Page 265 - Handbook of Electrical Engineering

250 HANDBOOK OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Table 10.1. Early publications pertaining to hazardous area classification

Institution Document reference
(See also Appendix B)
American Petroleum Institute RP 500A. Recommended practice for
classification of location for
electrical installations of petroleum
facilities classified as class 1
division 1 or division 2
Institution of Petroleum Model Code of Practice in the
Petroleum Industry
British Standards Institution BS229, 1259, 5345
Imperial Chemicals Industry Electrical Installations in Flammable
Atmospheres
Electrical Engineers (UK) Third International Conference of
(IEE) Electrical Safety in Hazardous
Areas (1982)

Table 10.2. Summary of the most frequently used parts of IEC60079

Part of IEC60079 Title of Part
0 General requirements, plus Amendments.
1 Construction and verification test of flameproof enclosures of
electrical apparatus, plus Amendments. Note that the type of
protection ‘d’ is incorporated into this part.
2 Electrical apparatus, type of protection ‘p’.
7 Electrical apparatus, type of protection ‘e’ plus Amendments.
10 Classification of hazardous areas (similar to BS5345 Part 2).
11 Electrical apparatus type of protection ‘i’.
13 Construction and use of rooms or buildings protected by
pressurisation.
14 Electrical installations in hazardous areas (other than mines).
15 Electrical apparatus, type of protection ‘n’.
18 Electrical apparatus, type of protection ‘m’.

For the purposes of this book the European standards will be used as appropriate references
for illustrating the principles involved and for designing installations. In practice the principles upon
which all the standards are based are very similar. Some standards are more stringent and compre-
hensive than others. For the area classification IEC60079 Parts 0 and 10 are most relevant. For the
selection and design requirements of equipment all the remaining parts, 1 to 20 should be applied,
where necessary. The parts given in Table 10.2 would normally be referred to most frequently.
Reference 1 gives a very comprehensive discussion on most of the standards that exist in
Europe and USA, and is recommended for further reading. The reference gives excellent comparisons
of the standard identity numbers e.g. IEC, BS, CENELEC, BASEEFA, VDE and NEC.
Reference 2, Chapter 5, gives a full description of the American practices including a com-
prehensive part for conduit equipment and systems.