Methods For Mitigating Hazardous Location

Intrinsic safety is a key consideration of industrial control panel manufacturing for hazardous and unclassified locations, as it directly restricts the availability of energy to unprotected field devices to prevent ignition.  Much like manufacturing for hazardous locations, critical safety details are bound to be overlooked when a panel is built by one team and certified by another.

Explosion-proof and hazardous location panels prevent explosions by containing the blast. Their robust enclosures contain the flames and ignite elements inside, preventing damage to surrounding equipment. On the other hand, intrinsically safe control panels prevent ignition from sensors and other unprotected field devices. They utilize specifically-designed wiring and equipment that limit the levels of electrical and thermal energy transmitted to below levels required to ignite a specific hazardous atmospheric mixture.  Limiting the energy levels that pass through wiring and equipment effectively prevents ignitions from occurring.

The UL 698A requirements for intrinsic safety cover industrial control panels intended for general industrial installation and use in unclassified locations with intrinsically safe circuit extensions into the following hazardous (classified) locations in accordance with the National Electrical Code (NEC), NFPA 70:

1. Class I, Division 1
2. Class I, Zone 0 and Zone 1 AEx
3. Class II, Division 1
4. Class III, Division 1
5. Zone 20 and Zone 21 AEx

Since the importance of intrinsic safety warrants its own set of requirements exclusive from those in place for hazardous location panels, it is imperative to choose a control panel manufacturing partner that not only designs and builds panels to intrinsic safety standards, but can certify them to those standards in-house as well.  In order to be that control manufacturing partner, The Industrial Controls Company has worked to earn and maintain the qualification to self-certify intrinsically safe control panels, in-house, during every stage of the panel manufacturing process.  The ability to certify our panels in-house guarantees their compliance with industry certifications and saves our customers the expense and hassle of third-party certification.

At the Industrial Controls Company, we see our partners as our family. We believe that your safety and the longevity of your equipment is paramount to your success. We run all of our projects through rigorous quality control testing to ensure that the product you receive exceeds your expectations and meets all necessary safety standards.