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Category: Explosion Protection & Process Safety

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Explosion Isolation – a Must In Every Safety Concept

Explosion Isolation – a Must In Every Safety Concept

23 January 2023
Explosion isolation is absolutely essential for comprehensive explosion protection. Without isolation, an explosion safety concept is not only incomplete, but...
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Explosion Isolation Valve EV-VF VigiFlap

Explosion Isolation Valve EV-VF VigiFlap

20 January 2023
The VigiFlap is an explosion isolation valve designed to prevent propagation of overpressure or flame front caused by an explosion...
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How to Safely Store Combustible Dusts & Powders: Part II

How to Safely Store Combustible Dusts & Powders: Part II

9 December 2022
The initial article How to Safely Store Combustible Dusts & Powders discussed how a hazardous area classification should be undertaken....
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How to Safely Store Combustible Dusts & Powders

How to Safely Store Combustible Dusts & Powders: Part I

2 December 2022
Many common powders and dusts for example, flour and sugar are not specifically classified as dangerous substances (there is no...
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An often-cited example is a painted metal drum which stands on an insulating wooden pallet and is filled with either flammable bulk or liquids. In the moment the filled material hits the inside of the metal drum, a charge exchange takes place between the two materials which cannot be reversed if the filling speed is too high. During the filling process, the charges accumulate and discharge in a spark when a grounded object (e.g., a wrench or a person) approaches or if the breakdown voltage of the surrounding air is exceeded. The same effect applies to filling processes of various other containers such as IBC, buckets, canisters and also ungrounded parts of the plant. Picture: TIMM_IBC in industrial environment Favoured by high filling speeds (> 1 m/s) and very low conductive materials, potential differences of up to several thousand volts can occur, which can in turn lead to spark discharges with ignition energies in clearly double digit mJ range within the explosion hazardous area. To prevent this danger and according to international IEC-standards, all conductive materials, process equipment and objects need to be grounded or connected with ground potential. In practice, this often means simple grounding cables and clamps which are directly connected to the potential equalisation rail. The grounding clamp is than connected to the object to be grounded, e.g., the metal drum, and the electrostatic charges are discharged via the grounding cable to the rail. A much safer, but often more expensive option are monitored grounding control devices, which actively monitor the grounding connection and can interrupt filling processes in case of an unsafe situation. These explosion-proof devices like the TIMM EKX-products are often used during the filling of large objects, such as trucks, railcars or FIBC and have several advantages: 1.No uncertainty by continuous monitoring and displaying the grounding quality 2.Tamper-proof and failsafe due to integrated object detection and diagnosis 3.Automatic interruption of filling processes via integrated control outputs But despite all these safety critical advantages, monitored grounding control devices are only rarely used in filling processes with smaller containers. There are several reasons for this, but mostly it’s a matter of costs or a subjective (under)estimation of the explosion risks of the filling operation. However, one should be aware, that a grounding connection is only as good as the quality of its weakest link. For unmonitored cables and clamps, this means on the one hand that the grounding cables are subject to wear, which can significantly limit or even completely eliminate the conductivity. Common examples are torn off cable cores at the clamps, crushed cables, (partially) broken ring terminals at the rails or broken copper cable cores. On the other hand, incorrect use of the grounding cables, such as clamping it to a painted or dirty surface, can significantly reduce the conductivity, even without the operator noticing it. To close the gap between the unmonitored grounding clamps and cables and the safer, but only rarely used monitored grounding devices, we developed the TIMM SMART BITE LED ground indicator. This battery-powered device plugs into any two-pole cable and signals the quality of the grounding connection via three leds. This allows the operator to instantly see whether the grounding connection meets the standards and the electrostatic charges are safely dissipated. The SMART LED is built completely intrinsically safe and the integrated battery can be exchanged by the operator on site. Picture SMART LED The device can be used for all metal connection points and objects as well as mobile or stationary in a variety of combinations (clamp – clamp, clamp – ring terminal, ring terminal – ring terminal). Typical areas of use are the monitoring of connections between objects, such as IBC, drums, or canisters and earth rails, the connection between two objects and the connection of individual plant parts with the earth rail. Besides the advantage of improving existing, unmonitored grounding cables it can also reduce the effort for the regular checking of the grounding cables as the SMART LED always signals whether the cable meets the quality requirements – without someone actively measuring by hand. Picture TIMM_IBC in industrial environment It can therefore be stated that there are three different levels of grounding in hazardous areas, which differ significantly in terms of the level of safety achieved. And especially with unmonitored grounding cables, the step to the next higher safety level should be considered, since grounding indicators, such as the TIMM SMART LED, can be used to safely and cost-effectively avoid typical grounding problems.

Three Safety Levels of Grounding in Ex-Zones – SMART LED Fachbeitrag

4 November 2022
Manny filling and decanting processes in industrial environments lead to electrostatic charging of the material and the process equipment. What...
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Explosion Risk Regulatory Compliance - How BFM® Fitting Could Save you Thousands

Explosion Risk Regulatory Compliance – How BFM® Fitting Could Save you Thousands

3 November 2022
The financial and reputational damage that can be caused by industrial accidents has seen rapid change in both regulations and...
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Explosion Risks in Frequently used Equipment: Dust Filters

Explosion Risks in Frequently Used Equipment: Dust Filters

14 October 2022
ISMA is often involved in investigating the possible causes of fires or explosions. In doing so, it is noticeable that...
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Explosion Prevention with GSME and HOTSPOT Detector

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Electrostatic build-up risk in powder processing

6 October 2022
Eliminating potential electrostatic build-up is a priority in safety hazard analyses as electrostatic discharges are responsible for a large share...
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Explosion Protection For Dairy Industry Drying Process

Explosion Protection For Dairy Industry Drying Process

21 September 2022
A leading International Dairy Industry Group consulted IEP Technologies SAS located in France when an expansion project for one of...
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Whey Protein Dryer Explosion Protection

Whey Protein Dryer Explosion Protection

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When a leading U.S. manufacturer of processing equipment for the dairy industries had concerns about mitigating the consequences of dust...
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Passive Explosion Protection for Mobile Dust Collection Applications

Passive Explosion Protection for Mobile Dust Collection Applications

8 September 2022
The huge range and breadth of chemicals, minerals and other materials involved in the business of contract “toll” processing led...
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