One of the important and mandatory issues in places and industrial units where there is gasoline, natural gas, diesel and any flammable substances is to ensure the safety of these areas. Zoning of explosion-proof equipment is a system used to identify and determine areas that are at risk of explosion. This zoning is used as a guide for the selection and use of explosion-proof equipment and devices in hazardous environments. In this zoning, dangerous areas are divided based on the presence and density of flammable materials in the environment.
Zoning of explosion-proof equipment
In high-risk areas that are prone to explosion due to the presence of flammable gases and dust, classification or zoning is done due to the knowledge of the risk of fire or explosion in these areas. This process cannot accurately predict the likelihood of fire or explosion, but it does classify hazardous areas relatively into high-risk and low-risk areas. Hazardous area zoning is a tool that allows people to accurately measure the risk of fire or explosion in such areas.
If you look at explosion-proof equipment, you will see terms such as ZONE 1, ZONE2 or EXD, EXP, etc., which introduce this hazardous area classification information. With the knowledge of this information, the technical capabilities of installing equipment in dangerous environments can be checked.
There are various standards for the classification of hazardous areas, or in the term zoning of hazardous areas, the most reliable and famous of these standards is Article 500 of the American National Electric Code (N.E.C). According to the NEC standard, hazardous areas are classified into three categories, each of which has two sections.
| CLASS 1 | Class 1 includes areas where gas, vapors, or flammable fluids may be exposed to the presence of a gas stove. This is a place with a class 1 address in the same room as it includes high-tech vehicles, gasoline storage areas, Sokhet and…Hestend service areas. |
| CLASS 2 | Class 2 includes a place where dust and combustible dust may be present. This place includes the culverts, high-street garages and groves, metal powder generators, high-slung garages, etc. Bashd. |
| CLASS 3 | Class 3 The final location is where there is a fiberglass fabric that is flammable, such as the presence of a gasket. This is a place where you can’t eat anything, you can’t do anything with it, you can’t do anything with it, you can’t do anything with it, you can’t do anything with it, you can’t do anything with it. |
This class has a lot of divisions:
- Division 1: The possibility of the presence of flammable gas and dust under normal conditions.
- Divison 2: Only under unusual conditions can gas or dust be flammable if there is a hand.
Zoning of explosion-proof equipment in IEC 60079 standard
| ZONE | Type of explosive environment | Explosive environment conditions based on the abundance of flammable materials and the duration of its formation |
| Zone 0 | Gas | An explosive zone, that is, a gas subject to explosion in a continuous phase or for a long period of time. |
| Zone 20 | Dust | Explosion zone, that is, there is a dust space that can explode in the form of dust needles that exists in the air, in a continuous phase, or for a long period of time. |
| Zone 1 | Gas | An explosive area, i.e. one that is likely based on normal activity, including the release of explosive gas, in which there is a certain presence. |
| Zone 21 | Dust | An explosive zone, that is, there is a dusty space that can be exploded, with a high probability of being blown away by a normal car. |
| Zone 2 | Gas | An explosive zone, that is, in a gas atmosphere with an increased probability of exploding based on normal activity, in which there is a long-term explosion, but in the case of an explosion, only for the duration of the explosion, the presence of a dust explosion. |
| Zone 22 | Dust | Explosion zone, that is, there is an explosive dust space in the form of needles of combustible dust in the air, which has an increased probability of being exposed to a normal operation, but there is a picture of it emerging only for a period of time. |
Before buying explosion-proof equipment, you should pay attention to the standards and zoning of explosion-proof equipment. In this article, we discussed the zoning of explosion-proof equipment and dangerous areas based on the IEC 60079 standard. We hope this content is useful for you.