INTRINSIC SAFETY: THINKING OUTSIDE THE EXPLOSION-PROOF BOX

摘要

UNLIKE EXPLOSION-PROOF SCHEMES, WHICH AIM TO CONTAIN EXPLOSIONS INSIDE ENCLOSURES, INTRINSIC SAFETY KEEPS THEM FROM EVER HAPPENING AT ALL. CONSIDER WHETHER IT MAKES SENSE FOR YOUR PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT. As you develop your safety plan for a hazardous production environment, you might want to move beyond the explosion-proof methods that have been popular for so many years in the U.S., and start thinking outside the box. Particularly for process industries, it could be time to take a closer look at intrinsic safety (IS). Process automation is the sweet spot for intrinsic safety. "That's where intrinsic safety shines," says James Wilkinson, senior applications specialist and technical support lead for MTL Instruments, describing analog signals from level measurement on a tank, for example, going back to a control panel. "Process automation is intrinsic safety's world."