Equipment marking for electrical equipment

One of the most important features on equipment is the Manufacturers’ label that is placed on equipment. The label informs the end user with regard to Electrical or non-electrical concept

• Certificate number

• Any warnings the end user should be aware of.

• Voltage and current limitations

• If there are any special conditions of use (known as the ‘X’ condition)

• Gas Group

• Temperature class

• Serial Number

Perhaps the most important identifier is the serial number; this is the identifier that needs to be referenced if technically details of the equipment are required from the manufacturer. The information on the label is only useful to the end user if he understands what the various terms mean.

Approval Marks

Old type flameproof equipment identified by the ‘FLP’ mark as shown in fig 1 below will not be able to be assessed against the requirements of ATEX 94/9/EC and should be replaced.

Fig: 1 FLP mark,

 Fig 2: Mining Equipment,

Fig 3: CENELEC mark

Electrical Concepts

There are eight electrical concepts identified by the following letters. All letters are lower case.

The electrical concepts are:

d = flameproof

e = increased safety

i = intrinsic safety

n = non-incendive (type n protection) zone 2 only

q = quartz or powder

p = purge or pressurization

o = oil

m = encapsulation

The letters Ex which means Explosive prefix electrical concepts

Equipment produced in Europe is identified by the letter E (Under new standards, this will no longer be the case)

Gas Group

There are two gas groups

Gas group 1 and gas group 2. Gas groups are always identified by the method of Roman numerals I or II

Gas group I is for mining only and is not considered further in this document.

Gas group II is for surface industries. Gas group II is subdivided into 3 sub-groups; these sub-groups are IIA, IIB and IIC.

IIA being the least onerous gas group and IIC being the most onerous gas group.

Temperature Class

By putting all the above together

ATEX mark

After 1 July 2003 all new electrical equipment installed in a hazardous area must be chosen by category. The ATEX mark is made up of three components, these being:

Gas Group Identified by the Roman numeral II

Category

There are three categories

Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Categories line up with zones as shown below

Category 1 equipment suitable for zone 0 or zone 20

Category 2 equipment suitable for zone 1 or zone 21

Category 3 equipment suitable for zone 2 or zone 22

Atmosphere, identified by G for Gas or D for Dust

By putting all the above together

Certification Mark

The EC type certificates are issued by a notified body, the certificates indicate to the user that the equipment has been assessed against the relevant regulation(s) in use at that time.

Each certificate has a unique mark,

CENELEC marks are identified in the format shown below

The above certificate mark is known as a First Generation mark, it is identifiable by the absence of a letter after the year identifier.

A 2^nd generation mark is shown below

The generation letter indicates which edition of the standard has been referenced during the manufacture of the item.

Example of a 3^rd Generation mark

After 1 July 2003 all manufactured equipment will have a certification mark known as the ATEX mark

Example of an ATEX mark

Example ATEX Certificates

      click to enlarge

  ATEX Quality Module    +    ATEX Type Examination = ATEX