Classifying the explosively dangerous areas and marking the explosion-proof equipment is the key for successfully using all the types of equipment in production and avoiding emergency situations caused with an explosion in industrial enterprises. While designing explosion-proof equipment, it is always considered that in industrial plants and mines explosive atmospheres can occur when flammable dust, combustible gases or vapors are combined with air, as well as there is an inflammation source that can ignite this atmosphere. During the classification and marking, as well as installation of equipment, the following concepts should be defined:
Ex-equipment is a general term applied to explosive-proof devices, components and systems.
Ex-product is a product that is fully or partially used for the use of electrical energy and includes protection from one or more types of explosive gases in an explosive area.
Ex-components are parts of an Ex-product that are not used separately in explosive atmospheres. Ex-components require confirmation of compliance of their explosive properties with the requirements of regulatory documents during their integrating into Ex-equipment.
Ex-systems aggregate Ex-products connected with each other and must be made in accordance with the system description in order to meet the explosion protection requirements.
Classification of the explosively dangerous areas and marking the explosion-proof equipment in Russia
While speaking about the explosively dangerous areas and marking the explosion-proof equipment in Russia, we should remember that there combines the legislation of the Russian legislation and regulations of the Customs Union. Currently, in the territory of the Russian Federation and the Customs Union, there is a regulatory framework consisting of several simultaneously valid regulatory documents that define explosive zones and regulated processes for selecting the types of explosion protection zones that are allowed for use in each of the explosive zones.
