Equipment for Explosive Atmospheres

IEC 60079-18:2014+A1:2017 gives the specific requirements for the construction, testing and marking of electrical equipment, parts of electrical equipment and Ex components with the type of protection encapsulation "m" intended for use in explosive gas atmospheres or explosive dust atmospheres. This part applies only for encapsulated electrical equipment, encapsulated parts of electrical equipment and encapsulat ed Ex components (hereinafter always referred to as "m" equipment) where the rated voltage does not exceed 11 kV. The application of electrical equipment in atmospheres, which may contain explosive gas as well as combustible dust simultaneously, may require additional protective measures. This standard does not apply to dusts of explosives, which do not require atmospheric oxygen for combustion, or to pyrophoric substances. This standard does not take account of any risk due to an emission of flammable or toxic gas from the dust. This standard supplements and modifies the general requirements of IEC 60079-0. Where a requirement of this standard conflicts with a requirement of IEC 60079-0, the requirement of this standard takes precedence. This fourth edition cancels and replaces the third edition of IEC 60079-18:2009, and constitutes a technical revision. Please refer to the foreword of the document for a listing of the technical changes with respect to the previous edition.
This publication is to be read in conjunction with IEC 60079-0:2011.
This consolidated version of the official IEC Standard and its amendment contains the fourth edition (2014) and its amendment 1 (2017). Therefore, no need to order amendment in addition to this publication.
The contents of the corrigendum of July 2018 have been included in this copy

Gives the general principles of protection by artificial ventilation. This publication has the status of a technical report.

IEC 60079-15:2017 RLV contains both the official IEC International Standard and its Redline version. The Redline version is available in English only and provides you with a quick and easy way to compare all the changes between the official IEC Standard and its previous edition.

IEC 60079-15:2017 specifies requirements for the construction, testing and marking for Group II electrical equipment with type of protection “n” which includes; sealed devices “nC”, hermetically sealed devices “nC”, non-incendive components “nC” and restricted breathing enclosures “nR” intended for use in explosive gas atmospheres. This part of IEC 60079 applies to electrical equipment where the rated input voltage does not exceed 15 kV r.m.s. AC or DC including where the internal working voltages of the Ex product exceeds 15 kV, for example starters for HID luminaires. This part of IEC 60079 supplements and modifies the general requirements of IEC 60079-0, except as indicated in Table 1 (Clause 1). Where a requirement of this part of IEC 60079 conflicts with a requirement of IEC 60079-0, the requirement of this part of IEC 60079 takes precedence. This fifth edition cancels and replaces the fourth edition, published in 2010, and constitutes a technical revision. Refer to the Forward of the document for a complete listing of the technical changes between edition 5.0 and the previous edition of the document.

IEC 60079-13:2017 gives requirements for the design, construction, assessment, verification and marking of rooms used to protect internal equipment:
– located in a Zone 1 or Zone 2 or Zone 21 or Zone 22 explosive atmosphere without an internal source of gas/vapour release and protected by pressurization;
– located in a Zone 2 explosive atmosphere with or without an internal source of gas/vapour release and protected by artificial ventilation;
– located in a non-hazardous area, containing an internal source of gas/vapour release and protected by artificial ventilation;
– located in a Zone 1 or Zone 2 or Zone 21 or Zone 22 explosive atmosphere containing an internal source of gas/vapour release and protected by both pressurization and artificial ventilation.
The term "room" used in this document includes single rooms, multiple rooms, a complete building or a room contained within a building. A room is intended to facilitate the entry of personnel and includes inlet and outlet ducts. An acoustic hood and other like enclosures designed to permit the entry of personnel can be considered as a room.
This document also includes requirements related safety devices and controls necessary to ensure that artificial ventilation, purging and pressurization is established and maintained.
A room assembled or constructed on site, can be either on land or off-shore. The room is primarily intended for installation by an end-user but could be constructed and assessed at a manufacturer’s facility, where the final construction such as ducting can be completed on site.
This document does not specify the methods that may be required to ensure adequate air quality for personnel with regard to toxicity and temperature within the room. National or other regulations and requirements may exist to ensure the safety of personnel in this regard.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 2010. This edition constitutes a technical revision.
This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous edition:
a) modification of the title of this document to include artificially ventilated room "v" in addition to pressurized room "p";
b) addition of types of protection "pb", "pc", and "vc" and removal of types of protection "px", "py", "pz" and "pv";
c) definition of the differences between pressurization and artificial ventilation types of protection;
d) removal of protection of rooms with an inert gas or a flammable gas from the scope of this document;
e) addition of an informative annex to include examples of applications where types of protection pressurization or artificial ventilation or pressurization and artificial ventilation can be used and associated guidelines.

IEC 60079-1:2014 RLV contains both the official IEC International Standard and its Redline version. The Redline version is available in English only and provides you with a quick and easy way to compare all the changes between the official IEC Standard and its previous edition.
IEC 60079-1:2014 contains specific requirements for the construction and testing of electrical equipment with the type of protection flameproof enclosure "d", intended for use in explosive gas atmospheres. This standard supplements and modifies the general requirements of IEC 60079-0. Where a requirement of this standard conflicts with a requirement of IEC 60079-0, the requirement of this standard will take precedence. This seventh edition cancels and replaces the sixth edition, published in 2007, and constitutes a technical revision. The numerous changes are identified in the Foreward of the document.

IEC 60079-0:2017 RLV contains both the official IEC International Standard and its Redline version. The Redline version is available in English only and provides you with a quick and easy way to compare all the changes between the official IEC Standard and its previous edition.

IEC 60079-0:2017 specifies the general requirements for construction, testing and marking of Ex Equipment and Ex Components intended for use in explosive atmospheres. The standard atmospheric conditions (relating to the explosion characteristics of the atmosphere) under which it may be assumed that Ex Equipment can be operated are:
-temperature –20 °C to +60 °C;
-pressure 80 kPa (0,8 bar) to 110 kPa (1,1 bar); and
-air with normal oxygen content, typically 21 % v/v.
This part of IEC 60079 and other standards supplementing this standard specify additional test requirements for Ex Equipment operating outside the standard temperature range, but further additional consideration and additional testing may be required for Ex Equipment operating outside the standard atmospheric pressure range and standard oxygen content. Such additional testing may be particularly relevant with respect to Types of Protection that depend on quenching of a flame such as ‘flameproof enclosures “d”’ (IEC 60079-1) or limitation of energy, ‘intrinsic safety “i”’ (IEC 60079-11). This seventh edition cancels and replaces the sixth edition, published in 2011. This edition constitutes a technical revision. Refer to the Foreword of the document for a complete listing of the technical changes between edition 7.0 and the previous edition of the document.