arpadveress average Ex product certification goes about:
- 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.
IEC 60079-0 states the normal ambient temperature range as –20 °C to +40 °C and states
that electrical equipment designed for use in other than this normal ambient temperature range is considered to be special and includes additional marking to communicate this to the user.
Extreme climate conditions in Polar environments are challenging to explosion protection technology and solutions. Conditions such as snow build-up, icing from spray and freezing of precipitation can negatively affect the operation and safety of equipment. Extreme low temperatures and weather conditions make it difficult to process hydrocarbons in open outdoor process areas and it can also be challenging for equipment operation. Measures to deal with these challenges are often called ‘winterization’.
This document is a guide for equipment subject to adverse service conditions, for example equipment considered as ‘special’ in IEC 60079-0. It is applicable to the design, manufacture, installation, inspection and use of such equipment. Annex A gives recommendations on materials and Annex C gives information on electric motors in low temperatures. It is possible that some details in this technical specification will be relocated to relevant parts of the IEC 60079 series at the next edition of each of those relevant parts as guidance material.
This technical specification does not at this time address other environmental conditions such as high temperatures, which will be explored further at a later date.
