Intrinsic Safety Systems Explained By Hazcon

Published 03 Mar 2021

Hazcon Inc.

Explosion Protection

& Hazardous Area Equipment

Intrinsic Safety Systems

Hazcon Inc. provides a full suite of consulting services for manufacturers of electrical equipment for hazardous locations and explosive atmospheres.

Intrinsic safety is one of the safest ways to ensure that an electrical device installed in a hazardous location cannot result in a fire or an explosion. Intrinsic safety is a system concept.

Intrinsic safety might seem confusing and involves complex calculations and detailed assessments. But it is not that difficult if we understand the principles behind it. It’s important to understand what intrinsic safety is, the safety of each component in the system, and how an intrinsically safe system is achieved.

In the below intrinsic safety animation, Hazcon Inc. has simplified the concept by focusing on:

The basic principles of an intrinsically safe system;
The three components of an intrinsic safety system;
How the components connect and work together to become an intrinsically safe system (Entity Concept)

To demonstrate why it is critical that electrical equipment to be protected in a hazardous area lets look at an electrical installation in such an area without any protection. An electrical sensor is placed in a hazardous location power is fed to it from a safe area outside the hazardous location.

If a fault happens within the safe area a voltage of 250V or higher can enter the hazardous area. Furthermore if a fault happens within an electrical sensor located inside the hazardous area a high value short circuit current can flow into the hazardous location from the power supply.

In both of these fault conditions, excess temperature, arcs and sparks can ignite the explosive atmosphere present. Intrinsic safety is a highly affective protection technique bases on the principle of limiting the thermal and electric energy within the equipment and its interconnecting wiring.

Intrinsic Safety Systems

Intrinsic Safety Systems contain 3 main components:

Intrinsically Safe Field Device
Safety Barrier (Energy Limiting Device) max amount of voltage, current & power transmitted to the field device at safe levels
Intrinsically Safe Field Wiring

It is vital that the safety of each component is considered.

Mr. Nejad has over 15 years of experience as an Electrical Engineer and is a sought after professional in the hzardous area and explosion protection industry. He is fully-qualified at the advanced level of all hazardous locations protection techniques including Intrinsic Safety & Non-incendive, Explosion Proof & Flame proof, Increased Safety, Non-arcing, Purging and Pressurization, Encapsulation, Optical Radiation, and Dust-tight enclosures. Mr. Nejad’s tenure in the industry includes six years at the CSA certification agency, working closely with manufacturers (Emerson, GE, ABB, Siemens, Endress-Houser, VEGA etc.) as a technical and certification engineer for Hazardous locations equipment.

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