ACHIEVING COMPLIANCE WITH THE ATEX DIRECTIVE UTILIZING A NEWLY DEVELOPED PURGE GAS SENSOR

摘要

In 1994 the European Community (EC) enacted Directive 94/9/EC, otherwise known as ATEX, tornregulate equipment used in potentially explosive atmospheres. On June 30, 2003 the transition periodrnwill end and no products may be sold in European Union (EU) regulated markets without ATEXrncertification.rnThe ATEX Directive requires compliance with the latest edition of CENELEC standards. One of thesernstandards describing the use of pressurized apparatus (EN 50016) changed significantly in 1996. Thisrnchange required the implementation of a purge gas sensor to monitor flow at the enclosure outlet and arnnew series of compliance tests to be conducted.rnThis paper describes the changes to EN 50016, the engineering techniques employed to develop a newrnpurge gas sensor, and the tests conducted to achieve compliance with the revised EN 50016.