The New Requirements of Iso 80079 Series for the Oil&Gas Industry Process Equipment

Combustible dusts and flammable gases, mists or vapors can all contribute to potentially explosive atmospheres in the workplace. For this reason, equipment and systems that are used within or in conjunction with these environments must conform to specific safety requirements. These requirements apply to all explosion protected equipment and systems, including safety, control, regulation devices and protective components. Although electrical equipment operating within its design parameters in some cases contains effective sources of ignition, this is not necessarily true for mechanical equipment. This paper addresses some of the requirements of the ISO 80079 series for mechanical equipment intended to operate in classified areas, and brings as a case study, an air compressor designed to operate in an oil terminal classified as Zone 2, IIA, T3, with frequency converter, evaluated according to the new requirements.