ATEX Certification in Europe
Delivered May 10, 2020. Contributor: Careka S.
Goals
To obtain information about ATEX Certification and compliance in Europe for a potentially explosive atmosphere (e.g. a refinery) and criteria for equipment that needs to compliant versus those that do not and whether there's a need for wearable patch biosensors to be ATEX-compliant.
Early Findings
ATEX Directives
Examples of Equipment that are not ATEX-Compliant
- An example of equipment that does not need ATEX certification in a potentially explosive environment is a valve that is manually operated. However, "an electric or pneumatic operated valve" needs to be ATEX-compliant.
- Other examples of equipment that doesn't need this certification include "hammers, ladders, doors, tanks, sight glasses, cables, [and] fire extinguishers".
Main Criteria for ATEX-Compliance
Examples of Equipment that are ATEX-Compliant
- Equipment that must be ATEX-compliant include valve body (because of its electrostatic ignition risks), valve accessories (including coupling and adapter), a mechanical actuator such as "pneumatic, manually operated, [and] transmissions", and electrical actuators such as solenoid and positioners.
Summary
- Our background research shows that information about ATEX certification or compliance is publicly available. However, we could not find specific details about certification for a biosensor that uses a skin patch to measure heart rate.
- We found, however, that the main requirement to ensure that equipment adheres to the ATEX certification is once it is perceived as having its "own potential [source] of ignition".
Research proposal:
Only the project owner can select the next research path.