At its March Technology Evening, the Johannesburg branch hosted Mike O’Neill from Expo Technologies, England, who presented on ‘Ex P type protection for the process industry’.
Eric Carter (right) presents Mike O’Neill his certificate after the presentation.
Ex p can protect many systems that are difficult to cover with Ex d or Ex e type of explosion protection. Applications suitable to Ex p protection are control, panels, switch gear, motors, generators analysers and shelters. The basic principle includes purging the enclosure to displace any gases present. The enclosure may then have a small flow (leakage compensation) or a large continuous flow to ensure it remains pressurised to prevent ingress of external atmosphere. The various Ex p methods are static pressurisation, where the enclosure is purged, pressurised and sealed; leak compensation, where the enclosure is purged and pressurised then switched to small flow to top up any leaks; and finally continuous flow where the enclosure is purged and pressurised and the purge flow continues.
The three types of Ex p covered were, Ex pz (zone 2 manual) and Ex px (Zone 1 which requires some automation), and Ex py (zone 1 – manual). Mike covered some practical limits, minimum requirements and IEC and NFPA standards governing Ex p protection, pneumatic and electronic timers, enclosure types, typical alarms, certification, as well as advantages and selection criteria of Ex p and smart purge.
The branch thanks Mike O’Neill for his valued and informative presentation.
Johan Maartens (right) handing over the coffee machine won by DR Shorer at the SAIMC rebranding lucky draw.
Committee for 2014
The branch also elected the following committee members to serve for the 2014 financial year: Eric Carter (chairman), Alvin Seitz (treasurer), Dave Robinson (site visit coordination), Andrew Bharath (media liaison), Roxanne Bredenkamp (secretary), Mike Banda, Debbie Scott, Gary Friend and Jay King.
The following site visits are planned for the course of the year:
* Unilever.
* 3M.
* Sedibeng Brewery.
* AST.
Technology evenings are envisaged by the following companies:
* Beckhoff Automation.
* Phoenix Contact.
* Endress+Hauser.
* Robor.
The branch will be hosting its annual golf day in August – formal invite to follow soon.
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