Don’t carry the trigger to the explosion
Published: 02 April, 2008
When entering industrial areas with equipment such as torches and radios it is imperative that these devices do not react with the atmosphere and potentially cause explosions – ensuring they are ATEX compliant is the answer. Dan Worth looks at some of the latest developments in this growth area.
Motorola – communicate safely
Motorola, well known for its TETRA experience and commitment to the market, is also a major manufacturer of ATEX approved products. The latest addition to its range is a new intrinsically safe radio that allows communications in potentially explosive areas and is ATEX approved against both gas and dust.
Heidi Hattendorf, Director TETRA Marketing and Business Global Motorola, explains, “We don’t take anything for granted and so we did a lot of research and planning before the manufacture of this product. After extensive user feedback we wanted to ensure we included the key features that the users required, including audio performance in a noisy environment, robustness, reliability and ease of use.”
Making the radios easy to use included giving them “glovability”, so they can be operated while still wearing gloves. The large button operation is simple to work with, especially in difficult environments when time might be vital. This also translates into larger fonts, and icons for the display that can be read easily in a mission critical environment. Another design feature – which is as much functional as aesthetic – is that they have been produced in a very noticeable bright red colour. According to Heidi, many people who were consulted said that in an emergency it was important that they could quickly identify the ATEX equipment. An eye-catching and identifiable bright red is ideal for indicating the location of the product.
Safety was of primary concern in the design, which helped lead to development of the “man-down” capability. According to Heidi, “If the user is knocked down and unable to move, the radio will trigger a number of actions to automatically declare an emergency to solicit help.” This technology is combined with the location services to best protect the users. One of the major benefits of these radios is that they cover not just gas but also dust – a big problem for many high risk areas. “This is a major problem in dangerous areas, especially in fire industries where explosive dust can get into the device,” explains Heidi, “The firefighters do not know if they will encounter explosive gas or dust and need a radio protected against both.” In fire related industries ash is a major problem and this radio has also been designed to protect against small particles getting inside. With this new ATEX approved radio Heidi believes Motorola are offering something that will prove very popular with the market.
Peli – the light way
That three Peli Recoil LED model torches have recently gained ATEX Zone 1 (Cat. 2) approval underlines the increasing awareness of the need for intrinsically safe equipment.
The Stealthlite 2410 Zone 1 Recoil LED, the Stealthlite Rechargeable 2460 Zone 1 Recoil LED and the Little ED 3610 Zone 1 Recoil LED have all been given ATEX certification.
Marisa Silva of Peli explains the benefits of the torches, “The Recoil LED models are different from others because they have the brightness of incandescent torches combined with the efficiency, longer battery burn-time, durability and savings in lamp replacement costs of the LED. It works by pointing a 1-Watt LED backwards into the torches’ reflector, so 100 per cent of the light is captured and projected forward. All available light is captured and results in a powerful, white collimated beam, that will cut through the high-density smoke.” With ATEX certification the torches can now be used in hazardous areas, especially chemical, electrical, gas, oil, power, pharmaceutical, fire rescue, HAZMAT and other high-risk industries.
Draeger – beyond the budgie
The rise of ATEX certified products underlines just how far the development of technologies has come since humans started venturing in to dangerous areas to further their industries. Hundreds of years ago gas detection relied on keeping a budgie in a cage, watching to see if it suddenly died from noxious gases in the air to warn miners so they could head back to surface. These days it is a little more high-tech.
Draeger products cover a wide range of safety areas have a series of gas detecting equipment, all of which are ATEX approved.
The Draeger X-am range covers these areas and the newest edition to the range will be the X-am 5000. It has been developed specially for personal monitoring application and is as small as a mobile phone. It can detect up to five gases and has a very sensitive system that captures tiny amount of specific combustible gases and vapours. This is just the latest in the range that includes the X-am 1700, which has three built-in alarm tones and is dust and water resistant to IP67.
The X-am 3000 is a three/four-gases-warning device that is used in any application requiring portable gas detection including confined space. The device also features a datalogger for extended monitoring purposes and can record gas concentrations and alarms for up to 40 hours.
Lastly the X-am 7000 allows for the continuous monitoring of five gases and over 100 toxic and combustible gases and vapours and is used in all types of industries where ATEX approved gas monitoring equipment is required.
“Man down” with MSA
The continuing increase of new and improved ATEX products on the market, underlines what Greig Thomson, the Product Line Manager for Portable Instruments with MSA Europe, believes; “It is widely recognised that progress never ends, no matter what form and no matter how far. In industry the development is practiced by the manufacturer – and is expected by the customer – with the view that improvement of any product can provide the manufacturer with a competitive advantage.
“Even standards have developed to ensure the next generation of products to reach the market perform better and are safer than the previous generation, ATEX being the perfect example.”
As a result of this it is no great surprise to learn that the portable gas detection market has the developed similar requirements and this spurred on the development of the new MSA
ALTAIR 4 multigas detector.
In a sector of industry not known for the cleanliness of the surroundings and where the environment tends to be extremely demanding, the ALTAIR 4 is designed to withstand the harshest treatment, passing a 3m drop-test and having an IP rating of 67. As well as this, the instrument has a large displays and light housing.
Greig notes that portable instruments and their operation are two dimensional. “The detectors detect gas and they alert the wearer and those in close proximity to the alarm with audible, visual and vibrating alarms. The ALTAIR 4 has added a third dimension: MotionAlert, a unique feature in the portable gas detection market.”
The ALTAIR 4 can have the option of a man-down alarm that alerts those in close proximity that the wearer has been motionless for 20 seconds. Since in many confined space applications it can be difficult for wearers to communicate, the ALTAIR 4’s InstantAlert feature allows the user to activate the instrument alarm simply with a press of a button. “This enables the wearer to draw attention to himself should he be in distress and/or require assistance,” Greig concludes.
A rechargeable Li-polymer battery and three sensors power the ALTAIR 4 and enables the instrument to run for over 16 hours with a recharging time of less than four hours, ideal for long working practices. The ALTAIR 4 uses three sensors to detect up to four gases, ensuring wide-ranging protection for the wearer. This includes a catalytic sensor for combustible gas, an electrochemical sensor for oxygen and a high performance dual-toxic electrochemical sensor for carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide.
Greig explains, “Since the ALTAIR 4 is an instrument to detect the presence of combustible gases it has to be intrinsically safe. It is therefore designed for gas hazards in surface industries in an ATEX category 2 area.” The ALTAIR 4’s full ATEX classification is Ex II 2G EEx ia d IIC T4, which Greig believes will provide the user with optimum protection under tough conditions with the added confidence of the MotionAlert and InstantAlert alarms.
Caption: Motorola’s new radio is both gas and dust approved, and has much “glovability”.
