Intrinsic Safety Protection for Explosive Atmosphere: A Review

Dr. B. Ahirwal, Rashmi Prasad

In the explosive atmosphere, there is always a high possibility of an explosion in the presence of electrical, electronic and non-electrical devices which in turn generate a spark or arc. Protection in the context of underground coal mines, oil mines, petrochemicals and refineries by intrinsic safety contributes to a design technique for explosion prevention by limiting electrical as well as thermal energy of circuit to such a level below which it cannot ignite an explosive atmosphere. For low power application like process data management and instrumentation intrinsic safety plays a significant role. In this article, a review of principles, design parameters and application are described.