The safety and reliability of technical processes are of vital importance for companies in the process industries. Bulk materials and powders
in sectors such as the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries can be very dangerous. One spark and dust can explode. Festo has a wide product range and the necessary expertise for applications in which the safety integrity level (SIL) or explosion protection is required.
The company offers comprehensive solutions for explosion protection according to the Explosion Protection Directives for Zones 1 and 21, as well as 2 and 22. Products such as linear and quarter turn actuators, cylinders, sensor boxes, pilot valves, valve terminals and remote I/O can control and regulate the entire pneumatic and electrical control chain in potentially explosive areas. They have wide application in handling powders and bulk materials. Regulations, certifications and standards for explosion protection are available both internationally and regionally so that the required safety can be guaranteed. For all the above-mentioned products, Festo has the necessary international approvals according to ATEX, IEC Ex, Inmetro, TR CU, Nepsi and Kosha.
The SIL and the EC Machinery Directive are used, for example, to minimise risks in process engineering systems. Safety functions reduce risks that could cause injury and damage to people, the environment and property. The SIL describes the extent to which risk is reduced to an acceptable level. The possible spectrum of risks to be assumed for safety related systems has four levels. Festo offers products and solutions for both low demand applications, for example in refineries, and high demand applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. This starts with the right selection of products for process valve automation like actuators and sensor boxes, continues with the necessary control concepts and pneumatic circuits in redundant control blocks in 1oo2, 2oo2 and 2oo3 designs and ends with separate control of the electrical components through safety PLCs.
Planners, machine builders and operators of processing systems must document the required risk minimisation in potentially hazardous system sections. Certified products make it much easier to verify the risk minimisation and provide safety during machine construction. Festo products help achieve this as the certifications and manufacturer's declarations are available on the Festo Support Portal under www.festo.com/supportportal. After the product type or part number is entered, the available documents can be accessed directly.
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