchasing resources to locate, procure, and verify the regional components required. Honeywells solution to alleviate the need for multiple explosion-proof safety switch components by region is its MICRO SWITCH GSX series switch. Designed for use in hazardous applications requiring a positive-break safety mechanism, GSX series explosion-proof safety switch meets universal approvals certications (UL/CSA, ATEX and IECEx). The GSX safety switch may be applied in all countries requiring IECEx certication, which supersedes most other regional requirements.

Know the latest specication and qualication status. Keeping up to date on specications and product qualications is the penultimate tip. For example, North American approvals are changing from division to zone classications. This has not been nalized, but it is denitely something that needs to be taken into account. The fact that things are changing and moving constantly, keeping up with these types of certications is a challengenot only to the sensor manufacturers but also to the integrators as well to ensure they are meeting the latest codes, said Montrose. Another aspect to keep up to date on is the approval status of a suppliers or competitors products. For example, when Balluff achieved IECEx hazardous area approval rating for its Micropulse TA12 explosion-proof linear position transducer, it quickly added that to its products advantages.

Balluffs Micropulse TA12 explosion-proof linear position transducer now has an IECEx hazardous area approval rating.

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November 2013