Operators are undoubtedly the most valuable asset of any production site. This is followed by the machinery and the site itself. Keeping Operators and the production site safe is crucial to its continued functioning. Manufacturing processes involving fine powders, dust, gasses or fumes all come with an inherent additional safety factor: Explosion Risk
What is Explosion Safety Equipment?
To protect the Dust or Vapor Extraction System, Explosion Protection or Safety Equipment is needed. JOA functions as a system integrator of all equipment to comply with all legislation and ensure safe operations.
Examples of Explosion Protection Equipment
- Explosion Venting / Burst Disks (including sensor, filter, diverter)
- Explosion Barriers / Float Valves
- Chemical Suppression
- Non-Return Valve / Backflow Valve
- Explosion Isolation
- Antistatic Filter (plastic or polymer)
- EX instrumentation
How is an explosive atmosphere created?
An explosive atmosphere is an ideal mixture of air under atmospheric conditions and combustible substances in the form of dust or gas in which the combustion, after ignition, propagates throughout the unused mixture.
Explosion Safety or ATEX?
JOA has a vast track record of designing, building and implementing equipment worldwide. Our ATEX experience adds up to regulations outside of the ATEX legislation. Technical requirements for equipment used outside ATEX zones is often less strict. This means more economic choices can be made with regards to machinery and tooling.
JOA as Integrator of Explosion Safety Equipment
JOA has many years of experience handling both explosion prevention and explosion management. Even in the event of an explosion, our clients have enjoyed an almost uninterrupted process and barely any damage.
Due to the stringent nature of legislative requirements (like the EU Social/Process Directives), there’s great incentive in keeping these ATEX zones as small as possible. By removing explosive particles from as much air is possible, the size of ATEX zones can be limited, which in turn has various perks. As ATEX zoning is, by definition, risk management, the mitigation of risk isn’t the only advantage of reduced ATEX zoning and explosion safety measures.
- Reduced explosion risk: The risk of an explosion occurring at any facility is significantly reduced by reducing the area with combustible air.
- Reduced explosion effects on operators: creating a safe working environment
- Lower insurance cost: Reduced risk translates directly into reduced insurance costs.
- Less ATEX specific equipment needed: Any equipment used in an ATEX zone needs to be suitable for operation in an combustible environment. By eliminating the combustion risk, the need for these specific precautions is also eliminated.
All JOA systems are custom made to best fit a facility’s needs. That is why the design process is heavily data-driven. Thorough data collection at the site in the beginning of the design phase leads to extremely efficient systems upon delivery.
When designing for ATEX / Explosion zone reduction, our engineers inspect the production site. The layout is mapped and the current ATEX / Explosion zones are investigated. Particle density is measured and air samples are taken for further laboratory analysis.
Our process specialists examine the current risks and use the collected data to determine opportunities for reduced zoning.
