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Principles of intrinsic safety

Principle: ‘safe spark’ concept:


Limit spark energy to a non-incendive level;
Limit the temperature rise of components.
• Considers fault conditions:
– safe with indefinite minor faults & 2 major faults for EEx ia
– safe with indefinite minor faults and 1 major fault for EEx ib

• Typically,
– used for instrumentation
– low power equipment (usually less than 1.3W)

Intrinsic safety slide 1


Certification
• UK
– BS 1259 – until 1969

• Europe
– EN 50020:1977 (‘first edition’) + EN 50014:1977
– EN 50020:1994 (‘second edition’) + EN 50014:1997

• Other
– IEC 60079-11:1999 + IEC 60079-0:2000
– FM3610 + FM3600
– UL 913
– CSA-157

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Battery-powered equipment

• Only use the battery type specified on the label

• The wrong type may:


– overheat/explode/leak under short-circuit conditions
– fail the external separation requirements between + and -
– have insufficient internal resistance to limit current to a safe
level (sometimes relied upon)

• The wrong type will:


– invalidate the certification

Intrinsic safety slide 3


Fixed equipment- a typical I.S.
system
I.S. system

Instrument
Associated
apparatus
( barrier,
Power supply isolator, etc.)
250 Vac max. I.S. circuit

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Associated apparatus

Current (mA)
5000
Two main types:
- zener barriers Graph of ignition current
against voltage for hydrogen.
- galvanic isolators
Function: Permitted current is 2/3 of
the ignition current.
- to limit the current into the
hazardous area to a safe level
at the given voltage
- prevent mains breakthrough 180

12 28 Voltage

Intrinsic safety slide 5


Zener barriers

fuse
current-limiting
resistor

zener diodes

I.S. earth required

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Barrier earthing
Instrument transformer

zener barrier

Barrier/I.S./clean earth
2 cables min 1.5 mm2
<1 ohm
For I.S. barriers only

switchroom bus-bar

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Galvanic isolators

No earth required for safety

resistor fuse ac/dc converter


= ~
~ =
zener diodes

Isolating

Intrinsic safety slide 8


Comparing barriers & isolators
Zener barriers Galvanic isolators
• ‘Barrier earth’ essential • No earth required for I.S.
• Second earth in • Use when earth in
hazardous area not hazardous area is
permitted required/unavoidable
• Earth fault in cable • Earth fault in cable does
affects signal not affect signal
• Preferred for Zone 0

Intrinsic safety slide 9


Intrinsically safe hazardous
area apparatus
Question: If an instrument is fed from a barrier
or isolator, why does it usually need to be
certified?
Answer: because the instrument may:
– store energy in capacitors and inductors
– contain a voltage doubling IC
– get too hot under fault conditions
– have other sources of supply, e.g.
• battery back-up
• photocell
• additional inputs

Intrinsic safety slide 10


Simple apparatus
Simple apparatus must not generate or store more than
1.5V 100mA 25mW 20J
Examples
– terminals
– switches
– thermocouples
– resistance thermometers
– LEDs
– photocells
• Certification not required, but should be marked to indicate item
is part of an I.S. circuit
• I.S. requirements for 500V isolation and separation still apply

Intrinsic safety slide 11


Certified systems
• The certification body issues certificates for:
– the instrument and
– the system (instrument + associated apparatus)
• In addition to the required apparatus certification
marking, the system information should also be
displayed in a prominent place (e.g. on the
instrument)
SYST
Sira 00E2999

Intrinsic safety slide 12


Uncertified systems
BARRIER/ISOLATOR INSTRUMENT
Um = 250Vac
UO = 28V Ui = 30V
IO = 100mA Ii = 250mA
PO = 0.7W Pi = 1.3W
CO = 650nF Ci = 50nF
LO = 11mH Li = 0
[EEx Ia] IIB EEx ib IIC T4
• Ui, Ii & Pi must be not less than Uo, Io & Po
• Ci must be less than Co to allow for Ccable
• Li must be less than Lo to allow for Lcable
• System code reflects ‘weakest link’: EEx ib IIB T4
Intrinsic safety slide 13
Cable capacitance calculation

• Ccable = Co - Ci = 650 - 50 = 600nF


• Typical cable is 160pF/m (0.16 nF/m)

• Maximum cable length = 600/0.16 = 3750 metres

• NOTES:
– Some cable is 300pF/m or more
– IIC systems have much less capacitance available for cable at
higher voltages
– Cable inductance likely to be a limitation at lower voltage, higher
current

Intrinsic safety slide 14

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