The opportunity of using an integrated system for testing equipment with type of protection 'p' – pressurized enclosure

National Institute for Research and Development in Mine Safety and Protection to Explosion - INSEMEX, 32-34 G-ral Vasile Milea Street, Petrosani, Romania

^* Corresponding author: gabriela.pupazan@insemex.ro

Abstract

In the field of equipment intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres, rigorous testing is essential to ensure operational safety. For large-scale equipment, explosion protection by pressurization represents a feasible solution. Testing of explosion-protected equipment using pressurization involves applying a sequence of tests designed to ensure the integrity of the enclosure and to analyze the dynamics of dilution processes. Although standard testing sessions do not present significant technical challenges, the large number of monitored parameters and the complexity of required actions necessitate the use of an integrated monitoring and control system for the testing parameters. The first part of the paper presents the testing procedure sequence, including the relevant performance requirements. The second part identifies the parameters that must be monitored and the actions that need to be triggered during the testing processes. The third part proposes a block structure for the integrated monitoring system of pressurization parameters during testing. The paper concludes that using an integrated system for pressurization testing offers multiple technical and operational advantages.